Category: Politics

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Time for journalistic responsibility.

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I couldn’t resist the Reagan poster. But you have to admit if anyone aside from James Brady could speak to the subject it’s Reagan. 

CBSNews Is reporting the New York paper responsible for publishing a map showing the addresses of registered gun owners in two NY counties has added to their grandstanding by hiring armed security guards to protect one of their offices.

The so called “journalists” are kinda missing the point.

I love the irony in that they’ve turned to armed security to protect them.

Registered gun owners are law abiding citizens which by default means that these people aren’t likely to go to the newspaper to exact revenge.

Law abiding citizens are going to choose weapons of mass destruction…. LAWYERS!

The Lawyers will be far more devastating to the newspaper than anyone with a gun.

If I were one of the people affected I’d be seriously pissed off. Not because now the world knows I have guns, but because of the invasion of privacy for no good purpose other than headlines.

Essentially this newspaper has stigmatized the gun owners of these counties. What they’ve done is tried to equate gun owners to sex offenders. “Who are the gun owners in your neighborhood?”, Who are the sex offenders in your neighborhood?”

I’m sure that the editors of the newspaper have gotten some really negative mail and deservedly so.

The gun owners affected have committed no crime, they’ve done absolutely nothing that should have resulted in the forfeiture of their privacy and yet… They’ve lost their privacy. Their homes may be targeted for potential break-ins by criminals who would like to steal guns and resell them to other criminals.

Now the newspaper is trying to look like the victim, and spin the story that they’re scared of the gun owners. 

I have a few things to say to that;

1 Buck up. You published the piece, you must have thought about the invasion of privacy you were enabling and if you didn’t well you’re not very good journalists. You need to accept the consequences and responsibility for your actions.

2 You have nothing to fear from the registered gun owners. You need to fear their attorneys.

3 In the years to come you need to fear the criminal element that breaks into these houses and manages to steal the weapons. They’re the people that are going to mug you, rape you, and shoot you. The blood of innocent victims, and the blood of the home owners occupying these houses will be on your hands.

In my opinion, a single injury or god forbid a death caused because a criminal targeted these homes should result in prosecution of the journalists involved in the story.

I’m for freedom of the press, but with that freedom also comes responsibility. 

There’s a quote from one of the Star Trek movies. “Just because we can do a thing, it doesn’t necessarily follow that we should do a thing.”

Yes, it wasn’t said by a statesman, or a scientist, or a politician. But it’s nonetheless a wonderful cautionary statement.

I suspect that the movie quote is based on something Robert Oppenheimer said;

“When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb. – J. Robert Oppenheimer”

The point is, sometimes it’s important to take a step back to look beyond your ability to act and decide if the ends are really justified. 

How many wars, how much harm would have been avoided if people had simply considered the ramifications of their actions?

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I think she’s going have her college degree paid for….

I noticed that this case was proceeding.

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This Article is short.

Essentially a high school girl wore a Romney / Ryan T-shirt to class. It’s alleged that her teacher told her to leave the room and that wearing that T-Shirt was akin to wearing a KKK outfit. (Neither of which is banned in America, if I recall both are still protected by the first amendment.).

A KKK outfit? Really? Had I been a student in that school I’d have shown up the next day in a Nazi Uniform. With the added touch of putting an Obama / Democratic Party logo below the swastika. At least then I’d have been sent home for just cause. I’m assuming that the school has some kind of dress code that precludes something as blatant as a Nazi uniform.

The teacher went on to say that the school was Democratic.

Clearly the teacher forgot the other definitions of  democratic.

Websters says

1) “of, relating to, or favoring democracy”.

2) “often capitalized: of or relating to on of the two major political parties in the United States evolving in the early 19th century from the anti-federalists and the Democratic-Republican party and associated in modern times with policies of broad social reform and internationalism.”

3) “relating to, appealing to, or available to the broad masses of the people”

4) “favoring equality: not snobbish”

Yes I know that the teacher was speaking about the party… But I’ve noticed recently that the average members of the Democratic party… the citizens claiming to be Democrats often don’t practice what they preach.

The school and the teacher are being taken to court for violation of the girls first amendment rights. But the young lady has since transferred to a different school and was apparently threatened by other students due to the teachers action.

I’m ambivalent about the lawsuit thing.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the teacher punished.

Not because they expressed their opinion. But because they in one moment destroyed the concept that everyone has a right to speak their mind. The teacher used their power in the classroom to create a mob mentality. Us vs. THEM!

The teacher instituted a CLASS distinction. They created a situation where clearly the ruling class (We’re Democrats) had the ability to oppress anyone that disagreed with them.

The oppression came in this case in the form of the young lady being sent home from school. And subsequently when she was threatened by her peers.

In our society we must listen to differing opinions. It’s our duty to protect the rights of people to speak their mind. EVEN if we ourselves disagree vehemently with their position.

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An interesting piece about mass shootings

This piece is in my opinion well written and thoughtful

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The author makes several good points about mass shootings and doesn’t engage in the rhetoric.

I don’t know how accurate his information is but I think his points are worth noting.

For the record, I’m not for assault weapon bans nor am I for additional gun control.

I’m honestly not sure what actions would make a difference in making schools in particular and our world in general safer.

The public schools I went to as a child were all open.

In the morning and at the end of the day we students came onto the grounds on our bicycles and on foot from all directions and we felt safe. It never occurred to us that there was any danger except crossing the street.

Of course, in point of fact… there wasn’t any danger. We’d all avoid strangers and none of us were kidnapped. Our neighborhoods were essentially safe, and our neighbors kept an eye on the kids going to and from school.

I’m personally disturbed by schools today that look like prisons. 

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What’s changed?

A friend and I were discussing this subject the other day. As we all know I’m opinionated and my friend patiently listened to my theory.

I think that the problem is manyfold. With the primary issues being;

1) We have pussified our male children

2) As part of that enforced PC thou shall not fight, we’ve created a situation where our young people don’t understand the consequences of violence. 

3) Life isn’t a video game, you don’t get to ‘respawn”, which is not to say video games are at fault.

What I’m saying is that if all the violence a person knows is in the context of a video game then they’re obviously going to have a skewed idea about violence.

Now let me briefly, defend my points

Children have pecking orders. Just like Wolves, Chimps, and the Great Apes. Those pecking orders are established and defined often by shoving, pushing, biting, and in the case of Chimps and Great Apes outright fighting to demonstrate dominance.

I believe this is completely normal and shouldn’t be interfered with. The adults in the species that I’ve sited observe and interfere only when it becomes apparent that someone is going to get seriously hurt.

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The winners, losers, AND the other young observing the fight for dominance all learn something.

Violence up to a point is OK as long as no-one is permanently injured.

In my personal case, I saw many fights at school. I participated in quite a few of them. In the case of the humans we learned a few lessons. 

1) Fighting hurts.

As we got older, we began to make choices about what was worth fighting over.

2) Choose your battles carefully.

3) Peace and discussing the problem is always preferable to fighting.

As I entered high school, fights were moderated by the Phys Ed coaches. They took on the role of referee. These Men made sure that there was no hitting or kicking below the belt.

They made sure that neither party got too badly banged up and when it was obvious that one party had surrendered, they made sure that the fight came to an end and both parties shook hands and acknowledged that IT was over.

The lessons that I learned then have been invaluable throughout my life.

In my fights, win lose or draw I learned that I was capable of defending myself. I developed confidence and became more self assured. 

I knew, I could take an issue to one of those coaches… Those Men… and that they’d arrange for someone I was having a problem with, and me to sit down and decide how we’d proceed. 

I knew that I was becoming a good citizen and that I was gaining the respect of those Men when I was able to talk out an issue with another guy without resorting to fighting.

I learned that consequences follow your decisions and being injured was a possible consequence of improper behavior.

I believe today, that we’ve demonized being male and cut masculinity out of the equation so much that males never get an opportunity to connect the dots between violence and the consequences.

There is NOTHING as powerful as the moment when you’re standing over your defeated opponent.

Yeah you taste your blood because he got off a good shot to your face.

But standing over your opponent savoring the adrenaline rush and your victory, you learn something else too.

You learn that your physical power can be dangerous.

If you have an iota of conscience you also have pity and compassion for that person lying on the ground.

Because at some point in your young life, you’ve been that person too.

That’s the moment you learn that peace is always a preferable choice to war.

That’s also when you look directly into the eyes of one of the coaches and your newfound knowledge is reflected in their eyes. It’s that moment that they accept you into manhood.

That was a very powerful and transformative experience for me and many of my friends. 

Perhaps part of our problem is that we no longer allow any rites of passage.

I’m not a fan of fighting… but I’m also not a fan of the emasculation that’s so prevalent in our society either.

I’d suggest that we start allowing the schoolyard fist fights. I have many memories of sitting in the chair outside the principals office waiting for judgement. 

Those lessons about consequences were as valuable as anything else I learned in school.

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There’s Snow in them mountains

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Got about 1/2 inch of snow while I was away. 

It was snowing when I came home last night & it looks like it snowed off and on all night. I can’t see my tire tracks anymore…

I got in the door, was greeted by the dogs who told me how awful it was that I’d been gone and then demanded treats to atone for their suffering… Any excuse for treats is alright by them.

I started coughing and hacking yesterday morning. Indicating that this damn cold is moving into my chest and well, by time I got home I was feeling pretty poorly.

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And why the FUCK does it always take 2 1/2 hours to get home from Orange County? What the hell?  There were no accident’s, or any other issues other than stupid people playing Indy 500 pace cars

If these morons would simply remember slower traffic to the right we’d all get to our destinations in a timely fashion. Yeah I was a little cranky. I left OC at 3:30 and didn’t get home until 6:00.

I was just in time for the Nightly News.

My goodness! 

All those poor folks in Connecticut…

At the risk of doing the same thing I’m about to accuse someone of…

The gun control advocates jumped right on the band wagon.

Pardon my bluntness but the shell casings aren’t even cold. You’d have thought that the gun control people would have at least waited a day or two before firing up their agenda and using this tragedy as a plank.

Sheesh!

I have to point out, all it would have taken is one teacher, janitor, or administrator at the school who had a concealed carry permit, and the knowledge to properly use a weapon to have minimized this tragedy.

The perpetrator in this didn’t own the guns, his mother did. 

The only way gun control can ever work is if you literally take guns … ALL guns… away from every single person in this country. To do that you have to perform a house to house search, and then illegal search and seizure of NewImageproperty.

Even after this blatant violation of American rights, you’d still have a gun problem. Because our government won’t  be able to secure the borders and smuggling operations will start immediately.

Consider Chicago. They have some of the most stringent anti-gun laws in the country. You’re not allowed to have a gun in Chicago, to put it plainly.

Yet Chicago has one of the highest number of murder by gunshot rates in the country.  Clearly zero gun policies and insanely stringent laws don’t have the deterrent effect they’ve been touted as having.

Before we go nuts about implementing gun control in the wake of this tragedy. Let us take a moment to look at all sides. Let’s make an informed and well reasoned decision based in fact not the emotionally charged opinions of the moment.

Most of all, let’s let these families grieve and bury their children in peace, lets not use these people or their tragedy to increase ratings or push political agendas.

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Unemployment has run out…

Today I filed for the last of my unemployment benefits.

I think I’m eligible for food stamps. Who knows, maybe I’ll give it a shot.

Still nothing much in the jobs arena.

I would like to thank President Obama for choosing to end U/E extended benefits just prior to Christmas… What a lovely gift!

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Let’s make absolutely sure that you’re super stressed perhaps even desperate for the holidays when few companies are interviewing and even fewer still are actually hiring.

I do have a plan, that’s of course something that I can only initiate after navigating yet more government obstructions. Sixty days of waiting… Damn! The banking regulations are interfering at every turn in my life lately. 

Many of these regulations are about preventing money laundering but as usual are targeted at the little guy. It’s ashamed that our government doesn’t understand things like limits. You know… a situation where only after X amount of money is flowing through a bank account monthly, does the government stick their big fat noses in.

But if you’ve got a SUPERPAC you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars simply disappear. See the Colbert Report video and listen very carefully to the attorney talking about how to make the money go away.

Instead, they want to make everybody suck cock to open a simple checking account. Welcome to America…

Oh well, as my Mom used to tell me… “When you’re king you can make the rules, until then quit bitching and obey the rules.”

SO 60 days it is…

In the mean time I’m going to keep working on my alternative plans to deal with being out of the technology field.

Wish me luck.