Guns and Ammo

It was a bit slow at the coffee shop today. We talked about the holiday and what we did on our time off. The only thing of any importance that we talked about was the shooting of the 4 police officers out in Washington State. These cops were apparently shot by a man who should not have been out of prison to start with. Anyway, this lead to a discussion about guns, and gun control. I have guns, and I guess most or all of our group owns guns. I truly believe the old cliche that "if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns". The types of people that can purchase guns worries me more than the ability to purchase a gun.

It seems to me that the people that are going out and purchasing the assault rifles and military type weapons have a larger agenda. Let me back up a bit. I'm generalizing, and I really don't mean to imply that everyone that buys a gun fits what I'm about to describe. It seems to me that a lot of these dumb asses think that they are going to run out and defend liberty and the constitution from the left wing liberals. Since the democrats have gained the majority in congress, and the presidency, I have read that gun sales are up significantly, and the threats against the president have increased. People need to pay more attention to world news, and take a look at countries where armed conflicts are taking place. I prefer to assert my views verbally, and in the voting booth.

Speaking of asserting views, when it comes to the Internet, we need to be careful about whose views are being asserted. I received an email from a friend urging me to vote on this link he provided which asked the question. Does the second amendment give individuals the right to bear arms? yes or no? I don't think that this is a black and white question to be resolved by public opinion. I do know that the presenters of the email urging me to vote, prefaced the email with this statement. "Obama"s attorney general has already said that removing our guns is one of his major issues". I want someone to show me where he said that. Anyway, it shows where the people that issued the email are coming from, and I'm not going to help them out.

Last Week at Ellie's

I'm going to try to post daily, when there is anything of interest, but since this is my first day, I'll give you a recap of the week. Last week, Wendy (the owner of Ellie's) decided that she wanted to have a meal for the homeless on Sunday the 22nd. More on this below. Most of the other conversation centered around the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

I'm sure the coffee klatch will roll their collective eyes when they read this, but I'll repeat my complaint about the Thanksgiving meal. This is my wife's favorite holiday. She gets up early and starts to cook. Now, we usually don't have a big crowd at our house. This year it's Kathy, my son Paul, his wife Summer, my mom, and Doug and Dean (close friends whose children are otherwise engaged this year). Did I mention that Paul and Summer are vegetarians? So, My wife is totally involved in preparing a meal of mashed foods which take all day to prepare, but only about five minutes to eat. Think about it, there's mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rootabaga ( who eats that? or can spell it.), slaw, turkey(not mashed but it could be), green bean casarole, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. So she spends all day in the kitchen, cooking, watching the Macy's parade, and the dog show, and annoying me with little requests. "Would you run to the store, Would you take out the trash, would you unstop the garbage disposal." Dinner time finally arrives, and their is a sudden flurry of activity. We rush everything to the table before it can get cold, I carve the turkey and take out the stuffing, and slam bam think you mam, it's over. Except for about forty thousand dishes and five days worth of leftovers.

Now I'll tell you about the meal for the homeless. Wendy gave out 40 tickets to homeless people that hang around uptown Concord. The coffee klatch and our wives donated a little money, made some desserts, and helped serve. Wendy cooked chicken, ham, pork, veggies, rice, saladand provided tea and bread. I hate to talk about what a nice person she is to do this, I'm afraid it will go to her head. We had about 25 homeless show up for the dinner. Not as many as expected, but it was worth while. Here are a few observations about the people that came to the dinner.

The number one thing I noticed, was that they all seemed happy. Not oh boy, a free meal happy, but friendly and engagingly happy. I only hope that if my circumstances left me homeless, that I could be so optimistic. The other thing I noticed, was a sense of community that they displayed. I've noticed that the faces change all the time in the homeless crowd in Concord, and everywhere else I'm sure. There seems to be a lot of interaction between the homeless. I guess they have a lot of time on their hands, and they need all the support from each other they can get.

The one thing I wanted to do, but I didn't because I felt it would be inappropriate, was to ask each of them about their story. I suspect that if all of us understood the circumstances that cause homelessness, we would have a lot more empathy towards them.

That's it for this week, have a happy Thanksgiving.

A brief history

If you drive through downtown Concord between 7:00 and 8:00 am, you've possibly noticed us in the window of Ellie's coffee shop. We've been meeting almost every weekday morning for ten years or so. Actually Ellie's is the forth place we've met. The other three coffee shops closed down. It wasn't our fault! The core members of our group are Tom, Tim, Gordan, Howard, and myself (Mike). There are also some casual members that show up on a less than regular basis. I think they need to get their priorities in order. If you follow this blog, you will get to know us pretty well.

A while back, Tim gave me a book to read, called, "The Last Great Place". The book talks about the human need to interact with other people in a neutral setting. A place with the appeal of the bar in the TV show "Cheers" is a good example. For the five of us, "Ellie's is the "Last Great Place". During that one hour each day, we can relax, talk about whatever we want, greet friends and acquaintances, have a bite to eat, and mentally prepare for the day.

What do we talk about? Of course, a lot of the conversation is mundane and trivial, but there is also heated debate about almost every issue you can imagine. It won't take long for you to figure out the right from the left in our little group. I hope you follow our blog, send in comments, and, best of all join in.