Richard Paey Freed!

Richard Paey, an unjustly imprisoned pain patient, who is one of a long line of victims in the War On Drugs, has finally been granted a full pardon by Florida's Governor.

TALLAHASSEE --

Richard Paey, a victim in the war on drugs, was granted a full, immediate and unexpected pardon by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet Thursday morning, allowing him to get out of prison and be reunited with his family later in the day.

Paey, 49, has spent the last 3 ½ years in prison after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in a 1997 arrest for filling out fake prescriptions and possessing about 700 Percocet narcotic painkillers. He was to be imprisoned for 25 years.

Sometimes justice does occur, it's just extremely infrequent these days. I wish Mr. Paey the best as he embarks on a life free on incarceration. Hopefully, the powers that be will decide to leave him alone as he attempts to pursue the rest of his life. There are still many more remaining to be freed.

Via The Agitator.


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Richard Paey, Libertarian, War On Drugs

The Not So Hidden Cost Of War

From the Daily Mail comes the story of a new book, "Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After The First World War" by Virginia Nicholson. The book tells the story of what happened to 2 million British women following the deaths of so many of Britain's male population in the "War to End All Wars".

One hazy morning in 1917 the senior mistress of Bournemouth High School For Girls stood up in front of the assembled sixth form and announced to her hushed audience: "I have come to tell you a terrible fact.

"Only one out of ten of you girls can ever hope to marry. This is not a guess of mine. It is a statistical fact.

"Nearly all the men who might have married you have been killed. You will have to make your way in the world as best you can.

"The war has made more openings for women than there were before. But there will still be a lot of prejudice. You will have to fight. You will have to struggle."

Loneliness and despair stalked a large segment of the female members of the Lost Generation. That is the sad legacy of war. Any war. Unintended consequences are rife when politicians take the decision to wage war. Sometimes the price is too high.

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War, Libertarian

The NRA Conundrum

The NRA has been on my mind a good deal lately and for good reason. It seems that everywhere I look I see someone being inconvenienced or thrown to the wolves by the NRA, when they should be being courted by the NRA. Recent commentary by a well known poster over at The Boondocks, brought the NRA to mind, once again. Mama Liberty, a staunch advocate of open carry and the arming of women, was lamenting the necessity of having to acquire an NRA membership and training in order to teach women the basics of firearm safety and shooting.

I agree that the training is extremely important and that much of it just wouldn't happen without the NRA, but I'm not happy about being a part of an organization that is so clearly working against our basic right to self defense in the long run.

I know just how she feels. I've avoided the NRA for decades because of an early realisation that they would, and had, happily leapt right into bed with the government. I never had the feeling that they would protect their members in an way from a gun grabbing government. That's a feeling that has never gone away for me. Their reputation has never increased in my eyes and, in fact it has sunk farther and farther as the years have gone by.

The NRA has taken the wrong side on a number of issues, they've cooperated with the government to impose new regulations and oppose repeal of anti-2nd Amendment laws and regulations. They have been more than willing to compromise away our rights and have done so, time and again. I have a problem with that.

Lately we've even seen that one of their board members, Joaquin Jackson, has espoused gun control measures that would affect the many people who own scary looking AK's or AR's. Of course he lied, he waffled, after there was a hue and cry over his back stabbing remarks. It's just a never ending story with these guys.

And that brings me to my conundrum. I have a couple of shooting ranges in my area. One is quite literally around the corner from my home. Both have one requirement that I either cannot fulfill. They require their members to have...you guessed it....NRA memberships, to join. So, as it stands, I have to travel about 25-30 minutes to the west side of Indianapolis and pay a $10 range fee every time I wish to go shooting. I'd love to be able to drive 2 minutes and shoot a stones throw from my home and do so more often, but I choose to do otherwise. I sure wish these clubs would accept memberships in Gun Owners of America or the JPFO, instead. It sure would make things easier to be a member of an organisation that refuses to compromise our rights away.

The continuing fascination with the NRA is beyond me. It's like those people who keep voting for Republicans hoping for smaller government and never getting it. It's delusional. So, what's a guy to do? *sigh*

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NRA, Guns, Gun Control, Libertarian, Joaquin Jackson

We're Number One!

Outstanding! The US is number one, (in the whole wide world), for firearms ownership, according to a report from the "United Nations".

The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.

Americans must do better than this, tho. Having a handgun is OK, but that's just what you use until you can get to your rifle or shotgun. We currently buy more than half of the small arms produced in the world, and we should be buying lots more, too. Especially the ones which look so mean and nasty that they keep the Chuckie Schumers and Hillary Clinton's of the world awake at night! We can do a lot better than 90 guns per 100 people. It should be a lot higher than that! At least 2-300 per 100!

This is seriously good news and politicians should take notice of these statistics every time it crosses their little Marxist minds to pass another of their gun control measures. For all our firearms we have a much lower crime rate than, oh, say...Great Britain? Facts speak much louder than anti-gun rhetoric.

So, the next time a gun show rolls through town, or a National "Buy A Gun Day" (April 15th) comes due get yourself out and buy a new one. This country needs to be number one at something and firearms ownership is a good thing to be number one at!

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Libertarian, Guns, Liberty