Sorry Waffler, but the 2nd Amendment is what keeps the rest of our freedoms safe. The first step to tyranny is the disarmament of law-abiding free citizens. The political commentary aside, the call to arms in the US has always been the political sleeping giant. It is always the minority that protects the freedom of the majority. ALWAYS. That is why the armed minority (of law abiding free citizens, not the druggies and thuggies) must be protected at all costs. By the way, that armed minority is way over represented in the US Armed Forces, the truest defender of freedom and liberty.

Focus here folks, focus. END move. When ALL else has failed, and there are no other acceptable solutions available. Our liberal friends may say that there is always a compromise available. I say tell that to my grandmother's family, exterminated by the Nazis in Lithuania. You may not like the idea, but you will never do away with it's needfulness in maintaining civilization. To NOT pick up the gun is to surrender to tyranny and slavery. This is why any and all attempts to disarm US citizens will be met with the fullest force that can be brought to bear, including the last one of picking up a gun and using it.

Corporations notwithstanding, politics notwithstanding - this one idea is truly the foundation of our republic. A law that applies to me applies equally to anyone else. It is what gives me a stake in the law in general, and compels one to prevent the formulation of unjust or unequal laws. We are not created equally, but we are to be treated equally under the law. If the crime committed requires a $10,000 bond that is what it requires, regardless of my ability or inability to pay it.

Then we need to take it back without selling out the troops like the Demos seem to want to do.

And not truth that is culturally relevant but truth for everyone. Anything else is opinion, to include faith in anything. Facts only please, not hypotheses or theories advertizing as facts.

ATF and DEA should both be disbanded immediately.

Sorry Anon, poor word choice on your part. Limited government perforce means increased freeedom, and yes that means the freedom to starve if you cannot or will not compete.

Like the "common knowledge" that the fall of Rome was caused by being too militaristic, rather than the hedonistic rot that Rome's people fell into, and the glib assumption that the 'Pax Romana' did not depend upon the might of Rome's armies, but the even-handedness of Roman law and the courts. Our liberal brothers of today should study this.

The only folks that do any silencing of anyone is the media, and they do that through selective processing of what is 'newsworthy'.

Not giving a damn is not the same as passivity. If I care about something I am anything but passive. It is easy to confuse the two I suppose. Perhaps I should care more about the Christians in Darfur getting slaughtered and enslaved by the Muslims, but I don't. My bad. It is not worth my life, the Christians should smarten up and kill the Muslims or move the hell away. That is not the same as being passive about it. Passive is saying "Someone should do something about it, and I would if..." I simply do not care about it

Yes, free is hard

In the words of Ronald Reagan, "Trust, but verify." In the case of most politicians verify what they DO, not what they SAY. Often their action, or inaction tells you wether or not they can be trusted, and then only in that area. I trust Todd Tiahrt to keep the liberals hand off my guns and sink any attempt at registration (the first step in confiscation). Do I trust him to pick the next USAF Tanker program on it's merits? NO WAY!!! He has to do what needs doing to steer that business to Boeing Wichita regardless of the Airbus' quality.

Agree. That is why we the people need to keeps tabs on these agencies, although I would commend to Joe that the CIA is authorized by the constitution, so long as it operates outside the borders of the United States. The Agency has done some pretty good work that most folks have never heard of. But they have no place in our Republic,

It is good to live where everyone is above average. Perhaps that is why the Middle West has such low crime rates, although it could be because we do fight back. The cops out here are used to receiving help from the citizentry.

Another of history's gibbering idiots heard from.

And if in our freedom, we try to deprive another of theirs, shame on us. Better to be free to starve than be well-fed without personal liberty.