Gun defense
Gun owners like to portray themselves as being responsible citizens, well-trained in gun safety and calm under pressure. But the writer of the Dec. 6 letter "Permit and responsibilities" sure didn't sound calm — he sounded angry. He should have access to guns?
He and other handgun advocates sound extremely paranoid to me. Most people make it through their days without having to resort to firearms — we live in a largely law-abiding community. It's just not that big a deal. But handgun advocates seem to imagine shoot-outs simply moving from home to car.
And since when do criminals hang out in parks? I go to parks regularly and have for 20 years; I have yet to be mugged or even approached by anyone who looks creepy.
Well, OK, I've been approached by creepy-looking people. But I didn't need a gun to defend myself from them; I just had to walk away.
This letter writer did his cause no good: I don't think I want him carrying a gun anywhere.
REBECCA MINOR
Winston-Salem
A good 2011
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County have much to brag about this year. Despite a challenging economy, by working together with the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership and Winston-Salem Business Inc., our community has accomplished something that few, if any, other cities can claim. Here are just a few of the highlights that brought us national recognition:
ALLEN JOINES
PRESIDENT, WINSTON-SALEM ALLIANCE
GAYLE ANDERSON
PRESIDENT, WINSTON-SALEM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Winston-Salem
Expand their scope
It seems to me that the Occupy participants need to expand their scope (if they have one). Most of them are not directly affected by Wall Street and/or banks in a big way. Yes, credit-card fees count, if you use a credit card. I suspect that this crowd is more affected by the costs of entertainment and sports.
Professional sports are financed by advertising funds, included in the cost of every item we purchase. Is it more acceptable to pay Cam Newton (pick a name) more money to win eight games (maybe?) than to the CEOs of Duke Power or Reynolds Tobacco for professional leadership? The FedEx cup paid the winner of its tournament over $10 million for playing golf. Who provided those funds: FedEx? Don't be naïve. Who paid the $1 billion or so that Tiger Woods has won? A good third baseman or a good fastball pitcher can earn $10 million a year with no complaints from the Occupiers. Who pays for all this? Think advertising costs added to product costs. Add millions more paid to the advertising and TV execs who do nothing but count all this money.
Matt Lauer makes $17 million to entertain (some of) us. Is it significant to us individually? I don't think we care. But if you picket the rich, characterized by Wall Street or big banks, why not picket the Dallas Cowboys, or CBS and NBC? Even the Carolina Panthers. We are paying the costs.
J. FRANK JOINER
Winston-Salem
Government dependency
The letter writer of "True concerns" (Dec. 5) echoes my sentiments exactly. Our government with its cradle-to-grave welfare programs has weakened our country by making government dependency a way of life.
The greatness of America has been in the fact that through hard work, there was unlimited upward mobility. We circumvent that now by penalizing achievers and paying people not to work.
I am in favor of a safety net for the truly needy, but our debt-besotted government cannot afford this dependency encouraged by the "hope and change" president. A parent's responsibility is to care for the children that he or she brings into this world. Birth control, for those who don't, is a must. I pray real welfare reform is on the way with a new administration.
SALLY B. LACY
Winston-Salem
Gun owners like to portray themselves as being responsible citizens, well-trained in gun safety and calm under pressure. But the writer of the Dec. 6 letter "Permit and responsibilities" sure didn't sound calm — he sounded angry. He should have access to guns?
He and other handgun advocates sound extremely paranoid to me. Most people make it through their days without having to resort to firearms — we live in a largely law-abiding community. It's just not that big a deal. But handgun advocates seem to imagine shoot-outs simply moving from home to car.
And since when do criminals hang out in parks? I go to parks regularly and have for 20 years; I have yet to be mugged or even approached by anyone who looks creepy.
Well, OK, I've been approached by creepy-looking people. But I didn't need a gun to defend myself from them; I just had to walk away.
This letter writer did his cause no good: I don't think I want him carrying a gun anywhere.
REBECCA MINOR
Winston-Salem
A good 2011
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County have much to brag about this year. Despite a challenging economy, by working together with the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership and Winston-Salem Business Inc., our community has accomplished something that few, if any, other cities can claim. Here are just a few of the highlights that brought us national recognition:
- Winston-Salem was named one of America's 50 Best Cities by BusinessWeek magazine.
- Our high-school graduation rate improved by 8.1 percent in the last 4 years, with the number of dropouts decreasing from 1,062 to 605.
- Downtown Winston-Salem was named the No. 2 Best Downtown in America by livability.com and One of America's Best Downtowns by Forbes/Yahoo Travel.
- The Winston-Salem metro area added the second-most number of jobs of any metro area in North Carolina this year.
- CNNMoney.com listed Winston-Salem as one of the Top 25 Places to Retire.
- Winston-Salem was cited as one of the Top 10 Pro-Business Communities in the South.
- Gov. Bev Perdue announced that the state would begin construction of I-74, the Northern Beltway.
ALLEN JOINES
PRESIDENT, WINSTON-SALEM ALLIANCE
GAYLE ANDERSON
PRESIDENT, WINSTON-SALEM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Winston-Salem
Expand their scope
It seems to me that the Occupy participants need to expand their scope (if they have one). Most of them are not directly affected by Wall Street and/or banks in a big way. Yes, credit-card fees count, if you use a credit card. I suspect that this crowd is more affected by the costs of entertainment and sports.
Professional sports are financed by advertising funds, included in the cost of every item we purchase. Is it more acceptable to pay Cam Newton (pick a name) more money to win eight games (maybe?) than to the CEOs of Duke Power or Reynolds Tobacco for professional leadership? The FedEx cup paid the winner of its tournament over $10 million for playing golf. Who provided those funds: FedEx? Don't be naïve. Who paid the $1 billion or so that Tiger Woods has won? A good third baseman or a good fastball pitcher can earn $10 million a year with no complaints from the Occupiers. Who pays for all this? Think advertising costs added to product costs. Add millions more paid to the advertising and TV execs who do nothing but count all this money.
Matt Lauer makes $17 million to entertain (some of) us. Is it significant to us individually? I don't think we care. But if you picket the rich, characterized by Wall Street or big banks, why not picket the Dallas Cowboys, or CBS and NBC? Even the Carolina Panthers. We are paying the costs.
J. FRANK JOINER
Winston-Salem
Government dependency
The letter writer of "True concerns" (Dec. 5) echoes my sentiments exactly. Our government with its cradle-to-grave welfare programs has weakened our country by making government dependency a way of life.
The greatness of America has been in the fact that through hard work, there was unlimited upward mobility. We circumvent that now by penalizing achievers and paying people not to work.
I am in favor of a safety net for the truly needy, but our debt-besotted government cannot afford this dependency encouraged by the "hope and change" president. A parent's responsibility is to care for the children that he or she brings into this world. Birth control, for those who don't, is a must. I pray real welfare reform is on the way with a new administration.
SALLY B. LACY
Winston-Salem
Well Frank, professional athletes have to bank somewhere. But I agree, this nation's values are headed in the wrong direction when we can pay a professional athlete 25million/year to hit 40 homeruns (Pujols)=900 new homeroom teachers in NC/year.
ReplyDeleteMadison Ave tells us what we value and Wall St tells us how much we have to pay for it.
ReplyDeletePopular right-wing talk-radio host Michael Savage has offered Newt Gingrich $1 million to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination because he doesn't believe the former Speaker of the House can beat President Barack Obama.
ReplyDelete-when he appears on TV "he will come off badly compared to Obama and look like nothing more than what he is: a fat, old, white man."
Well let's see, we have "cultist" wing, the "moron" wing, and the "fat, old, white man" and that's just what Republicans call themselves.
It's odd, Rebecca, that some of the same people who claim violent crime is down where there are concealed carry laws will on the next day scream violent crime is rampant because of illegal immigration.
ReplyDeleteOOPS!
ReplyDeleteEwww...
ReplyDeleteCrime is DOWN because of concealed carry laws.
ReplyDeleteCrime perpetrated by illegals IS widespread, and it's increasing because of Mexican drug gang infiltration into the U.S.
Besides, if you have a gun, and you're at a gay rodeo, you can shoot it up in the air just to let people know you're having a good time.
YeeHaa!
ReplyDeleteI figured you'd like that part of my post, Bobby.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: I don't doubt concealed carriers are responsible citizens. Until you're in a crisis situation, however, you really don't know how you will react or how calm you will be. Of course, the odds of a person being in such a situation are extremely remote. As I've mentioned, there isn't enough crime in parks to warrant a location category. Like the voter id, it's a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
LTE 2: Before I moved to AZ 10 years ago, downtown W-S was a place to go only if you worked there or had govt. business. Now, there's a vibrant social life and desirable places to live. Bravo Mayor Joines!
LTE 3: "Most of them are not directly affected by Wall Street and/or banks in a big way...this crowd is more affected by the costs of entertainment and sports." - do what?!? Yes, the UR has been around 10% and wages stagnant for the last 2 years because of entertainment and sports. Lordy, have mercy where do people get their information?
LTE 4: It's an entirely different economic world today in which you are competing for a job against people from around the globe instead of just across the street. Hard work plus an education are now required. That's why govt programs for at-risk children are so important to ensure that they stay in school, so they can successfully compete for a job instead of having to settle for welfare due to being unemployable.
Although I find Mr. Johnson's "donations" to be admirable, not telling his wife is totally uncool. He should have consulted with her first.
ReplyDelete"Crime is DOWN because of concealed carry laws." - I'm sure you have performed a thorough cause/effect analysis including identification and isolation of all the various factors that affect the crime rate using kmeans clustering, trending and other statistical models to come to this conclusion?
ReplyDeleteMitt, between this and Newt getting the coveted Gary Busey and John Rocker endorsements, I'd go ahead and spend millions on that house in La Hoya.
ReplyDeleteMitt Romney In '02: “My Views Are Progressive"
http://www.buzzfeed.com/provincialelitist/mitt-romney-in-02-my-views-are-progressive
"Newt Gingrich will be the best thing to happen to the Democratic Party since Barry Goldwater."
ReplyDelete-- Barney Frank
Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Anthony WEINER, and Barney Frank are the best things that have happened to the Republican Party since Clinton blew his load on the blue dress, and Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal.
ReplyDeleteBucky
Classy and genteel, as always.
ReplyDeleteLa Jolla....Bobby....nothing like a gay rodeo to get your mind all scrambled, huh?
ReplyDeleteI guess Sandusky didn't want to hear 9 or so victims tell in court today how he pounded their backends without their permission.
ReplyDeletedotnet...I realize that you've probably been living under a rock for the last 10 years, but many, many liberal newspapers have reported that in states where conceal carry laws have passed, crime rates have fallen. The falling rates are consistent across the board. That's just a fact. Could it be from other factor TOO. Yes, however, it's pretty obvious that the common denominator in all of the falling rates, has been the new gun laws.
ReplyDeleteOther factor: cell phones.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I support concealed carry, with limitations: no bars, for example.
As usual, Buckunderbuckle has no idea what he is talking about. The crime rate in the US has been falling steadily for over 40 years, long before most states had concealed carry laws.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons for the decline are quite complex and not fully understood, but you can be sure that concealed carry has had virtually no effect. I would imagine that cell phones have played a bigger role and have certainly played a part in the apprehension of criminals when a crime is committed.