Not to take anything away from this terrible tragedy, but, wow. With all that is happening in the world, even in the USA, this is all the talking heads can talk about? Don’t know the actual stats, but what would be the guess that way more Americans have been killed since this took place, with guns? But, that isn’t what politicians want to talk about. They want to turn it all political. How can the US be the leader of anything, if they can’t even tell the difference between senseless violence and politics? Since Obama was elected, how many women and children has the US killed? How many for having the audacity of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? How many in the United States alone? Years ago, the US hid it’s aggressive behaviour of it’s crazy people. Now it’s flaunted all over the media daily. Sad.

Good morning, pups. It’s just Kristof and Rich this morning. MoDo is off today, and The Moustache of Wisdom is on a book tour. In “China’s Winning Schools?” Mr. Kristof says the real strategic challenge isn’t Chinese fighter aircraft. It’s China’s focus on education. Mr. Rich, in “No One Listened to Gabrielle Giffords,” says in March 2010, few of our leaders wanted to see what Giffords saw — that the vandalism and the death threats were part of a tide of insurrectionism that had been rising since the final weeks of the 2008 campaign. But, but, but… this was the work of a lone nut! NO ONE COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED…

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got chocolate croissants to share. I’m off to keep bashing away at work — the world’s most verbose doctor has flooded me with stuff… Logorrhea, it ain’t pretty. Have a great day.

I believe something like over 30,000 people in the USA are killed in gun related incidents.

Guns R Us

We live in a violent society which believes and acts on “the might makes right” principle. We see it in our “foreign policy” in our “policing” and in our personal conduct… where people resort to violence at the drop of a hat. Out media is constantly filled with these images. Even the recent “Black Swan” which was built around gentle and beautiful ballet… was full of blood and violence. Despite the amount of violence in the States, the media would have us believe it is WAY WAY WAY more common than it is. The media IS training the thinking and behavior of our citizens.

And then there is the obsession with “contact sports” which is not only violent, but uses military rhetoric.

Why? I haven’t a clue. But we’ve sanction violence as a means for conflict resolution and normal and crazy people use it all the time unfortunately.

Fox News Sunday: On public employee benefits,

This subject is ticking me off. Everyone’s bashing the pensions etc that public employees get but no one’s mentioning that 40 years ago, it’s what everyone was getting. Get a job and you would get free health insurance and the guarantee of a pension when you retire. When the repubs talk about how things were way back when, they don’t mention that.

Replying to my own post. Instead of infuriating people over what some public employees get (that they’re not getting) the focus should be returning to the days where the corps provided pensions for there workers. Not one person is even suggesting this. We’ve lost so much in this country while the rich have become richer.
What do they expect us to do? No pensions and they want to chop SS, do they think we should be able to save enough from our measley jobs to support ourselves for 20 or so years? Actually, I answered my own question. They want us to work till we die.

I’ve been saved from the bobbleheads this morning. AMC has the Three Stooges until 10AM. My morning nap always starts at ten.

Not to take anything away from this terrible tragedy, but, wow. With all that is happening in the world, even in the USA, this is all the talking heads can talk about?

Our political process is the only tool we have for addressing all the other things. If it isn’t reliable, and mass shootings at political gatherings suggest it isn’t, then addressing the other things has to wait until we fix the process.

Like Chris Christie should really be lecturing his fellow “public employees” on the merits and necessity of personal responsibility, honoring the investment of taxpayers, etc.

Can you imagine his reaction or the reaction from the right had NJ’s plow drivers or law enforcement blew off the snowstorm like their guv did and spent a week in Orlando?
http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog

What’s the status of the train that Christie cancelled? Is that still dead?

Good morning all.

For those of you who weren’t around, Michael Moore (yes that one) showed up in last night’s book salon (Tom Tomorrow) thread. It was a hoot.

“China’s Winning Schools?”

I’ve heard a bit about that subject from the son of a friend who taught ESL in China. He doesn’t think much of the Chinese system which he described as mindless memorization.

i’ve never been able to get a book salon to open – just a blank page and a clicking sound…must be something to do with auto-refresh. oh well, sounds like a good one.

I have to go check that out.

That’s too bad. Book salon is prolly my fave fdl feature.

Will Wallace ask Christie if he’ll accept a pension?

G’morning!

Today’s my 52nd birthday so I figured it was high time to make a top ten list of why now sucks to be a baby boomer.

Happy birthday to you!

HAPPY BIRPHDAY, JP!

Yep, it sucks.

Oh, and a Good Morning to All.

Yes, we had an excellent book salon last night.

Mornin’, Elliott, pups

I can’t resist.

Talking Southern

US Media’s talking heads are hilarious… Stretching faaaaaaar out of their way to paint Jared’s motives, tools and statements in soothing “crazy” colors.

US Media’s services seperate crazy Jared’s sacred Teaparty viewpoint, Jared’s statements, his imagined wounds, his gun tools, and Jared’s 2nd Amendment remedy of mass-murder neatly detached from “any particular group.” I barely notice as US media patriotically self censors.

Please note how other world media is less deferential to GOP Fox Teaparty Corp. US media spells Fox terrorist success.

The GOP Fox Teaparty Corp goads domestic and worldwide terrorism while now MORE “victimized” in its sacred mission…sniff-sniff. Fox Fans again wronged by-da-man! All the pro-forma hate-script “ya’lls done me wrong again!”….you lefty godless liberal Hitlers!

Fox’s “courage” is job #1 professional victimhood spouting lucrative hate for its terrorist Teaparty brother. Teaparty is erstwhile Fox funded, hosted, goaded, and targets erected.

In order to avoid being shot in the head, or being fired by Likud (ooops!) media directors, US media serves the key role of disconnecting august coverage of GOP Fox Teaparty’s deadly 24-7 inspirational messages, lies and perversions ……..away from Fox’s mission. The self-contortion act ain’t easy.

Rather let us never discuss Jared’s textbook-Teaparty views. He was merely the “lone wolf” mere crazy guy etc. A neatly vended excuse product to now excuse GOP Fox Teaparty Corp’s professional victims from domestic terrorism minted at Fox.

Try clearing your cache and deleting cookies. Also, try a different browser. Firefox is always a good choice, both Mac & Windows. I use Firefox on a Mac, but I also have Safari loaded and sometimes when a site doesn’t open or I get an error, I switch and try again. Also try getting to Book Salon different ways, like from a nav link at the top or bottom of the previous or following post, from RSS, etc.

Happy Birthday! OT, NPR this a.m. was touting free trade. If the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is for it it must be good. Korea, Columbia, Panama, it’s all good.

LOL

Boycott ALL corporate propaganda. Turn off the TV.

Spot-on post. Thank you

Your sentiment is right, but I won’t throw out FDL with the US Media Tool bath water. Thanks

Anyone who kills is crazy and so the far right can incite violence and they disown their incitement and claims it was a only a crazy person who would do such a thing… all the time demanding more guns “rights” and “remedies”.

The right has been screaming fire in a crowded movie theater and getting away with it as “free speech”.

This is not going to change. More violent rhetoric, more guns and more dead people as a result.

Obama’s words may be soothing, but will change nothing.

This is what intelligent people are doing. I’ve stopped reading the NY Times, watching TV and get my news from alternative sources and the WWW. But how don you get the after Joe to turn off the propaganda and get themselves educated?

And what ARE the channels for action? I may not be influenced by the lamestream media, but aside from voting, attending demonstrations, writing letters and signing petitions, there is little a person can do to “change the climate and the zeitgeist of America. We’re mostly bystanders swept along with the rushing current to the right.

Personally I am waiting for the system to completely collapse and hope intelligent people emerge on the other side who can build a just and sane world. This is a painful course, but the system is not capable of reform at this point. Too much power is in the hands of the wrong people… and they won’t let go. Their ego and greed demands more not less.

What is the over/under on how much Obama will sell us out in the State of the Union -

Social Security reduced benefits via changed “cost of living/wage” index
Social Security reduced benefits via retirement age increase
Social Security destruction via change to welfare via “means test”
Social Security destruction via forever reduced payroll tax
Social Security destruction via diversion of payroll tax to individual accounts
Social Security “compromise” that gives “means test” greater benefit to lowest benefit’s being paid
Agreement on spending cuts that stop all progressive laws from being inforced
Agreement on single house Congressional veto of proposed regulations.
Agreement on Health Insurance reform modification on 1099 reporting.
Agreement on Health Insurance reform modification on mandate repeal
Agreement on Health Insurance vouchers replacing Medicaid expansion
Agreement on National Security Stealth Fighter program re-start
Agreement on no Pentagon base closings
Agreement on no Pentagon toys for boys reductions without re-purposing the money for other Pentagon waste.
Agreement on no Pentagon reduction in officer staff
Agreement on more money for contractors to take over current government employee duties.
Agreement on no reduction in corporate welfare for ethanol
Agreement on no reduction in corporate welfare Agriculture payments in other areas.
Agreement on no change in gun laws – just bills that go no where – but with Obama speeches of “moderate” support.
Agreement of Federal Education involvement being limited to forcing testing.
Agreement on cutting the tiny funding for the Arts, for the Humanities, for NPR/PBS.
Agreement on cutting the funding on research – NASA, Medical Research.
Agreement on a military guards force on the Mexican border the size of the Afghanistan commitment.
Agreement that the Afghanistan troop withdrawal this summer will be limited to reclassifying the troops “withdrawn” as new “advisors” with the same duties.
Agreement on more trade treaties like the South Korea one that limits our sales of cars to 25000 each for GM/Ford, while they get everything they want.

I can go on of course, but one gets tired of guessing how the fellow “more liberal than Hillary” will screw us next. We only know for sure, at this point, that he will concede on everything the GOP and the rich and corporate want before they enter into “negotiations” and while in “negotiations” ask what else they want, followed by telling us he had to concede that too or the GOP would not have agreed to “insert next must pass item here – say the Federal Debt limit or the Pentagon budget”.

Indeed it may be time for me to have more time with the grandkids and dogs – and wife – so as to clear the mind.

I watched the ABC coverage this morning. On the whole, given the artificiality of an event like that, I want to praise the effort and the dialogue. Sure, focussing on one event like this is, as I said, artificial when so much violence is ongoing. The few times they did mention the perpetrator, and the question they asked about preventing his act by intervening beforehand could better have been answered by saying that there are so many disturbed young people out there that even in our jail crazy society there is no possibility of locking all of them up. However, the point being made that ordinary people under stressful conditions can and do rise to the occasion was one worth making – the people themselves know this.

Puttingh a human face on the effects of violence is to be praised – ABC is to be praised for doing this. It was very unsettling at the end of the piece to first hear the remarks of the Tea Party person, and then to hear of the response of one of the victims, and how he was put into custody. The response was a poor one, but I understand his reaction. Here was a community attempting to stand on steady ground and this man, the Tea Party person, told them they should not be laughing and feeling good, that this was no time for a conversation in community.

Those people obviously felt strongly that it was time for such a conversation, and I felt privileged to be allowed to see that. There must be so many similar conversations going on around this country and around this world as peaceful folk try to come to terms with violence. I do not think such conversations are avoiding reality. Many of those folk would also have been thinking about Afghanistan, about Iraq, about the ongoing refusal of our government to right the wrongs that began as we entered this century.

Peaceful folk around the world need to be given a chance to say their say, and that doesn’t happen often. Thank you, ABC. I listened to one of Martin Luther King’s speeches against the Vietnam war yesterday, and it seems to me his tone was very much the tone of the Tucson community. Only one of them spoke any words of condemnation, and her ‘neighborly’ opinion was not highlighted. She was simply given a chance to say what she had to say.

Only a quarter of the folk attending were gunowners. That is heartening. If we could all quietly turn in our guns, we who are family members and don’t want these weapons of instant destruction to be readily available when our youngsters stress out, what a better nation this would be.