Tag Archives: society

Sandy Hook and gun control

Posted on by
3

About Sandy Hook and gun control…

I guess all the facts are still coming in, but what I last heard was that the shooter’s guns were all legally purchased by his mother, who he also shot, and that she was a kindergarten teacher.

So my first reaction was what the hell kind of a family is that where a mother who is a schoolteacher has multiple guns? The family must have been strange in some respects.

If my fact are wrong forgive me. Data is still being gathered.

My other feelings are, “What can be done about it?”

There are a lot of complicated issues which need to be taken into account. I do believe, like it or not, the U.S. constitution clearly allows some kind of gun ownership. The Supreme Court has ruled on that. And the constitution won’t be changed to delete the 2nd amendment. We are stuck with that and have to work around it. You can debate that point endlessly, but the constitution is the constitution.

I also don’t believe the government should be able to completely ban all gun ownership. There are too many examples of legitimate cases where people had to defend themselves and had no choice but to use a gun. One case that comes to mind is earlier this year when a single mother in a trailer with her baby called the police to say a man was trying to break in and could she shoot him in self defense if she had to. The operator who took the call said she could do whatever she needed to do to protect herself and her baby. I can’t see how any reasonable person would say people in situations like that don’t have the right to self defense. The same goes true for a person living in a city. People do have the right to self defense. I don’t see how any tragedy can be used to turn other people into murder victim statistics.

But reasonable limits don’t seem to be unconstitutional to me. Why did the shooter’s mother need 4 or 5 or 6 guns (depending on reports)? How many guns do you need to defend yourself?

And what kind of weapon is really legitimate? Automatics? Hand grenades? Portable missile launchers? Personal atomic weapons? Common sense tells you that legal limits on “arms” are constitutional, just like there are legal limits to free speech (slander, shouting fire in a crowded theater).

My suggestion is to allow one registered gun for personal defense to people who pass background checks, are adults, and who show they have gone through training and who have to get their certification renewed to show they are still competent, sane and capable (like renewing a driver’s license). And any public venue should certainly have the right to ban all weapons upon entering the area. And people who violate these laws should have the book thrown at them.

I don’t know if more is possible really, considering constitutional limitations.

doug

Why I think the GOP has turned racist this year

Posted on by
Reply

The demography of the country is changing. Probably permanently. As a result, the GOP, which since its “southern strategy” of the 1960s has played to the white southern conservative, sees its electoral base slipping into the minority.

It scares them to death that their electoral advantage is slipping away. But instead of broadening their appeal they have veered into a starkly undemocratic, dangerous direction: voter suppression.

Everyone knows – including them – that there is negligible voter fraud in the U.S. Even their own people have bragged how the voter suppression laws (in the guise of voter ID laws, or early voting law changes designed to disenfranchise certain groups of people) are really designed to help Romney win certain key states.

This is racist.

If you think the only way you can win elections going forward is by suppressing votes among ethnic groups who are growing in numbers it’s really time to pack it in as a party History is against them.

I think their strategy is backfiring though. Courts are ruling against these laws, one by one. And the Justice Department is doing their job and trying to prevent voter suppression.

This election will be a turning point for voting rights.

Chinese anti-Japanese demonstrations

Posted on by
Reply

What on earth is going on in China?

They are having the most widespread, and even sometimes violent anti-Japan demonstrations in the 40 years since diplomatic relations were normalized in 1972. There are demonstrators in the streets of 85 cities across China. Some pictures show demonstrators with banners demanding China declare war against Japan – even to nuke Japan.

Many Japanese large manufacturers have temporarily closed plants there, and Japanese businesses are genuinely afraid of what is happening.

On top of these bizarre turns of events, the newly appointed Japanese ambassador to China dropped dead just five days after being appointed. He was only 60, and died suddenly on a Tokyo street. The Japanese government says there was no foul play – even though there is still no cause of death. It certainly has increased speculation.

Of course this has to do with the Senkaku islands, which are claimed by both China and Japan, but are effectively under Japanese control. Boats from China have been heading towards there and demonstrators from China have made landings in recent weeks (to get arrested and deported to China).

I don’t know which country really has the strongest historical claim to the islands. And I’m sure that Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara hasn’t helped, with his nationalistic saber rattling and attempts to get Tokyo to buy the islands from their private owners, forcing Japan to up the bidding and by it themselves.

But it’s really strange in the 21st century to see China and Japan go at it like this. Very worrisome. My own opinion is that China, with the “real armed forces” should back off and not send ships into the area. Something could go very wrong.

Chick-fil-A said to be a faith healing exercise

Posted on by
2

ATLANTA, Aug 1 (Doug-at-Large News) – Thousands of people across the United States heeded the call of two former Republican U.S. presidential candidates to eat at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday to clog their arteries with fried chicken in support for the chain restaurant as it weathers criticism for its president’s public opposition to gay marriage. “This is a faith healing exercise for us,” said 300 lb. Cornelia Smith of Mt. Holly, Tennessee. “God will save us if we eat fried chicken sandwiches in support of opponents to the gay agenda.”