| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Enkidu" |
| Date: |
31 Dec 2005 06:15:55 PM |
| Object: |
Freedom or Security??? |
Freedom or Security???
Posted by marc on January 1st, 2006
Let’s consider the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
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.
In 2002, there were 30,242 gun deaths in the United States.
17,108 suicides (56% of all U.S. gun deaths)
11,829 homicides (39% of all U.S. gun deaths)
762 unintentional shootings (3% of all U.S. gun deaths)
300 from legal intervention and 243 from undetermined intent
That’s ten times the number of Americans who died in the September 11,
2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Why do we
continue to put up with this carnage? Because it’s seen as one of our
fundamental rights, not to be given up lightly.
Yet we’ve been asked, no told, that we must give up our right to a trial
if the President determines we are enemy combatants, we must give up the
right to be free of arbitrary searches, we must give up the right to
confront our accusers and see the evidence against us, we must give up
the right to counsel.
By my count, we’ve been asked to give up our fourth, fifth, sixth and
eighth amendment rights.
The Patriot Act has nothing to do with protecting our safety. It is a
treasonous grab for power and nothing more. Will is succeed? It will if
we stand by and watch it happen.
--------------------
For your reference:
Amendment II
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.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall
not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia,
when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any
person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of
life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him;
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to
have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
--
Enkidu AA#2165
http://www.thoughts.leaddogs.org/
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
PGP ID: 0xC4CE8CF0
A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around
them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not
conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall
of words between his consciousness and his real self.
-- Eric Hoffer
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| User: "R. Pierce Butler" |
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| Title: Re: Freedom or Security??? |
02 Jan 2006 01:27:38 PM |
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Enkidu <jdwnx4702@sneakemail.com> wrote in news:Xns973DA58081FA1255229@
130.133.1.4:
Freedom or Security???
Posted by marc on January 1st, 2006
Let’s consider the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
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.
In 2002, there were 30,242 gun deaths in the United States.
17,108 suicides (56% of all U.S. gun deaths)
11,829 homicides (39% of all U.S. gun deaths)
762 unintentional shootings (3% of all U.S. gun deaths)
300 from legal intervention and 243 from undetermined intent
That’s ten times the number of Americans who died in the September 11,
2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Why do we
continue to put up with this carnage? Because it’s seen as one of our
fundamental rights, not to be given up lightly.
A constitutional right comes with something else and that is
Responsibility. It is expected that one act responsibly and accordingly.
.
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| User: "Enkidu" |
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| Title: Re: Freedom or Security??? |
02 Jan 2006 01:53:43 PM |
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"R. Pierce Butler" <spamsucks@google.com> wrote in
news:Xns973F88F9873F6mc2500183316chgoill@10.232.1.1:
Enkidu <jdwnx4702@sneakemail.com> wrote in
news:Xns973DA58081FA1255229@ 130.133.1.4:
Freedom or Security???
Posted by marc on January 1st, 2006
Let’s consider the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
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.
In 2002, there were 30,242 gun deaths in the United States.
17,108 suicides (56% of all U.S. gun deaths)
11,829 homicides (39% of all U.S. gun deaths)
762 unintentional shootings (3% of all U.S. gun deaths)
300 from legal intervention and 243 from undetermined intent
That’s ten times the number of Americans who died in the September
11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Why do
we continue to put up with this carnage? Because it’s seen as one of
our fundamental rights, not to be given up lightly.
A constitutional right comes with something else and that is
Responsibility. It is expected that one act responsibly and
accordingly.
One would hope so. We can lock up those who don't use their right to own
a gun, but that doesn't revive the dead. So, the question remains. Why
do we put up with 30,000 deaths a year as the cost of our right to own
guns, yet we are expected to abandon a host of other rights after 3,000
die in an exceptional year to secure our safety?
The right to a trial, the right to be free of warrantless searches, the
right to confront one's accusers and their evidence is every bit, indeed
more important than the right to own a gun.
If we are going to suffer deaths as the cost of freedom, then let's keep
*all* our freedoms.
--
Enkidu AA#2165
http://www.thoughts.leaddogs.org/
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
PGP ID: 0xC4CE8CF0
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a
lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a
personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly.
If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the
unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science
can reveal it."
- Albert Einstein, in Albert Einstein: The Human Side
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