Now, regardless of where you fall in the debate, pro or con with groping or contact or what you believe about the Chertoff/Napolitano connection, there is one soundbite that stands out from the Director of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in her interview with USA Today. Talk about smugly disingenuous OR totally out of touch with reality. Either way, it makes me wonder.

According to the interview, “If people want to travel by some other means,” well, thats ok by her. Basically, it’s her way or the highway…literally. Forgetting that many fly because they truly have no other options, she suggests playing nicely or take your ball and go home.  So, if you’re planning to take your children to grandma’s house this year, and you plan on flying, be prepared for the big, bad wolf to grope and feel you. Or you can take Napolitano’s advice and pack the little ones into you car and drive cross country.

Still, does Sec. Napolitano get the Curly Shuffle when she gets on a plane? Has she subject herself to to “grope and go” like the rest of us? Or now in popular parlance, how often does a TSA security guard juggle her junk?

What has always nipped at me was the smug, disingenuous attitudes of elected officials and bureaucrats. Mayor Daley of Chicago fighting handguns in the homes all the while protected by armed Chicago Police Officers 24/7 or any of a host of governors and state officials screaming about DUI laws from the back of their chauffeured limousines. Here’s a new one, according to Politico, freshman Congressman Andy Harris who campaigned against President Obama’s health care overhaul is now wondering why it takes so long for his congressional health benefits to kick in? I can’t make this stuff up!

Where did we cross the line? How has it become that our elected officials and the bureaucrats that pander to them, have grown to believe that they make the laws but are not subject to them? When did they forget just who works for whom?

Where did you and I go so wrong?

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Don’t be shocked. Not too long ago CNN contributor Roland Martin suggested that our President “go gangsta” and “channel his inner Al Capone.”  Nice, now our President is taking advice from Roland Martin? Roland Martin? I didn’t know Roland was a boxing coach.

Well, careful what you HOPE for. Apparently, the Obama Administration is taking counsel from a talk show contributor? That is what political discourse has come to in this country? Really?

Ah, the Chicago way.

On a side note, ever notice that many people that threaten a physical fight, in truth, couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag if they had to? Just saying.

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I’ve thought about his question 100 times since then. I’m a racist because I didn’t have any cash? Really, that’s what it has come to in our country?

Regardless of your race, are you a racist if you disagree with someone of another skin color? That’s all it takes to qualify? Really?

Are you now considered a racist if you’ve gone to a Tea Party event? Should you be deemed a racist if you think Rev. Al Sharpton is irrelevant and will do and say just about anything to get on camera? So you’re a racist if you didn’t vote for President Obama? Are you now a racist if you think Sarah Palin doesn’t stand a chance in a general election? Are you suddenly viewed as a racist if you think Chairman Michael Steele should find another gig?  Are you looked at as a racist if think Nullification is a viable political process? Are you a racist if you dislike Glenn Beck or Nancy Pelosi? Are you a racist if you think the N.A.A.C.P. has bigger issues, real issues to address than to launch a website to hunt down alleged “racists” in rival political parties? One would think we would have learned hunting witches and communists. Are you a racist to think that if Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel or Rod Blagoivich are found guilty, they should be dealt with accordingly?

None of this is to suggest that racism doesn’t exist; as despicable and disgusting as it is, sad to say it has survived into the 21st Century. Unfortunately, that’s undebatable today.

Have you noticed of late that some now hurl the accusation of racism way too flippantly, political “Chicken Littles” shooting from the hip, building fences instead of bridges, turmoil instead of trust, playing the race card as a matter of strategy or political expediency? What happens to these lowlife activists when more and more Americans begin to ignore their unsubstantiated claims? What happens in those cases when the accusation is accurate and action therefore warranted yet the term is all but warn out through repetition and therefore ignored? What then?

The next time someone labels another a racist, take a moment and wonder about the accuser and their motives. Are the the accusers of racism “rooting it out”or are they “rooting it on” in hopes of justifying some ulterior intention or to unfairly sabotage their opponent? Ask yourself, just what are they up to?

Incorrectly demonizing the oposition with the charge of racism is the definition of degenerate. To falsely accuse another of racism, hoping to impugn or marginalize them with your attack, only stokes the fires that you so publicly pretend to quell. Look, if you can prove the charge of racism, please do so. If you can’t support your claim with evidence, why not slither back under the rock you crawled from?

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Your home, as it pertains to the recent Supreme Court decision, does not include huge amounts of square footage according to Chicago officials. The City has decided that your front and back porches not to mention your garage, driveway and yard, are off limits to you while carrying a firearm. If you’re packing on your porch or while parking your car you can be prosecuted.

Here is my question. Since your property taxes are calculated in Cook County and the Windy City based on the total area of your home, your garage, porches, yards and driveways, can the taxpayers expect a refund?

Clearly, Chicago wants it both ways. They want to randomly and mercurially redefine your castle.

They prohibit you from carrying your legally registered firearm throughout your property because your home is contained within the main four walls yet they have no problem assessing property taxes while including the total surface area of your home.

Nice.

Would seem to me that if you pay taxes on a particular piece of property, it is that definition and measurement that should remain constant in deciding the term “home.”

Mayor Daley. How do you define a home? Is there one accounting for taxes yet another calculation for those laws that you disagree with? Better yet Mr. Mayor, how do you define the term double standard?

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President Washington. “Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.”

Mayor Daley. “We are a country of laws, not a nation of guns.”

Now, disclaimer time. I am not an attorney, a Constitutional scholar (well not officially) and have never even been to the Supreme Court in Washington, DC. I usually spend most of my time at the Lincoln Memorial. Once you read the engraved words of The Gettysburg Address, they never leave you.

Here is my question. The Supreme Court has, at least for now, decided the law. President Washington believed in the importance of the Second Amendment, Mayor Daley believes we are a “country of laws.” Is it not time to enforce the law of the land and deal quickly and unequivocally with those that brake it while not obstructing in any way, the inalienable rights of law abiding citizens?

I know Mayor Daley. I believe him to be an honorable, dedicated community servant that cares deeply about the gun violence plaguing the City of Chicago. As he moves forward in “complying” with this new decision, he needs to limit the hurdles for those rightfully keeping and bearing arms while substantially upping the hurt for those criminals that forfeited their right.

This is the time. If we are a “country of laws” then the Mayor needs to abide by them and not use some type of legal gymnastics to circumvent the 2nd Amendment.

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As a supporter of the Court’s decision, a former police officer and a member of the NRA, I am very curious as to the next steps on both sides of the debate.

Now, all eyes will be on Mayor Daley in Chicago. How will the city respond? What additional hurdles will be put in place to gun ownership? Just how difficult can they make it for gun owners? One thing is for certain, the Mayor will not take this lying down.

I firmly believe that the “Life” in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness begins with your right to arm yourself so as to protect that very Life from those with a depraved indifference to it. For those that would rather rely on 911 and their local police agencies to protect them, they should feel free to do so. For those of us realizing that our local police departments, though honorable and well intentioned,  are already spread way too thin and that we have both the right and the solemn requirement to protect our loved ones, we should be allowed to feel free also.

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According to an article today in Real Clear Politics, President Obama is ready to go gangsta. “I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”

O.K. Gotcha, Mr. President.

I’ve got an idea; how about kick some Goldman Sachs ass?

In that the management at Goldman Sachs is now refusing to cooperate with the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission forcing a subpoena to gain information after multiple requests and refusals for the same. No help in clearing up their role in one of the greatest economic disasters since the great depression? Want to throw down over spilled fossil fuels? How about picking a fight over the financial collapse?

Mr. President. You’re in the mood to beat some butt, to kick some ass? How about pummeling your pals at Goldman Sachs?

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In a day when the 24-hour news cycle slathers our TV and computer screens with thrashing political points of view and screeching bias, you wonder what happened to debate and cordial discourse. Today, screaming one-sidedness steals the show. Frothing-at the-mouth-while-finger-pointing gets the Nielsen.  Winning “the Book” is all about ear-piercing partisanship.

The war of words and insults fills our airwaves, websites and blog posts. Politics, Religion, Economics, Climate Control and the list goes on. Little discussion, tons of dispute. Mostly conflict, no conversation. Bipartisanship? Talk about folklore. What a joke. There’s way too much blame being thrown around by both pundits and politicians for any real bipartisanship.

Why is that, do you suppose?

I don’t blame “the Media” as much as I blame you and me. Most media outlets simply cater to our culture.  It may be entertaining; I’ll give you that. But with the uphill battles we are facing as individuals and as a country, shouldn’t we be looking for a bit more articulation and a little less ass-inine attitude. Don’t get me wrong. I like a good fight as much as the next guy (I’m a Irish, beer-loving, brawling ex-New York cop) but do these political hotheads truly, genuinely help the process by highlighting their impulse control disorders? Some are crying for the President to “go gangsta” and channel his “inner Al Capone” while others lament he isn’t going “Chicago-Style” enough. Please. Save it for the pizza.

So as we prepare to watch President Obama, Senator Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi  “go Nuclear” over health-care, using reconciliation as a tactic,  clearly there will be a new “R-word” making the news cycle.

Would Governors push for “stricter DUI/DWI laws” if they lost their chauffeur? If they had to drive back to the mansion after the holiday office party not in the back of the limo, but in the driver’s seat?

Would Congress vote for “healthcare reform” if they were subject to the same medical plans they hope to burden us with? If healthcare is going to be ‘Universal’ shouldn’t it be universal? You know, “One for all and all for one”?

Would  Mayors of our largest cities push for “tougher gun laws” if they lost their armed bodyguards that protect them 24/7?

The U.S. Supreme court will begin today deciding the Constitutionality of the Chicago Gun Ban. Forgetting for the moment the 2nd and 10th Amendment issues, I wondering about Otis McDonald, a terrified 76 year old Chicagoan who lives in fear in a crime-prone area of the city. Mr. McDonald is asking the Supreme Court to allow him, basically, to keep a handgun in his home for protection. He reasons, that since the Justices overturned the Washington, DC gun ban in Heller vs. DC, his chances are pretty good. Local officials see it differently.

According to Mayor Dayley, “We have the right for health and safety to pass reasonable laws dealing with the protection and health of the people of the city of Chicago.”

I’m not suggesting, I don’t think, that Mayor Daley should philosophically recuse himself from the argument, I’m simply wondering if the Mayor has any clue what it is like to fall asleep in fear. Isolated from the pain and anguish of late-night home invasions, guarded by a platoon of armed Chicago Police officers around the clock, he lives is the same city as Mr. McDonald yet in a totally different world.

5 media appearances, 3 personal appearances, 5,000 miles, 15 days

Green RVer Brian Brawdy hit the road again for the first of 2 Summer Media Tours. Starting with an appearance on WGN in Chicago, he stopped in Denver for an appearance on Fox & at Ketelson Campers.

He then traveled to explore National Parks in Utah & Arizona and appeared on ABC & Good Morning Arizona in Phoenix where Brian spoke about the 7 Sins of Summer Safety and the RV lifestyle. He spent the day at Tom’s Camperland, the local Lance dealership, then headed into Joshua Tree National Park. From his interstate equilibrium to honks from fellow RVers that his pesky backdoor swung open, the trip is proving to be quite the adventure!

Spending a few days at Lance Camper headquarters in Lancaster, California, Brian had general maintenance performed on the Green RV and is now headed back across the country to meet up with his friends from Thetford at the Family Motor Coach Association’s Rally (FMCA) in Bowling Green, Ohio.

You can follow Brian’s adventures as he continues to spread the messages of Conservation thru Exploration, Green RVing, Emergency Preparedness and Survival in a variety of ways -

1. Sign up for an RSS Feed to his Blog

2. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@BrianBrawdy) as he sends daily updates from the Road.

3. Log on to his SPOT Adventures Page where he shares his entire route and photos!

For breaking news and commentary on how to survive and thrive in the 21st century, you can also log onto BrianBrawdy.com

Stay tuned as Brian arrives at the FMCA Rally this weekend for a Monday start! He will be sending updates & blogging about his experience in the days ahead!