Criminalizing self-defense and degrading rule of law

I complain often that bureaucrats have purposefully made complying with gun regulations so onerous because they want to discourage individuals from defending themselves at all. Sheep are easier to control than wolves and bureaucracies are all about control.

The recent ruling that I cannot take my gun into a “non-secure” area of the airport is unfortunate. I am now a criminal in waiting, according to the bureaucrats.

U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob refused to grant a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the city from enforcing the airport gun ban. Shoob ruled against gun-rights group GeorgiaCarry.org and state Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica).

Bearden sponsored House Bill 89, which became law on July 1 and permits people with firearms licenses to carry guns in state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol and on mass transit.

But Shoob said allowing concealed weapons into non-secure areas of the world’s busiest airport will make the airport less safe and require it to substantially revise its security procedures.

I live 70 miles from the Atlanta airport. I carry a gun at all times, and I am licensed to carry the gun by state bureaucrats. I am a pistol expert, according to the U.S. Army. Yet bureaucrats do not want me to carry my gun if I pass through the airport. Apparently, I am supposed to find somewhere off the airport property to store my weapon if I need to pick up a passenger or drop one off. This is impractical, unrealistic and burdensome. It degrades my respect for the law, and makes me wonder what in the hell happened to common sense. When the law abiding are treated as if they are the enemy they eventually become the enemy.

I will continue to operate “under the radar” if possible. I am not going to stop carrying a gun with me at all times. I’d rather take my chances and fight any resulting charges in court. If some bureaucrat wants to remove a productive citizen from the tax rolls because of a stupid rule so be it. When the system becomes obtuse enough that it creates too many political prisoners it will collapse under the weight of its own unthinking idiocy.

What we do in the name of “public safety” is increasingly creating an atmosphere of distrust and resentment of the privilege of authority. It’s an us against them mentality fostered by egocentric and arrogant bureaucrats who think they own everything and know better than everyone. It’s dangerous, counterproductive and ultimately destructive to the fabric that holds our society together.

When will we finally be safe enough? When we are all chained together and naked as we shuffle through the airport with our heads down waiting to be tasered if we dare to question the authority of the men and women in their polyester suits with their shiny badges and their rule books thick and weighty? Go to hell you damn bureaucratic overlords of the kingdom of banal mediocrity. I don’t need you and I reject your demands that I become your myrimidon.

War in Georgia

Today, Mikheil Saakashvili has an editorial in the Wall Street Journal wherein he expounds on the reasons the West should intervene in the conflict.

On Friday, hundreds of Russian tanks crossed into Georgian territory, and Russian air force jets bombed Georgian airports, bases, ports and public markets. Many are dead, many more wounded. This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan in 1979 and the Prague Spring of 1968, threatens to undermine the stability of the international security system.

AP

An apartment building, damaged by a Russian air strike, in the northern Georgian town of Gori, Saturday, Aug. 9.

Why this war? This is the question my people are asking. This war is not of Georgia’s making, nor is it Georgia’s choice.

The Kremlin designed this war. Earlier this year, Russia tried to provoke Georgia by effectively annexing another of our separatist territories, Abkhazia. When we responded with restraint, Moscow brought the fight to South Ossetia.

Ostensibly, this war is about an unresolved separatist conflict. Yet in reality, it is a war about the independence and the future of Georgia. And above all, it is a war over the kind of Europe our children will live in. Let us be frank: This conflict is about the future of freedom in Europe.

I understand the yearning for freedom. I have it too. And I have a different perspective than most on what freedom is. You see, I don’t believe the West is all that free.

Georgia (the country) used to be a part of the USSR. Georgia (the state) is a part of the United States and happens to be my state of residence. If most Georgians today decided that the United States didn’t represent the type of government they wanted and declared independence by seceding from the United States of America, I think the same thing that is happening in Georgia would happen in the United States. I’m certain that the federal government of the U.S. would use force to keep a member state from declaring independence. That’s not freedom.

When Mikheil Saakashvili asks for the West to intercede in Georgia he is just trading one master for another. Perhaps one master is gentler than the other, and maybe existence under that other master is more tolerable. And that might be OK for some people. It’s not enough to satisfy me.

A truly free society always emphasizes as wide a range of choices as possible. That is not what the West offers, although it may offer more choices than Russia is most matters, it is still a master. Georgia will not be independent in the foreseeable future, anymore than South Ossetia has been. Georgia is a pawn in larger struggles between Western authoritarians and Russian authoritarians.

The most powerful thing about independence is a that it is a state of mind that the state cannot defeat. Have you really thought about your state of mind? Or the state you live in? Or the range of choices available to you in life? War can visit anyplace, at anytime. Are you mentally ready to fight the important battles? Do you even know what is important to you?

Quintana Roo Sports Barn Mini Triathlon results

Trevor Snyder at the Quintana Roo Sprint Triathlon

I participated in and completed my first ever mini-triathlon on yesterday. The Quintana Roo Sports Barn Sprint Triathlon had quite a bit of personal meaning for me because it was an opportunity to measure the results of recent lifestyle changes I have been pursuing.

Dietary changes. Sleep habit changes. Attitude changes. Quitting smoking. I wanted to know if these changes were paying off in increased health. They certainly are. I am not a top competitor, but I am holding my own, and now I have a yardstick to measure my own personal progress. I came in 289th out of 611 participants in the triathlon.

I need to work on my swim time, my transitions and my general conditioning, although I met my personal goal of completing the event in an hour. Time to get ready for the next one, which is double the distance in every event and only two months away. The Sunbelt Cohutta Springs Triathlon feels a little intimidating. Thinking of how tired I was after half that distance, I cannot imagine what I’ll feel like after a 1/2 mile swim, a 16-mile bike ride and a 4-mile run. Only one way to find out and that is by participating in the triathlon.

Why Americans should worry about the war for control of South Ossetia

The U.S. has courted the country of Georgia for some years now. But why? It’s a tiny nation of only five million. One part of the complex answer is simple – oil.

Georgia sits in a tough neighborhood, shoulder to shoulder with huge Russia, not far from Iran, and astride one of the most important crossroads for the emerging wealth of the rich Caspian Sea region. A U.S.-backed oil pipeline runs through Georgia, allowing the West to reduce its reliance on Middle Eastern oil while bypassing Russia and Iran.

The dispute makes the Bush administration the middleman between a promising ally it wants to help and the powerful former adversary next door whose help it needs.

Washington praises democratic development in Georgia, delights in its contribution of combat troops for Iraq and acknowledges valuable intelligence and counterterrorism cooperation.

As usual in this region of the world, when conflict erupts, there are deep seated reasons on many fronts.

The conflict is so one-sided that Georgia has already submitted a request to have at least some of its 2,000 Iraq based troops flown back to their home by the U.S. to help fight in the conflict.

The ball was lobbed into Russia’s court by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Where that ball will be played is now anyone’s guess, but the potential for a regional conflagration is high. The United States could become involved at any moment if the diplomats don’t do their jobs.

Georgian capital of Tbilisi being evacuated

Citizens of Tbilisi are being asked by the government to shelter in the subway. Apparently Russian attacks are anticipated.

The evacuation of strategic points and main state structures has been launched.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed to InterpressNews the above mentioned information.
The evacuation of the vicinity of Avlabari district has begun as well. The civilians, living in Avlabari district are being taken away from the district. As is well-known, the residence of the President of Georgia is located in Avlabari.
The evacuation of the Ministry of Defense and the vicinity of it is being carried out. The civilians are called to seek shelter in Metro station.

The country of Georgia’s entire population is only 5 million people, less than the metro Atlanta area of the U.S. state of Georgia. Russia, the other combatant, has a population of 150 million.

Not much of a contest.

The reasoning for Georgia’s initiation of the current conflict may be based in Iraq, and in the fact that Georgia was coaxed into participation in the ill named Global War on Terror.

Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain.

It is aggressively lobbying to join NATO, a campaign that has infuriated a Kremlin loath to see its former vassal state slip further away from the former Soviet sphere of influence.

One analyst suggested Georgia’s unexpected assault may have been
rooted as much in a sense that its NATO bid was faltering as in
antagonism with Russia.

Earlier this year, NATO quashed Georgia’s drive to get a so-called
road map for alliance membership amid alarm that President Mikhail
Saakashvili was backtracking on democracy with his violent suppression
last year of opposition rallies.

Georgia got assurances that it could eventually join, but “this
pushed Georgia into a philosophy of self-reliance — the idea that
Georgia will be able to regain breakaway entities only by its own
means,” said Nicu Popescu of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

What do I know? I served alongside Georgian troops in Baghdad’s Green Zone in 2005 and 2006. Russia has been posturing. South Ossetia has broken away. Georgia is testing to see what the West will do. Another potential war for U.S. troops to engage in. As if two wasn’t enough. I’m pretty sure Iranians are watching the developing events with great interest, as are many others in the region.