re: "If We Let the Government Take Our Guns, We’ll Have to Run and Hide Like Londoners"

AWR Hawkins at Big Government relayed a (true) story that reminded me that America is where "the Rights of Englishmen" are still preserved.

Money quote(s):

"Fast forward to 2011 and look at the riots taking place in London, England: the city of unarmed people where crime was long ago vanished via the confiscation and destruction of handguns.

Now that the criminals are confident the citizenry is thoroughly unarmed, they’re going into homes and businesses whenever they wish, taking whatever they want once they go in, and walking (or running) away with a smile on their face.

(Oops! I guess someone forgot to tell the criminals that guns were the cause of criminality.)

Just consider an episode from London’s acclaimed restaurant – The Ledbury – from a few nights ago. Patrons talked of being attacked by rioters with “weapons,” who rushed into the restaurant and demanded customers “hand over wedding rings, cell phones and wallets.”

What “weapons” did the rioters use? Baseball bats of course. (That’s right – an entire restaurant full of people was controlled by kids with clubs.)

To be fair, the patrons said the restaurant staff fought back, with “rolling pins, fry baskets” and other “kitchen tools.”

Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third President of the United States, once wrote of how denying a person their natural rights is akin to denying them part of their humanity. "

Just to fill in a blank, the right of self-defense is one of those "natural rights" to which former-Pres. Jefferson was referring.

"It is embarrassing to read of the abasement these Londoners have faced as a result of being disarmed. In fact, it is, as Jefferson would say, an insult to their humanity.

Where I live, if a gang of rioters comes busting through the restaurant doors swinging baseball bats at patrons, I doubt I’ll be alone in pulling my .45 and taking care of business. And the very act of doing that, though not hoped for, will prove a reminder that my life is too valuable a thing to be sacrificed on the altar of progressive policies and academic rhetoric."

As a matter of fashion, CAA doesn't (generally) bear arms when not in uniform. But it's not like it's something he's unprepared to do, at need. Speaking of fashion, one's holster and gunbelt (or shoulder rig) should match one's shoes, watchband, and belt. Just sayin.'

8/10

JO - Coup d'état

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Coup d'état

PATRICK WILMOT

Saturday, March 28, 2009

The English have no equivalent for coup d'état, the violent seizure of state power by armed groups. The tradition of the coup was begun in Europe and became the favoured means of changing governments in Latin America for almost two centuries.

PATRICK WILMOT

But for most of the latter half of the 20th century the coup became associated with the instability and bad government of Africa. Coups were generally of two types. In the first Western intelligence agencies used covert methods to remove governments they disliked.

Read the whole article here.

_____

Patrick Wilmot, who is based in London, is a writer and commentator on African affairs for the BBC, Sky News, Al-Jazeera and CNN. He's a visiting professor at Ahmadu Bello and Jos universities in Nigeria.

JG - The GG, Church and State

Jamaica Gleaner

The GG, Church and State

Published: Sunday January 18, 2009


Martin Henry, Contributor


Constitutionally, the Jamaican state is a secular democratic state. The State, however, has a strong Christian cultural and legal foundation. And not just any version of Christianity. This is a Church of England-based secular democratic state. The Anglican Church was disestablished here in 1879.
The laws of the land privilege a Christian, Protestant, Anglican view. And nowhere more so than in the special privilege accorded one day of worship above others. Sunday is a weekly public holiday [holy day] by law.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Under our secular democratic Constitution, any citizen could possibly be called upon to represent Her Majesty the Queen as head of state. Citizens include Jews and Seventh-day Adventists and others who regard Saturday/Sabbath as the weekly holy day, and Muslims whose weekly holy day is Friday."

""Every person in Jamaica, the Constitution says, "is entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual ... whatever his race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest." And, "Except with his own consent, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of conscience ... the said freedom includes freedom of thought and of religion."

The appointment of Seventh-day Adventist Dr Patrick Allen as the country's next governor general is, therefore, a test of religious diversity and equity.

He will represent the Queen, who is the head of the Jamaican state. "The executive authority of Jamaica is vested in Her Majesty. There shall be a Parliament of Jamaica which shall consist of Her Majesty, a Senate and a House of Representatives. There shall be a Governor-General of Jamaica who shall be appointed by Her Majesty and shall hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure and who shall be Her Majesty's representative in Jamaica."

But the Queen is not only head of state for Britain, Jamaica and several other Commonwealth states, she is the regal titular head of the Church of England. And "a person appointed to the office of Governor-General shall, before entering upon the duties of that office, take and subscribe to the oaths of allegiance and for the due execution of the office of Governor-General in the forms set out in the First Schedule to this Constitution"."

&

"One of the most important functions of the office of governor general, which, in practice, is largely ceremonial, is the signing of bills into law.

No governor general of Jamaica has yet refused to sign a bill into law."