Editorial

NOTE: For reasons which will be apparent, last week's editorial wasn't read as last Sunday evening's rant of the week. What follows is a rant I wrote for last week's show. Last week's editorial will air this Sunday evening when Paul Shimpf really will be on the show.

Editorial

This getting old stuff ain't what it used to be

David A. Lombardo

I've had Paul Shimpf, the pro-Second Amendment Republican challenging Lisa Madigan in the next election for Illinois Attorney General, booked to come on the show on August 24th for probably three weeks. It's on the show calendar. It's on my iPhone calendar. I had even already set up a show file folder for August 24th. Naturally I had the Illinois State Rifle Association advertise him being our guest for tonight. And I wrote it in our weekly newsletter and on our Facebook page. Well, he'll be on just as planned, but I've got to tell you, this getting old stuff ain't what it used to be. 

 My doctor swears I don't have Alzheimer's, or at least I think that's what he said. I can't recall exactly. I've never had a good memory, not even as a kid. In about sixth grade we were given a homework assignment to memorize a famous quotation from Shakespeare. I chose "Neither a borrower nor a lender be for loan oft loses friend and self." It took me the better part of the week to be able to recite it from memory.

If you give me a telephone number, I will forget it halfway through punching it into the telephone. And then there are names and faces. With all the things I'm involved in, I am often faced with recognizing someone's face but having no clue as to their name or how I know them. And, of course, they're always so bright and bubbly, "How've you been, David?" And they vigorously shake my hand or, worse, give me a man-hug, which means we're really good friends, you know, except for the fact I can't remember who they are. Honestly, my doctor tells me I do not have Alzheimer's, just a really crappy memory, which he partially attributes to sleep apnea and partly to...well, a really crappy memory.

My day-to-day existence, in this alien planet where people expect you to remember them, is successful for two reasons: the iPhone calendar and Gretchen. I simply cannot be left alone without one or the other. I'd probably wander off into a forest and disappear forever.

Gretchen and I will go to some fund raiser or meeting; I'll point to someone and quietly whisper to her, "What's that guy's name again?" To which she'll whisper back... something totally inaudible, as I'm also pretty near approaching being deaf as a stump.

The thing that's most disturbing is that after decades of making dumb choices, I have finally got my head together just in time for my body to start falling apart. Body parts that never did anything in the past now do. And those that did things in the past now don't. Doctors love those parts; it puts their kids through college. My proctologist sends me flowers.

For most of my life I have lived on the edge doing things normal people wouldn't consider. I've made winter ascents on major mountains, free-fall rappelled in deep pit caves, trekked on Java and roamed the back country of Thailand. I always joked I can resist anything but temptation. Now, if given the choice of two temptations, I pick the one that will get me home earliest.

After all these years I've discovered my worst enemy is gravity. Once the proud possessor of a barrel chest, I find gravity has shifted things a bit over the years. Last week Gretchen and I went to a water park; sounds like fun, right? I carefully watched the first one before committing to it. People were coming out of the tube feet first and essentially floating on their backs. What can go wrong, right?

Somewhere around Mach 1, with water being forced up my nose, I exited the tube, not floating, but rather more like a nuclear power torpedo about three feet under water. I eventually came to a halt, mostly as a result of the drag induced by my open mouth taking on yet more water. Apparently if you have a low center of gravity, you don't float very well. I ended the day with sunburn and three harpoon wounds. No, this getting old stuff ain't what it used to be.  

Federal judge upholds

Maryland assault weapon ban

A federal judge has upheld a Maryland ban on 45 assault weapons and a 10-round limit on gun magazines, two key parts of a sweeping gun-control law that were challenged shortly before the law went into effect last year. Maryland lawmakers approved the measure in response to the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six educators. U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake concluded in a 47-page ruling that the law serves the government's interest in protecting public safety without significantly burdening what the Supreme Court has explained is the core Second Amendment right of law abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home. "In summary, the Firearms Safety Act of 2013, which represents the considered judgment of this state's legislature and its governor, seeks to address a serious risk of harm to law enforcement officers and the public from the greater power to injure and kill presented by assault weapons and large capacity magazines," Blake wrote in her ruling. Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley proposed the measure, which is one of the nation's strictest. It went into effect in October.  

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ABA comes out anti-Second Amendment

The American Bar Association (ABA), which supports handgun registration and handgun owner licensing; supports a ban on general-purpose semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15; thinks the Consumer Products Safety Commission should dictate what kind of firearms are "safe" enough to manufacture; supports legislation to ban the manufacture of pistols that don't micro-stamp ammunition; thinks that anti-gun groups should be able to file frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry; and opposes "shall issue" carry permit laws and federal "Right-to-Carry" reciprocity legislation has now come out against Stand Your Ground laws. Who, pray tell, could have predicted it? The ABA contends that Stand Your Ground laws increase homicides, but the four studies it cites for that theory suffer serious limitations. The Tampa Bay Tribune, which conducted one of the studies, admitted that it reviewed only a small number of cases, thus its findings couldn't be considered conclusive. Two of the remaining three studies used data which exclude a significant percentage of defensive homicides and which, even with respect to those that are included, don't indicate whether a Stand Your Ground law was invoked. The fourth study used data that didn't distinguish between criminal homicides, to which such laws are irrelevant, and defensive homicides, let alone distinguish between defensive homicides in which such laws were and weren't invoked. Most states now have some form of a Stand Your Ground law, and in 2012 the nation's murder rate fell to a 48-year low, nearly an all-time low. Also preliminary FBI data indicate that the murder rate fell again in 2013. [Source: NRA/ILA]

NJ anti-gun laws jailing the innocent

Pennsylvania single mom Shaneen Allen was pulled over for a traffic violation and volunteered information to a New Jersey police officer that she was carrying a legally-owned handgun with a Pennsylvania permit. NJ does not recognize this PA gun law; she was arrested, jailed for 40 days, and now faces trial and years in prison. The judge and district attorney on Allen's case are the same two that gave ZERO jail time to NFL star Ray Rice for beating his wife unconscious in a New Jersey elevator. New Jersey wants you to know that if you are visiting their state, you can beat your spouse unconscious, just don't bring a legal firearm with a permit from your state. Allen faces a 42-month jail sentence because of these ridiculous, unconstitutional New Jersey anti-gun laws. State laws like this are the reason we must contact our states to tell them how outrageous these laws and new proposals are. Shaneen Allen is a single mother from Philadelphia, PA, not far from the New Jersey line. She has no prior criminal offences. She was driving to NJ for a surprise party when her life changed for the worst. Allen's trial is scheduled for October 6th. [Source: Citizens for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms]