To: Executive VP Wayne LaPierre, and the NRA Board of Directors
You STUPID Oedipal Fornicators:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am an NRA Life Member, have been a member for over 20 years, and currently have the NRA Foundation listed in my will for a piece of my estate when I shuffle off this mortal coil. In addition, I belong to, or work with, several other gun-rights organizations. I have been working to advance Second Amendment rights, since the 1990s. I have a question for you:
WHAT in the ever-loving FUCK name of all that's holy, unholy, or totally indifferent were you people smoking, snorting, or otherwise ingesting in the way of hallucinogenic or other drugs, when you decided to appoint (And we really should talk about popular election of .Org presidents) Oliver freaking NORTH as President of the NRA?
Now, I'm given to understand that Pete Brownell, who's a pretty good guy, decided not to run for reelection "to pay more attention to his family business". I'm wondering, now, if there might have been some behind-the-scenes shenanigans that caused him to throw in the towel. President Brownell has been doing a pretty good job over the past year, of expanding the NRA's appeal to various under-served groups. We really need to go beyond this "old white men" thing, and I say this as a middle-aged white man. When an anti starts whingeing pontificating about that whole "NRA is evil / racist / sexist / homophobic / right-wing" thing, I have taken great glee in posting a link Mr Brownell's "First Freedom" column from last July. To refresh your memories, here's the salient pull-quote:
The Second Amendment belongs to every American. The freedom secured by the Second Amendment cannot be put asunder by any conceivable element of discrimination-not by color, race, age, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political ideology or national origin.
THAT is the kind of policy, and philosopy, that we need to be promoting, and trumpeting to the skies. When I see the word "inclusive", I don't think in terms of politically-correct checklists and quotas. To me, the word, and philosophy, simply means that everyone is welcome. At the door to the range, or the classroom, or the .org meeting, differences of age, race, creed, sexual identity, religion, or lack of religion, need to be left behind. I was thrilled to see that my friend, Erin Palette, of Operation Blazing Sword was invited to speak at this year's NRA Annual Meetings. I thoroughly enjoy sending antis links to Colion Noir's videos. THIS is the direction that I believe the NRA should be following. This is the philosophy that will help the organization to grow.
Instead, you bloody IDIOTS are opting for organizational suicide. There's a problem with us old middle-aged white men: We are not immortal. The NRA had best be doing some recruiting elsewhere. This means putting aside prejudice. It means letting people be who they are, and want to be, outside of that range or classroom door. So, who did you pick as President? You chose a right-wing Evangelical. You selected a man who said that opposing things like same-sex marriage, reproductive choice, and the freedom to be other than Christian are "not social issues, they are deeply moral and spiritual and they should be part of America's elections." (Speech to CPAC, March 2014)
Now, let's talk about baggage. This man was convicted of multiple felonies, involving actions that circumvented our established processes of government. Yes, they were overturned, and yes, he's entitled to keep his civil rights. However, those convictions were not overturned based on innocence. They were overturned based on the incompetence of those who prosecuted him. Any time that someone, who has committed such acts of moral turpitude, speaks of "Duty, Honor, and Country", he taints and invalidates the message. I am, among other things, a veteran. Any time that someone refers to Oliver North by his (retired) rank, they confer undeserved honor on someone who has betrayed his Oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The man is a disgrace to the uniform.
Now, I can understand that you may have wanted someone with more fame, or "star power", in the office of President. I understand full well that the job of NRA President is mostly as a figurehead and mouthpiece for the organization. Yes, Oliver North has name recognition. However, you MORONS need a basic vocabulary lesson: There is a difference between Fame, and Infamy. For every right-winger out there who is ready to osculate Mr North's gluteal region, there are several folks, from the rest of the political spectrum, who would greet him with torches, pitchforks, tar, and feathers.
The NRA should be a single-issue organization. That single issue should be guns. The NRA's business is firearm safety, promoting the shooting sports, and defending those rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. You should have nothing to do with religion, sex, or any other items irrelevant to the subject of gun rights. As a member, I trusted you to safeguard my rights on this one issue. Members of the Board, you have betrayed my trust.
I'm going to see how this falls out, over the next few months. If there's enough pressure brought to bear for Mr North to resign, or if you correct your mistake, I'll go one way. If not, you may have cost the NRA Foundation a fairly substantial chunk of change. The size of said chunk depending, of course, on the condition of my 401(k) at my demise. Now, being a Life Member, I may keep that membership because (a) it will let me vote your mangy posteriors out next year, and (b) it costs you money to send me the monthly magazine.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll be watching.
[DW Original]
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am an NRA Life Member, have been a member for over 20 years, and currently have the NRA Foundation listed in my will for a piece of my estate when I shuffle off this mortal coil. In addition, I belong to, or work with, several other gun-rights organizations. I have been working to advance Second Amendment rights, since the 1990s. I have a question for you:
WHAT in the ever-loving FUCK name of all that's holy, unholy, or totally indifferent were you people smoking, snorting, or otherwise ingesting in the way of hallucinogenic or other drugs, when you decided to appoint (And we really should talk about popular election of .Org presidents) Oliver freaking NORTH as President of the NRA?
Now, I'm given to understand that Pete Brownell, who's a pretty good guy, decided not to run for reelection "to pay more attention to his family business". I'm wondering, now, if there might have been some behind-the-scenes shenanigans that caused him to throw in the towel. President Brownell has been doing a pretty good job over the past year, of expanding the NRA's appeal to various under-served groups. We really need to go beyond this "old white men" thing, and I say this as a middle-aged white man. When an anti starts whingeing pontificating about that whole "NRA is evil / racist / sexist / homophobic / right-wing" thing, I have taken great glee in posting a link Mr Brownell's "First Freedom" column from last July. To refresh your memories, here's the salient pull-quote:
The Second Amendment belongs to every American. The freedom secured by the Second Amendment cannot be put asunder by any conceivable element of discrimination-not by color, race, age, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political ideology or national origin.
THAT is the kind of policy, and philosopy, that we need to be promoting, and trumpeting to the skies. When I see the word "inclusive", I don't think in terms of politically-correct checklists and quotas. To me, the word, and philosophy, simply means that everyone is welcome. At the door to the range, or the classroom, or the .org meeting, differences of age, race, creed, sexual identity, religion, or lack of religion, need to be left behind. I was thrilled to see that my friend, Erin Palette, of Operation Blazing Sword was invited to speak at this year's NRA Annual Meetings. I thoroughly enjoy sending antis links to Colion Noir's videos. THIS is the direction that I believe the NRA should be following. This is the philosophy that will help the organization to grow.
Instead, you bloody IDIOTS are opting for organizational suicide. There's a problem with us old middle-aged white men: We are not immortal. The NRA had best be doing some recruiting elsewhere. This means putting aside prejudice. It means letting people be who they are, and want to be, outside of that range or classroom door. So, who did you pick as President? You chose a right-wing Evangelical. You selected a man who said that opposing things like same-sex marriage, reproductive choice, and the freedom to be other than Christian are "not social issues, they are deeply moral and spiritual and they should be part of America's elections." (Speech to CPAC, March 2014)
Now, let's talk about baggage. This man was convicted of multiple felonies, involving actions that circumvented our established processes of government. Yes, they were overturned, and yes, he's entitled to keep his civil rights. However, those convictions were not overturned based on innocence. They were overturned based on the incompetence of those who prosecuted him. Any time that someone, who has committed such acts of moral turpitude, speaks of "Duty, Honor, and Country", he taints and invalidates the message. I am, among other things, a veteran. Any time that someone refers to Oliver North by his (retired) rank, they confer undeserved honor on someone who has betrayed his Oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The man is a disgrace to the uniform.
Now, I can understand that you may have wanted someone with more fame, or "star power", in the office of President. I understand full well that the job of NRA President is mostly as a figurehead and mouthpiece for the organization. Yes, Oliver North has name recognition. However, you MORONS need a basic vocabulary lesson: There is a difference between Fame, and Infamy. For every right-winger out there who is ready to osculate Mr North's gluteal region, there are several folks, from the rest of the political spectrum, who would greet him with torches, pitchforks, tar, and feathers.
The NRA should be a single-issue organization. That single issue should be guns. The NRA's business is firearm safety, promoting the shooting sports, and defending those rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. You should have nothing to do with religion, sex, or any other items irrelevant to the subject of gun rights. As a member, I trusted you to safeguard my rights on this one issue. Members of the Board, you have betrayed my trust.
I'm going to see how this falls out, over the next few months. If there's enough pressure brought to bear for Mr North to resign, or if you correct your mistake, I'll go one way. If not, you may have cost the NRA Foundation a fairly substantial chunk of change. The size of said chunk depending, of course, on the condition of my 401(k) at my demise. Now, being a Life Member, I may keep that membership because (a) it will let me vote your mangy posteriors out next year, and (b) it costs you money to send me the monthly magazine.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll be watching.
[DW Original]