[geeks] FW: [rescue] UPS Recommendation

[Brian Dunbar]

Mike Meredith [mailto:mike at blackhairy.demon.co.uk] on Wednesday, July 16,
2003 1:07 PM said

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 08:47:36 -0500
Brian Dunbar <Brian.Dunbar at plexus.com> wrote:
> > Which still doesn't guarantee that the cops will show up in time.  If
> > they can't guarantee light speed response the instant I need them to
> > protect me, then I have a moral responsibility to have the means to
> > protect myself and/or my family.  And my neighbors if they need.  Hey,
> > wait, that sounds like that-there militia thingee mentioned in the
> > Constitution ...

> The 2nd amendment ? You know that looks like a spectacularly dumb one
> ... because it's so vague and unspecific. "A well regulated militia,
> being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people
> to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

I've heard _of_ it, sure.  It didn't come across well, but I was trying to
make joke, a jest, a funny.  Obviosly not _that_ funny.  I've been told my
humour doesn't travel well.

<snip>
> Of course there's nothing to say that arms can't be used for
> self-protection either, but the whole statement implies that it is
> specifically for military purposes. Banding together with your
> neighbours for self-protection doesn't make you a member of a militia
> either.

I'm just a dumb hick who has trouble understanding why, if I work 55 hours
in a week, I can't put that on my 'time sheet'.  It seems to me that the
Founders made a great deal of the Constitution vague on purpose, to give the
thing some flexibility.  Group A has their definition of militia, Group B
has theirs, and they'll fight it out in the courts.

Worth noting that 'militia' in the colonial era was, IIRC, every able bodied
male in the community, mustering under a pre-selected elected leader.  By
the definition in common use in the 18th century, everyone was _in_ the
militia, willy-nilly.

It's a bit of a stretch to call a mob like that a military formation in the
modern sense of the word, but I'll bet whatever drill events they had were a
blast.  Spend a few hours in close order and musketry drill followed by the
1780s version of a kegger.

~brian