To Kill A Mockingbird.... or Trayvon versus Zimmerman

At this point in the point in the exploitation of the death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman's gun the only fact not in dispute is that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin.

In the interest of full disclosure let me say I have a carry permit and more than one handgun suitable for short range combat. I am not a police officer nor was I trained as a soldier so I have effectively no combat training.

The most important thing I was told by the police detective who interviewed me before I was given my license was not to pull my gun unless I had to use it.

He didn't mean to pound nails.

It took a while for the lesson to sink in. The only legitimate reason I could pull out one of these uncomfortable chunks of metal and point it at someone was because I believed that person was going to kill or severely injure either myself or some nearby defenseless person. That's a real tough judgment call in my opinion, especially when you're not trained to make those decisions.

The other thought that finally came to my mind... The only reason I'm carrying this gun is to kill someone. I can't warn them. I can't threaten them. I have to kill them (or at least try to kill them). That made me very cautious about when I carried my gun.

I wonder about Mr. Zimmerman. He's a young man in good health. A rough and tumble street fight with an unarmed opponent shouldn't have been such a threat he needed lethal force. In my opinion.

But I wasn't there.

On the other hand why would Trayvon jump a white guy in a white neighborhood who is obviously carrying a gun? Oh the gun was concealed... right. So Trayvon thought he'd get tough with the white dude following him... in a gated community noted for having a community watch...

I have a lot of questions for Mr. Zimmerman and the police, but none really for Trayvon. He could reasonably have turned and confronted Zimmerman or tried to run or even attacked Zimmerman, but in any case he was unarmed and alone and in a strange neighborhood, while Zimmerman was in communication with the police and carrying a pistol, locked cocked and ready to rock. (That means he had a round in the chamber, the gun was ready to fire as soon as the safety was released and the trigger pulled. In other words Mr. Zimmerman was ready to kill someone.

I like the Florida stand your ground law. I think it's the right action in certain circumstances. Like if someone with a gun is shooting at you or people nearby (like this random gunmen that like to gun down unarmed people)... then I think a person who is carrying his weapon should return fire and try to kill the individual. I think a woman threatened with rape should gun down her attacker. I wouldn't mind if she shot his nuts off. I think old people should be allowed to defend themselves.

Self defense should be considered a basic right.

But the question I have is: Who was ready to kill that night? The man with the gun or the boy with the skittles?

Romney as Commander in Chief.... or through the Looking Glass...

The Republicans are barking at the moon again. They want a war... Any war. Romney is even criticizing Obama for not having enlarged the Army by enough troops. He wants another 100,000.

But he doesn't want to pay for the troops, their training, or housing.

We don't have anyplace to put a hundred thousand soldiers in peace time. Except in other countries.

I guess I'm very afraid that the people who think Obama is really an African Muslim will prevail in the next election, dooming our soldiers to more endless guerrilla wars.

The last time we defeated a dedicated native militia was the Indian Wars of the 1800s. And then we had to kill their families, steal their children, steal their land and starve them into submission.

We haven't had the stomach, thank the Lord, for that kind of dedicated slaughter since.

Except we are pushing our soldiers to the breaking point. Like the SFC that went amok in Afghanistan. Whatever justification he gives for his actions we're going to execute him. And it will be our fault for having allowed these wars and these endless deployments to go on.

So I really don't want another armchair general starting more wars and rattling his sabre. We've had enough. We can fight a decisive year long conflict with any army in the world. But we can't fight sand which is the nature of the guerilla war.