NRA

Our suspicions are confirmed. The National Rifle Association is successfully lobbying to keep an International effort at controlling the arms trade from being enacted. The bush administration has seen to it that the United States will not sign an agreement that 135 other countries have signed to limit arms trade. They lamely say it will lead to gun control in the U.S. Actually, it will lead to a loss of $7 Billion in taxpayer subsidies to the U.S. manufacturers.

I say our suspicions are confirmed because this is really indicative of Eisenhower's Military Industrial complex at work. He said,

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

This is really about America's leading role in the arms trade. It is not about keeping your Beretta in the night table next to the bed to protect your family from intruders. The NRA that I was a member as a child was one that promoted hunting, gun safety and training. Now it is just a promoter of war and right wing politics.

There was a letter to the Editor in the Journal this morning that really got to me. It is a rant against immigrants. It reminds me of the movie "Gangs of New York" in which the 'nativists' declare war on all non born residents of America. I think this attitude is growing in this country and it is scary.