Another group grieves
I suppose a lot of us cried ourselves to sleep Friday night. And will perhaps more nights to come.
But, grieve for one group I haven't even seen mentioned: the grandparents.
Thankfully our grandchildren have all reached adulthood. But we would be devastated if something happened to one of them.
If you haven't been a proud, doting grandparent, you may not understand. Pray that if you get to be one, you won't have to grieve like the ones in Newtown are doing now.
God bless the little children. And comfort the grieving survivors.
CHARLIE WEAVER
Winston-Salem
A taxing problem
The Republicans like to say, “We don’t have a taxing problem, we have a spending problem.” That’s the exact opposite of reality.
The reason we are in the hole is that we cut taxes for the rich and we created a bunch of tax loopholes for them and borrowed money to go to war.
And now the Republicans want us to give up Medicare and Social Security benefits so we can balance the budget? They don’t seem to realize that they’re talking about real-life people who are among the most vulnerable in our society — our parents and grandparents — and we’re supposed to just agree to let them suffer?
It's time we stop giving the rich welfare and make them pay back the money they took from us to run up the debt.
I’m willing for my taxes to go up if it will end the Bush tax cuts. I'm willing to pay more if it will make them pay their share. But it’s time they took responsibility for the mess they put the country in and pay for it.
ALBERT SELTZ
Winston-Salem
Control
In the wake of the mass shooting in Connecticut, gun control may yet again enter into our national conversation. Might I suggest self-control?
WILLIAM K. ACH
Winston-Salem
A modest proposal
I was thrilled to see the editorial in the Journal supporting a stadium for Reynolds High School (“Long-sought project deserves wide support,” Dec. 7). Finally, after 89 years, these faithful folks should have the stadium they want, and school officials should do everything in their power to make it happen. If that means slicing off a huge chunk of land on the edge of Hanes Park, so what? Nothing is too good for our kids.
But why stop there? Why not finish the job and make Hanes Park the envy of every municipality in North Carolina? It's simple. School officials need only convince city officials to hand over land the school has already appropriated for football and baseball practice, then level it and pave it to the creek. The so-called parking problem would be eliminated. Roughly 1,200 cars could fit easily onto what is now just scruffy old grass. People going to games will park there anyway.
Then there will be plenty of parking for everybody, plus a good hard surface for skateboard competitions, go-cart races, flea markets, you name it. Kids could learn to drive there on weekends. No need to mow grass. There would be no grass. Only asphalt and artificial turf.
As for those who come to Hanes Park to walk their dogs or play Frisbee, have picnics or just read a book under a tree, let them find someplace else.
Instead of Hanes Park, call it Hanes Parking.
BECKY GIBSON
Winston-Salem
No reason
I believe with all my heart in our nation and our Constitution, including the Second Amendment. That said, there is absolutely no reason for, nor any constitutional guarantee of the right to own, a magazine that will hold 30 rounds of ammunition; much less multiples of such. There is likewise no guarantee, nor a reason, for a civilian to own a gun capable of such destruction.
There are people who would argue with me. They live in fear that our government or our military will attempt to take away their freedom, and they are armed and ready to defend their freedom. As if, were the government or the military to take such action, a Bushmaster rifle and 10,000 30-round clips would make any difference. Ask David Koresh.
It is beyond time for our leaders to stand up to the unreasonable demands of the NRA that there should be absolutely no limits on the ownership of weapons and ammunition whose sole intent is the carnage we witnessed Friday in Newtown, Conn.
We have heard all the argument: Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Yet a killer armed with a firearm limited to six rounds, or even nine rounds, stands a chance of being stopped before 20 innocent children and six adults trying to protect them are gunned down. At the end of 18 rounds, he would have to put something down to reload giving someone a chance to overpower him, or the intended victims a chance to flee.
ALLEN DANIEL
Clemmons
Sum It Up
The Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Do you think the economy will continue to improve in 2013?
I will stick my neck out to say, “Yes, it will.” The economy has moved in the right direction since the stimulus plan took effect in 2009, albeit a slow-moving recovery in spite of the obstructions thrown in the path by the GOP.
I think the housing market is a better economic gauge. There is report that the housing market sees increased activities. If the Fed and the Obama administration take aggressive steps to rescue the underwater homeowners, the recovery would be further strengthened.
I paint a rosy picture, notwithstanding the warning by economists and pundits that if the Congress plunges over the “fiscal cliff,” there will be another recession or at best an economic disruption.
BOON T. LEE
The economy is as much psychological as it is financial. People like stability. People want to see problems being addresses.
If legitimate actions, and not the normal D.C. kick-the-can actions, are taken, then yes, I see it getting better. I believe this only because I believe our country is better, smarter and stronger than the boobs we send to D.C.
Congress should stop spending our money, stay out of our lives and let us go back to work, fixing the mess it made.
KEN HOGLUND
Economy? Improve? In the same sentence? Surely you jest.
MONA POTTS
The economy has improved? With the current administration in office, I see four more years of the same, and our economy continuing to head south.
KELLIENE FISHER
After Dec. 21, all fiscal concerns will have faded into an eternal oblivion.
LLOYD V. EVANS II
No, the premise is flawed. The economy is not improving. Newly created jobs are far less than new claims for unemployment and population growth. The percentage rate of unemployment drops because of the hundreds of thousands moved into the category of “leaving the work force.” With the exception of government jobs, private jobs created in 2013 will be largely part-time to escape the cost of Obamacare.
DON WOLFE
What do you mean “continue to improve?” It is not improving. With the printing of more money, borrowing from China and increasing debt, it continues to get worse. The value of the dollar weakens every day. Our economy cannot survive the current trends, but maybe our socialist leaders are well aware of this.
STU HILE
Well, it has certainly improved for Wall Street, which is doing better than ever despite our “business-hating” president (I write with as much sarcasm as I can muster). And Main Street has made some strides.
But it will only continue to improve for the middle class if we can get the Republican Party to knock off its union-busting, corporate-appeasing tactics.
JANE FREEMONT GIBSON
A taxing problem. You are willing to pay more if it makes "them" pay their fair share? Well:
ReplyDeleteGifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 6D37
Hyattsville, MD 20782
A web site is also available I'm told. You can join these grandstanding camera hounds like Warren Buffet. Except if you do, you will be all alone.
Control. This recent horror in Connecticut has revived "gun control" talk. The issue has been given to our VP to lead a Congressional study next month. Which is to say that the issue has been given a slow way to die. The Washington way of all things difficult. The raw emotions will fade as nobody wants to put all the factors on the table at once and in plain view of C-Span cameras...guns, violent entertainment industry products and invasive mental evaluations of potentially toubled minds. Better to make judgements about objects than about the actions of certain people and what feeds these eventual actions. Additionally, the daily spectre in major cities of killings day in and day out that are hardly noticed by anyone outside those metro areas. Put that on the table too. Killing is killing.
ReplyDeleteHey Whitewall, did you hear that the NRA wants to increase taxes so we can have more guns at school?
DeleteI'll take your word for it as I don't keep up with them. But I guess if schools are now a target then the target will be hardened.
DeleteNRA wants armed guards in every school and wants the congress to appropriate what ever it takes to implement this plan by January. For the record, the "arm the teachers" idea seems to be even too insane even for the NRA.
DeleteArm teachers? Don't schools in FC currently have SROs? Why? Didn't when I was in school.
DeleteI think trained, sworn, and armed LEO's in schools is a fine idea, but nothing less, no security guards. Yeah, I'll pony up some extra taxes.
DeleteThere are resource officers in the high schools and middle schools. I don't think they are in all or part of the elementary schools. And this expense item has been a bone of contention between the school board and local govementments as to which budget the expense comes out of since the great recession began.
DeleteAll well and good to have trained sworn LEO's in all schools but this expense will come out of school budgets and that means less teachers and more crowded classrooms.
Oh, and by the way there were armed officers at Columbine.
Properly armed and trained people can't stop all bad things, but would tend to reduce such atrocities. And again, I'll pay more for the additional security.
DeleteA more intriguing point is that the organization, the NRA, that plays on the idea of armed insurrection against the US government now wants 100,000 armed government agents in all schools.
DeleteLet's hear it for the protectors of liberty and small government.
HA!
DeleteDoublethink pervades the spectrum.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGuns aren't going away. I don't know why you knotheaded liberals just don't accept that, and try to meet the problem head on.
DeleteThere are some 3 million assault weapons in the U.S., and growing everyday (thanks to Obama). They aren't going to just disappear.
Ha, ha, the forum fool doesn't even know what an "assault weapon" is.
DeleteBy definition of the "assault weapon" ban, it is a firearm designed to look like a military weapon, the distinguishing factor being that a military weapon has a selector switch which allows it to fire in semiautomatic or full automatic mode, while an "assault weapon" can only be fired in semiautomatic mode, such as the Bushmaster used by the Sandy Hook shooter. Full automatic weapons have been banned for decades in the US.
"Assault weapons" are designed to appeal to juveniles and adults whose development was arrested at the juvenile level, so no doubt, our forum fool would love to have one or two, but his mother won't let him have one.
No reason. Eighteen rounds or six rounds, the terror and fear that will overpower any human being is not determined by magazine size. A frequent question asked after the Va Tech shooting was why didn't some of those young males do what the "movies show" and instinctively rush the shooter since odds were, he couldn't hit them all?
ReplyDeleteThe Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Do you think the economy will continue to improve in 2013? Improve? If this is improving then a new definition is needed. People dropping out of the labor force by the tens of thousands each month, more and more part time jobs, near zero interest rates paid on elderly people's saving accounts, financializing all forms of collateral with 0 interest charged and low payments. What we are doing is struggling to tread water by stealing any future prosperity for those younger and living in marginal "prosperity" now. This will end.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon folks! Happy winter solstice! Last day of work for the year :) I didn't notice any calamity taking place on the easternmost parts of Asia, so it looks like they got through Dec 21st without any issues. Looks good for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...I'm sure they all are grieving for their loss.
LTE 2: It was a cut in rates combined with going into 2 wars and adding a drug benefit program. Bush's tax rate cut was irresponsible. Reducing the deficit will require a combination of increased revenues and decreased spending. Neither alone will suffice.
LTE 3: Self-control works fine for the sane and mature. If one looks at the demographics of your typical shooter, it tends to be a young male who often has demonstrated some degree of mental illness in the past. Young people in general have a tendency to act before thinking particularly in emotional encounters. When extreme stress or mental illness is thrown in, it is not uncommon for someone to pick up a gun and fire as a reflex instead of stoppping to consider the consequences of the action. Happens 100,000 times a year in the US.
LTE 4: Nice use of sarcasm to get the point across.
LTE 5: Good place to continue my discussion from yesterday. I'm not suggesting the outright prohibition of gun ownership. I'm stating that gun ownership should be downgraded from a right one obtains automatically at birth to a priviledge that must be earned through attending and passing classes, mental evaluation as well as background checks. An analogy with cars is often used with guns which is ironic because driving is a priviledge that requires passing tests and demonstrating the ability to safely handle a car. We don't hand the keys over to a person who turns 16 and say "have fun!", because a car, although designed to transport a person from point A to point B can be lethal in the hands of someone who doesn't know the rules or how to handle it. With guns, it's a 3 day wait for a background check (which is almost a joke considering the Va Tech shooter was adjudicated insane yet still legally bought semi-autos) then "how much ammo?". To me, that is as insane as handing the car keys to a 16 y.o. who has never stepped foot in a driver's ed course or gotten behind the wheel. 100,000 shootings a year prove too many people own guns who should not.
Sum it up: Mr. Lee sums my feelings quite well. If Congress and Obama can reach a deal, then I think the economy overall will show a decent increase (3-4%) as it will be going on 5 years removed from the debacle. If not, there will be a 3 - 6 month recession followed by a modest recovery.
Looking forward to seeing all y'all who are attending The Big Event tomorrow. I'm guessing Stab will be there?
Deletesince the Mayan prediction didn't come true, he has to be.
DeleteLooking forward to meeting you Dotnet and to enjoying the celebration.
DeleteAnd I look forward to meeting you, too, dotnet. This will be fun.
DeleteI'll be there.
DeleteYou can't make this stuff up.
ReplyDeleteNRA Annual Meeting: No Guns Allowed
NRA Blames Violent Video Games for Newtown, But Partnered With Company That Makes Them
DeletePerfect!
DeleteThe NRA is a very bad joke to everyone except its own members and the US Congress, a bunch of "little" men trying make up for their individual inadequacies.
The NRA is more 'adequate' than you are, you liberal knothead.
DeleteRush is one of those types that starts peeing his panties when the fecal material hits the fan.
DeleteYes, Mayan Extinction did not occur. I guess I shouldn't have bought all those cases of Stella.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, will be at wedding on schedule.
Ha, ha. One of the little dramas accompanying a wedding is the question "Will the groom show?"
DeleteIn Virginia, from the beginning in 1608, the answer to that question had become "No" so often that in 1660-61 the House of Burgesses passed a law requiring that a prospective groom post a marriage bond at the courthouse in the bride's county of residence. The bondsman could be the bride's father, although it was more often a brother or uncle.
Upon completion of the agreement, usually the pledge of two or more securities, the marriage license was presented to the minister designated to perform the service. A typical marriage bond might be about $150, about $2150 in today's money. The legal requirement expired in 1849 in Virginia, but continued well past the Civil War in some other states.
I guess that in a way Stab has posted a bond, that being his stockpile of Stellas. You know he's not going to walk away from that.
Here's hoping that things go smoothly on the morrow and that Stab and Susan will continue to bring each other joy for at least the next 50 years.
Those Mayans are Such Pranksters
DeleteIndeed…naughty boys and girls.
DeleteSo what's next from the doomsayers…the much hyped "fiscal cliff" being merely a "fiscal slope" and having been turned into a "fiscal nothing" below.
Well, May 19th again, courtesy of our old pal Ronald Weinland (and his old pal Harold Camping). He has completely recalculated his failed 2011 and 2012 forecasts and assures us that he is absolutely certain for certain that May 19, 2013 will be the day. So be sure to use up all your vacation time by then and be somewhere outside on the 19th just in case you get raptured. You don't want to spend eternity with a concussion because you banged your head on the ceiling. Oh, and take out the trash on the 18th…you don't want your home stinking after you're gone.
The long since dead Jeane Dixon is not quite gone yet. She predicted that the world would end on February 4, 1962. As I recall, it did, but somehow restarted on February 5, probably due to my friends and I smoking a lot of marijuana. Darn! Think how much work I have had to do since then when I could have been chilling out.
But Jeane left us with yet another deadline. Jeez will return in 2020 to do battle with the unholy trinity…no, not Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld…the Antichrist (Bill Clinton), the False Prophet (Barack Obama) and Satan himself, who turns out to be a she (Hillary Clinton), who will be in office at the time.
This will turn out to be a 17 year war, by which time Hillary will be 94 years old and look a lot like Arizona governor Jan Brewer does now. So lay in a good supply of Twinkies.
But the one that really worries me comes from a guy named James Kasting, who you may not have heard of yet. That will occur around the year 500,000,000 CE, when the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will drop sharply, making Earth uninhabitable. One assumes that the "liberals" will have finally pushed through their socialist agenda and reversed Global Climate Change. Kasting and his partner Ken Caldeira are actual scientists, so this is probably going to happen. Be scared, be very scared.
BTW, an AOL poll showed that about 6 million Americans actually believed that today would be the end. Aside from 5.999999 million inmates of mental hospitals, one used the alias Bucky and claimed that he lived in Winston-Salem, NC.
A Little Christmas Story
ReplyDelete> When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.
> Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.
> When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.
> Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.
> Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the liquor.. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.
> Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'
>
> And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.
>
> Not a lot of people know this
We do now...thanks for the laugh, WW!
Delete:)
DeleteMost legal experts tell you not to make any major decisions if you are emotionally upset over something. What does Obama and Democrats want us to do? Make a major decision on gun laws when everyone is upset about the little children that were killed.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many factors that are/were involved in shootings that we need time to sort them all out. It's easy to blame guns, but people are the sole perpetrators of these crimes. Guns don't get up and walk to schools and shoot people.
We need to examine the movie/TV industry and their role, the news media, mental health treatment of our people, school administrators that fail to act when they see aberrant behavior......and the list could go on.
Let's not do the first, knotheaded liberal thing that comes to mind, and 'rush' out and do something just because we're mad. Let's take a step back and examine what happened and then make some decisions.
We'll be better off for it.
Code Pink: A liberal hate group in action.
Deletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57560479/nra-guns-in-schools-would-protect-students/
The NRA's proposal to put armed police officers inside every U.S. school by January would change security practices at nearly 70% of public schools, a USA TODAY examination has found.
DeleteAccording to the National Center for Education Statistics, 57% of public schools in the United States had no security staff present at any time during the week in 2009-2010, the most recent year data were available. Even more — nearly 70% — had no police officer in the school every week.
________
Sounds like a viable plan. But you know the knotheaded liberals won't listen to it. After all, it's coming from the NRA.
As always, the NRA and our forum fool are on the same page, the one that begins with "I" for Ignorant.
DeleteColumbine High, 1999 - Deputy Neil Gardner was a 15-year veteran of the Jefferson County, Colo., Sheriff’s Office assigned as the uniformed officer at Columbine. Gardner, seeing Eric Harris working with his gun, leaned over the top of the car and fired four shots. He was 60 yards from the gunman. Harris spun hard to the right and Gardner momentarily thought he had hit him. Seconds later, Harris began shooting again at the deputy.
After the exchange of gunfire, Harris ran back into the building. Gardner was able to get on the police radio and called for assistance from other Sheriff’s units. "Shots in the building. I need someone in the south lot with me."
The second officer was Deputy Paul Smoker, a motorcycle patrolman who was near the school writing a speeding ticket. When he heard a dispatch of a woman injured at the high school, he responded. He, too, fired at Harris but didn't stop him.
These officers were not rent-a-cops. They were sworn officers of the Jefferson County sheriff's office.
Little wonder that they failed. Lucky that they didn't hit any students, teachers or parents. There is no known handgun with an effective range anywhere near 60 yards (exception for target pistols, but they would not be very effective anywhere but on a range). Our Marine instructor at Pendleton held up an M1911 .45 caliber pistol and gave us the rundown on it, ending with "The effective range is 25 meters". He then turned downrange and began firing, hitting an empty ammo can on the hillside 8 shots out of 8 at 120 meters.
He turned back to us, grinned, and said "In the unlikely event that you can ever do that, we will issue you an M1911 Expert badge and probably make you an instructor here." Certainly unlikely to find any who can shoot like that in your local law enforcement agency.
The W-S/Forsyth County Schools have sworn law enforcement officers at all middle and high schools, but not at elementary schools. They are required to have special training for their jobs as School Resource Officers (SROs). Their primary purpose is to maintain order and prevent violence between students, while providing advice and guidance to students and school staff. In reality, they end up directing the morning traffic jam at each school, so would, like the officers at Columbine, be in the parking area as school begins each day, the preferred time for school shooters. If the shooter is already in the building, they are pretty much useless.
OIC. Hey, I've got the answer. Let's have two officers at each school, one outside, one inside. Thanks NRA/fool, that will solve the problem. So where is the inside guy going to be?
Since school shooters are almost always intimately familiar with the workings of the school, if the inside officer is usually in the office area, we will begin our killing binge in the farthest classrooms. If he hangs out there, we will begin at the office. Either way, by the time he gets to us we will have taken out a couple of dozen people and ourselves. He won't have anyone left to shoot.
So how many armed officers will we need at our schools? A squad? A platoon? A company?
As always, the NRA/fool are living in a fantasy land of ignorance.
Funny how our forum NW mentions Columbine. It took place when our previous 'assault weapons' ban was in effect. A lot of good it did to prevent a mass school shooting.
DeleteWhat I like about liberals is you don't have to say much. After you say something, they'll go ahead and make a jackass out of themselves for you.
Now that Boehner's plan "b", whatever that was, has crashed in flames, and his plan"c", the Maya Extinction, has failed to come to pass, things ought to get mighty interesting when the House reconvenes next week.
ReplyDeleteFacing Presidential popularity approaching 60% as their own sinks once again into the teens, the House will have to do something. I think at this point that Speaker Boehner is ready to go to Lameduck Mountain, get himself a Bushmaster and start shooting recalcitrant Tea Party fools.
The nation, and most especially, the Republican Party, is being held hostage by a bunch of loonies whose waning support has fallen to barely 20%. Let the fiscal slope begin and the GOP will get the blame.
And the Tea Party has left the President holding all the face cards and aces. If they want to keep betting on their puny pair of 6s, they will only accelerate the slow suicide of the Republican Party, because here is what is getting ready to happen:
1. As soon as the new Congress convenes in 2013, the Democrats will introduce a bill restoring the lost tax cuts for middle class people earning $250,000 or less, leaving the tax rise for the rich in place. It will be impossible for anyone to vote against that.
2. The President will present a new budget, overriding the so-called "fiscal cliff", which will restore funds to programs that need them while keeping defense cuts, which will be supported by the Pentagon. There is so much waste in defense spending that we could cut it in half without affecting our military efficiency.
Just two examples: (a) Remember all those retired generals and admirals who supported Mitty? One of the main reasons why is that they are all receiving their retirement benefits, while most are also still working on six figure "consulting contracts" for the Pentagon, most in meaningless roles. That used to be called double dipping. (b) Maybe we could get rid of the trillions about to be spent on two useless aircraft programs, the F-35 (which is obsolete before it even goes into production) and the F-22 (which is asphyxiating its pilots).
3. The Democrats will introduce a bill forcing Super Pacs to reveal the source of their funding. That will also be impossible to vote against because it is supported by about 80% of Americans.
Republicans may agree with Johnny Mercer:
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take it or leave it as I please
But they will find out different.
As a great man said, never try to murder a man who's committing suicide.
DeleteThe GOP turned down Obama's 2011 concessions -- which was a great deal for them -- because it wasn't enough. They turned down Obama's latest offer, and have essentially refused to negotiate in good faith...it's still not enough. Okey-dokey. Here's what's going to happen now (stolen from David Frum):
1) President Obama goes on holiday.
2) December 31 arrives.
3) Taxes go up on everybody. Unemployment insurance ends. Sequester begins to go into effect.
4) Screams, howls.
5) President Obama returns to Washington, speaks to country from Oval Office or else summons special session, unveils the "Obama Tax Cut and Job Creation plan" featuring a whacking big tax cut for 98% of Americans.
6) Plan polls at 70% or better.
7) Republicans resist.
8) Republicans surrender.
9) Economy recovers, "morning in America," Obama basks in glory in 2nd term.
At this point, they remind me of the Black Knight in Search for the Holy Grail. It's just a flesh wound!
Because of changing demographics and corruption, Republicans have little chance of retaking the White House. They'll also probably lose the HoR.
DeleteI say let her crash.