Update on the Salon Shootings, video from MSNBC.com:
Saturday, October 15, 2011
How Much Worse Would This Incident Be If Firearms Were Involved?
How much worse would this be if firearms were involved?
Let me be clear - I don't think anyone involved in this incident behaved well, or properly. The victims had no business climbing over the counter, and absent any audio of the exchange clarifying what happened, it would strongly suggest to me either an intended assault or an attempted robbery.
But escalating violence only escalates the level of incivility in our society.
From MSNBC.com:
Let me be clear - I don't think anyone involved in this incident behaved well, or properly. The victims had no business climbing over the counter, and absent any audio of the exchange clarifying what happened, it would strongly suggest to me either an intended assault or an attempted robbery.
But escalating violence only escalates the level of incivility in our society.
From MSNBC.com:
So what's the difference...
Between the real thing and the parody?
I thought about putting them both together.
Here's more From Elizabeth:
I thought about putting them both together.
Here's more From Elizabeth:
A True DGU
I love it when an unarmed victim takes the gun away from the bad guy and performs a true DGU. Of course, even in these cases there is room for abuse. For example the guy, after wrestling the gun away from his attacker, could use it unnecessarily. He could be so pumped with adrenalin that he himself becomes the aggressor. But, I tend to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. How about you?
The only thing about this story that made me wonder is that not only did he have a safe in the home, a thing not very suspicious in and of itself, but he had quite an elaborate sucurity system for a city employee.
What do you think about SEVEN security cameras? Is that normal?Police say the wounded man was taken to the hospital. A second suspect is not in custody. Investigators are still reviewing security video footage from the seven security cameras Pearce has at his home.
Anyway, for me this was an exciting and dramatic and probably legitimate DGU.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Anchorage Alaska the Last True Gun Owner's Paradise
The Anchorage Daily News reports
What's your opinion? Is that what you call paradise? If you wanted to go to a restaurant or bar with your family, would you feel safe?
Please leave a comment.
The story describes a very common scene of men shooting pool in a bar, getting mouthy with each other, and ending up in the parking lot to settle it. The only difference is in Alaska they all have guns.A shootout that left two men dead and two people injured at an East Anchorage bar Monday started with heated words inside the bar, then spilled into the bar's parking lot, where the fight quickly became a gunbattle, according to new court documents.
What's your opinion? Is that what you call paradise? If you wanted to go to a restaurant or bar with your family, would you feel safe?
Please leave a comment.
Putting the 'DUH?' in Florida
cross posted from Penigma:
It is perhaps only amusing to me that a part of the state of Florida -- or as it seems more and more often, Flori-DUH! - hijacked by the Tea Party would succumb simultaneously to their worst anti-science impulses, and to right wing paranoia and---- wait for it! ---- the ubiquitous right wing, factually inaccurate invoking of Hitler myth.
The Tea Party is so inept, their members can't be trusted not to harm themselves with the sharp corner of a Graham cracker, much less should they be trusted to have anything to do with governmental decisions affecting human populations.
In this instance, it is the removal of fluoride from the water. Fluoride is the substance that the prestigious, well-respected, SCIENCE-BASED Center for Disease Control says on their web site, on the page headed Community Water Fluoridation:
The Tea Party and the segments of the right wing that support them, or at least go along with them, propose and enact measures which are costly, and which are ill-advised and ill-conceived. They harm large segments of our population, they break things which previously worked, they act on the basis of fantasy conspiracies without basis in fact. And they are out of step with an increasingly large number of people in this country who disagree with them and who oppose what they have been doing. Pardon the pun - rightly so. In trying to give us smaller government and more efficient government, they have broken government, they have proven they cannot govern, and that they have failed ideas to offer. In all probability, they will be shown the door in 2012, and their efforts will systematically be undone, to fix the harm they have caused.
The only dumbing down we have to fear is from the Tea Party.
It is perhaps only amusing to me that a part of the state of Florida -- or as it seems more and more often, Flori-DUH! - hijacked by the Tea Party would succumb simultaneously to their worst anti-science impulses, and to right wing paranoia and---- wait for it! ---- the ubiquitous right wing, factually inaccurate invoking of Hitler myth.
The Tea Party is so inept, their members can't be trusted not to harm themselves with the sharp corner of a Graham cracker, much less should they be trusted to have anything to do with governmental decisions affecting human populations.
In this instance, it is the removal of fluoride from the water. Fluoride is the substance that the prestigious, well-respected, SCIENCE-BASED Center for Disease Control says on their web site, on the page headed Community Water Fluoridation:
So who better to fact check Flori-DUH! Tea Partiers better than the Florida factcheckers at Politifact.com, who give the Fori-DUH! Tea Partiers a Pants-on-Fire rating, reserved for their most severe level of lying, or being so grossly inaccurate that they pretty much had to work at being ignorant.Overview
For 65 years, community water fluoridation has been a safe and healthy way to effectively prevent tooth decay. CDC has recognized water fluoridation as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.
- The Benefits page provides information on the oral health benefits of fluoride to individuals and communities.
- The Safety page provides references and other information about fluoride safety.
- The Statistics page provides access to data sources such as the National Oral Health Surveillance System.
- The Engineering and Operations page provides information on water fluoridation technical assistance resources to state programs.
- Other Fluoride Products describes forms of fluoride delivery other than water fluoridation.
- Guidelines and Recommendations offers technical information on programs, and Fact Sheets covers specific topics. See also Journal Articles, Related Links
The Truth-O-Meter Says:
Say water fluoridation started in Nazi Germany ghettos and death camps to pacify the Jews.
Critics of water fluoridation on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 in a Pinellas County Commission meeting and web commentsSo in that context, I offer this video clip to elaborate on the Tea Party's ignorance and paranoia. It's bad enough they are foolish enough to believe these conspiracy theories and stupid urban myths, but it is unconscionable that they act on them without checking first to see if there is even a fragment of truth to them.
Truth about fluoride doesn't include Nazi myth
Here's a reason to support a Florida county's decision to cut fluoride out of its drinking water: The idea came from the Nazis.
The Nazis put fluoride in water to pacify Jews during World War II, a local resident told members of the Pinellas County Commission on Oct. 4, 2011, before the commission voted 4-3 vote to stop fluoridating water for about 700,000 residents.
"History shows, actually, that in Nazi Germany, one of the first things that they did was add fluoride to the water in the ghettos where the Jews stayed," Matt Leffler of Clearwater said.
Once the St. Petersburg Times published its story about the decision — similar, anonymous comments on the Web piled up:
"Do you guys know where water fluoridation started? In the death camps in WWII."
"There have been many links to cancer going back to the original tests on fluoride done by the Nazis on the Jews."
"It IS what they used to dull their brains!! They used it in the concentration camps. It was in the concentration camps that they also developed many anti-psychotics."
One reader declared the Nazi-fluoride connection "an absolute historical fact." Several readers linked to sources on the Web.
Certainly Nazis, who killed millions of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, were known for chemical tests and inhumane medical experiments. So PolitiFact Florida had to know: Did that include adding fluoride to water?
We tracked down roots of these claims on the Web, reached out to Holocaust historians, contacted well-known critics of water fluoridation, and read book excerpts and magazine articles and news stories. And we can tell you: There's no teeth to this claim.
This fact-check won't explore the pros and cons of fluoride in your drinking water — though we will note the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the practice one of the greatest public health achievements of the century. And also that groups of citizens, scientists among them, have been wary of the practice since the 1950s.
We'll focus instead on an Internet meme that's crept into the local public debate over drinking water — one that well-known fluoridation critics would like to see washed away.
"We have done our level best to discourage opponents of fluoridation from using this emotive argument," said Paul Connett, a chemist who directs the anti-fluoridation group Fluoride Action Network and recently co-authored a book called The Case Against Fluoride. "The historical evidence for this assertion is extremely weak. It is sad that the U.S. media has done such a bad job of educating the public on this issue that it is so easy for crazy ideas to fill the vacuum."
• • •
So where does the story come from?
Andy Hollinger, who handles media relations at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, tried not to laugh as we explained our fact-check.
"I can almost guarantee you that is indeed an urban myth," he said. "... That sounds like Conspiracy Theory 101."
But he humored us, putting historian Patricia Heberer on the phone. Her expertise is the German medical community, including Holocaust-era experimentation.
Most Nazi medical experiments, she said, had two themes: new drugs and treatments for common battlefield ailments, from war wounds to typhus, or the more infamous effort to underpin Nazi racial ideas, such as Josef Mengele's twin studies. None of the experimentation that she knows of involved fluoride — for mind control or for healthy teeth.
Meanwhile, in the concentration camp system, as in the ghettos, it would have been surprising if fluoride delivery was a focus — in the final few days before liberation, water lines scarcely delivered water. So, water treated just for the Jews?
"I can't see it," she said.
But she had heard a similar Cold War-era theory. It wasn't about the Nazis fluoridating water. It was the Communists.
• • •
Still, do an Internet search for "fluoride" and "Nazis," and you'll find articles such as "Nazi Connections to Fluoride in America's Drinking Water." The text appears on various sites, and includes the citations "Stephen 1995," and "Bryson 2004."
"Stephen 1995" is likely Ian E. Stephens, author of a 1987 self-published booklet, an extract of which was published in Nexus Magazine in 1995. We tracked down a copy of the article from the magazine's website, an alternative Australian publication covering "health breakthroughs, future science and technology, suppressed news, free energy, religious revisionism, conspiracy, the environment, history and ancient mysteries, the mind, UFOs, paranormal and the unexplained."
It's called "Fluoridation: Mind Control of the Masses?" And in it we meet government research worker Charles Eliot Perkins, who at the end of World War II purportedly learned from a big German chemical producer that it had developed a plan to fluoridate occupied countries.
"Repeated doses of infinitesimal amounts of fluoride will in time reduce an individual's power to resist domination by slowly poisoning and narcotising a certain area of the brain and will thus make him submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him," says a document quoted in the excerpt. "Both the Germans and the Russians added sodium fluoride to the drinking water of prisoners of war to make them stupid and docile."
"Bryson 2004" is Christopher Bryson, an investigative reporter and television producer who reported on Guatemalan human rights abuses for the BBC World Service, National Public Radio and the Atlanta Journal Constitution in the 1980s, and later wrote a book called The Fluoride Deception. It delves into murky connections between military-industrial fluoride polluters and the early push for public water fluoridation.
His book mentions Nazis or Nazism less than 10 times, and none of the references discuss water fluoridation. We contacted him.
"I never came across any documentation or credible information showing that fluoride was used in Nazi death camps," he said.
• • •
In 2009, two scientists published a book called The Fluoride Wars: How a Modest Public Health Measure Became America's Longest Running Political Melodrama.
The hydrologists dedicate more than 30 pages to conspiracy theories and their origins. We contacted one of them.
"The World War II death camp statement is an absurd lie," said Jay Lehr, who has authored or co-authored more than 30 books, most of them self-described "boring science books for scientists."
The Fluoride Wars instead presents a lively social history of the fluoridation debate in the United States.
And it starts with the first large-scale fluoridation in history, not in Europe, but in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1945.• • •
Given the topic, it seems appropriate to conclude with Wikipedia, where we found mention of Nazis and fluoride — in an article listing conspiracy theories: Fluoridation is alternately part of a "Communist, Fascist or New World Order or Illuminati plot to take over the world." It was "pioneered by a German chemical company to make people submissive to those in power." It was "used in Russian prison camps and produces schizophrenia."
Our Holocaust historian knew of no such project. Two book authors who researched the topic, one a journalist, the other a hydrologist, found no credible evidence of such a connection. A leading anti-fluoridation activist repudiates the story. The most commonly cited Web source for the story was a 16-year-old extract in a fringe Australian publication. So we can confidently declare this claim Pants on Fire!
The Tea Party and the segments of the right wing that support them, or at least go along with them, propose and enact measures which are costly, and which are ill-advised and ill-conceived. They harm large segments of our population, they break things which previously worked, they act on the basis of fantasy conspiracies without basis in fact. And they are out of step with an increasingly large number of people in this country who disagree with them and who oppose what they have been doing. Pardon the pun - rightly so. In trying to give us smaller government and more efficient government, they have broken government, they have proven they cannot govern, and that they have failed ideas to offer. In all probability, they will be shown the door in 2012, and their efforts will systematically be undone, to fix the harm they have caused.
The only dumbing down we have to fear is from the Tea Party.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Vegetarians, from the other point of view!
OK, Meat eaters--It's time to gang up on those people who want to make us stop!
And while we're at it:
And while we're at it:
Meet Richard Swinney--Living Historian
Living historian and hunter. He practices the arts of falconry and boar hunting. Here we have him with a boar properly slain.
He also practises period medicine.
You can learn more about this fellow here.
I am not sure of his views about the Second Amendment, but harassing him because of this post would be idiotic.
I only point him out as a practitioner of the honourable art of hunting. I should add that I appreciate that he hunts in the proper manner and practises proper martial arts.
For more period hunters see:
St. Hubert's Rangers
Boar Hunting in General:
Wild Boar Hunting in California and the World
Fast and Furious Made Simple
Some of the pro-gun sites have dedicated themselves to making more of this than there is. I knew it was coming a while ago when Wayne La Pierre pretended to be emotional about the situation. That's all it takes for his minions to take up the cause and run with it.Again, there’s no question that Fast and Furious represents a serious failure of federal law enforcement, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if those responsible for that failure were less than eager to inform superiors in Washington about their mistakes. However, the inspector general’s investigation and the investigation by Issa’s committee should help lay out exactly what happened.
However, there’s something deeper going on here as well, and it’s reflected in the comments from LaPierre and others.
The flow of firearms across the U.S. border is a serious challenge. So far, some 65,000 guns confiscated in Mexico by authorities have been traced back to gun purchases made here in the United States. One single individual tracked during the Fast and Furious investigation bought more than 700 weapons for transfer to the Mexican cartels, in some cases purchasing 20 or more AK-47-type assault weapons in a single purchase.
However, when the Obama administration proposed a new regulation that would require border-state gun shops to notify officials if a single individual attempted to buy large numbers of guns, the NRA protested bitterly.
“This is just a shallow excuse to engage in a sweeping firearms registration scheme,” LaPierre wrote on the NRA’s website. At the NRA’s insistence, the House passed a resolution opposing that regulation, and the NRA has since filed suit against the rule.
This is all about ATF-hate, gun-control-hate and Obama-hate. That's all.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Golden Eye 007 - The Video Game
Who plays these games, I mean besides adolescent boys? Do gun-rights folks play them?
Kitsap (WA) Rifle and Revolver Club
This is absolutely disgraceful. That place should have been shut down long ago. Don't these gun-rights people have any integrity at all?Central Kitsap residents disturbed by flying bullets and noisy gunfire appeared Wednesday in a Tacoma courtroom, as Kitsap County lawyers continued to argue their case against the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club.
The county's lawsuit against the gun club, filed a year ago, contends that the club violated land-use regulations and created a public nuisance through noise and bullets leaving the gun range on Seabeck Highway.
The gun club, which denies the claims, is expected to begin putting on its evidence next week in Pierce County Superior Court, where Judge Susan Serko is presiding.
Deborah Slaton, a resident of Eldorado Hills north of the gun range, told the court Wednesday that Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club entered her consciousness with a bang in 2007, when a bullet came through a back wall in her house and came to rest on the floor.
A bullet went through the lady's wall and into her home and all these guys can do is hire lawyers to argue whether it came from the gun club or not?
We obvioulsy need a one-strike-you're-our rule for shooting ranges too.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Stun Guns - Weapon of Choice in the UK
I'll bet the use of these little toys is on the rise in the States too. What do you think?Criminals are increasingly choosing illegally-acquired stun guns as their weapon of choice, a Sky News investigation has revealed.
The devices are sold openly on market stalls in the Far East - and some appear to be smuggled into the UK.
Please leave a comment.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Perfectly Gloriously Florida
via our friend Chez over at Deus Ex Malcontent
I don't know if Chez is aware of it but we've awarded the State of Florida a very prestigious and coveted award, formerly held by Arizona: The Most Baneful State in the Union.-- Republican State Representative Brad Drake of Florida, who filed a bill on Tuesday to bring back the firing squad as a method of executing death row inmates in that state
You might think that the bill itself makes this story so Florida -- but you'd be wrong.
It's the fact that the epiphany that led to the bill came to Representative Drake while he was having a conversation at a Waffle House -- that's what makes this story so perfectly, gloriously Florida.
Defeat H.R. 822
via CSGV
Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will take up a very dangerous piece of legislation, H.R. 822, the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act." The bill, which was drafted by the NRA, would force law enforcement to recognize concealed handgun permits issued by other states, including states with extremely weak regulations concerning screening and training. This would allow individuals with concealed handgun permits to carry loaded handguns even when they do not meet the standards for obtaining a concealed handgun permit in the state they are visiting!
Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will take up a very dangerous piece of legislation, H.R. 822, the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act." The bill, which was drafted by the NRA, would force law enforcement to recognize concealed handgun permits issued by other states, including states with extremely weak regulations concerning screening and training. This would allow individuals with concealed handgun permits to carry loaded handguns even when they do not meet the standards for obtaining a concealed handgun permit in the state they are visiting!
Law enforcement groups including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Executive Research Forum and the Major Cities Chiefs Association have been spoken out forcefully against H.R. 822. But President Barack Obama has been silent to date on the legislation.
Yesterday, Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey (who testified against H.R. 822 in Congress) created an online petition urging President Obama to "oppose H.R. 822 before it arms more dangerous people who may have no gun training or may have been convicted of a violent crime." In just one day, the petition has already garnered more than 3,700 signatures! The short-term goal is 25,000 signatures by November 10th.
Help reach this goal by clicking here to add your name to the petition! And please share the hyperlink for the petition with your family and friends via email and social networks (i.e., Facebook Twitter, etc.).
Help reach this goal by clicking here to add your name to the petition! And please share the hyperlink for the petition with your family and friends via email and social networks (i.e., Facebook Twitter, etc.).
Carmel Indiana Murder - Suicide
You don't even need to read it. We should call this Murder Suicide Type A: man shoots and kills estranged wife or girl friend and then turns the gun on himself.
What's important to realize is this. While much of the country's attention is on the California Salon Killings, this was happening in Indiana, and not only there. In fifty other locations during that same 24-hour period people died from gun shots. And the same is happening all over again today, and again tomorrow.
The reason? Well, a big part of the reason is gun availability, which combined with a number of other volatile factors adds up to a disgraceful and embarrassing situation for our great country. But, far from being ashamed of it, or god forbid, taking responsibility for it, the pro-gun voices keep talking their trash about self defense and the Second Amendment.
Trash is what that talk is in the light of 80 dead bodies a day, day after day, year after year.
Here's my goal and here's my solution.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
What's important to realize is this. While much of the country's attention is on the California Salon Killings, this was happening in Indiana, and not only there. In fifty other locations during that same 24-hour period people died from gun shots. And the same is happening all over again today, and again tomorrow.
The reason? Well, a big part of the reason is gun availability, which combined with a number of other volatile factors adds up to a disgraceful and embarrassing situation for our great country. But, far from being ashamed of it, or god forbid, taking responsibility for it, the pro-gun voices keep talking their trash about self defense and the Second Amendment.
Trash is what that talk is in the light of 80 dead bodies a day, day after day, year after year.
Here's my goal and here's my solution.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Ohio CCW Holder: Guns, Alcohol, Racism and Injectable Testerone
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| Nice Gunloon Face Mullet |
WELL I WENT BACK TO OHIO BUT MY FAMILY WAS GONE I STOOD ON THE BACK PORCH THERE WAS NOBODY HOME I WAS STUNNED AND AMAZED MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES SLOWLY SWIRLED PAST LIKE THE WIND THROUGH THE TREES A, O, OH WAY TO GO OHIO:
Police say the incident occurred around 2 a.m. Wednesday when O’Reilly, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, got into a heated argument with another man at the H&H Tavern on Ohio Avenue in Deer Park.They say O’Reilly, 25, walked out of the bar and returned a short time later with a .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol in his hand.According to the arrest report, O’Reilly shouted a racial slur at the man, who is Hispanic, and said, “I’m going to kill you.”
Let's consult our Gunloon Checklist:
Face Mullet? Check.
Drunk? Check.
Gunloon? Check.
Racist? Check.
Aid to compensate for lack of manliness? Check (gun) and check (injectable testosterone).
The Ultimate Bad Hair Day in California
Multiple weapons? fromWHERE? Legal or illegal? Body armor?
Planning went into this mass shooting, definitely; this doesn't appear to be a sudden impulse.
From MSNBC.com and the AP:
Three victims were rushed to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, reportedly in critical condition.
Victims were believed to be both employees and customers of the salon, KTLA News reported.
Police arrested a man in a white truck during a traffic stop a half-mile from the shooting scene, and police Sgt. Steve Bowles said multiple weapons were seized. He may have been wearing body armor, according to police.
"The officers identified the (suspect's) vehicle as it was leaving the location," Bowles told KCAL9 TV in Los Angeles. "They followed it and made a traffic stop and took the driver into custody."
Bowles described the suspect as cooperative.
"It just caught everyone off guard and people started running outside to see what was happening," Zach Benson told NBC LA. "It was a very bizarre scene."
The quiet beachfront city of approximately 25,000 residents identifies itself as the Gateway to Southern California's Orange County and is located about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
It is home to Leisure World, a gated senior citizen community of 9,000 people, as well as the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station military complex. Two-thirds of the city's 13.23 square miles are occupied by the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.
Check back for more details on this developing story. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Planning went into this mass shooting, definitely; this doesn't appear to be a sudden impulse.
From MSNBC.com and the AP:
6 killed, 3 wounded in California salon shooting
Police arrest man in a traffic stop a half-mile from the scene; taken into custodyNBC, msnbc.com and news services
BREAKING NEWS
SEAL BEACH, Calif. — Six people were shot to death and three others wounded at a hair salon on Wednesday in a normally sedate Southern California beach community, Orange County authorities said. One suspect was in custody.
The shooting occurred at Salon Meritage around 1:30 p.m. in the 500 block of the Pacific Coast Highway, Capt. Mark Stone of the Orange County Fire Authority told NBC LA. Three victims were rushed to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, reportedly in critical condition.
Victims were believed to be both employees and customers of the salon, KTLA News reported.
Police arrested a man in a white truck during a traffic stop a half-mile from the shooting scene, and police Sgt. Steve Bowles said multiple weapons were seized. He may have been wearing body armor, according to police.
"The officers identified the (suspect's) vehicle as it was leaving the location," Bowles told KCAL9 TV in Los Angeles. "They followed it and made a traffic stop and took the driver into custody."
Bowles described the suspect as cooperative.
"It just caught everyone off guard and people started running outside to see what was happening," Zach Benson told NBC LA. "It was a very bizarre scene."
The quiet beachfront city of approximately 25,000 residents identifies itself as the Gateway to Southern California's Orange County and is located about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
It is home to Leisure World, a gated senior citizen community of 9,000 people, as well as the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station military complex. Two-thirds of the city's 13.23 square miles are occupied by the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.
Check back for more details on this developing story. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tennessee Gunowners Forum: "Curry Todd is Da Man!"
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| Da Man's Mugshot |
Seems the Tennessee state representative who spearheaded efforts to ensure drunks with guns could have better access to liquor had a wee problem the other night:
A police affidavit says Todd was unsteady on his feet, "almost falling down at times," his speech was slurred and he had watery and bloodshot eyes. Todd was "obviously very impaired and not in any condition to be carrying a loaded handgun," police say.Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't note that Linoge (Jon C. Sullivan) and SayUncle and the Tennessee Gun Owner Forum worshipped this dude when he demanded gunloons be permitted to carry their
"During debate over the bill in 2009, Todd assured lawmakers that gun permit holders would be careful about not violating the ban on drinking in bars or restaurants while carrying a gun."Umm hmm. And size doesn't matter, eh, gunloons?
We should also not forget Curry caused a bit of stir last year when he proclaimed that immigrants "breed like rats." Of course, Robert Farago will take umbrage at the notion any gunloon might be a bit racist.
Tennessee. What a joke.
Joseph Stiglitz Said...
American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He is known for his critical view of the management of globalization, free-market economists (whom he calls "free market fundamentalists") and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Fast and Furious Inquiry
I applaud an investigation into this badly flawed if well-intentioned effort. That is, if it is a REAL investigation, and not simply political theater of the absurd, and useless ad nauseum politics (which would include pretty much anything from congressmen Issa and King, among others).
From the STrib:
From the STrib:
House committee issues subpoena to Justice Department in guns-to-Mexico scandal
- Article by: Associated Press
- Updated: October 12, 2011 - 11:12 AM
The subpoena Wednesday asked Holder and others to supply records related to "Operation Fast and Furious."
The subpoena was issued by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Republican Chairman Darrell Issa said top Justice Department officials, including Holder, know more about the operation than they have publicly acknowledged.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed intermediaries for drug cartels to buy thousands of weapons from Arizona gun shops and lost track of about 1,400 of the 2,000 guns. Some of those weapons have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.
The subpoena was issued by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Republican Chairman Darrell Issa said top Justice Department officials, including Holder, know more about the operation than they have publicly acknowledged.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed intermediaries for drug cartels to buy thousands of weapons from Arizona gun shops and lost track of about 1,400 of the 2,000 guns. Some of those weapons have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.
Curry Todd--Sponsor of Tennessee guns in bars
Thanks for this tip from SouthernBeale:
SoBeale also points out that:
Rep. Curry Todd, a true representative of the people!
Tennessee state Rep. Curry Todd, a lead sponsor of a law allowing handgun carry permit holders to bring guns into bars, has been arrested on charges of drunken driving and possession of a gun while under the influence.
Police say in court documents that the Collierville Republican was pulled over in Nashville late Tuesday. He allegedly failed a roadside sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer. A loaded Smith & Wesson 38 Special was found in a holster stuffed between the driver seat and the center console.
SoBeale also points out that:
Rep. Curry Todd is the Tennessee State Chairman for ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the corporate-funded organization writing all of this wingnutty legislation that has people protesting in the streets.
Rep. Curry Todd, a true representative of the people!
Greetings from the front line!
I wanted to take a picture of the French Tourists photographing the Demonstration, but you're going to have to do with a couple of pics from my cell phone. So forgive the quality and paucity of the photos.
As I said, I've been to the demonstration and can say that the trolls have no idea of what they are talking about. But we knew that already.
I will say that the protestors are in it for the long haul.
Although, thoughts of when Labour controlled councils used to allow for the homeless to sleep in tube stops (e.g., Tottenham Court Road) or other areas (such as near the South Bank Centre) come to mind when I see these protests.
As I said, I've been to the demonstration and can say that the trolls have no idea of what they are talking about. But we knew that already.
I will say that the protestors are in it for the long haul.
Although, thoughts of when Labour controlled councils used to allow for the homeless to sleep in tube stops (e.g., Tottenham Court Road) or other areas (such as near the South Bank Centre) come to mind when I see these protests.
A Different Kind of Bombing...
I'm talking here about the kind of bombing - failing - that the right is demonstrating in recent polls. This seems a pertinent observation in light of the most recent GOP presidential candidate debates.
For example, we have the Bloomberg/ WaPo poll here which shows a tremendous LACK of confidence in the conservatives to improve our economy.
So, not only do the Republican and Tea Party members of congress have lower approval ratings and higher disapproval ratings than the Democrats, they don't have any faith that Republicans would have made it better, and a higher percentage - 25% - believe the right would have made things WORSE.
But I particularly liked this question, both parts equally:
I wonder if Mitt Romney would fare as well if the low-information voters who gave him this not-so-high rating in this poll knew that he had selected some of the worst advisors to President 'W' Bush to draft his econimic proposal, and to be his economic advisors? Or that his foreign policy advisors were pretty much 'W' recycled faces as well.
I bet not, given the numbers who still believe that 'W' was significantly / mostly responsible for our current economic crisis; and that is according to this poll and this poll, and this poll, and a number of other polls in between. That last poll, taken last month shows 50% believe the economy is POOR, with more thinking it isn't good, and with 53% blaming Bush and the Republicans for the problems.
The Republicans are not a party of new ideas, and increasingly as they support the 1%, they are less and less the party of people either.
And THAT is only likely to be a more widespread opinion, as the news gets out about the REAL job performance of 'businessmen' like Herman Cain, who was not it appears the "Captain of Industry" that he represents, according to this examination of his supposed success. Nor is Romney going to be getting much credit for his career as it relates to jobs, when the facts get more circulation.
According to politifact.com, during Romney's tenure as governor, Massachusetts ranked 47th in job growth, one of the very worst states in the country. And Romney can't really in honesty take credit for improving those stats either. As an executive at Bain Capital, Romney's company consistently bought companies, and then sold them off piecemeal, resulting in the firing of thousands of people from their jobs as those jobs DISAPPEARED. Per the Bloomberg report on Cain, his performance wasn't any better for 'creating jobs' while CEO of Godfather's Pizza, and it has ended up worse, in comparison to it's competitors, than when he took over. No one, except someone paid by Herman Cain, thinks his 9-9-9 proposal has a prayer of working as claimed.
So.......for that question about making the economy worse? Yes, ALL of the Republicans in contention for the presidential race would make it worse. ALL of them; the only questions are: "how very much worse?", and "worse than 'W', or only as bad?".
For example, we have the Bloomberg/ WaPo poll here which shows a tremendous LACK of confidence in the conservatives to improve our economy.
1. If a Republican were president right now, do you think the economy would be better, worse, or about the same as it is now?
Better Worse The same No opinion All adults 23 25 45 7
and THAT includes Republicans and right-leaning Independents!
So, not only do the Republican and Tea Party members of congress have lower approval ratings and higher disapproval ratings than the Democrats, they don't have any faith that Republicans would have made it better, and a higher percentage - 25% - believe the right would have made things WORSE.
But I particularly liked this question, both parts equally:
3a. Of the following possible Republican candidates for president, which one do you think would do the most to improve the economy?The no opinions are about double what the highest rating to improve the economy scored, and 'none of these' was only a point off - well within the poll's +/- % range.
All adults Leaned GOP Mitt Romney 17 22 Herman Cain 10 20 Rick Perry 7 12 Ron Paul 7 8 Newt Gingrich 4 6 Michele Bachmann 4 3 Jon Huntsman 2 * Rick Santorum 1 1 None of these (VOL.) 16 5 Other (VOL.) 1 * No opinion 33 223b. Of the following possible Republican candidates for president, which one do you think would do the most damage to the economy?
All adults Leaned GOP Michele Bachmann 15 14 Rick Perry 12 9 Ron Paul 7 11 Newt Gingrich 6 5 Mitt Romney 5 7 Jon Huntsman 2 3 Herman Cain 2 2 Rick Santorum 2 1 None of these (VOL.) 5 5 Other (VOL.) 3 1 No opinion 42 43
I wonder if Mitt Romney would fare as well if the low-information voters who gave him this not-so-high rating in this poll knew that he had selected some of the worst advisors to President 'W' Bush to draft his econimic proposal, and to be his economic advisors? Or that his foreign policy advisors were pretty much 'W' recycled faces as well.
I bet not, given the numbers who still believe that 'W' was significantly / mostly responsible for our current economic crisis; and that is according to this poll and this poll, and this poll, and a number of other polls in between. That last poll, taken last month shows 50% believe the economy is POOR, with more thinking it isn't good, and with 53% blaming Bush and the Republicans for the problems.
The Republicans are not a party of new ideas, and increasingly as they support the 1%, they are less and less the party of people either.
And THAT is only likely to be a more widespread opinion, as the news gets out about the REAL job performance of 'businessmen' like Herman Cain, who was not it appears the "Captain of Industry" that he represents, according to this examination of his supposed success. Nor is Romney going to be getting much credit for his career as it relates to jobs, when the facts get more circulation.
According to politifact.com, during Romney's tenure as governor, Massachusetts ranked 47th in job growth, one of the very worst states in the country. And Romney can't really in honesty take credit for improving those stats either. As an executive at Bain Capital, Romney's company consistently bought companies, and then sold them off piecemeal, resulting in the firing of thousands of people from their jobs as those jobs DISAPPEARED. Per the Bloomberg report on Cain, his performance wasn't any better for 'creating jobs' while CEO of Godfather's Pizza, and it has ended up worse, in comparison to it's competitors, than when he took over. No one, except someone paid by Herman Cain, thinks his 9-9-9 proposal has a prayer of working as claimed.
So.......for that question about making the economy worse? Yes, ALL of the Republicans in contention for the presidential race would make it worse. ALL of them; the only questions are: "how very much worse?", and "worse than 'W', or only as bad?".
The Gun-Rights Crowd Can't Win for Losin'
Issue: Whether the right to carry or transport a registered handgun outside the home without a carry permit is protected by the Second Amendment.
No wonder they keep stockpiling guns and ammo. The future of gun-rights looks bleak.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Two 13-Year-Olds Arrested but Not the Gunowner
Phoenix Arizona kids had a gun in school, not to hurt anyone, just to show it off.
The way it should be, in order to own a gun you'd have to be licensed. Any gun you buy would be registered to you, which would imply a legal obligation to maintain possession of the gun. You can't give it away or sell it to an unlicensed person. If it goes missing it must be reported so the police can track it down if possible.
The non-chalant shrugging of the shoulders, which is body language for shirking all responsibility and claiming "it's not my fault," should no longer be allowed. Gun owners should be held responsible.
What's your opinion? Do you think it's asking too much to require gun owners to maintain their guns securely? Is it so difficult to thwart the delinquency of a 13-year-old?
Maybe part of the problem is all that talk about guns being just like any other tool. You don't have to lock up your screw-drivers, after all. In Arizona they lead the nation in the normalization of guns, perhaps this kind of thing is the result.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
The owner of the gun, who is obviously an irresponsible man, will probably get his gun back from the police with an apology for the inconvenience. That's how gun owners, both police and civilian, treat each other in Arizona.Police were called to the middle school at around noon Tuesday. A student told a teacher that one of the boys had a .25-caliber gun hidden in his backpack.
Administrators found the loaded gun. The boy said he was given the gun by another 13-year-old student. That student admitted to stealing that gun from his mom's boyfriend, according to police.
The way it should be, in order to own a gun you'd have to be licensed. Any gun you buy would be registered to you, which would imply a legal obligation to maintain possession of the gun. You can't give it away or sell it to an unlicensed person. If it goes missing it must be reported so the police can track it down if possible.
The non-chalant shrugging of the shoulders, which is body language for shirking all responsibility and claiming "it's not my fault," should no longer be allowed. Gun owners should be held responsible.
What's your opinion? Do you think it's asking too much to require gun owners to maintain their guns securely? Is it so difficult to thwart the delinquency of a 13-year-old?
Maybe part of the problem is all that talk about guns being just like any other tool. You don't have to lock up your screw-drivers, after all. In Arizona they lead the nation in the normalization of guns, perhaps this kind of thing is the result.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Rage - The Gun Show Video Game
Incredibly well-written dialogue, but I can't help but wonder if this is legitimate fun or not. Is it permissible to watch action movies and still consider this too much? It does seem to be the evolution of what we've been watching on the big screen for decades. What do you think?
What about young kids? Is this harmless entertainment for them? By looking at this kind of violence don't you think something might be damaged in a kid's psychological and cerebral development? What's your opinion?
What about young kids? Is this harmless entertainment for them? By looking at this kind of violence don't you think something might be damaged in a kid's psychological and cerebral development? What's your opinion?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Another Terrorist Plot Defeated by the Obama Administration
Too bad that Ahmadinajad wasn't still visiting the U.N., making his annual revisionist history rant, where he could be confronted over this.
I also post it because I have personally noticed that there seems to be at least some overlap between the pro-gun and right-wing Islamophobia. So I find a certain satisfaction in the very excellent track record of excellence by the Obama administration in both forging a better relationship of respect for and from the Muslim countries of the world that could otherwise be persuaded to be our enemies, and at the same time, successfully fighting terrorism, both foreign and domestic. Further, this highlights that the Muslim parts of the world are far from homogeneous or monolithic, as they are so often erroneously presented by the right.
From MSNBC.com, Reuters and the AP:
US: Iran faction plotted to kill Saudi ambassador
Saudi, Israeli embassies were also targeted, U.S. says; two men chargedNBC, msnbc.com and news service
City, identified the two as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri.
Holder said Arbabsiar, who was arrested on Sept. 29 in New York, was
working for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard and had confessed to
a plot.
Shakuri, who is based in Iran, remains at large, Holder said. He
allegedly is a member of Iran's Quds Force, a special unit of the
Revolutionary Guard.
Both are originally from Iran and Arbabsiar, 56, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, the complaint said.
The Obama administration will be "taking further action" against Iran as a result, Holder said.
Nicholas Kamm
/
AFP - Getty Images
Saudi Arabia's ambassador is Adel al-Jubeir, who has served in that post since 2007.
The indictment is the result of a sting operation conducted by the FBI, Holder said.
The case started when Arbabsiar, who lived in Texas, allegedly made
contact with an undercover DEA informant in Mexico and asked for
assistance from the Zetas drug cartel to assassinate the ambassador by
blowing up a restaurant that he frequented.
No explosives were actually placed, and no one was in any danger, officials said.
A Justice Department statement
said Arbabsiar claimed he was being directed by his cousin in Iran,
described as a "big general" in the Iranian military and within the Quds
Force.
Arbabsiar allegedly wired $100,000 to the informant as a down payment on a $1.5 million assassination fee.
Other sources told ABC News that he reportedly told the informant that Iran could provide "tons of opium" to the Zetas.
Arbabsiar was to make a first court appearance later Tuesday. He could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The Quds Force was designated a terrorist group by the United States
in 2007, in part because of alleged support of the Taliban and other
extremist groups.
A senior U.S. official told NBC News to look to Treasury and the State Department for the immediate response against Iran.
The official also said that U.S. intelligence has a "high-degree" of
confidence that the "Quds Force at the highest levels" was involved in
the alleged plot and that this was not some "rogue operation."
President Barack Obama was first briefed on the alleged plot in June,
said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor."The disruption of this plot is
a significant achievement by our intelligence and law enforcement
agencies, and the president is enormously grateful for their exceptional
work in this instance and countless others," Vietor said.
NBC's Pete Williams and Jim Miklaszewski, as well as the Associated Press and Reuters, contributed to this report.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Petard
I also post it because I have personally noticed that there seems to be at least some overlap between the pro-gun and right-wing Islamophobia. So I find a certain satisfaction in the very excellent track record of excellence by the Obama administration in both forging a better relationship of respect for and from the Muslim countries of the world that could otherwise be persuaded to be our enemies, and at the same time, successfully fighting terrorism, both foreign and domestic. Further, this highlights that the Muslim parts of the world are far from homogeneous or monolithic, as they are so often erroneously presented by the right.
From MSNBC.com, Reuters and the AP:
US: Iran faction plotted to kill Saudi ambassador
Saudi, Israeli embassies were also targeted, U.S. says; two men chargedNBC, msnbc.com and news service
updated 2 hours 7 minutes ago
men allegedly working for "factions of the Iranian government" have
been charged with plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the
U.S. and to attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies, Attorney General
Eric Holder said Tuesday.
The criminal complaint, unsealed Tuesday in federal court in New Yorkbeen charged with plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the
U.S. and to attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies, Attorney General
Eric Holder said Tuesday.
City, identified the two as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri.
Holder said Arbabsiar, who was arrested on Sept. 29 in New York, was
working for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard and had confessed to
a plot.
Shakuri, who is based in Iran, remains at large, Holder said. He
allegedly is a member of Iran's Quds Force, a special unit of the
Revolutionary Guard.
Both are originally from Iran and Arbabsiar, 56, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, the complaint said.
The Obama administration will be "taking further action" against Iran as a result, Holder said.
Nicholas Kamm
/
AFP - Getty Images
Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir was the target of an alleged plot by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the U.S. said Tuesday.
The indictment is the result of a sting operation conducted by the FBI, Holder said.
The case started when Arbabsiar, who lived in Texas, allegedly made
contact with an undercover DEA informant in Mexico and asked for
assistance from the Zetas drug cartel to assassinate the ambassador by
blowing up a restaurant that he frequented.
No explosives were actually placed, and no one was in any danger, officials said.
A Justice Department statement
said Arbabsiar claimed he was being directed by his cousin in Iran,
described as a "big general" in the Iranian military and within the Quds
Force.
Arbabsiar allegedly wired $100,000 to the informant as a down payment on a $1.5 million assassination fee.
Other sources told ABC News that he reportedly told the informant that Iran could provide "tons of opium" to the Zetas.
Arbabsiar was to make a first court appearance later Tuesday. He could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The Quds Force was designated a terrorist group by the United States
in 2007, in part because of alleged support of the Taliban and other
extremist groups.
A senior U.S. official told NBC News to look to Treasury and the State Department for the immediate response against Iran.
The official also said that U.S. intelligence has a "high-degree" of
confidence that the "Quds Force at the highest levels" was involved in
the alleged plot and that this was not some "rogue operation."
President Barack Obama was first briefed on the alleged plot in June,
said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor."The disruption of this plot is
a significant achievement by our intelligence and law enforcement
agencies, and the president is enormously grateful for their exceptional
work in this instance and countless others," Vietor said.
NBC's Pete Williams and Jim Miklaszewski, as well as the Associated Press and Reuters, contributed to this report.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Petard
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