Thanks for Showing the World how nice we are, but Go Home

Political warning: I'm going there, and rambling.

Now, all you Second-Amendment hating folks who think that ready access to guns (as is the case up here) is a sure-fire way to have gunfire and irresponsibility, watch this story as it unfolds. As furious as this band of morons makes us, none of them will be shot. Really. (Though, the case might be made for it ...)

You can picket and protest gay marriages at the local public school (why? What a random idea.) and make an ass of yourself over something that doesn't apply, but you won't be forcibly removed and the local yokels won't shoot you. This is proper gun control. This is how it should be. You can walk down the street with your rifle over your shoulder and no one notices except the tourists. I suppose you could attend a protest with it. Funnily enough, though, I doubt anyone will. Folks up here understand nuance. They understand civil debate. They don't scream and hyperventilate over issues and then go running for their weapons to settle things.

As Howard Dean said many years ago while he was Governor, "If there had been an effective gun-control law, I'd have passed it. But there never was and none of the other Governors could show me one that worked in their states, either. So I dropped the issue." Of course, he wouldn't have been able to pass it, but the point was made.

Church hate group to visit Vt. on Sept. 1

MONTPELIER – A religious hate group from Kansas said this week it would travel to Vermont on Sept. 1 to protest the start of the state's new same-sex marriage law.

The Westboro Baptist Church – a small and controversial religious organization known for protesting the funerals of U.S. soldiers – said it would demonstrate outside of the Montpelier High School, the Statehouse and the city's clerk office, according to a news release.

The group – which made headlines for protesting outside of the funerals of United States soldiers killed overseas – said it objects to the "pervert-run Montpelier High School" and the "sodomite brothel masquerading as a Legislature."

"The stench of Vermont – as with Sodom – has reached the nostrils of an angry God," states the organization's press release, which is filled with offensive and derogatory terms for gays and lesbians.

Peter Evans, principal at Montpelier's high school, said he learned about the upcoming protest Tuesday morning after the church called the city's police department to inform them of their plans. Evans said he has no idea why they are targeting the school.

I know. The school nickname is "The Solons" because Montpelier's the state capital. I bet the church group just assumed that was one of those gay-lesbian "Code Words."