gun lobby

Petitions to the U. S. President

Pi

I checked out whitehouse.gov and their list of existing petitions. In order to get a response (whatever that manifests itself as), you must have 25,000 signatures (this year, it was amended to 100,000 signatures — here is a recent petition to have that rule rolled back to 25,000 again  — here, too). Here are some petitions that have gone over that limit:

… some on worthwhile issues (in my opinion):

  • Support mandatory labelling of GMOs (over 65,000 signatures)
  • Free access to scientific journals if the research is taxpayer-funded (58,887 signatures)
  • Change all US measurements to metric (33,537 signatures in 1 month)
  • Amend the constitution to get big money out of politics (23,556 after 2 weeks)
  • Don’t veto Palestine’s application for membership in the UN (11,000 signatures since Sept/12 — pretty sad, actually)

… and here are some “interesting” ones:

  • anything to do with actions against the Westboro Baptist Church (usually over 60,000 signatures)
  • Anything to do with actions against Dianne Feinstein (normally over 25,000)
  • Endorse the NRA’s National School Shield Program (36,827 signatures in 1 month)
  • Allow Texas to secede from the Union (100,000 in 1 week last November)
  • recount the election (69,006 signatures so far)
  • don’t regualte premium cigars (36,270 signatures)
  • mint a trillion dollar coin and place it in the Federal Reserve to avert a debt ceiling crisis (over 10,000 signatures in 2 weeks)

… and some ones that, I fear, may not make it past the 25,000 mark:

  • Recognize International “Talk Like a Pirate Day”
  • Get rid of Petitions.whitehouse.gov
  • officially recognize the Sasquatch as an indigenous species
  • ban hammers and baseball bats
  • Save the “Lepty Lew”

Comments on the 2011 G20 Summit I wish I made

Pi

The following exchange took place yesterday at the CBC website upon reporting the news that protestor, potato gun hobbyist, and computer geek Byron Sonne got acquitted of all charges related to the G-20 protest held 11 months ago in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Some of this is embellished but you can read the real comment by following the above link.

Hurk opines:
“And what did it cost taxpayers to keep a hardened criminal armed with a potato gun in jail for 11 months.”

A person pseudonamed “ikizoo” replies:

==========================
Hey Hurk, have you ever been shot with a potato gun? It hurts like a son of a bitch…I think people who have potato guns are a serious threat to our way of life. I think the government should start a potato gun registry, and require every store that sells potatoes to track who they were sold to. The law should actually cover all tubers since they can be used as potato substitutes, and might even extend to certain hard fruits for that matter.

Can you imagine what could happen if, for example, someone smuggled a potato gun and say 5 pounds of turnips onto a plane?

Such legislation will never be implemented by this government, however, because Mr. Harper is in the pocket of the tuber lobby which represents those who thrive on selling their vegetables to anyone with the money to pay. Potatoes, turnips and yams are being sold to violent schizophrenics, hardened criminals, prostitutes, members of fanatical hate groups, members of drug cartels, and communist groups without any background checks, or criminal record checks of their clients.

There was even a Fox News special report last week on how Canadian spud growers are selling whole bags of potatoes to foreign buyers who will do who knows what with them. Romney has promised to shut down the trafficking of Yams being smuggled across the border, should he become president. This is serious, people, and we can’t turn a blind eye to it any longer. Write to Prime Minister Harper and tell him you want action, now!