Rainbow Effect

Chips? Check! Salsa? Check? Little Smokies? Check! Remote? Check! Popcorn? Check! Beer? … Oh crap, are we really down to 2 beers 30 minutes before the game on Sunday?  How the hell did this happen?!   No time to worry about it now, gotta run to the gas station and grab a quick case of suds.  I know most of us have been here:  Squealing of brakes follows you into the door at the Quick Mart and you swiftly stride to your favorite brew, tug on the glass door—LOCKED!  As you stand there, inches from your goal, your breath accumulating on the cold glass with your hands curled into fists, you ask aloud:  “What is this? Some kind of sick joke?”   The voice of the cashier behind you answers curtly: “Sorry hon, no beer sales before noon on Sunday, it’s the law.”  As you stand there, cursing under your breath about what kind of barbaric, bohemian would conceive such laws, you suddenly ponder the merits of driving to the neighboring state---- “I don’t think they have these stupid laws”.

Those laws are called “Blue Laws”  The first Blue Laws started showing up in Colonial America as early as 1620.  They were written in an effort to honor the Sabbath according to doctrine specified by individual religions.  The ranged from banning business sales and travel on Sunday, to the banning of sales, including alcohol.  Over half of the states in the US still have some residual blue laws of one sort or another. They vary in times and days and content, but they all share one thing in common: They are all secular.  The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of these laws several times in the past, but that could soon all be changing. Or at least it should.

I am sure that I do not have to educate readers about the recent Supreme Court decision on gay marriage.  By now everybody has heard about it.  But what I want to point out is the logic they used to come to their conclusion.  The Supreme Court found that the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects gay couples from the direct discrimination applied vial laws created from religious viewpoints.  It is also Unconstitutional for individual states to have laws in place that discriminate against individuals based on their personal viewpoints. In other words, Laws that discriminate based on religious practices, are unconstitutional.   By doing this, the Supreme Court has set a precedent that so far has been unheard of in this country.  It’s a legal precedent, which we can use to come back and fight against some laws that are currently in place on the books that lay down some pretty stupid and discriminatory practices.

If you take this decision and apply it to the existing Blue Laws, you can start to see how, with a little legal wrangling, it might not take long for Blue Laws to disappear entirely in the US.   In fact, we can probably take the application even further.  “Sin Taxes” are a tax applied mostly to the sales of alcohol and tobacco.   Just the name “sin tax”  betrays itself as one of secular origin.  If religious laws are now deemed unconstitutional- then maybe there is a possibility that Illinois and New Hampshire may soon see the end to $15.00 packs of cigarettes.  It could also possibly put an end to state and local Governments illegally placing unduly large tariffs on things they find distasteful.

Bob Owens over at Bearingarms.com also sees an application of the new ruling in a much more meaningful way.  He contends that the decision by the Supreme Court could be applied to the existing variation of firearms laws in states across the country.  The Idea is that by application of the law, it would force states to adopt a universal reciprocity for concealed carry permits, thereby making it much easier for the transport and carry of legal firearms across the country.  Currently, the laws vary so much from state to state, that law abiding citizens risk prison time just for transporting firearms they legally own to another location.  Owens contends that this ruling could end all of that and apply universal legal framework for firearms in the United States.

To take this even one step further, If Owens is correct in his assertion, that means you could apply his same logic to laws regarding marijuana.   Forcing all states to recognize the legality of pot based on the recognition of just a few.  All of this might ultimately lead to an end to the war on drugs.   Of course all of this is speculation right now, but it has a legitimate basis in law, and we could and might start seeing some of these challenges pop up really soon.  That means that our great friends in Colorado who have already blazed the way for us, may have done the entire rest of the country a huge favor by getting rocky mountain high.

So if you have been trying to decide in your head if the decision on gay marriage is good for you or not, I would really wait to pass judgement until you are sitting in front of your television, gun at your side, bowl on the table, with a big cold brewski before noon on Sunday before you pass judgement…. At that point you may want to call up your gay friends and thank them for paving the way for the rest of us. 

Happy Birthday

I am fairly certain that I spent some portion of last night with a lampshade on my head.  I honestly don’t remember.  The house is a mess, I have a four wheeler that needs some fixin, there is too much food and too many empty beer cans laying about and my boots are full of mud-on the inside. BUT DAMN IT WAS AWESOME!  I was blessed this 4^th of July to get to spend some time with my family at my home in South Florida.  There was too much food, there always is.  We grilled brats from Carroll’s Sausages in Georgia and they were fantastic.  Pasta salad that Melissa made with home made duck egg mayonnaise was out of this world.  We bought corn on the cob, but we forgot to cook it.  That’s OK though because the horses love corn on the cob-more for them I guess.    There was the screaming of small children in the house and it was music to my ears. 

We started the day at Peace River Seafood right down the road.  I want to say a special thanks to all the folks who worked on the holiday so that others such as ourselves may celebrate it.  The seafood festival that followed was no less than spectacular.  Oysters, clams, shrimp and crabs were sampled by all.   Peace River is the kind of place where when you order blue crab, its still alive and waiting on the back steps when you place the order.  I have not found a place that serves fresher, or better seafood. 

We followed this up with the age old American tradition of mixing alcohol with explosives. We broke out the firearms and headed down to the range.  I honestly can’t think of anything more American to do on America’s birthday than spending an afternoon with my nephews and cousins disposing of old communist ammunition-one bullet at a time. My nephew Blaze got to shoot a .380.  The smile on his face and the approval of the range master at our absolute application of firearm safety were awesome rewards for this venture.  (And for the record, the alcohol only came out AFTER the firearms were put back away.)

Then it was off to the mechanical horses.  We own two four wheelers and it didn't take long before people started to notice that it’s the rainy season in Florida-so there is PLENTY of mud on the ground. The younger kids squeals of delight while being toted around on the four wheelers through the pasture was food for the soul.  You cant help but enjoy the smile on the face of a child that goes from ear to ear when the get off such a fun little machine. 

  That was of course followed by my two nieces who INSISTED that they were going mudding with Uncle Boo Boo.  They paid for it…they had to ride behind me.  

Of course, my boots are still soaked through and I am not sure what I will be wearing on my feet today.  I know better than to wear my good boots on the trails, but by this point in the evening, the Allegany Mountain 140 proof moonshine liquor might have been making a few decisions for me.

I have a brother in law who is pretty sick and may not be long for this earth,

   I very much wanted to spend some time with him and I am glad I got to do it.  My only sadness comes from the fact that my children: Alex, Nicole and Steven are all off living their own lives and could not be home for this holiday.  By the way- HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!  I am sure you thought I forgot.

Too many holidays I have wasted not caring too much about celebrating them.  This year, with everything that has been happening in society around us, I kinda felt it important to celebrate everything that makes America the best place in the world to live.  A day where we can put our petty political differences aside for a few hours and just reflect and celebrate all the things that our founding fathers did to insure that we would have this opportunity.  I am not sure they intended for me to do it with a lampshade on my head, but at least I am free to do it.