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* I received this press release earlier today…
From: cms.iisnews@illinois.gov
Subject: Press Release - CORR Doss Kuykendall at Large
Date: October 7, 2011 11:56:31 AM CDTCHICAGO – October 7, 2011 – The Illinois Department of Corrections inmate at large is Doss Kuykendall who was incarcerated for burglary. He is housed at East Moline CC, a low level minimum security/work camp facility. Kuykendall is 43 years old, 5 ft. 8 inches tall- 190 pounds- with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen with a beard and long hair, but he may have altered his appearance.
That IDOC press release was sent almost 48 hours after Kuykendall escaped and, as it turns out, almost an hour after Kuykendall was captured…
The fugitive was taken into custody around 11 Friday morning by members of the Illinois Department of Corrections, Albany Police, and the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Department. The investigation into his escape continues.
Corrections sent another press release at 12:30 this afternoon announcing the capture.
* I’ve avoided this fight because, well, I’m not sure why. I just did. But here’s the latest salvo via press release…
Statement of Brady Campaign Acting President Dennis Henigan on Illinois Representative Joe Walsh’s October 3 letter responding to Henigan’s recent statement:
“Rep. Walsh recently argued that concealed carry of loaded guns should be legalized in Illinois because the Second Amendment is ‘the last line of defense between us and our government.’ When I suggested he ought to explain why his words should not be read as a thinly veiled justification for violence against government officials, the Congressman responded to me with a letter that is nothing but an exercise in misdirection and obfuscation. The letter is a dutiful repetition of gun lobby talking points, but not once does it explain, or even refer to, Walsh’s earlier statement that guns are ‘the last line of defense between us and our government.’
Rather than defend his earlier statement, Walsh’s letter raises new, and equally troubling, questions. He says that the Second Amendment was written because ‘Americans should be able [to] defend themselves from tyranny no matter what form it takes on.’ He then says that ‘Americans and especially Illinoisans are subject to a new form of tyranny — a big government bent on slowly dismantling our rights to own and carry a firearm.’
Again, Mr. Walsh, what are you saying here? That if Illinois does not allow the carrying of loaded, concealed guns in public, the Second Amendment justifies resistance by force of arms? Are you asserting a right of gun owners to threaten or engage in violent acts against government officials if the Illinois legislature does not agree that people should be free to carry loaded guns into restaurants, coffee shops and movie theaters in your state?
Discuss if you want.
* Five years ago, Walmart’s attempt to open a store in Chicago created such a public uproar that the resulting backlash led to a ton of incumbent aldermen being tossed out on their tails in the next election. Nowadays, Walmart is widely praised for providing much-needed services…
But since the company opened two SmallMarts — a “Walmart Express” store on Chicago’s south side in July and a “Neighborhood Market” on the western edge of Downtown last week — uproar over its alleged poor labor practices and detrimental effect on small businesses has largely dissipated, say Chicago leaders we spoke to.
“The debate about not letting in Walmart is kind of over,” said Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a state legislature who represents the tony Hyde Park section of Chicago. “We need groceries in food deserts, and Walmart has fresh fruits and veggies.” […]
“The truth is that an overwhelming majority of Chicagoans wanted more affordable grocery options all along, a fact made clear as thousands of local residents — most of whom have never publicly voiced their opinion — show their support for Walmart by shopping our stores every day,” said Walmart spokesman Steve Restivo.
All true. It helped, though, that organized labor was able to cut a deal with the company which raised wages, albeit not to the level the unions really wanted.
* Broomfield, Colorado’s mayor is named Pat Quinn, and his opponent’s last name is Madigan. I kid you not…
All seven men running for a Broomfield office this year participated in Thursday’s event… Mayoral incumbent Pat Quinn and challenger Paul Madigan also participated.
Weird.
…Adding… Nice catch by a commenter…
I don’t know anything about them but there is also a national law firm with this interesting name: Quinn Emanuel
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:13 pm
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The language Walsh is using strikes me as being incredibly dangerous. One could read that and think it’s now OK to open fire on state officials.
Comment by Dirty Red Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:22 pm
Walmart rules.
That is all.
Comment by just sayin' Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:37 pm
Walsh is saying more troubling things. It sounds like he is more in line with the Sovereign Citizen movement than an elected official. The Southern Poverty Law Center has some good material relating to beliefs and statements like “the last line of defense between us and our government”
Comment by Kane Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:39 pm
As an opponent of concealed carry, I give Walsh credit for making an intellectually honest and constitutionally valid argument.
The Founding Fathers thought the right to bear arms was necessary so citizens could protect themselves from a tyranical government and maintain a “free state.”
Of course, because we are not a nation of Timothy McVeighs (at least not yet,) concealed carry backers argue they need their guns to protect themselves from criminals, which is much easier to sell politically.
A true Tea Partier, like Walsh, is unafraid to make the arguement that he needs a gun to protect himself from the government because he doesn’t care about turning off the political center, which doesn’t share his parnoia.
Comment by Frank Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:42 pm
Walsh’s comments are unsurprisingly ignorant and ludicrous.
It was an armed insurrection against the government, Shay’s Rebellion, that led to the trashing of the Articles of Confederation and a weak national government to adoption of the Constitution and a stronger national government.
The next time force of arms were taken against the government, the Whiskey Rebellion, Pres. Washington put it down forcefully with regular troops.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:42 pm
2013 is going to be tough for a lot of people. Goofy Joe Walsh will be gone. He makes it easy to release a press release or fill a couple of inches of newsprint Condeming him.
Comment by Fed up Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:43 pm
I understand Mr. Kasper has been dispatched to Colo to assist.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:43 pm
===necessary so citizens could protect themselves from a tyranical government and maintain a “free state.”===
What they actually wrote was a well regulated militia was necessary to maintain a “free State.”
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:43 pm
Walsh is making a big gaffe by not explaining himself better. The idea of the 2nd Amendment being “the last line of defense between us and our government” comes from the nation’s founders caution against government, which itself comes from their experiences under British rule. Walsh should make clear that he’s not advocating violence against the government and that he’s simply referring to the historical context of the 2nd Amendment.
Comment by Patrick Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:44 pm
Walsh’s reply is on McHenry County Blog here:
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2011/10/03/walsh-tilts-with-brady-anti-gun-campaign/
Comment by Cal Skinner Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:46 pm
I’m not a Walsh fan, and will be and have been supporting Hultgren.
That said - there is a disconnect between what the 2nd Amendment actually says and what we, in our modern society, would like it to say. The 2nd Amendment was established after a period where the revolutionaries had just overthrown their rulers from England. Yes - it established the ability for citizen to defend themselves, with force, against their government. Any open-minded review of the 2nd Amendment would come to that conclusion.
Today, no sane person would say that we need to be able to keep a cache of weapons to defend ourselves against government. That doesn’t change the original meaning and the original purpose.
I agree that it is disconcerting to say that, and to defend what a Constitutional Amendment says, but our discomfort with the intent doesn’t negate that intent.
Comment by Ghost of John Brown Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:47 pm
===Pres. Washington put it down forcefully with regular troops. ===
And he led them into the field.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:47 pm
Why did Corrections wait 48 hours to alert the public?
Comment by concerned Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:48 pm
Ghost, you need to reread your history books.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:48 pm
Patrick and Ghost, I don’t know where you get the idea that Second Amendment was the founders way of allowing for the demise of the government they had just established.
If you could steer me to some primary sources on that, I’d be obliged.
If anything, given the historical context of the French Revolution, many of the founders feared mob rule. That’s why they founded a republic, not a democracy, in which there wasn’t anything approaching universal suffrage and the Senate and President were elected indirectly.
The Constitution was meant to strengthen the national government, not ensure that it could be challenged by force of arms.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:55 pm
Interesting. Is this another effort by Walsh to pander to voters? I thought that he supported the Brady Law during one of his past campaigns when he was a running as a social liberal. Can anyone really trust this guy????
Comment by Who is the real Joe Walsh? Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 1:58 pm
The sad part of all this is that Joe Walsh is represented and viewed by outsiders as the voice of the Republican Party in Illinois. The Philistines took over the 2010 GOP Primary: thus the GOP nominated such undistinguished figures as Brady, Plummer, Walsh, Dold, etc. The GOP will pay for this dearly - it already has lost the Legislature for the next ten years!
Comment by Ace Matson Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 2:04 pm
Wordslinger: Upon further reading, it seems you are correct.
All I can offer in defense of my prior misapprehension on the issue is that I am a product of the public school system. Most of what I know about history comes from textbooks that are probably overly broad and prone to error.
Comment by Patrick Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 2:10 pm
In addition, in the context of the times, the perceived need for the 2nd Amendment was not for individuals to arm themselves against the national government, but for states to be able to quickly raise militias to put down slave rebellions.
Slave rebellions of various sizes had been a constant in North America and was the great fear in slaveholding states, one that was ratcheted up many notches just a couple of years after the Constitution’s adoption by the victorious slave rebellion over the French in Haiti.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 2:16 pm
I don’t know anything about them but there is also a national law firm with this interesting name: Quinn Emanuel
http://www.quinnemanuel.com/
Comment by Anon Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 2:35 pm
Memo to Brady Center
Re: Joe Walsh
“Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.”
Comment by D.P. Gumby Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 2:42 pm
Wordslinger is right that it was not our Constitutional authors’ intent, during this period some years after the Revolution, to support a citizen’s right to organize and defend themselves from the United States government. That idea was firmly put down, not only by our first President, but also by our Union in the Civil War.
This new reading of the 2d ammendment, by the way, is primarily a late 20th Century idea pushed by the John Birch Society and NRA. It’s amazing how some partisans get away with rewriting American history, and how many believe them.
Comment by walkinfool Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 3:14 pm
Here’s a formula to remember:
Stupidity = CMS²
Comment by Fed Up Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 3:32 pm
regarding “republic”: it is pretty much any government whose head of state is not a monarch. Lots of forms of government, including democracies and dictatorships, fall under this definition.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 3:35 pm
I believe Rep. Walsh a is part of “our government” from which we need to defend ourselves.
Comment by MikeMacD Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 3:46 pm
I think Walsh should be more careful in how he speaks since the Gifford shooting. There’s no excuse for this kind of statement.
Comment by Wensicia Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 4:54 pm
This just in from a CMS Press release:
Darth Vader is the father of Luke Skywalker
Comment by Late CMS bulletin Friday, Oct 7, 11 @ 4:59 pm