I’m still down. I’m current with replies. Maybe tomorrow.
Special Note:
My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the Sandy Hook victims. Please join me in thoughts and prayers for comfort in their time of grief.
I second Barack Obama’s call for meaningful action to prevent such tragedies. Rachel Maddow discussed the need for gun control with Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
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The list of these incidents boggles the mind and they seen almost unique to the US. The Republican culture of hate-based violence has to be a major contributor, but still, tighter gun control laws do reduce gun violence. It is not too soon to talk about gun laws. Furthermore, the NRA represents the arms industry, not their own membership, so NRA positions must be considered antithetical to America’s best interest. Contrary to Republican lies, this is about sensible regulation, not taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:07 (average 5:03) To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: The US Constitution Has A HUGE Flaw, And Justice Ginsburg Is Not Impressed
Needless to say, the opposition to the ERA comes from Republicans.
From NY Times: The Obama administration said Friday that more than half the states had rejected its pleas to set up their own health insurance exchanges, dealing a setback to President Obama’s hopes that Republicans would join a White House campaign to provide health insurance to all Americans.
Friday was the deadline for states to notify the federal government of their plans, and administration officials had been hoping that Mr. Obama’s re-election would overcome resistance to the new health care law.
Federal officials said they knew of 17 states that intended to run their own exchanges, as Congress intended.
It strikes me as completely hypocritical that these Republican Governors, whose sniveling about perceived federal intrusion into issues they consider State rights never ends, should grant so much authority over their citizens’ health care to the federal government.
From Gallup: Thirty-two percent of Americans say they have had to put off medical care for themselves or their family in the past year due to the cost — the highest percentage since Gallup started tracking this annually in 2001. The percentage reporting they are putting treatment off is up significantly from the 19% found 12 years ago.
That’s a terrible place to be. I know, because I was there for several years, and still would be, were it not for Medicare.
Cartoon:
19 Responses to “Open Thread–12/15/2012”
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Read on to see just how NRA members feel about gun control.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/us-usa-shooting-denver-guns-idUSBRE86O02O20120725
Just an excerpt here:
(Reuters) -" Most gun owners – even current and former members of the National Rifle Association – support some firearms ownership restrictions including criminal background checks for prospective gun buyers, according to a poll commissioned by an anti-gun lobbying group."
Patty, there was a time when the NRA actually advocated for responsible gun ownership and use, and they were pretty good at it.. Those days are long gone. I'm an army vet, a gun owner and an ex-NRA member. I gave up my membership when it became obvious that the organization had become the political action arm of the firearms industry. I'm not sure what the answer is, but making it much more difficult to obtain a firearm of any kind is a good first step.
A while back, I purchased a shotgun here in Oregon, a short-barreled 12-gauge pump, not a hunting weapon. It was frighteningly easy. I showed the clerk my driver's license. While he was running a computer background check, I filled out a 1-page form, put the purchase on my credit card, which the clerk checked very carefully, and walked out of the store with my brand-new shotgun and a box of shells. The entire process took maybe 20 minutes. Admittedly, I'm a well-documented citizen with a good credit rating and no outstanding warrants, but even though the entire transaction was legal and above-board, this is way way too convenient.
Availability is a good place to start, we can move forward from there.
I am also a gun owner and am no longer a member of NRA because I don't believe in their policies. I probably should have stated that in my first comment.
I'm glad you dumped them.
I agree, Patty.
Like John, I am a former NRA member, a Sharpshooter with nine bars, They were mostly about teaching safety and marksmanship. I left for the same reason he did. John would have had an even easier time if he had purchased his shotgun at a gun show.,
4:03 My vitamin C must have given me a boost.
4:00 Looks like we all will be bunched together unless Lynn comes along and picks us all off leaving herself at the top of the branch.
3:33 I just love my vitamin C au naturel, not tablet form! Jerry, I like the lower branches. Less distance to fall! We have definitely had this puzzle before. I remember it well, although not well enough to remember the pieces.
I agree, we have done this puzzle before. Not all the puzzle are new. Maybe there is some sort of random rotation.
A win for Lynn, and last for me.
They do bring back old puzzles, but I have been unable to discern any pattern to it.
The shooting in Sandy Hook is a terrible tragedy. My heart goes out to all the people there. To lose a child is the worst thing in the world. Your suffering never ends. You are always thinking "what if".
People are getting crazier it seems. I can't understand why he would go to the school and kill innocent children after killing his mother at home. It almost seems as though he was jealous of them because his mother paid attention to them.
MoveOn ~ Justice Ginsberg is a very wise woman.
NY Times ~ They don't want control of what goes on in their own states? Seems rather stupid of them. When will they secede?
Gallup ~ I was also in that same place and would be now if not for Medicare. I know how you feel, Tom.
Cartoon ~ It is not the NRA that deserves the shame, it is their lobbyists and publicists. The members support some gun control. See my first comment.
Clearly he was not sane, but his motives are still not known.
Amen.
I don't know, but when they secede, let's let them, but keep the states.
Not fun, was it?
The NRA does not represent its members. It propagandized them.
I’ll agree with the NRA that guns don’t kill people (and even avoid the snarky rejoinder: “bullets do”) – people kill people.
By the same token, planes don’t kill people – people flying planes into two Towers in NYC kill thousands of people.
But when that happened, Americans were almost immediately subjected to an onerous list of checks – down to taking off your shoes and having invasive searches – just to board a plane.
Yet guns, including assault weapons, can be obtained at virtually any Gun Show in America – with NO kind of background check at all!
It’s insane to make it more difficult for a citizen to board a plane than it is to obtain a gun – any type of gun!
And on a side topic, we’re now more than 24 hours from the tragedy right here in Newton, CT and the MSM admits that the full facts still are not clear, and have literally changed their stories several times.
And yet Susan Rice, who had no direct oversight of Benghazi, was expected by Republicans to have the full details at her fingertips for a tragedy a half a world away in a third-world country.
Ironic isn't it? 9/11 was a mass murder and look at all the regulations etc coming out of that. Yet with mass murders using guns and perpetrated by Americans on their fellow citizens, the words 'gun controls' conger up big government and violations of the 2nd amendment.. If these persons were declared terrorists, would that change people's approaches to gun control?
In my mind, they are terrorists and even worse than those who perpetrated the crime on 9/11 because they are attacking their own.
Nameless, you made two brilliant points. Thanks!
I think it goes without saying that our hearts ache for the families and friends, for the survivors of this horrific event. And then to see that in Alabama, a gunman walked into a hospital and shot 3 people before being shot by police. Fortunately the 3 survived. That is 3 in one week! When will it end?
When I think of the children, I think of
the dances that will never be danced, the books that will never be written, the plays that will never be produced;
the inventions and scientific theories that will not be discovered; the medical cures that will remain locked away;
the skip ropes that will remain still; the hopskotch that will not be played; the laughter that will not fill the playground;
the marriages that will never be; the children never born.
All this taken away in the blink of an eye by a tortured soul with a bushmaster rifle to which he should not have had access. This is so wrong! It should never have happened. There need to be gun control laws in place, evenly applied in all states. This is no a states rights issue. This is a matter of public security.
Puzzle — 3:33 I just love my vitamin C au naturel, not tablet form!
MoveOn — Republican/Teabaggers do not have a woman problem, they have a women's rights problem — the ERA, the VAWA, pro-choice, pay equality, etc etc. Madame Justice Ginsburg is a sage woman.
NY Times — Further proof that the Republican/Teabaggers are downright stupid and unabashedly contrary for the sake of being contrary! I'll bet they are all holding out so that they can blame every last problem on Mr Obama. They don't care about their people. They are petulant little children that care only about getting their own way. I think it is time for a time-out, one that leads to oblivion.
Gallup — Being Canadian, I am lucky. I have universal health care so I don't have to make those tough decisions based on cost. And I like it like that.
Cartoon — Shame indeed! I was looking up some information earlier on gun ownership — in the US there are 88.8 guns per 100 people; in Canada there are 30.8 guns per 100 people; gun related deaths in the US are 9 per 100,000 people; gun related deaths in Canada are 4.75 per 100,000 people. Canada has strict gun control, the US does not. Interesting on Rachel Maddow segment, she was talking about Sam Stein doing some research and Sam noted that in the states that had lower gun related deaths, there were strict gun control laws.
Personally, I think the US needs to enact tough national gun control laws; review the 2nd amendment; and change it's attitude about guns — the American love affair.
When will it end? I hope it's not when we pry their guns from their cold, dead fingers.
Excellent!
Amen to all.
Love it. Send them to the corner permanently!
Lucky Canucky!
One would think it would be higher in Canada, given that game is so much more plentiful there. I have no problem with the Second Amendment. We need to make gun use and ownership regulated similarly to automobile use and ownership.
We will never know the reasons for this senseless killings but, I infer the boy had pent up feeling without the ability to express(vent) them and few if any people to console (mental health access) him….?