Author: coldhardcashner

Sen, Church’s Premonitory Statement

Iowa Mother Pleads for Her Child: Legalize Med. Marijuana

Here is a video that an Iowa mother posted on YouTube pleading with the state of Iowa to legalize medical marijuana to help her child. Marie la France tells the story of her son Quincy. At 5 months old he began having seizures. He’s now 11 and still suffers from severe epilepsy. Doctors have given Quincy everything from morphine to steroids to Zoloft, including drugs that have given him brain damage, in an attempt to control Quincy’s seizures. Nothing has worked.

In states that allow medical marijuana, it has been proven to help patients like Quincy. The oil from the plant is extracted and put into a liquid or pill, according to the video. WeedPress (where I first learned of this story) reports that the former chair of the Iowa Epilepsy Foundation testified in support of medical marijuana at the 2009 Iowa Board of Pharmacy medical marijuana hearings.

Knowing that this medicine can help innocent people like Quincy and knowing that far more addictive, dangerous and destructive drugs ARE legal and available from your pharmacist, ask yourself: Does keeping medical marijuana illegal really make any sense?

Please watch this desperate mother’s video here:

No doubt anti-cannabis crusaders like IA Rep Clel Baudler won’t be moved by things like facts, logic or compassion. Better that many children like Quincy should suffer from lack of medicine if it might keep one other citizen from using marijuana recreationally like a free person.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” —C. S. Lewis

Clel Baudler (R)

IA Libertarian Candidates Oct 2013

The Libertarian Party of Iowa has given their website a much-needed overhaul. Among the information that can now be found on there is the current slate of candidates that the party is running for office.

2013 Elections:


Ajai Dittmar is running for Cedar Rapids City Council District 1.

Dittmar tells me the following about herself: “I am a 42 year old mother of four who is tired of crony capitalism running for public office for the first time. I am a local activist critical of the overreach in our local government. The only way to get the government out of our business and back to the basics is to get in office and bring these policies to the table.”

Alan Modracek is running for Cedar Rapids City Council District 3.

Alan is running for Cedar Rapids City Council, District 3. A family man, he has lived and worked in Cedar Rapids all his life except for a brief 6 years in the Navy.

Modracek’s Facebook page says: “I am running for Cedar Rapids City Council, District 3, to end the ‘tax and spend’ mentality of our local government. I will never vote in favor of a tax increase, and will fight tooth and nail to reduce the tax burden suffered by the people of Cedar Rapids. We can still fix our roads, have first class schools, and even flood protection. I want to make Cedar Rapids the most business friendly city in the Mid-West.”

Ariel Echevarria is running for Humboldt City Council At-Large as a write-in candidate.

Echevarria described himself to me thusly:

“I’m a 28 year old married man with a degree in Business Administration. I am currently running for Humboldt City Council. I recently moved to Iowa 6 months ago from Klamath Falls, OR. That town was about the size of Fort Dodge but I saw a lot of things that needed to change to make the city better. When I got to Humboldt I noticed some of the same things. For example, lack of business growth and things for young people to participate in. I believe that in order to have a healthy city we have to include the voice of the younger population (18-39 range). I believe city property taxes are very high in comparison to other near by cities and would like to see that change. I also feel like we need to strive to attract more small business in the local area.

“A few weeks ago a young woman wanted to place a cross in memory of her son on roadside property that was owned by a private company but the rights were given to the city for city purposes. She was initially denied her request. I do not believe that she should have been denied right off the bat. If I’m elected I will do everything within my power to make compromises between the city, it’s public and the private sector that operates within city limits. I also want to limit and change some of the city ordinances that tread on private residences. I want to see a dedicated dog park built within city limits as well.”


Nick Taiber is running for reelection to Cedar Falls City Council At-Large.

Taiber has served as a Councilman since 2010. He lives in the community with his wife and two children.

Says Taiber’s website: “Cedar Falls is a great place to live, and keeping it great requires initiative, fresh thinking, and a willingness to be bold. I bring unique perspective, bountiful energy, and careful leadership to Cedar Falls City Council.”

2014 Elections:


Jake Porter will seek the nomination to run as the Party’s candidate for Iowa Secretary of State in 2014.

Porter resides in Council Bluffs, Iowa and works for a large Internet corporation in Omaha, Nebraska.

Porter’s website states: “Jake Porter is the only candidate who has policies that will not increase the size of government. While Porter’s opponent wants to create additional rules and bureaucracy and in the past has suggested bringing economic development into the Secretary of State’s office, Porter understands the importance of having a small but efficient Secretary of State’s office and the need to follow the Iowa Code and Iowa Constitution. […] Jake wants to keep the Secretary of State’s office non-partisan and make it easy for all Iowans to participate in the election process. […] Jake believes in keeping government from disenfranchising voters through intimidation and voter suppression tactics.”

Elected Libertarians:
 

Roger Fritz-Mayor of Roland

 

Nick Taiber-Cedar Falls City Council At-Large (See above.)

Introducing: Iowa Gun Grabber Hall of Shame

I’m rolling out a new separate page on the blog, “The Iowa Gun Grabber Hall of Shame.” The purpose is to “honor” leaders in Iowa who use their positions to promote infringement upon the Second Amendment rights of their fellow citizens. If you know someone you’d like to nominate to the Hall of Shame, read the guidelines on the page and email them to me.                

Cedar Rapids Police Chief Pushes More Ineffective Gun Control

In mid-August “Organizing for Action,” a nonprofit group which mobilizes support for President Obama’s legislative and political agenda, organized the “Gun Violence Prevention Rally” in Cedar Rapids Iowa. According to a Gazette story only about 30 people wandered into the event.

The most prominent of the several community leaders to speak was Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman. Chief Jerman has been trying to organize a gun “buyback” program since early this summer yet has only received $1,000 in donations from the community for that program.

At the gun control rally, Jerman said he supports background checks for all gun sales, restricting gun magazines to 10 rounds and banning so-called “assault weapons.” His support for these measures not only puts him out of touch with what has proven effective but also out of step with the vast majority of rank and file police officers who care more about catching bad guys than giving speeches.

Jerman’s support for “universal background checks,” while setting the framework for registration of lawful guns and law-abiding owners, would do little to reduce crime. A 2001 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of prison inmates convicted of gun crimes found that 79 percent acquired their firearms from off the books sources. Simply put, crack dealers buying guns on the black market will NOT be undergoing “universal background checks.”

Perhaps that’s why in a recent comprehensive survey of police officers, fully 79.7% of responding cops said that “a federal law prohibiting private, non-dealer transfers of firearms between individuals” would NOT reduce violent crime.

Restricting gun magazines to 10 rounds would be ineffective also. A 2004 Department of Justice report found “that assailants fire less than four shots on average, a number well within the 10-round magazine limit” making it irrelevant in most street crimes. Even in the more newsworthy yet rare mass shootings the arbitrary 10 round limit is mostly irrelevant. The Virginia Tech shooter and one of the Columbine shooters used 10 round magazines and were able to rack up massive body counts against their unarmed victims anyway.

An overwhelming 95.7 % of police officers said that a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds would NOT reduce violent crime.

Jerman’s support for banning “assault weapons” is equally unwarranted. Firstly, such a ban cuts to the heart of the Second Amendment giving a legislature a blank check to ban any and all firearms since “assault weapon” is a meaningless political term that can only be defined by the ban itself. Assault weapons affected by the previous federal ban were not fully-automatic “machine-guns” nor were they more powerful than traditional weapons.

So-called “assault weapons” were only used in a tiny percentage of crimes to begin with. Crime continued to fall after the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004 and has continued to fall as previously banned weapons have sold by the million. Even the radical anti-gun group, Violence Policy Center, said “You can’t argue with a straight face that the [assault weapon] ban has been effective.”

71% of cops said that an ban on so-called “assault weapons” would have no effect on violent crime. Another 20.5% of police officers said that such a ban would actually INCREASE violent crime!

Oh, as for Jerman’s gun “buyback” program that the community has not embraced, a recent CDC report stated simply that “gun turn-in programs are ineffective.” 81.5% of police officers agree with that assessment.

Jerman’s home state of Maryland (“There’s yer problem!”) has magazine capacity restrictions, bans on “assault pistols,” and prohibitions on private sales of “regulated firearms,” similar to the laws he is stumping for. Maryland also has a murder rate of 6.8 per 100,000 (in 2011) compared to Iowa’s rate of 1.5 per 100,000. Sounds like those gun laws are really helping out there and we need to import them so we too can become a crime free Utopia like Maryland. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

The taxpayers of Cedar Rapids need to decide if they are paying their police chief to serve and protect their community and ensure that beat cops have the resources they need to do their jobs or if they’re paying him to be a political shill for the anti-freedom agenda of the Obama administration.

Gary Johnson on Syria


Gary Johnson, 2012 Libertarian Candidate for President, released the following statement today regarding potential U.S. military intervention in Syria:

“No one disagrees that the use of chemical weapons in Syria is despicable, and the results tragic. However, those facts alone do not make going to war either justified or even a good idea. And while the Administration can parse words all day long, launching missiles or dropping bombs constitutes going to war.

“There is no clear U.S. interest in what is, in reality, a civil war on the other side of the globe. Likewise, there is nothing to indicate at this time that intervening in that civil war will benefit anyone — either here in America or in Syria.

“The consequences of our military actions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan should be a lesson to President Obama and others who appear determined to act without any meaningful strategic or national defense justification.”

Iowa Steel Targets

A buddy of mine makes steel pistol targets. They’re 10″ round and 1/2″ thick. They have rings on top so you can hang them. He’s asking $20 each. You can email him at austintimmerman@gmail.com for more info and to order.  Tell him Cold Hard Cashner sent you.

2013 Walk to End Alzheimer’s

Near the one year anniversary of my mom’s death to the dread disease I will be participating in the 2013 Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Cedar Rapids, IA! Can you support me with a donation? Your support will help the Alzheimer’s Association to enhance Alzheimer’s care and support and advance critical research for all those affected by this devastating disease. (Just click on the link below the picture to donate.)


2013 Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Cedar Rapids, IA: Benjamin R Cashner – Alzheimer’s Association

Jake Porter Back in the Ring

Jake Porter has once again declared his intention to run for Iowa Secretary of State as a Libertarian. Porter was the party’s nominee in 2010 and received 33,854 votes, covering the margin of Republican Matt Schultz’s victory over Democrat Michael Mauro.

One of the Secretary of State’s most important duties is overseeing the state’s elections. As I’ve pointed out before, it would be nice to have a third-party official in that post who wouldn’t be tempted to tip the electoral scales for the Democrats or Republicans. Porter addressed that very notion in his announcement of intention.

“As Secretary of State, I would not endorse any political candidate like Matt Schultz did when he supported Rick Santorum for President. Additionally, I do not have ties to one of the two major political parties like Brad Anderson does. Unlike Anderson, I have never advised or worked for John Edwards or President Obama. We need someone who is independent of the two major political parties to act as a referee and that is the type of candidate I am.” said Porter.

Porter will be getting my support and my vote. You can read more about him at http://jakeporter.org

Adventures In Gun Training

“Survival isn’t about stuff. It is about skills. If you have time and just a bit of money, then you can get some very well-rounded training in skills that are quite applicable to [survival] living.” So says James Wesley, Rawles in his national bestseller How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times. Of course it doesn’t have to be the end of the world for some firearms training to come in handy. Studying National Crime Victimization Survey data, criminologist Gary Kleck found that “robbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all.”

I knew that my pistol skills have never been finely polished, so I decided to take Mr. Rawles advice and get some training. I’ve always enjoyed shooting rifles and trained on them in the Guard, but handguns have always kind of been an afterthought, even after I got my Iowa permit to carry weapons back in 2009.

I discovered Tactical Insights in Monticello when I took one of my sons to the Eddie Eagle Children’s Gun Safety Course that they put on in our town in January. Later I interviewed the owner, Corey D. Roberts, for my blog. [You can read Roberts’ thoughts on various Second Amendment issues here: Interview Part 1 and Part 2.] When I read about their class Tactical Shooting for the Private Citizen Level 1 it sounded like just what I needed.

“[T]his course begins the transition of the shooter from a 2 dimensional world of putting holes in paper, to truly using a tactical mindset making the firearm a weapon and a tool,” states the course description. All my previous pistol practice had been comprised of static target shooting. My permit to carry class dealt mostly with the legalities of carrying and Iowa self-defense law. I signed up and couldn’t wait to learn some realistic defensive shooting tactics.

Roberts started the Tactical Shooting class with the basics. After a safety briefing he went through the fundamentals of gripping the pistol and stance. As it turned out, the “redneck shooting at cans” stance and grip that I had previously taught myself was less than optimal. I now had to unlearn those bad habits.



Roberts demonstrates a shooting drill.

After teaching a boatload of other pointers we were soon out on the range. Although we started out slow, the shooting was no mere standing and shooting at bulls eyes. For tactical shooting you have to move to keep the threat from getting a bead on you. Even simple shooting drills got the heart going. Before long we were shooting on the move.

Not only was I able to put myself through the paces, but my equipment as well. My old 1911 .45 pistol was found lacking. Roberts had said that he’d never had a 1911 shooter make it through one of his classes without having malfunctions. I did not change that streak. I also spent a lot of time fumbling with my safety, etc… Finally, once when I slapped a new mag into my .45 the floor plate busted right off the mag, sending ammunition and the mag spring launching onto the ground.

Corey took pity and let me borrow his .40 Glock 22 for the remainder of the class. I loved it! It performed flawlessly and was very simple to use. Although my gun budget is nearly nonexistent, I think my next purchase will have to be a Glock. (I think I’d prefer the smaller Glock 27 for concealed carry, if anyone is looking for a birthday present for me.)

Tactical Shooting for the Private Citizen Level 1 was supposed to be just pistol shooting. But since we were a very small class and since Roberts and his instructors didn’t have to spend an exorbitant amount of time on, what they called, the “stop pointing that at me” portion of the class, we got to do a few things that weren’t on the syllabus. We got to run a few three-gun drills with pistol, shotgun and carbine as well as shoot a few other weapons that the instructors brought in.


The author gets familiarized with the
Israeli Tavor rifle.

All in all I found the class very instructive as well as great fun. I absolutely learned more in eight hours than I ever did in a year’s worth of Guard drills (and fired about three times as much live ammo). I left with many new techniques to practice at home and at the range as well as with a nicely illustrated study guide to take home and review when needed. Although I still consider myself a rifleman at heart, this class increased my confidence and competence with handguns immensely. It was well worth every penny.

If you’re one of Iowa’s growing legion of permit-to-carry holders or you just have an interest in defensive shooting and you want to move from “a 2 dimensional world of putting holes in paper, to truly using a tactical mindset making the firearm a weapon and a tool,” then I recommend you find a Tactical Insights training course that fits your needs and take it.  Check them out here:

 
Photos courtesy of Tactical Insights L.L.C.