Support organizations that practice what is stated here and we may see considerably more of the same. Excellent actions from N.R.A.

Get them a raise so that nobody in the military is eligible for food stamps, get them top quality health care for the injuries they receive during their time in the military (both physcal and mental). But do not elevate them to some speacial status. I did my time in the military and got shot at and I am happy to wait in line like everybody else. if I cut someone off in traffic it is fine to honk at me because if I cut you off in traffic I deserve to be honked at. I dont want to be pandered to because I did my job.

cops risk their lives every day for 30 years and they have been the favorite non-polititian whipping boy of the left for generations. Cops on the street right here in the US do more to secure our safety than anyone in Iraq. do you want to give all the cops in LA and NY City free costco memberships too?

It is often asked, How did Buddy Hinton of Sturmgewehr.com become the New Left's foremost political guru? How did this immigrant cobbler's son become the hottest consultant/shaman/whipcrack to top world leaders and the haute art/fashion crowd on this or any planet?

Why do the famous and not so famous movers and shakers, world leaders, trend-setters, dictators and democrats, Hollywood glamourites and hep young Xgen streetpeople beat a path to his ornate carved mahogany doors? Why are these A-list celebs and notorious oppressors and everyone else from J!mmie Carter to Papa Soros to Vlad Putin to Bobby Trendy to Hillary and the Pope lined up to get into Buddy Hinton's Euro-fab digs in the incredible old Sutro mansion outside of Frisco?

It could be the incredible fried pies and the world class wine cellar, but it's not. It could be the treasures of sculpture and avante-gard furnishings, but it's really not that, either. The whole-house Bose system? No, not even that. So... what is it about this itinerate cobbler's son become raconteur and fashion policeman to the world's glitterati that makes him the center of today's Powerpeoples' world?

Soldiers are people who are willing to kill other people for money. This puts them in the same moral class as contract killers. A few soldiers may be necessary to protect ourselves from other peoples soldiers but they should not be treated well. In fact they should be treated like paper towels, useful in cleaning up a mess, but intended to be thrown away afterwords.

Uh, should they have pay and benefits that cover their sacrifices?

I think the current situation just emphasis the truth. 9/11 did not change anything: no draft, no war tax, nothing. US is not in big danger. Government only wants to secure Israel and oil supply. People go to the war because they are young, poor and it is advertised as opportunity for mental development and personal change, like some hard core yoga. There is nothing heroic in occupying foreign countries. Benefits the veterans get underline that fact, there is no real respect and support for those who sign up for unjust wars. Only glorious speeches, medals and other insignificant trash.

Personally, I'd rather see servicemen getting free subscriptions to Mother Jones than to American Rifleman.

Poor NRA gunloons.These loons have so much guns and ammo on the brain that the lead content in their heads is dragging them down so far they’ll soon need a new planet with less gravity to keep their faces out of the dirt.

Very original, "Buddy Hinton".
So original in fact, it's exactly what "X Dragon X" posted back in May.
Word for word.

ummm, not to be cynical, but am i supposed to believe the nra is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts? another point of view might be that rewarding soldiers -- many of whom have seen enough death and destruction to last many lifetimes -- with more access to guns and violence is a little f'd up and completely useless. smart, but financially useless. additionally, i respect the troops and their commitment, but do i have to worship them? i can't even honk at them? that's a bit extreme, and sounds an awful lot like something you might expect to hear at a pro-war rally.

It's not so much that we shouldn't honk when drivers (soldiers included) do stupid things, more that the troops who return home are anonymous to us, like any other strangers. Which, when driving, doesn't matter much. But all in all we go about our busy lives without an understanding or appreciation of what they've been through, and what that will mean for their futures. Worship isn't called for, but stepping out of our everyone-else-is-an-idiot mentality and thinking some about the dynamic of troops thrown back into American life from a war zone wouldn't be a bad thing.

Yeah, good call, Baron.
Why doesn't Mother Jones pony-up and offer all active-duty troops a free subscription?

While the troops like the respect for our sacrifices shown by discounted hotel rooms and the like, for the love of reason DO NOT engage in hero worship! We would be very happy if the John Q. Public would write their Congressmen and the President and the SECDEF and demand the following:

1) Adequate manpower levels to support the crushing and ever-increasing workload that is assigned to us. Suicide rates are up, and I wouldn't be surprised if divorce rates and spouse/child abuse goes up also. The military expects the troops to sacrifice family and personal life on the altar of the almighty military career. The Air Force has half the people and about five times the workload compared to when I joined 20 years ago. Good, experienced people are starting to leave like rats off a sinking ship...and many of them are NOT recommending a military career to our children, or anyone else's children, either.

2) Elect politicians who can actually behave responsibly and do not start pointless wars of choice, lie like dogs about the rationale for these wars, and then procedd to mis-plan or not to plan at all and fail miserably executing these wars at every turn. Our leaders at least need have some priorities: Every other sppeech is about a 'clash of civilizations' and a 'Long War', yet our military leaders seem equally interested in designing new dress uniforms and increasing the number of air shows that our over-strecthed aiman perform. If you want to see a God-Damned Air Show, log onto the web and look at pics of your airmen dropping bombs all over the place in the futile effort to kill the 'evil-doers' (and the collateral-damaged non-combatants).

3) Demand that the government start demanding sacrifice and ingenuity from all of our citizens. Since these wars are really about securing our access to oil, why don't we start financing the hideous costs with an immediate 15 bucks-a-barrel oil tax? Use the proceeeds to deveop wind, solar, and nuclear power, and to develop technologies to use energy much more efficiently. While you are at it, re-institute the draft, so that all people can share the honor of putting their lives on the line for cheap oil.

Put away your mindless little yellow ribbon support-the-troops magnets and actually start making sacrifices to use less energy and to finance our transition away from imported oil, to nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, and much cleaner coal-fired elecricity generation. Sell off your show-boat 15-MPG monster trucks and SUVs and buy 40-MPG+ cars such as a VW Jetta TDI or a Prius. Put your money where your big fat mouths are. What, are you afraid you won't be able to afford that second big plasma/LCD TV for your bedroom?

You won't do a damn thing...you poseurs make me sick.

SkyPilot wrote: "Demand that the government start demanding sacrifice and ingenuity from all of our citizens."

Yeah! An even MORE heavy-handed government!
That's The Ticket!
COERCION!!! THAT's how you make Good Citizens!
Hitler knew it.
Stalin knew it.
It's time OUR government discovered it, in all it's radiant glory!

Or: "No action which is not voluntary can be called moral. Any action dictated by coercion ceases to BE moral"
-M.K.Gandhi-

...and while he's on the subject...:
"Freedom of the INDIVIDUAL is at the root of All Progress.
Government control gives rise to fraud, suppression of Truth, intensification of the black market and artificial scarcity. Above all, it unmans the people and Deprives them of Initiative, it undoes the teaching of self-help.
I look upon an increase in the power of the State with the greatest fear because, although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the Greatest Harm to mankind by Destroying Individuality Which Lies at the Heart of All Progress.
The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form."
-Mohandas K. Gandhi-

Droolius,

Calm down and read the part right after your minute snip of his post. he was not talking about hitler\stalin type stuff he is talking about tighter regulation and taxation of fossil fuels. Take it down a notch.

It's his topic sentence.
Government demanding certain behavior and performance from a Free People.
No matter what form of justification follows a statement like that, it's still a wrong approach for a Free People.

Sneezer,
First of all it is NOT his "topic sentance" it is one sentance in the 3rd of 3 bullet points. It is YOUR topic sentance not his.

And ALL governments demand sacrifice. ALL of them. They just vary in what kind and how large. Taxes are a sacrifice of money for the larger good of the things that those taxes purchase. Laws are a sacrifice of the ability to do ANYTHING you want for the larger good as well. it was OBVIOUS that the sacrifice that the poster is talking about is not the kind that hitler and stalin imposed. he is obviously talking about sacrifices involved in the use\overuse of fossil fuels. If you think that such things are on the slipperly slope then go buy your guns and canned goods and buy a shack off the grid and work on your manifesto. :-)

Brian K wrote: "...it is NOT his "topic sentance"

Sigh... It would seem that our public schools stopped teaching basic paragraph structure long about the time the stopped teaching the intent and meaning of the Constitution.
Should you want to educate yourSELF on what a paragraph's topic sentence is and what it does, may I suggest:
http://www.geocities.com/fifth_grade_tpes/longfellow.html

Further, in America today, we have totally lost touch with who are the masters and who are the servants in regards to government.
Remarkably few powers were enumerated by our Constitution to the central government and none that would allow the servants to demand sacrifices from the masters.
As to the wisdom that may be expected from said central government, not only was Gandhi correct to fear increasing powers of government, but our Founders were well aware of what might be expected should America come to rely on Gov't for direction:

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
-Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821-

You might find this a good place to start researching how our Federal government was set up, why it's powers were intended to be strictly and severly limited, and why IT was not to decide what is "for the greater good":
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeffcont.htm

Drool,

Sure it was the topic sentance of that ONE paragraph but it was not as your post implied, the main thrust of his post.

Im not talking about increasing powers. Im talking about using the WELL established powers it already has. It can tax and it can regulate. Are you suggesting that the federal government does not have the right to establish standards for things like fuel efficiency or to levy taxes or any of the things that amount to the demanding of sacrifices?

Anyway, as you seem more involved in condescending and insulting people I will leave you to it.

Brian K wrote: "...as you seem more involved in condescending and insulting people.."

Brian K Had PREVIOUSLY written: "If you think that such things are on the slipperly slope then go buy your guns and canned goods and buy a shack off the grid and work on your manifesto."

As to your question, I'll answer it with a counter question: Can you show me the specific enumerated power in the Constitution that allows the federal government to "establish standards for things like fuel efficiency"?
And PLEASE do not speak in terms of government having "a Right" to do something!
Government has legal powers ONLY as specifically enumerated in the Constitution.
You and I have Rights.

The Articles of the Constitution gives them specific powers to levy specific taxes and duties. The 16th Amendment gave them power to tax individuals...
Maybe!
See these, if you care to know why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZl6202HJGQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Of8M1MZJQ

Drool,

The manifesto comment was an insult? I saw it more as a suggestion that if you felt that the government regulating fuel standards was a slippery slope to a hitler\stalin type dictatorship that you might want to make your preparations since we are obviously already well down your slope.

Also, are you suggesting that the federal government does not have the authority to regulate fuel standards?

You might not want to get too fired up about a strict reading of the constitution since it still says that black people only count as 3/5 of a person. But since you are being like that, no it does not mention fuel standards in the constitution. That authority is derived (im guessing) from the clause on interstate commerce or something similar.

and as for your comments about taxes I have only one question: got birch? LOL

Im done. Go ahead and post the last word about how Im a facist outcome of our failed educational system or some such nonsense.

"You might not want to get too fired up about a strict reading of the constitution since it still says that black people only count as 3/5 of a person."

Actually, no, it doesn't. It never did.

The exact wording of Article I, Section 2 is as follows: "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons."

"all other persons" would mean slaves. The United States at that time had many free blacks, and even the southern states had free black people, possibly more than the north had. They were each counted as "1".

At any rate, the entire provision was changed by Amendment 14, Section 2.

The Fugitive Slave provisions of Article 4 were likewise invalidated by the 13th Amendment, though the words may remain in the original text.

gvc,
Good point. It had stuck in my head as refering to black people directly. I think I made that connection since it was in a way doing just that, just not in an all-inclusive way.

I am a soldier in I Iraq and I was reading a comment put there by another soldier. He was going on about cops and how they get shot at everyday. I agree they do get shot at but I am betting that the soldier or if he was a soldier who typed that went over seas and was single. If he even went over seas. Cops might get shot at Im not going to disagree. But they go home to there families every night, they spend the holidays with there families. They might of had to work that night or day shift but at the end of it they went home to there loved ones. There are certain things we as soldiers give up to make sure that things go some what smoothly while we are here. We miss the holidays, special events like anniverseries, birthdays, graduations. While everyone in the states can request these days off, we can not. I just feel that we should have certain advantages. But when it comes to a line in a supermarket I will let you in front. Thats a soldier. If I cut you off honk at me. Those are the things we as soldiers should not do. I like to hunt and I missed out on all the drawings this year cause I was not sure if I was going to be home in time. I was and was unable to hunt cause I did not have a license. I think it would be cool if you are a service member and you hunt that you have a license for the time your in the service paid for thats what I would like to see. Thank you for reading I hope you have some good holidays.

Gay Gun Nazi's?

Have you noticed the perverted discussion at Sturmgewehr.com moderated board? They thrive on perverted questions like "I cheated on my wife and had anal sex with her sister" and other disgusting subjects. Is that the kind of material a firearms based board should be allowing to be viewed by the whole world? I think the general mindset is a bunch of immature punks that act brave while they tap their computer keysets. They need to get a life. I don't go there anymore because it's a degenerating, filthy, mob that in a end of the world, SHTF scenario, I would not allow them on my property. I sure as hell wouldn't let them spew their filthy sewer mouths on my discussion boards. Sturmgewehr is another story. The mindset there is run by a bully that spouts his free boards while demanding to be paid...just as perverted as the Subguns mob.

http://p100.ezboard.com/fgunsofthemoviesfrm7 Subguns Rule

You, my friend, are simply oblivious to the world, or so it seems. I serve currently in the Navy and i have friends in just about every region of the world currently defending your right to think what you do... no matter how retarded it may be... so please, Don't you dare repeat crap like that... people who fight for your freedom should never be thrown away afterwards... they should be embraced for the sacrifice that they have made. Maybe you dont agree with what they fight for, that is fine, but until you get off of your butt and spend 6 months or more away from everyone you love or whoever loves you, i strongly suggest you keep your opinions like that to yourself. They are ignorant and very ungrateful.
Sincerely,
SN Kevin Stafford, USN

Sorry, but the above comment was in regards to Peter and his ignorant comment.
-SN Kevin Stafford, USN

The Articles of the Constitution gives them specific powers to levy specific taxes and duties