John Burton Chair California Democratic Party

[Joe Cocker]

Joe Cocker


In the wake of the horrendous school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut there is both righteous anger and renewed interest in at last passing sensible gun legislation.

America MUST do something about gun violence and gun control -- and once again, your California Democrats are taking the lead.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, whom Californians re-elected this November, will start the first day of the new Congress in 2013 by introducing a bill banning the sale of assault weapons and extended ammunition clips.

That's real leadership -- but she'll face heavy opposition. The gun lobbyists wield tremendous influence in Washington, and they are committed to stopping any new legislation.

We need to show that California Democrats are standing in unison with Senator Feinstein for a ban on assault weapons. Click here to sign our petition of support today.

Nothing we can do will ever return those innocent children to the arms of their loving families, but we can take strong, aggressive steps to make sure tragedies like the one in Newtown don't become quarterly experiences for communities across America.

You're receiving this email as an someone who's interested in California politics. If you'd rather not receive regular updates from the California Democratic Party, please just click here.

Long-overdue legislation is coming to the table. We need to make sure this passes.

Sign our petition supporting Senator Dianne Feinstein's upcoming assault weapons ban legislation now, and help make sure it passes.

What happened last week in Newtown is beyond unacceptable. We need to show the country California is taking the lead in standing up to stop the gun violence.

Thank you for being a California Democrat.

Peace and friendship,

John Burton
Chair

JC says pass out more happy pills. What about Fast n Ferrous?

[danceswithdogs]

Hey JC....we must not question the Dear Leader and his wise plans like Fast and Furious. The Great one can do no wrong, remember? But, if/when he does, it's covered up so life goes on and the people remain "believers" in the Great One.

Oh Happy Day.

[Joe Cocker]

Assault rifles have been outlawed sense 1930's, just shows how the idiots scare us into submission.

Just think if that school nurse that was hiding under her desk had a hand gun. Did you know she was watching the assault?

One of the largest mass murder assaults was our government on Waco Texas, per-lost of life in the 90's as we killed 25 children don't remember how many adults but this was our democrat party leadership that did this.

[Joe Cocker]

JC,

I wanted to make sure you saw my email from Saturday regarding the need for passing sensible gun laws in the wake of the terrible school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

More than 18,000 California Democrats have already signed our petition supporting sensible, long-overdue legislation from Senator Dianne Feinstein to ban the sale of assault weapons and extended ammunition clips.

Despite this outpouring of support, the gun lobbyists -- who wield tremendous influence in Washington -- will try to stop Senator Feinstein's legislation.

We need your help to make sure it passes. Click here to sign our petition of support for the upcoming assault weapons ban legislation.

My email from Saturday is below, and it has all of the details.

Let's show the country that California is taking the lead in standing up to gun violence.

Thank you for being a California Democrat.

John Burton
Chair
California Democratic Party

[Joe Cocker]

APRIL 19, 1993: AMERICA'S MOST INFAMOUS DAY

The human carnage and suffering caused by the government's heinous assault on the Branch Davidian home on February 27 and its resulting carnage and suffering paled when the government, under the leadership and guidance of the FBI, the President of the United States, and the United States attorney general, launched the second assault on the home at dawn on April 19 with tanks, armored vehicles, and chemical weapons. It was a day that will only be remembered in shame and infamy.

My eyes were glued to the TV as those infamous events unfolded in Waco. As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, my eyes and ears were not deceiving me. The American tank was ramming and battering the house, knocking huge holes in the walls and ripping the roof off the building that those men, women, and children called home. The government and media referred to it as a "compound," but to Koresh and those on the inside, it was home.

The newsmen I heard did say that the tanks assaulting the building were also pouring tear gas into the house. Tanks had reportedly been circling the house throughout the night in an effort to terrorize the residents. The ramming and tearing away at the structure by the tanks and the gassing with chemical weapons in the early morning hours was evidently designed to be the ultimate persuasion to force the residents out of the house. The tactic failed. No one left the home.

I was in shock as I watched the incredible and horrifying tank assault on the Branch Davidian home. I could not contain my grief as I witnessed the place burn to the ground. My grief and emotions intensified as I viewed United States Attorney General Janet Reno and heard her inane, cold, hard, emotionless, heartless, and tearless explanations, rationalizations, and justifications for this senseless and needless government massacre of almost 100 hundred men, women, and children. (I can say the same about the comments made by FBI agents).

Before I could recover from the attorney general's remarks, I was faced with President Bill Clinton addressing the nation on TV and heard him not only defend Janet Reno by saying that he could not understand why anyone would suggest that she resign as attorney general "because some religious fanatic killed all those people." He self-righteously laid the full blame for the massacre of the nearly 100 men, women, and children in Waco on David Koresh.

Where has President Clinton been? Surely he is aware that if it had not been for the senseless, needless, reprehensible, unconstitutional, immoral, and unconscionable raid on the Branch Davidian home 51 days earlier, the April 19 massacre would never have taken place.

It was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, not David Koresh, that initiated and orchestrated the entire February debacle. If the ATF had conducted itself in a sane, proper, constitutional, and humane way in the first place, no ATF agents would have been killed or wounded, no one would have been killed or wounded inside the home, and the situation would never have climaxed with the government's massacre of nearly 100 men, women, and children. This is a simple fact that cannot be denied.

The conspiracy of the FBI, President Clinton, and Janet Reno has resulted in the worst, darkest, most despicable, and most grievous day in American history. The government's insane excuse of acting in "the children's best interests"

Once the ATF realized that their assault on the Branch Davidian home to serve a search warrant on the suspicion that the group may be in possession of illegal firearms was a total failure and disaster, they immediately resorted to insisting that the real motivation for the raid was to rescue the children inside the home from alleged neglect and abuse by David Koresh. First of all, child abuse cases are under the jurisdiction of the State - not the federal government. Texas State officials responded that they had indeed done their job and that their recent investigations had produced no evidence that the children within the home were being neglected or abused in any way.

Second, is it rational and humane to send 150 ATF and other law enforcement officers with guns drawn to storm a home on a quiet Sunday morning to "rescue" children from alleged child abuse? What the ATF did on that February 27 Sunday morning was child abuse of the worst kind. If this is the government's way of saying, "Good morning, we're here to help you and serve the best interests of the children" then I hope and pray they will never "protect" my children and grandchildren. This "we acted in the best interests of the children to rescue them from neglect and abuse" is the same rationale the FBI, President Clinton, and Janet Reno used to justify the assault on the Branch Davidian home on April 19 with tanks and chemical weapons.

An April 21, 1993, Atlanta Constitution article reported that "the White House said today it had `mountains of evidence' the children were being abused by David Koresh and his cult and that this was a prime reason for launching the April 19 ill-fated assault on the Waco, Texas, compound." Incredible!

"Protecting the kids was the ultimate rationale for going in," White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos said. Incredible! President Clinton cited the children and Janet Reno's concern for their welfare when he discussed the Waco debacle with reporters on April 20. Incredible! A five hour tank attack on the Branch Davidian home and filling the house with tear gas is "acting in the best interests of the children's welfare"? This is incredible, insane thinking. If the American people swallow this and fail to express their grief and outrage at what the government did in Waco, then this nation is in serious, serious trouble.

When asked why the government acted when and how it did, FBI Special Agent Jeff Jamar reasoned that the American people would have held the government responsible if it had not acted when it did and later learned that the children had suffered or died from malnutrition and abuse. His unspoken but obvious conclusion (as was that of President Clinton and Janet Reno) was that it was better to attempt the rescue of the children and fail (sending them to a fiery death), than to allow them to remain inside the home. Incredible!

There is something seriously and dangerously wrong with this kind of government mentality and reasoning. It should greatly concern and alarm every American. If what the government did in Waco, Texas, demonstrated the government's "ultimate rationale in protecting the children" as it claims, then every child in America is at risk and in danger of a similar fate.
THE MUSICAL CHAIRS OF WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE OF TANKS AND TEAR GAS

Attorney General Janet Reno has said that she accepts "full responsibility" for what happened in Waco; that it was she, not President Clinton, who made the decision to storm the Branch Davidian home with tanks and chemical weapons. President Clinton, after some fancy political "I-knew-about-the-plans-but-I-didn't-originate-or-direct-them" and "I-support-Jane-Reno's-decision-in-doing-what-she-did" political gibberish, finally said that he accepted "full responsibility" for what happened in Waco because it was really he, not Janet Reno, who made the decision to storm the home with tanks and chemical weapons. And in the same breath both of them disavowed any responsibility by blaming the deaths of these nearly 100 men, women, and children all on David Koresh.

So much for the honesty and integrity of two of the most important and powerful people in American government.

For President Clinton, Janet Reno, the FBI, and the media to even suggest that David Koresh is solely responsible for what has happened in Waco and that Koresh and the Branch Davidians set fire to their own home or "committed suicide" rather than surrender is repugnant and an insult to this author as it no doubt is to millions of other intelligent, informed Americans. The truth is that President Bill Clinton, Janet Reno, and the FBI are all fully responsible for the massacre of the nearly 100 men, women, and children at the Branch Davidian home in Waco, their denials notwithstanding. The blood of the dead (including the four ATF agents) is on their hands personally as well as on the hands of government collectively because there would have been no fire and there would have been no death if there had been no assault on the home with tanks and chemical weapons.