Massacre in Newtown
A blast from the past (no pun intended):
"Every once in a while, the debate is resurrected - as it was in 1980 following the murder of John Lennon - or in 1981 when an attempt was made on the life of President Reagan - or in 1999 following the Columbine tragedy. But after a week or two of mindless rhetoric, it was always back to business as usual. The sad and undeniable fact is that another massacre on the scale of what happened early this morning in Colorado will happen again - and again and again and again and again and again and again....Deal with it."
From "The Rant"
20 July 2012
I'm dealing with it quite handily, thank you very much. It's happened yet again - and in less than five months, too. Hate to say "I told you so" but....
Of course this is hardly the end of it. In fact this is only the beginning. By June the first of next year it will have happened again - as it will happen again by November the first - as it will happen yet again by April the first 2014 - and again and again and again and again....
Rivers of blood. Broken bodies. Broken hearts. This is the new reality. Come to think about it, this reality is not very "new" in the least. In fact, it is now as common as a full moon in the morning sky. It almost amazes me that most of us still are stunned when an event of this magnitude occurs. It barely fazed me. When the news came over the television yesterday morning I did not so-much-as bat an eye. You see, I long ago adjusted to living in this America.
"Oh", I said out loud, "it happened again, huh?" And so close to the Christmas season. Ho ho fucking ho.
Truth be told, I'll be stunned only when it happens in my back yard. Although I have to tell you that it was unnerving (to say the very least) to know that my thirteen-year-old niece attends an elementary school about ten miles from where this latest (and totally expected) mass murder took place. She's safe and sound, thank goodness. Your children are safe and sound, too....ya think?
And don't assume that your elected representatives in Washington will finally do the right thing by putting an end to this madness. They're cowards. Every Republican (and far too many Democrats to count) are in the pocket of the National Rifle Association.
As I said five months ago, for the next week or so there will be lots 'n' lots of righteous bloviating from the gasbags on high, but by New Year's Day - count on it - everything will be back to "normal". Most of us will have put it out of our minds by then....most of us. The families and loved ones of the twenty, precious little boys and girls who were murdered in cold blood yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut? They won't be "putting it out of their minds" anytime soon, that's for damned sure. And the families of the six staff members (all of them women) who were killed by this goddamned lunatic? Call it a silly bit of speculation on my part but I've gotta hunch that they won't be "putting it out of their minds" any time soon either. I've had two cousins and a couple of friends killed by gun violence so I know what I'm talking about here, kids.
From the Second Amendment:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Umm...What the hell happened to that "well regulated militia" bit? I was just wondering.
Mass murders will continue in America, and with more and more deadly frequency. Don't bother bracing yourselves for the next time this happens. Why live in a constant state of fear and anticipation? Just accept it as an inescapable reality in this doomed country and get on with your lives. When it happens again in four or five months (and it will happen again in that time-frame - if not sooner) come to terms with the thought that these regularly scheduled, nasty little sideshows are simply the price we must pay for - ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? - "our freedom". Ain't that a scream?
FUN FACT: In the three-day period following Thanksgiving, over 267,000 handguns were purchased in the United States - a record. I feel so safe. How 'bout you?
The tragedy in Newtown yesterday morning defies reason and common decency; but don't think for a minute that a change is going to come. Any half-witted, psychotic little geek with an attitude problem and a fist-full of dollars will still be able to walk into any gun shop in Anytown, USA and take home a handy-dandy, semi-automatic, military assault weapon specifically designed to kill an entire roomful of men, women and little children - and do it quite quickly and efficiently, too. Our lawbreakers disguised as lawmakers will still act as whores to expediency and campaign contributions. American children will still be slaughtered on the altars of greed and human stupidity. That ol' River of Blood is gonna still keep on flowin', baby! Nothing is going to change - nothing. Why bother getting so bent out of shape over the inevitable? I'm not.
I haven't much more to offer you. Truth be told, this is the fourth or fifth time I've written about this subject and quite frankly I'm starting to get bored stiff by the entire discussion. Mass killings such as the one that occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14, 2012 are becoming as common as hurricanes in Dixie. Next subject....
Let me just leave you with another paragraph from the piece I wrote back in July that is quoted at the top. It ain't a bad line and I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for having written it:
"The NRA types love to jabber away - like diseased little myna birds - about 'freedom'. We need to come to grips with some unpleasant realities. A society that lives in dreaded, mortal terror wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place may indeed be many things - no argument there. 'Free' they are not. Let's just stop kidding ourselves here and now, okay?"
"Happiness is a warm gun". John Lennon said that.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED READING:
In his Own Write
by John Lennon
A wonderful book of witty wordplay and hysterical drawings by one of the more celebrated victims of gun violence in America.
"Bang! Bang! Shoot! Shoot!"
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
A Change is Gonna Come
By Sam Cooke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4
This beautiful song was recorded in 1963 by one of the greatest singers in the annals of pop music history. A little over a year after he consigned this gem to wax, Sam Cooke was shot and killed. Yet another victim of America's insatiable appetite for guns. Sadly, no change is coming.
UPDATE, 12/17/12, 4:38 AM:
NBC's David Gregory noted yesterday that in preparation for Sunday's broadcast of Meet The Press, the producers contacted thirty-one pro-gun senators inviting them to appear on that program. Every one of them declined.
For more recent postings on this site, please go to the link below:
"The Rant" by Tom Degan
Cheers!
Of course this is hardly the end of it. In fact this is only the beginning. By June the first of next year it will have happened again - as it will happen again by November the first - as it will happen yet again by April the first 2014 - and again and again and again and again....Rivers of blood. Broken bodies. Broken hearts. This is the new reality. Come to think about it, this reality is not very "new" in the least. In fact, it is now as common as a full moon in the morning sky. It almost amazes me that most of us still are stunned when an event of this magnitude occurs. It barely fazed me. When the news came over the television yesterday morning I did not so-much-as bat an eye. You see, I long ago adjusted to living in this America.
"Oh", I said out loud, "it happened again, huh?" And so close to the Christmas season. Ho ho fucking ho.
Truth be told, I'll be stunned only when it happens in my back yard. Although I have to tell you that it was unnerving (to say the very least) to know that my thirteen-year-old niece attends an elementary school about ten miles from where this latest (and totally expected) mass murder took place. She's safe and sound, thank goodness. Your children are safe and sound, too....ya think?
And don't assume that your elected representatives in Washington will finally do the right thing by putting an end to this madness. They're cowards. Every Republican (and far too many Democrats to count) are in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. As I said five months ago, for the next week or so there will be lots 'n' lots of righteous bloviating from the gasbags on high, but by New Year's Day - count on it - everything will be back to "normal". Most of us will have put it out of our minds by then....most of us. The families and loved ones of the twenty, precious little boys and girls who were murdered in cold blood yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut? They won't be "putting it out of their minds" anytime soon, that's for damned sure. And the families of the six staff members (all of them women) who were killed by this goddamned lunatic? Call it a silly bit of speculation on my part but I've gotta hunch that they won't be "putting it out of their minds" any time soon either. I've had two cousins and a couple of friends killed by gun violence so I know what I'm talking about here, kids.
From the Second Amendment:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Umm...What the hell happened to that "well regulated militia" bit? I was just wondering.
Mass murders will continue in America, and with more and more deadly frequency. Don't bother bracing yourselves for the next time this happens. Why live in a constant state of fear and anticipation? Just accept it as an inescapable reality in this doomed country and get on with your lives. When it happens again in four or five months (and it will happen again in that time-frame - if not sooner) come to terms with the thought that these regularly scheduled, nasty little sideshows are simply the price we must pay for - ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? - "our freedom". Ain't that a scream?
FUN FACT: In the three-day period following Thanksgiving, over 267,000 handguns were purchased in the United States - a record. I feel so safe. How 'bout you?
The tragedy in Newtown yesterday morning defies reason and common decency; but don't think for a minute that a change is going to come. Any half-witted, psychotic little geek with an attitude problem and a fist-full of dollars will still be able to walk into any gun shop in Anytown, USA and take home a handy-dandy, semi-automatic, military assault weapon specifically designed to kill an entire roomful of men, women and little children - and do it quite quickly and efficiently, too. Our lawbreakers disguised as lawmakers will still act as whores to expediency and campaign contributions. American children will still be slaughtered on the altars of greed and human stupidity. That ol' River of Blood is gonna still keep on flowin', baby! Nothing is going to change - nothing. Why bother getting so bent out of shape over the inevitable? I'm not.I haven't much more to offer you. Truth be told, this is the fourth or fifth time I've written about this subject and quite frankly I'm starting to get bored stiff by the entire discussion. Mass killings such as the one that occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14, 2012 are becoming as common as hurricanes in Dixie. Next subject....
Let me just leave you with another paragraph from the piece I wrote back in July that is quoted at the top. It ain't a bad line and I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for having written it:
"The NRA types love to jabber away - like diseased little myna birds - about 'freedom'. We need to come to grips with some unpleasant realities. A society that lives in dreaded, mortal terror wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place may indeed be many things - no argument there. 'Free' they are not. Let's just stop kidding ourselves here and now, okay?"
"Happiness is a warm gun". John Lennon said that.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED READING:In his Own Write
by John Lennon
A wonderful book of witty wordplay and hysterical drawings by one of the more celebrated victims of gun violence in America.
"Bang! Bang! Shoot! Shoot!"
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
A Change is Gonna ComeBy Sam Cooke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4
This beautiful song was recorded in 1963 by one of the greatest singers in the annals of pop music history. A little over a year after he consigned this gem to wax, Sam Cooke was shot and killed. Yet another victim of America's insatiable appetite for guns. Sadly, no change is coming.
UPDATE, 12/17/12, 4:38 AM:
NBC's David Gregory noted yesterday that in preparation for Sunday's broadcast of Meet The Press, the producers contacted thirty-one pro-gun senators inviting them to appear on that program. Every one of them declined.
For more recent postings on this site, please go to the link below:
"The Rant" by Tom Degan
Cheers!
posted by Tom Degan @ 4:05 AM
43 comments
43 Comments:
The NRA is little more than a domestic terrorist organization. Thanks to the NRA, we lose more lives by GSWs than we do in modern warfare. They put politicians into the position that means the politico either votes their way or he/she will be voted out of office. [That the politician who gives into this bribery is a weak, pansy assed jerk is a separate issue but it is also true that many of us have made compromises in order to keep our jobs. NOT justifying their failure to stand for what's right but the decision to be true to yourself is not always an easy task. As for this spate of murders, perhaps we should take a hint from the actions of the soldiers who liberated the Concentration Camps in which over 6,000,000 Jews were murdered. The allies marched the townspeople who had ignored what the camps were doing and forced them to walk through the camps to see the emaciated, horrifically debilitated people who had survived along with the thousands of men, women and children buried in the many mass graves. They had to look into the pits full of body parts and the remains of the people on whom Hitler had ordered medical experimentation.
From now on everytime we have one of these school massacres, community members who are also NRA supporters ought to have to closely inspect each and every young victim. Everyone of the NRA thugs ought to be forced to assist in the autopsy of the children thheir guns have murdered. Perhaps they could be assigned the task of talking to the parents of the children who died. If NRA members are so fucking keen on guns and shootings,they should be forced to see the results of their mindless and totally misunderstood 2nd Amendment craziness.
OR
We could just line them up against the gym wall and shoot their sorry asses with their own guns.
Mason Myatt
Thank you, Tom. There's nothing for me to expound upon, for you are quite right, coming soon, to a neighborhood near you.
Elaine
Tom - my genuine terror.. is that you're right. This cycle of mass shootings.. collective gnashing of teeth amid the tears, and of course Dr. Phil explaining how we *should* be dealing with this latest tragedy.. that you're correct..and that we're doomed to continue repeating it.. that's what's keeping me awake.. and nervous.
Terrible things do happen.. but such things that we'd like to believe might have been avoided.. can't be processed in the same way as Sandy, or the Johnstown flood.
You'd possibly be of more help.. if you let us know what mental exercise, or drug routine you employ, to help you find some restorative sleep.. and get you through such examples of insanity.
Peace - nice idea.. unknown reality.
In my Facebook acquaintance there are some who are dedicated Second Amendment-ers, and as expected, they responded with the usual BS to my comments on yesterday's tragedy. Several posted a link to a story about a man in China who attacked schoolchildren with a knife, asking if I support a ban on knives. My reply was that knives (along with ice picks, baseball bats, and many other everyday items people use to commit mayhem and murder) have an official use besides killing. Guns do not. Were it my decision, there would be as close to no guns as possible, following the example of the UK and surely other countries (?) Too many innocent lives are lost daily to so-called "responsible gun owners" who mistook their wives or children for intruders; too many children die because a parent needed a gun for "self-protection" and failed to secure it. Too may states have concealed carry laws, including the "right" to carry into public buildings like churches and campuses. This will never end well until we demand change, demand an end to easy access, to legal semi-automatic weapons.
Good point, Donna. And let us not forget the fact that it is a helluva lot easier to outrun a knife or a baseball bat than it is to outrunning a bullet blasted out of the nozzle of a 357 Magnum.
With the apocalyptic failure of Reaganomics and Neocon adventurism, the right needs these shootings in order to remain politically relevant and keep moving their agenda. The NRA will never stop fighting, in the most dishonest manner, to keep weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the clinically insane. The best way to get the American people to abandon empathy for greed is to keep them angry and scared.
You're quite right, Tom. It'll keep happening -- over and over, and over again.
The United States, being the largest supplier and exporter of weapons worldwide, will never relinquish its firm footing in the killing industry, and that includes at the local level. As a matter of policy, this country thrives on death and destruction to all living things. A few innocent children actually means nothing, when unmitigated destruction on a massive scale is the operating principle of this empire.
We abandoned any moral authority a long time ago. We're now more barbaric than the fictional boogeymen we've been taught to fear.
There's a lot more to this current story that will be publicly revealed. But as of now there are parallels to past mass shootings.
1> The shooters are youngters. Not 60 year old disgruntled old men. You'd think they were the ones who 'have an axe to grind'.
2> These kids are jobless and have little hope of getting a job. I can imagine they are home alone watching and playing video games. Probably - shoot'em ups!
3> Parents who buy weapons (in most cases guns) - and buy more than one! Then leave them around the house so junior can play with them.
4> Once this stewpot boils over - parents, neighbors, and surprisingly physicians say "I knew the kid was going to do something like this".
So, as a society what have we learned? Sure, guns can kill - but so do IEDs, knives, illicit drugs, DUIs, and extreme sports, and anything you can pump into your vascular system!
These warped little minds grow into warped adult unsupervised or unprofessionally treated minds and do surprisingly bad things.
The ever present question is, "How could this happen?". I say, "Look in your own home. Look at the way you are raising that peculiar little child pulling the wings off butterflies. Imagine one day when he feels there is no further hope. Then wonder, "Why did he do this horrible act?"
I am NOT a gun advocate. I own NO gun. Do I feel vunerable at times - Yes! Do I feel owning a weapon would curb those feelings - No!
So who is it that promotes this fear?
Let's start identifying the real culprits. It's not the kids doing this. It's something planted in those young minds that is the killer.
Well said, Tom. We are in a sorry state of affairs.
This is a heartbreaking and sickening tragedy our country has been sentenced to endure from here on out.
While there is little we can do to help when a mentally ill person or sociopath decides a bloodbath is his "final solution", we can take sane steps in an effort to do at least something. One would be better treatment of mental illness under public health care. The other is better screening of firearm purchasers. Guess which obstructionist political party will have none of that?
They accept human sacrifice as just another aspect of politics and business as usual.
Politics and profit over people wins again.
Ain't "freedom" grand?
Look, it is all very simply. If you really want an end to gun violence in the USA, the way is not more laws. The Constitution allows for the changes, just use the rules set in place already. The 2nd Amendment can be over turned just as any change to the Constitution can be changed, with the approval of the a majority of those elected at the Federal level and then the State level.
Stricter gun laws have not stopped anything, that's a proven fact. And to use this tragic event to blame the NRA, Reaganomics, Neocons, and anyone not a liberal is stupid. It's using a massacre for political gain.
The solution is two fold.
As Yellowstone said "It's not the kids doing this. It's something planted in those young minds that is the killer." I would add, it wasn't the guns either that did this, as they do not have a mind.
And
Amend the Constitution removing the right to own and bare arms.
Problem fixed.
Nothing will change if we quit trying.
There is no mention of a right to own guns for recreational use in the 2nd amendment.
"To ensure domestic tranquility" is authority for limitations on guns.
Without a modern day killing machine, this nut jobs carnage would have been much less, if at all.
Sadly, Americans seem to learn nothing from our own history. We ended the murderous Wild West by banning the carrying of guns.
I think we need to stop thinking of the NRA as some sort of membership-based organization. The NRA is simply a front for the gun industry, which has seen amazing profits over the last few years, giving them enormous power in our consumer-driven society.
Any company knows that you have to create demand for your products so the gun industry markets "freedom" to convince saps to buy products they don't need.
The tobacco industry used similar tactics for years until people finally had enough. But at their worse, cigarettes couldn't be used to commit mass murders.
Brian
Simply pass an amendment which removes the 2nd Amendment from the Constitution. Enough of the finger pointing, and blaming, if the majority of Americans believe that to end the killings done with guns, that the 2nd must go, then this is the time.
Look, all the laws, regulations and restrictions on guns have not stopped one murder from happening. The killings in Chicago and D.C have not been stopped or even reduced, and they have the strongest gun control rules in the nation.
If you really want gun control, then the 2nd has got to go. Now if you cant convince with the recent event 2/3rds of both federal houses and then 2/3rds of the State's legislation, all the gun control laws you pass will not be enough. Reason, if the law is really effective, then the 2nd Amendment will be used before the courts and the law will overturned.
Commenting on Yellowstone's statement. At one time it was legal for a citizen to own a fully automatic firearm, a real machine gun or a real assault weapon. IE: Thompson sub machine gun. During this time, did we have events like what just took place in CT? If so, I have not been able to find reports of them.
So to Yellowstones point, what is it we are putting into our children's heads, or life's that is different from what was experienced before the stricter gun control laws? Has society become more liberal or conservative? I would argue it has become more liberal. But is that the sole or only reason for the mass killings?
Yellowstone brings up an interesting point, the guns today are not any more capable of killing than the ones we had access to in the past. It's the people who have now become more capable of killing.
Don't touch the 2nd Amendment let the crazies have it. Just tax the bullets at $1000 each.
Den from OZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/us/most-states-miss-deadline-to-set-up-health-exchanges.html?_r=0
Good News from Amerika's most objective newspaper (you know the one who had Walter Duranty writing articles on how wonderful and "leaning forward" the Soviet Union was)!
Friday was the deadline for states to notify the federal government of their plans to implement an ObamaCare health care exchange.
Federal officials said they knew of only 17 states that intended to run their own exchanges, as Congress intended. Whoops, looks like we are a little short of 50!
Pennsylvania seriously considered running its own exchange, but Gov. Tom Corbett said on Wednesday that he would not pursue the idea.
“State authority to run a health insurance exchange is illusory,” Mr. Corbett said. “In reality, Pennsylvania would end up shouldering all of the costs by 2015, but have no authority to govern the program.”
Tom and DD, Lets just hope this government pig with lipstick starves to death!
"...Americans need guns. To protect themselves from Americans."
Anonymous "Commenting on Yellowstone's statement. At one time it was legal for a citizen to own a fully automatic firearm, a real machine gun or a real assault weapon. IE: Thompson sub machine gun. During this time, did we have events like what just took place in CT?"
Do you mean besides all the innocent people who got caught in Prohibition-era mobster gunfire? Did the number of full-auto Tommy gun shootings increase or decrease after the National Firearms Act effectively killed their production and restricted their transfer?
"If so, I have not been able to find reports of them."
Looking at the history of school shootings, they tended to be "one disgrunted man killed one other person". True, gun violence still happens even in the absence of high-capacity firearms, but more assault rifles and Glocks with extended magazines doesn't make gun violence less violent.
"Yellowstone brings up an interesting point, the guns today are not any more capable of killing than the ones we had access to in the past."
Civilian variants of the M16 are far more common now than even just thirty years ago, whereas the Thompson in civi hands, even before the NFA, was rare.
And, yes, Saturday Night Specials are still the most common weapon seized by cops. That's not an argument for more M16s; it's one for less SNSs (and better regulation of their manufacturers* and sellers).
"It's the people who have now become more capable of killing."
Balderpucky. Violent crime is down, even among the kids these days with their violent video games, gangster rapping and baggy pants, it's mass shootings that are up.
* Remember, too, the example of Intratec, and, among other sins, it's "fingerprint resistent coating".
Do you mean besides all the innocent people who got caught in Prohibition-era mobster gunfire? Did the number of full-auto Tommy gun shootings increase or decrease after the National Firearms Act effectively killed their production and restricted their transfer?
Well MO, whats the answer?
Beneath the expressions of grief, sorrow and disbelief over the Connecticut school massacre lies an uneasy truth in Washington: over the last few years the Obama administration and Congress quietly let federal funding for several key school security programs lapse in the name of budget savings.
Government officials told the Washington Guardian on Friday night that two Justice Department programs that had provided more than $200 million to schools for training, security equipment and police resources over the last decade weren't renewed in 2011 and 2012, and that a separate program that provided $800 million to put police officers inside the schools was ended a few years earlier.
Our hearts are broken today," President Barack Obama said, wiping a tear from his eyes as he reacted to the tragedy. "As a country we have been through this too many times.
"These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," the president added.
But last year, his administration took a less muted tone as it submitted its 2012 Education Department budget to Congress that eliminated the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) funding, which for years provided between $20 million and $30 million in annual grants to help schools create emergency and crisis preparation and prevention plans for tragedies just like the one that unfolded Friday.
The Education Department’s Web site says it last made REMS grants in 2011.
The funding was cut off even though the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, warned in 2007 that many “many school district officials said that they experience challenges in planning for emergencies due to a lack of equipment, training for staff, and expertise and some school districts face difficulties in communicating and coordinating with first responders and parents.”
These events are incredibly sad. They are a symptom of a deeper problem. I think another is that our government commits atrocities quite frequently through military and drone warfare and hardly anyone gives a shit. The same media that suppresses these equally sad events is whipping this recent violence into a media sensation that basically serves to terrorize the masses.
But rest assured that these unpleasant events are not a total waste. Media ratings will be high. Some oppressive legislation will be jammed through. I mean, who needs civil liberties if you are hoodwinked into thinking it increases your safety?
One more thing, this probably will be a nice boost to firearms sales...
As far as the second amendment is concerned, I'm all for it - but I think capabilities should be limited to those of 1791.
Reminds me a bit of the old Star Trek where war was outlawed but citizens were required to report to death chambers to make up for those killed in war. I think there was a lottery. We still have war - much directed against disadvantaged people on the other side of the world. And of course it's our disadvantaged people who bear the brunt of the official war. But it seems the 'innocents' who are victims of gun violence are like those people reporting to the death chambers - a price we pay for our so-called freedom.
MKP/witm
the Obama administration and Congress quietly let federal funding for several key school security programs lapse in the name of budget savings
Remember Con-servatives like the idea of dismantling the entire Department of Education. Why would this little bit of re-structured funding bother them?
Hypocrites.
As it is:
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget12/justifications/g-sss.pdf
In place of this and several other, sometimes narrowly targeted, programs
that address students’ safety, health, and drug-prevention, the Administration has proposed to
create, through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), a
broader Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students program that would increase the capacity of
States, districts, and their partners to provide the resources and supports necessary for safe,
healthy, and successful students. This new program would help schools provide conditions for
learning, including by implementing activities that reduce or prevent drug use, alcohol use,
bullying, harassment, or violence, and promote and support the physical and mental well-being
of students.
"Remember Con-servatives like the idea of dismantling the entire Department of Education." DD
OK, DD you need to remember the fact that conservatives DID NOT dismantle the entire Dept of Education,or for that matter any part of it, but under Obama, its funds were cut. The 2012 budget from the administration eliminated the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) funding.
DD, your side won the election, now you get to deal with the results. Try to focus on the reality vs. the hypothetical. And they to tone down all the hate your spewing, it really is not very becoming of you as peace loving liberal.
As a follow up . . .
The root of the problem is not guns and/or mental illness. It's about what has been 'planted' in that young mind.
Parents, here are the things to look for in young children:
1> Suspicion and resentfulness.
2> Hoplessness
3> Early identification with destruction and violence.
So, where do kids get that stuff? For one thing, look into that video collection you've got stored in the basement! Eliminate that industry by not buying that stuff - girdle the video violence economy.
How about the role models we are providing to those young minds? Remember this the next time you 'flip off' that neighbor.
There will be more senseless violence . . .
Sal:
The most amazing fact that reveals itself consistently thoughout the span of timez let's just start with Charlie Manson forward, just to have a point of reference, that there is that ginormous ten-ton pink gorilla with a sequined purple hat sitting on the floor filing her nails. Most people, not all thankfully, fail to discuss the reality and certain consequences that come from ignoring the angry gorilla filing her nails. She and her supportors feel safe because they can always count on the news talking-heads sensationalizing these gruesome crimes and muddying up the waters so people are angry, so much so that all they do is rehash the same ol' talking points, having learned absolutely nothing. I pray for change, but we don't seem to be getting any smarter. Or maybe it's a numbers thing. Two smarts to every ten stupids.
Sally
Hypocrisy called out? Oh, dear, that means it’s hate projection time.
Now when Obama cuts and re-consolidates Education Department programs, with Republican House approval by the way, the radical Right gets bent out of shape.
Such righteous outrage...or blatant hypocrisy.
“One of the things I found in a short campaign against Ted Kennedy was that when I said, for instance, that I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, that was used to suggest I don’t care about education,” Romney told The Weekly Standard.
Remember the crazy Texas Republican Party Platform? The one that opposes “critical thinking skills”? It openly claims, “we believe the Department of Education (DOE) should be abolished.”
And how about those GOP presidential candidates? How do they feel about the Department of Education?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann would abolish the Department of Education, and she has said she would give all the money previously invested in the department to state and localities.
Newt Gingrich
Gingrich, who called the student-loan program an "absurdity," would not abolish the Department of Education, instead saying he would make it a research and education center. He would dramatically shrink the department and remove all of its regulations. Gingrich would support forcing more students into work-study programs.
Jon Huntsman
Huntsman prefers local control on education and plans to abolish No Child Left Behind. The former Utah Gov. defied No Child Left Behind in 2005 by signing a law that gave Utah's education standards priority over federal requirements.
Gary Johnson
Johnson would abolish the Department of Education, and he is an advocate for homeschooling.
Ron Paul
Paul's "Plan to Restore America" calls for the elimination of the Department of Education, among others. Though his plan makes no mention of what would happen to them, Paul does not intend to eliminate federal student-loan programs. He believes the student-loan aspect should be taken out of the federal government and handled elsewhere.
Rick Perry
Perry would abolish the Department of Education, and he believes the federal government should get out of education altogether.
Mitt Romney
Romney was in favor of eliminating the Department of Education in the 1990s but praised the department in 2007. He has been a supporter of No Child Left Behind and President Obama's "Race to the Top" program.
Rick Santorum
Santorum said he does not have a "hit list" of departments he wants to eliminate. He would not eliminate the Department of Education, but he wants it to play a less prominent role in higher education.
Could it be our troll bravely and independently stands in opposition to his Party, and wants to keep the Education Department with its “czar” and and all of its programs?
Lol.
Yellowstone,
These warped little minds grow into warped adult unsupervised or unprofessionally treated minds and do surprisingly bad things.
And:
The root of the problem is not guns and/or mental illness.
You seem to say mental illness is, and is not, a root of the violence. The list you give us contains real symptoms of mental illness.
DD,
Your side is in charge now, you won, now deal with it like a grown up and quit blaming someone else. Be a MAN DD, do as Yellowstone states. How about some personal accountability. Have you seen the movie Flight?
Crazy people do crazy things, news flash?
People are not all together good, they are sometimes evil, influenced by evil things in our world. Like those listed by Yellowstone. People are responsible for what they put into their minds, just as parents are responsible for allowing their kids to put evil things into their minds.
Law breaking needs to be stopped and punished as outlined by the law. Once you allow the standard to slip on obeying the law, then what kid wouldn't be filled with suspicion, resentfulness and hopeless? Crazy you say, look at the big debate on what is the correct thing to do with illegal aliens who are caught. The law says one thing, the debate centers on how unreasonable the law is.
We grieve and correctly so, the murders last Friday, but do we know how many murders were committed in Chicago over the week end? Do we care less about one than the other?
We cry and look for ways to stop such massacres and look for answers to how could this have happened, yet say the taking of a human life whole still in its mothers womb is ok and do so by the millions and then tell ourselves its the woman's choice, or that baby is better for not having been born. Does this seem like a mixed message to you or am I the only one?
To blame the NRA or for that matter anyone other that the person who pulled the trigger, is giving the trigger puller an excuse. It's someone else s fault I took an inanimate object and used it to kill people with it. How many types of inanimate objects would have to outlawed before the killing of people would stopped?
None of this is to lessen the horror of what happened. We can not legislate our world, our country into a safe sane place. Is it right to control guns, yes it is. But the question you have to ask, short of removing them 100% from our society(if that were possible)would having no guns in our society make it a safer place?
Oh and DD, for one who hates to see cuts and pastes on posts but looks for real debate, you sure screwed the pouch with your post of 12:35 pm.
LOL
More Hypocrisy for you DD.
Figures collected by Syracuse University's TRAC project, the authority on prosecutions from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, shows that the administration has reduced the focus on gun crimes and instead steered prosecutors and investigators to drug crimes.
Gun prosecutions peaked at 10,937 under Bush in 2004. A current TRAC report shows that the Obama administration is prosecuting about 6,000 weapons cases.
According to an October 2011 TRAC report, "There also has been a shifting emphasis towards drug-related investigations. Since ATF-referred prosecutions peaked in FY 2005, the number of weapons prosecutions actually has fallen by 32 percent, a much higher rate than for ATF prosecutions overall. Making up the difference has been the growing number of drug cases, up by 26 percent during the same period."
Time to blame Bush? Sorry, that old saw wont cut wood any more.
Could it be our troll bravely and independently stands in opposition to his Party, and wants to keep the Education Department with its “czar” and and all of its programs, AND is pro-gun control?
Amazing.
Perhaps some education on mental health would be a good thing too: "parents are responsible for allowing their kids to put evil things into their minds."
Yes, by all means we must beware of the "evil things" kids put into their minds. And...seek professional treatment when they exhibit odd behavior and express violent thoughts. Mental illness can allow "evil things" into one's mind too, just like willful ignorance and hate for fellow Americans who want public health care and safety nets.
Seeing liberals as commies is just such an "evil thing". This is what the Tennessee Unitarian Church killer had in his mind.
Once more a person's desire to cling to firearms, in this case the poor mother, led to horrible tragedy.
You can always tell when DD is desperate, he calls others Trolls. Coming from DD, its an honor to be labeled so. Note: so far DD has been too busy trying to slam conservatives and the GOP to take part in an honest debate that Tom has allowed us to be a part of.
I saw this tonight. I know nothing about the politics of the rock band Lamb of God. I do not know what kind of music they play. All I know them is from the website for radio station KROQ. (http://kroq.cbslocal.com) From which I found this.
"During Lamb Of God‘s concert at the Armory in Medford, Oregon Friday night, frontman Randy Blythe requested one minute of silence in remembrance of the children lost in the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy earlier that morning.
While the majority of the crowd quietly paid their respects, a disturbing number of concertgoers made noise, talked and generally disrupted the otherwise peaceful moment.
After the concert, a shaken Blythe took to Instagram to express his disgust for those that couldn’t “shut up for sixty lousy seconds.”
“We, lamb of god, asked for sixty seconds of silence during our 1st set break to honor the dead children & teachers in CT. It seemed appropriate- it’s a goddamned national TRAGEDY. Most of the crowd complied, but several didn’t, some cursing & even laughing. I wanted to walk off stage.
I am so disgusted right now- if you were one of those who wouldn’t shut up for SIXTY LOUSY SECONDS to honor twenty MURDERED CHILDREN- go look in the mirror. You are looking at a piece of sh**.
Your parents are obviously pieces of sh** too, because they raised you to behave with no dignity. To the fans who were respectful, I thank you. I am also sorry you have so many goddamned ***holes in your community.
You should do something about that. This sh** would not have happened at a lamb of god show where I live, & that is a FACT. We have more manners. I am just disgusted. Thoroughly DISGUSTED. You yelling people give metal a bad name-screw that, you give humanity a bad name.
Grow up. Your parents should have beaten some manners into you, you savage little beasts. With that I will go to bed, say a prayer for those suffering, & hope for a better day tomorrow, because tonight SUCKED.”
I think Blythe is on to something.
We should make guns illegal just like we did Cocaine, Heroine, Meth and Crack. It is awesome how just making those laws it pulled it out of schools and no longer kills children. Oh wait?!? That didn't work did it?
We should make gasoline, pig feces and diesel fuel illegal too. Rental trucks should be on the list too. Also gas grill tanks and pipe bombs. Hell Eric Harris was going to use that.
Tom your just as bad or worse then the people you oppose. But thank god we live in America where we have freedom of speech.
Focus on security in our schools and mental illness. And how about paying our educators better so more people want to get into the profession to help our youth.
Got the message the first time.
First, I am for 2nd amendment rights and don’t wish to repeal it. I own a few guns – mostly inherited from my dad who loved to hunt. No assault rifles since I don’t plan to assault anyone anytime soon.
And however disturbed I am at some of the extreme rhetoric from the left, I am also confused by some of the rhetoric from the right. So, I’d to offer what I think is a sound “conservative” perspective.
First, for an event like what happen in CT, I don’t hold it against a grieving mother or father (or teacher, friend, etc.) to display a hatred of guns or to want to completely ban them. I understand and I empathize with her. At that point, I am silent out of love and respect, though technically I don’t necessarily agree with her. She has the right in my book to hate guns for the rest of her life. Because, in the end, they are designed to kill – and they took the life of her child. It is a noble (though perhaps naïve) perspective to hate them. And, it is a healthy tension for a civil society. It represents the sane and peaceful perfection that should be, though it isn’t. None of us should ever lose that fundamental hatred of them.
Also, I am not “pro” gun. The best society would be one in which we did not need guns (let’s take hunting out of the argument for now). I desperately wish I didn’t feel a legitimate need to own one. They exist due to our sinful nature – and there is a tension between their evil and their legitimate use. They exist both to do evil and cause harm to innocent people as well as to do good and prevent the evil people from doing harm. So, there is a “chicken and egg” nature to the argument. What’s going to come first, (1) establishing a safe society where an honest man doesn’t need a gun to protect his home against an aggressor or (2) ridding the world of guns that the aggressors use? History shows clearly that (1) isn’t realistic, so what is a man who wants to protect a family from possible aggressors to do?
Also, the argument that guns are no different than baseball bats, knives, etc. is not a good argument. On that basis, we’d extend the other direction and have no restrictions on anything - land mines, tanks, explosives, or bio-chemical weapons. The question isn’t whether to restrict the 2nd amendment rights – we already do – all the things I mentioned are “arms”. The question is what is the right balance – that’s what we must debate and come to a sound solution on – and it’s not easy. Usually we get in trouble when folks start presenting easy solutions to very difficult problems.
God bless and heal the good people of Newtown. Rest assured they are on our minds and in our prayers this Christmas season.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6
Obama In 2008: “If You Are A Law Abiding Gun Owner You Have Nothing To Fear From An Obama Administration”…
Guns do not kill people, it's the bullets. So, there is already PLENTY of Gun Control; no need to debate the redundant. We can do something about those pesky projectiles. During the manufacturing process etch/encode the shell casings and bullets with a traceable ID of some sort. Require the ammo buyer to check a box indicating the intended purpose of the muntions purchased; hunting, target shooting, home defense etc then create a database that can monitor future ammo purchases against projected needs/usage. It's a start...
“I know the sense of helplessness that people feel. I know the urge to arm yourself because that’s what I did. I was trained in firearms. I walked to the hospital when my husband was sick. I carried a concealed weapon and I made the determination if somebody was going to try and take me out, I was going to take them with me.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein.
But the rest of us, well, we're different.
December 20, 2012
The Communist Chinese government, via its state-run media front Xinhua, has called for Americans to be disarmed, arguing that the Sandy Hook school massacre demands “no delay for U.S. gun control.”
Xinhua is virtually the press agency for the Communist Chinese government. The organization, “is subordinate to the State Council and reports to the Communist Party of China’s Propaganda and Public Information Departments.”
In other words, Xinhua represents the pinnacle of Chinese state-run media. Whatever is printed in its editorial pages represents the opinion of the ruling Communist Party leaders.
Glad to see they are on our side, now if we can just get rid of the NRA and all those guns that are in private citizens hands, the world will be a safer place
Hey Tommy,
I have a couple of topics for possible rants you may want to explore:
1) The Benghazi attack which a recent report shows that Hillary Clintoon's State Department handling of security there was a major clusterfuk. Poor Hillary can't testify about it because she has tummy aches. LOL on that Tommy. She doesn't want to be filmed getting her arse reamed knowing it will show up when she runs for President. "I take full responsibility for Benghazi" said Hillary Clintoon. Sure Hillary, sure.
2) Why there are currently no Democratic Black senators. I can understand when that KKK wizard Robert Byrd was alive there was rarely a Black Senator but when will the Democratic party progress?
The ACLU bears some of the responsibility for all the random shootings by mentally unstable individuals.
It was the ACLU that worked tirelessly for the rights of the mentally ill back in the late 1960’s early 1970’s. This advocacy led to the closing down of State run Mental Hospitals.
Lets let the kooks run wild in our cities and towns!
THANKS ACLU!
today's guns are outdated!
To avoid tragedies like Newtown guns should undergo some serious technical changes. Here are some suggestions:
1. a bulletproof lock (fingerprint of the rightful owner etc.)
2. a built-in tampering-proof tracing unit with IP-address and GPS (maybe even a built-in target cam)
3. a federal monitoring system to record all actions
Anonymous: "Lets let the kooks run wild in our cities and towns!"
You're living proof!
There has not, in fact, been any increase in the frequency of mass murders. That's a statistically provable fact. Also, there is no such thing as a "semi-automatic, military assault weapon" (these weapons are not used by any military, they simly look similar to fully-automatic military weapons). And "a society that lives in dreaded, mortal terror wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place"? That's what gun control advocates are trying to create. They want us to be afraid, because fear will make us more likely to accept the laws they advocate. The reality is that gun control laws you would like to see, would not do anything to make us safer. They'd just make some peole think they were safer.
[And, yes, Saturday Night Specials are still the most common weapon seized by cops. That's not an argument for more M16s; it's one for less SNSs (and better regulation of their manufacturers* and sellers).]
Modusoperandi, "Saturday Night Special" is another nonsense term. What it actually means is "a handgun cheap enough for an inner-city black person to afford". Bans on such weapons exist solely to prevent black people from having the same right to self-defense as white people.
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