Government disconnect?

[Aguila Blanca]

I followed a link from the Drudge Report to Janet Napolitano's speech today (9/11), and found this little gem:

Originally Posted by Janet Napolitano

To field that bigger team … to enlist individuals, local communities, businesses, law enforcement and first responders in a network of shared responsibility … to enlist the nation in its own collective security.”

So she wants to enlist me/us. Wonderful. Of course, I was in the Army awhile back, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and I don't recall anyone ever releasing me from that oath. Fine ... I'm "enlisted."

So if I am now officially part of this great national effort to promote security against terrorism ... why is my government trying so hard to ensure that I can't have guns?

[Glenn E. Meyer]

And were is the serious current effort to take away guns on the Federal level?

This is just boiler plate - let's work together rhetoric from her.

Sorry, I don't see a problem here.

If this goes conspiracy, we will close it.

[Tom Servo]

So if I am now officially part of this great national effort to promote security against terrorism

Well, aren't we all part of a well-regulated militia?

Could you provide a link to the speech so we can glean context? The googles do nothing at the moment.

why is my government trying so hard to ensure that I can't have guns?

How so?

[Aguila Blanca]

Best I can do is a link to the article I read: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41967.html

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

How so?

Well, I don't know where you live. I live in one of what is sometimes referred to as the "blue states." Carry permits are possible here, after you jump through the requisite hoops and pay enough money. Without the piece of paper from the state, I am not allowed to carry a firearm outside of my residence, not even on my own property. My state still has an AWB in place, so my choices of firearms are severely restricted compared to many other states.

Meanwhile, although we have seen two great decisions come out of the SCOTUS recently, the Congress still persists in proposing more laws to infringe the 2nd Amendment, rather than proposing to repeal or amend infringing laws to make them LESS of an infringement. Case in point: It is now moderately well-known that the FOPA (Firearms Owners Protection Act) is fatally flawed, in that it addresses only travel by privately owned automobile. It provides no guidance with respect to travel by public bus, train, or aircraft. It does not define what it means by "in the course of ordinary travel," leaving it open to each judge to decide if stopping for the night during a cross-country drive is part of ordinary travel and permitted under the FOPA, or constitutes an impermissible interruption of the journey thus subjecting the sleepy traveler to arrest as soon as he stops for the night.

I'm not theorizing any great conspiracy, I'm just pointing out that washington is conducting business as usual, and that belies Madam Napolitano's cheerleader-like statements intended to lull the masses into thinking that we're all "part of the team." We are NOT all part of the team -- but we should be. I have sat in on some "first responder" training seminars. They were paid for with our tax dollars, and I gotta tell you -- the ones I've been to were a horrible waste of those dollars.

[Tom Servo]

Thanks for the link. Reading the excerpts, it does sound like cheerleading, but at the same time, I agree with the sentiment. I'd really like to see ordinary folks get off the couch and show a little vigilance. Perhaps we might see some sort of resurgence of civic virtue, no matter how small.

Meanwhile, although we have seen two great decisions come out of the SCOTUS recently, the Congress still persists in proposing more laws to infringe the 2nd Amendment, rather than proposing to repeal or amend infringing laws to make them LESS of an infringement.

I can't think of any laws proposed since 2008 that have any chance of gaining traction. Stuff like the AWB renewal, the Blair Holt thing, and the .50-caliber rifle ban come up all the time. Congressfolk can propose whatever they want; the question is whether they can get it through the wheels.

Lately, the answer is a resounding "no."

I live in one of what is sometimes referred to as the "blue states."

I had the misfortune to live in one for some time, and I can understand your frustration. We tried to get reform. We failed. To this day, those folks are still pushing that rock up the hill, and I can only wish them the best.

As for the FOPA, I know. There are a number of flaws, not the least of which is the Hughes amendment. However, the clause you're talking about can be addressed through future legislation.

Bear in mind, we're still taking baby steps when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. It's only been a right for two years, and only a fundamental one for a couple of months. It can look gloomy, I know.

But we're seeing and end to the tunnel, even if that light is a bit further off in some parts of the country.

[johnbt]

As an employee of the Commonwealth, for each of the past few years we have had to take an on line course with chapter quizzes on terrorism. The hardest part is getting the little certificate to print out correctly. The whole thing still takes me about 40 minutes because you can't easily skip the endless slideshows and just answer the slow-loading questions. Maybe it will help somebody someday.

John

Speaking of computers and the big state gov system crash, may I say a few words about Virginia and the NG multi-billion-dollar computer contract. They JUST installed the XP service pack from 2 years ago. The standard configuration STILL includes IE6 and Office 2003. Goodness gracious.

[MTT TL]

As an employee of the Commonwealth, for each of the past few years we have had to take an on line course with chapter quizzes on terrorism. The hardest part is getting the little certificate to print out correctly. The whole thing still takes me about 40 minutes because you can't easily skip the endless slideshows and just answer the slow-loading questions. Maybe it will help somebody someday

.

Is it AT Level 1? There is a way around that.

Speaking of computers and the big state gov system crash, may I say a few words about Virginia and the NG multi-billion-dollar computer contract. They JUST installed the XP service pack from 2 years ago. The standard configuration STILL includes IE6 and Office 2003. Goodness gracious.

Crazy. They are way better off with Linux and some kind of freeware processor program. Way cheaper.

oh and yeah....

So if I am now officially part of this great national effort to promote security against terrorism ... why is my government trying so hard to ensure that I can't have guns?

Your government is doing it to "protect you". My question is how hard are you working to tell them that you want to protect yourself?

I'm not theorizing any great conspiracy, I'm just pointing out that washington is conducting business as usual,

Near as I can tell you are complaining about local and state laws. I certainly don't have those problems in my state. How is complaining about the DHS going to change that? I am having a little problem connecting the dots, can you at least number them for me? I am slow like that.

[44 AMP]

From the usual source of hot air. Nothing to worry about. Move along.

Theses aren't the droids you're looking for....

While there have been, and still are some ongoing attempts to tighten the restrictions, the one thing out of all their proposed agenda, that they haven't pushed hard has been gun control.

And I don't see it happening, until they figure they have nothing left to lose. When they do, however, watch out!

[SVO]

If, we are all part of a well regulated militia, then who has the legal authority to call for the militia to gather? The President? State Governor? In the time since Washington was seated as our first president, has there been a precident set for the legal use of a militia?

[Al Norris]

On the federal level, it would take an act of Congress to call forth the militia (Art I, Sect 8, Clause 15). How that is accomplished is up to the Congress.

At the State level, see your own State constitutions.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by JohnBT

Speaking of computers and the big state gov system crash, may I say a few words about Virginia and the NG multi-billion-dollar computer contract. They JUST installed the XP service pack from 2 years ago. The standard configuration STILL includes IE6 and Office 2003. Goodness gracious.

According to some IT folks I know (not to mention my own experience as an end user) that probably is a conscious (and wise) decision.

As far as I'm concerned, Office 2007 and Office 2010 are viruses in the wild. So is IE8. That's why I use Firefox.

[alloy]

Originally Posted by Janet Napolitano
To field that bigger team … to enlist individuals, local communities, businesses, law enforcement and first responders in a network of shared responsibility … to enlist the nation in its own collective security.”

The Stasi likely had a similar approach but they were serious as a heart attack, good thing words don't carry the same meaning they once did, cause I can see how you might actually take her words at face value.

The collectivist jargon takes some getting used when separating rhetoric from actual policy, but I'm kinda getting the hang of the new way. Yesterday for example was a National Day of Service. Sounds official, but not so much. I served myself a t-bone.

I think a dead bolt and security flourescents take care of the above call to action.

[johnbt]

"The standard configuration STILL includes IE6 and Office 2003. Goodness gracious." - me

"According to some IT folks I know (not to mention my own experience as an end user) that probably is a conscious (and wise) decision." - you
___________________________

But they keep sending us - the front line employees - emails with links to sign up for mandatory trainings and such that don't work with IE6. We just get error messages. (At first it was central office reports in .pdf and we didn't have the ability to open them. The machines are locked down. It's always something.)

I do job/career counseling and testing with individuals with disabilities. The high school kids & recent college students need to use what they've been studying, not whatever the government finds convenient. (I'd like a new monitor too. That square 17" one we're given is hard on my old eyes.)

And here I sit at home surfing the net on a 2-year-old system built around an Intel board and quad core processor. FiOS rocks. I don't even mind Vista and IE8, I can deal with it. I have a new pc built every 4 years or so.

We got more done at work when we had 2 Apple II's, a Packard-Bell 386sx, and a Leading Edge Model D w/640k and no hard drive, but 2x5.25" floppies. But back then we simply pirated the software we needed. Now we have to beg the boss, the central office IT people, the state VITA people and our Northrop-Grumman masters.

Grrrr.

And I'm not buying that 2 failed circuit boards crippled the state's IT network for a WEEK.
______________________

"STATEMENT FROM VIRGINIA SECRETARY OF TECHNOLOGY JIM DUFFEY

5 p.m., Monday, August 30, 2010

On Wednesday, August 25, at approximately 3 p.m., the Commonwealth of Virginia experienced an information technology (IT) infrastructure outage that affected 27 of the Commonwealth’s 89 agencies and caused 13 percent of the Commonwealth’s file servers to fail. The failure was in the equipment used for data storage, commonly known as a storage area network (SAN). Specifically, the SAN that failed was an EMC DMX-3.

According to the manufacturer of the storage system, the events that led to the outage appear to be unprecedented. "

_______________________

No backup. Oops. And our leaders are the same people who are in charge of our state's terrorism planning?

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer

This is just boiler plate - let's work together rhetoric from her.

I think that's exactly right. It's basically meaningless Gov-Speak for "Just go along with the program."

[johnbt]

Speaking of "the program", the Commonwealth even has a form for us to fill out if we receive a phoned in bomb threat. We are supposed to stay on the line and ask a page or two of questions.

I guess we are to simply hope the bomb doesn't go off while we're sitting at our desk and everybody else in the building is already running for their lives.

John

P.S. - Two of my coworkers have laptops and travel a lot. Just this morning they were told by the COMPUTER POWERS THAT BE that they will have to share an air card. Dang.

[tanner33]

Even now, Microsoft tells people to quit using IE6 because of all the vulnerabilities. It is now the worst browser to use in terms of compatibility and security. The lack of transition to a new browser is just laziness of the IT department or people higher up not wanting to pay for all the IT people to go around and change everyone's browser.

[johnbt]

They can do it remotely. It's just crazy, that's all it is.

[Mike Irwin]

How slow government entities update their computer configurations and standard operating software isn't a topic for discussion here, guys.

[leadcounsel]

The aforementioned "call to action" and the corresponding non-response by the public at large is evidence of exactly how much Joe citizen cares about the current administration and their now (discovered) hot air....

I guess people realized that change was the act of turning dollars into less value coins... and they aren't so interested afterall.

Keeping this on the topic of guns, I agree that despite having an outspoken anti-gun administration (that posted on their own Whitehouse website their intention to permanently enact the AWB), they have proven themselves impotent due to their own ability to pass legislation that the nation overwhelmingly doesn't want (e.g. Obamacare, Stimulus, etc.) and support very unpopular positions (Arizona border control, NYC mosque, etc.).

Thankfully we (currently) have a pro-2A SCOTUS (for the time...)

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Ah, if we start to talk politics and other policies we are done.

I think the major points are made and I don't want us to have to police the party comments to folllow.

Good discussion, closed.