I’ll wait for the pics from Israel with Mitt wearing a yamulka and dancing to Hava Nagila.

There is a Scotsman somewhere in Mitt’s woodpile.

The grit doesn’t come off when you shake hands, does it?

Good morning, pups. Today we have Kristof and Collins. In “Safe From Fire, but Not Guns” Mr. Kristof has a question: If we have safety regulations even for toy guns, how about some for real ones? Well, seeing as the NRA seems to control almost every elected official in America it probably won’t happen in my lifetime. You could carve a Congress with more backbone out of bananas. Ms. Collins went “Where the Jobs Are.” She says yes, people, the unemployment rate in Williston, N.D., really is 1 percent. She went there to scope out the situation so you won’t have to.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got banana pancakes for breakfast. I’m sure that Mittens will get some great ideas from Osborne… And just think — due to the drought we’ll probably have to be paying more for the cat food we’ll be reduced to eating pretty soon. But I’m sure there’s a profit in that for some of Mittens’ friends, you know, the ones who own the cat food companies. Have a great day.

I was just thinking last night how very stupid this is and that in any other profession, when the result of an act results in failure after failure, trying the same thing over and over again would be met with scorn and ridicule. Yet “austerity” is still spoken of like it’s a panacea for all economic woes, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary and exactly zero evidence to support that bit of “conventional wisdom”.

Isn’t that the definition of insanity?

Thanks, Marion, the jobs are in N.Dakota, not TX? What is their governor running for?

Insanity has been defined that way, yes. I think the rich want us destitute so they can feel even better about themselves. Accumulating more wealth is just a bonus for them. It’s our suffering that they truly enjoy. They watch us live in desperation and squalor and feel really clever and superior since they are able to afford opulence and luxury, with access to all manner of services the rest of us need but are denied. They want us to be second or third class citizens because their egos need feeding. I believe that.

You recall to mind the old regime at GM, that kept producing monster cars that no one bought, but then this admin replaced those dodos and started producing profits. Can we have more of this?

He’s having trouble finding love in America, perhaps the Brits will be friendlier to him.

I sure hope he manages to re-establish diplomatic relations after Obama screwed up our Special Relationship. /s

Boxturtle (I hope TSA gives him the Full Monty upon his return)

If we have safety regulations even for toy guns, how about some for real ones?

I thought we did. Trigger locks are required in some areas, all guns must have safties, gun cabinet are required in some areas and so on? Other than rules preventing people from possessing them, what does he think would help? Me, I’d like to see trigger locks everywhere.

I see a lot of gun violence, but I see very few problems that could be solved by more safties.

Boxturtle (Disclaimer: The link is blocked for me)

“Dodos” is especially apt…

I’ve been reading an old history written about the area in the last century, and included is a description of the ‘day of training’ held annually for the entire male population to familiarize them with behaving as a militia in case of attacks. Guns were supplied out of the armory. Seems the 2nd Amendment was a bummer, it supplanted yearly male bonding camp meets, and everyone was now supposed to have his own gun and forget the funny uniforms. (The describer had fun, described the muskets as ‘a terror to the bearer’.)

Sorry my blog is blocked to you, although I can’t figure out why it would be. Here’s a snippet of Mr. Kristof’s piece for you:

Other obvious steps include restricting high capacity magazines and limiting gun purchases to one a month. Making serial numbers more difficult to erase would help. And bravo to California for trying to require that new handguns imprint a microstamp on each bullet so that it can be traced back to the gun that fired it.

We should also finance research to design safer firearms. Many accidents would be averted if a gun always indicated if a round were in the chamber. And there should be ways to employ biometrics or a PIN so that a stolen gun would be unusable.

David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health has written an excellent book about public health approaches to firearms. But he argues that we need changes not just in laws but also in social mores — just as we’ve stigmatized drunken driving. Not to mention other kinds of irresponsibility.

And if anyone has any idea why my wee bloggy thing would be blocked to someone, please let me know.

Dunno Marion. Works just fine for me.

Gun laws are different from one state to another, also, so CA can keep shooters from TX from being law abiding citizens there. I believe it’s still a crime to shoot people, even in TX.

Whew! I was getting worried… Having linked about 1950 blog entries here over the years I was wondering why nobody had ever said anything before.

I worry about some concealed carry moron accidentally shooting somebody else, (me), while going for his/her keys, wallet, etc. Only the most insecure, cowardly individual thinks s/he needs a loaded firearm with them at all times.

With that, I gotta go do some actual hard work.

Your links have always worked for me Marion… Fret no more.

Maybe there’s a blocker that excludes you for quoting the evil NYT. I found that a blog I posted with another person was blocked at Drury Inns because of adult and drug content. No, we weren’t promoting drugs or using bad language.

Thanks! Now I’m off to the salt mines too.

governor.

Former lt. gov., He became governor when Hoeven was elected to Senate.

It’s blocked because my company considers it “Social networking”. They condsider FDL News.

No, I don’t understand it.

Limiting High capacity magazines is a good idea. You don’t hunt deer on full auto and if you can’t defend yourself with 6-8 shots you should probably consider judo.

Limiting gun purchases IMO is a bad idea. The fellow will just go from sport to spot and pick up what he needs. At least if he buys them all at once, you have a red flag. Also, no matter how many guns I have I can only use one at a time. And I’d get really upset if I had to pass on a collectable gun because I’d already bought something that month.

The serial number can be recovered these days, even if removed with a twist drill.

Not sure what Calif’s law does that we couldn’t do before by looking at the bullet with a microscope. But if it helps, more power to them.

IMO our current firearms are pretty safe, excluding so-called saturday night specials. Problem is that too many people are too stupid to check for a round in the chamber or they like to wave it around and fire randomly. Everyone should always assume a round is in the chamber until they’ve looked for themselves.

I like the biometeric idea, but I’d like to see how it worked in practice before I decide it’s worthwhile. I want my wife to be able to use my gun. Or my stepson. But I don’t want them to have to “log in” during an emergency.

I agree with Hemenway. We need an attitude change.

Boxturtle (Why are so many people afraid of anyone they don’t know?)

Regulations are for responsible people, anyway – the nuts aren’t going to pay any attention. Also, anyone as klutzy as I am is dangerous around any weaponry, including sharp objects.

Thanks, and how does he feel about ground water and its safety?

Boxturtle (I hope TSA gives him the Full Monty upon his return)

I think that only applies to, “you people,” flying public airlines (and I might be mistaken here, this might not happen until after the RNC official confirmation) and persons who do not have a Secret Service contingent assigned to them already.

Good Morning people.

Rmoney has no need to fly commercial, I’m sure, since his rich buds all will happily lend him their private planes if he is embarrassed savvy to use one of his own.

ALL the gun owners I know fall into the responsable catagory. i only read about the nutcases on the news.

Klutzy, eh? I recommend a shotgun. Tough to trigger by accident and you don’t have to aim much.

Boxturtle (We need to identify the nuts before they go to buy a gun)

Triggering isn’t so much of a problem as aiming one – I’m quite likely to hit something entirely different from whatever I had in mind. Which is as I understand it, the case for altogether too many others who might try shooting.

Thanks for explaining the block to me. And you’re right — there’s absolutely no explaining how companies figure out what to block. If there’s ever an article you want to see more of, let me know and I’ll put some up here, as I did with Kristof.

And now that I’m actually at work, I supposed I should do some!

At a coin show, there are more guns than dealers. If somebody were to try something, I’d hit the floor FAST. IMO most of those dealers spend way too little time on the shooting range.

I’d count the number of bad guys, then wait until I hear one specific person fire his gun that many times. He may be the only person there who can really shoot, he won’t shoot unless he has a clear shot and he will hit what he aims at.

Assuming random fire from all directions doesn’t take him out first.

Boxturtle (Security at a coin show is NOT Old Dude With Flashlight)

I’m a photographer, what is a photogropher?

How about beauty pageants and pharmaceutical sabbaticals? There’s nothing that makes me feel safer than everyone checking guns at the door, thanks.

I picture one as having fur, four legs and little beady eyes, do you?

Thank you, I was beginning to despair that noone had respect for language and spelling. Perhaps one might surmise I am too picky but, dammit, we cannot solve problems with ignorance! A spell checker is the first tool, after insight and wisdom, a blogger should possess.

Violence, not illiteracy is the topic. We live in perhaps the most violent nation on the planet. Our government commits more such violence, and routinely, than any other nation on earth excepting, perhaps, Israel. Is it any wonder that we see this violence permeating our culture, books, literature, film, video games, all perpetuate and idolize violence.

But it is so much simpler to blame it all on a gun, an inanimate object, a tool.

Can’t speak to those, never been to one. But I have carried over a million dollars worth of coins in my pocket and at a large show the inventory on the floor can approch $100M. Big fat target.

Boxturtle (Disclaimer: The coins were NOT mine, I was just helping a dealer set up)

You had a license to carry?

My being a francophone, I always hope that it’s word play, some form of pun that I wasn’t aware of, something to learn. I should use a spell checker myself…

Ruth, not getting it, looks like I’m specially dense this morning.

License?!? This show was in Texas, many moons ago. If you didn’t have a gun, they issued one. :-)

Gun wasn’t concealed. Hell, I’d have looked out of place without one.

But at a coin show, where you really need the protection is walking from the parking lot to the bourse and on the drive home. I don’t know that a big enough fool exists to try a stickup on a coin show floor.

In Florida, the current technique is to put a slow leak into a dealers tires, then hit him when he pulls over to change it.

Boxturtle (Msg to crooks: But just try to sell the nice stuff without getting tagged!)

If it’s a word play, I missed it, just playing, myself.

Being punny, you said you were carrying coins.