Criticizing Foxx
The Journal is zealous to denigrate Rep. Virginia Foxx in the hope of someone unseating her in two years. I would point out that in many ways she is like former Sen. Jesse Helms -- never one to compromise his beliefs, much less be politically correct on important issues.
Are Foxx’s critics aware of the huge amount of "pork" tacked on to the Hurricane Sandy relief bill she voted against? With hope, there will quickly be a sensible bill that will deliver the help to those needing it, and not a hastily passed one in which billions are added on for unrelated projects such as the recent Senate-passed $50 billion fiasco.
The folks on the left will spin any incident they can to criticize Rep. Foxx. For me, I am thankful for her attempts to prevent wasteful spending. After all, isn't that why we're in such financial trouble? Right on, Rep. Foxx!
BRUCE A. GUSTAFSON
Winston-Salem
Serious deterrent
In reference to the idea of publishing or making public the names and addresses of gun owners (“Official: Gun permit info should be private,” Jan. 12): I would think that for anyone feeling the need to own a firearm for personal or family protection against attack, it would be highly desirable to have such knowledge as their gun ownership public. How better to deter criminals from coming to their houses? Just having everyone know they were armed and nervous should be a serious deterrent.
No? Am I missing something here?
MAUREEN MARGADONNA
Winston-Salem
Young filmmakers
Thank you your insightful editorial on the value of the tax incentives in the state of North Carolina in creating jobs (“State must keep up momentum,” Jan. 3). I would like to point out that for the School of Film at UNC School of the Arts, these productions have been a great boon to our students. Working on the productions has allowed them to fulfill their internship credits without having to leave the state.
Many students who may have had to leave North Carolina to practice their craft are now considering staying and setting up production companies of their own.
It is imperative that the tax incentives remain in place for years to come to allow these young filmmakers the time to establish themselves and allow their production companies to grow. I believe the long-term growth is just beginning, and I look forward to the time that the Triad is as vibrant a place for film production as Wilmington or Atlanta.
SUSAN RUSKIN
INTERIM DEAN, UNCSA SCHOOL OF FILMMAKING
Winston-Salem
Sum It Up
Do you approve of President Obama’s proposals for gun control?
Finding common ground
Obviously, there is bitter division in our country regarding guns, and Newtown, Conn., like nothing else before, has exposed it. So we can keep shouting at each other, or we can try to agree on something that may at least diminish the chances of first-graders being slaughtered again.
Gun enthusiasts seem to think that any gun regulation is an infringement of their rights. But those of us who favor some change don’t want to abolish the Second Amendment. The right to own guns is settled. This discussion is not about banning, but regulating guns sensibly. Can we find a way to balance our rights and responsibilities?
We wouldn’t accept only 60 percent of drivers being licensed, so how can we accept only 60 percent of gun sales requiring background checks? Do responsible, law-abiding people need assault rifles? What is the purpose of 30-round magazines? I ask these questions in the hope that, at least in these areas, some compromise is possible even among those of us who differ so strongly.
Nobody wants something like Newtown to happen again. But unless we can come out of our trenches and find even some small piece of common ground, it almost certainly will. Let’s make every effort to see that Newtown will not be just another name added to the tragic litany we’ll hear next time around. Instead, let it be the last one on the list - the one that we’ll remember as the one that began to change everything.
MARK RALLINGS
Winston-Salem
Good AM, folks!
ReplyDeleteApprove of President Obama's gun control proposals? A couple at least, including licensing of ownrers and background checks, but opposed to hardware restrictions.
Leftover from the U-word conversation yesterday: OT, I said E coast longshoremen are paid > $50/hr PLUS a loading bonus, not a 50/hr loading bonus. This bonus is paid based on weight, which is further ridiculous, since machines do all the lifting. As for making up for lost work, containerization has been around for a generation. Technology changes employment. I don't recall that H Ford paid a whip bonus to displaced buggy whip employees. BTW, that loading bonus took a bit of the sting out of the fact that longshorecritters could no longer pilfer as easily.
Agreed. No problem with background checks and registration. There's a de facto registration now anyway. Because it isn't called registration, liberals think there isn't one.
DeleteTo explain to you gun haters out there, you have to fill out an ATF (Federal Agency: Alchohol Tobacco and Firearms) form to buy a gun. Your name and address plus the type and serial number of the firearm is recorded. What more would be taken in registration? Your DNA?
We had the 'hardware' restrictions, as Stab calls them, before (Feinstein's Assault Weapons Ban of the 90s and early 2000s), and they didn't work. New York City, Chicago, District of Columbia, and California all have similar laws with no appreciable decrease in crime. In fact, some have higher murder and violent crime rates that those that don't.
It's time to start addressing the real problems in gun shootings such as criminal activity/criminals, mentally ill people, and violent video games and movies instead of blaming guns and lawful, responsible gun owners for a change.
Of course, the boneheaded liberals of world don't want to do something logical. That would spoil their loony image.
"Do you approve of President Obama’s proposals for gun control?". I disapprove of the fact that Mr Obama is a resident of the United States. It is unlikely I will approve of anything he wants to control.
ReplyDeletePermit to rephrase the question. If Mitt Romney were president of the U.S., would you approve of an identical proposal for gun control?
Deletedisapprove down to the last "jot and tittle".
DeleteNow that the President has been sworn in, when will news channels start showing the "Ted Nugent Dead or In Jail" countdown clock?
DeleteFinding common ground. Sensible in tone but little chance. Americans have always viewed government with suspicion and even distrust. Rightly so. That suspicion and distrust is growing. With this current occupant of the White House, any attempt he makes or one made by his allies on this matter will only deepen the opposition. It will be like attacking a hornets nest with a broom.
ReplyDeleteWW, we once attacked a hornet's nest with a broom . . . that had an M80 attached to the broom handle end with electrician's tape. It worked spectacularly well, completely disrupted the nest and killed a number of hornets. The survivors were another matter, and we made a quick getaway. That part of our neighborhood was untenable for a little, until the angry bees flew away. They never rebuilt that nest.
DeleteOne onlooker was stung. We perpetrators, like my hero Macavity the cat, escaped without injury and without later subsequent intervention by authorities, parental or otherwise.
Sweet.
DeleteYou guys were gutsy! It seems a lot of your escapades happened with you making good an escape every time? An artful dodger you were? My run ins with hornet's nests were pretty much a one sided affair--with the hornets victorious.
DeleteI taped the bombed onto the end of the handle and lit the fuse. Then I retreated to safe distance, breaking into a run after the explosion, laughing happily.
DeleteWordly, this and much other mischief occurred just a few scant blocks from your current residence.
careful, Wordly might get a sudden urge to move to a safer locale?
DeleteGoing back to the Forsyth Country Club sledding event. I may have been there too. Stab is 10 years older than I am so all I have is very vague memories of an event and details my mother provided later on in life.
DeleteI remember being around a fire and there was lots of snow. My father and one of his friends brought an old Chevrolet hood to the golf course and used it as a sled. It did not work out too well as they ended up in the creek.
The hole that runs next to Pine Valley was #3 back then.
DeleteAnd the creek was a problem, had a lot of rocks in it. And in those days, there was just one bridge, a very narrow stone bridge just wide enough for a hand pulled golf cart. If you didn't hit it just right, you got rocked.
We found a better place just a couple of blocks away on Robinhood Road. Merrymont had just been developed and one of my girlfriends lived there. There was a loop road with court stubs going off it.
If you went to the top of the loop road, at the very back of the neighborhood, you could ride all the way to the bottom, continue across the entrance road and make it most of the way back to the top. Less work, more fun.
In reference to the idea of publishing or making public the names and addresses of gun owners (“Official: Gun permit info should be private,” Jan. 12): I would think that for anyone feeling the need to own a firearm for personal or family protection against attack, it would be highly desirable to have such knowledge as their gun ownership public. How better to deter criminals from coming to their houses? Just having everyone know they were armed and nervous should be a serious deterrent.
ReplyDeleteNo? Am I missing something here?
MAUREEN MARGADONNA
Winston-Salem
____________
Yes you are, you liberal dope.
You're a prime reason why we shouldn't let a bunch of liberal Democrats make gun laws. First off, anytime you reveal or someone else reveals that you've got a gun, you give up the element of surprise. Plus, you let criminal know that if they want to steal a gun, this is the place they should go. Also, if criminals know you might be armed, they're more likely to shoot you first, and ask you for your money later.
ABC's Diane Sawyer, another liberal, anti-gun fanatic posing as an objective reporter, did a program on whether or not being armed helps people. In it, she set up various scenarios where people had a gun to protect themselves. The 'criminals' all knew which people had guns when they entered a room. Each time the criminals won the gun fights.
Sawyer didn't prove her point, but she proved mine.
I tend to agree that names of gun owners should not be such an open matter of public record. Guns are high value theft objects and publishing the names and addresses of where guns reside is an open invitation to having their owner's residences burglarized.
DeleteGood for you Wordly. I've always given you more credit for being more logical than some of the people in here.
DeleteLast year when my mother was at her Florida home for the winter, I got a call at the office from the alarm company that the alarm was going off. I immediately said I'll go check and hung up the phone and got in my car and drove to the house. I was joined relatively quickly by three sheriff cars in the driveway.
DeleteThey were quite upset with me that I was attempting to investigate the alarm and immediately asked questions about my presence and relationship to property owner and to ascertain that I was not the perpetrator. I might add that I was unarmed. I am five feet and one inch and I weigh 120 pounds, (and I would not be fearful if Bucky wanted to attend a Barbecue at my house packing).
A back glass on a back door had been kicked in. The officers searched the house, but found no one. The alarm had evidently scared the intruder away before he could steel anything. The sheriffs asked me to go through the house to see if I thought anything was missing. They asked two or three times to check for missing guns and seemed amazed that I assured them there were no guns in the house. (Although now that I think about it there are probably one of two handguns there, but they are locked in a closet and I have no idea where the key that closet is).
I was amazed that they repeatedly and specifically kept asking about guns. So from this experience I gleaned that guns are high value theft targets. I would rather put my money in an alarm system than a gun.
The alarm definitely earned its fee that day. If someone had been able to enter that back door undeterred they could have easily cleaned out the whole house and no one would have known for days.
By the way Wordly, I always read your posts from beginning to end, unlike some of Rush's psychotic rants.
DeleteStolen guns are easier to sell than almost every other type of stolen item on the street. Stolen guns are highly valued because they are 'untraceable' to the thug that might carry it.
DeleteThat's why all these dopey, illogical laws that these loony liberal Democrats propose are next to worthless. How does 'restricting' law abiding gun owners' rights affect criminals?
The answer is: They don't.
Good story by the way Wordly. I enjoy a cogent post once in while after all of Rush's.
DeleteIf Rush wasn't such a mole, I wouldn't be surprised if they got him on a 18 U.S.C. 2423 rap.
DeleteThere is fear that gun owners would become targets of burglaries if their names and/or addresses are made public. If names and addresses of registered voters in North Carolina published in an online database and can be viewed by anyone, so should those of gun owners.
DeleteOkay, Rielle. I'll bite. What does voting and gun ownership have in common?
DeleteLaSombra, I agree with you too. I think it is way to easy to find out too much about someone just sitting down at your computer. I think voting registration should be a part of the public record, but I think you should have to go down somewhere to access it.
DeleteBucky, remember when "Dick Tracy" dug up the voting information for George Britton and Bob posted it in the forum. You credited some other member with the deed, but I was the one who sent it to Bob. He asked if I wanted to post it? And I told him no, but he was welcome to, but I personally felt it was sad that you could so easily find that type of information so easily online. Poor Whitewall practically deserted us for awhile after that posting episode.
Wordly, the sad thing is some people in here continue to make fools of themselves over my identity. I really don't care anymore. I cared at one point, because I like Bob. I hated to see such a bright man get into the gutter with Rielle. And....out of respect for this George/Tim Britton person, whom I've never met.
DeleteRielle is a typical liberal, she doesn't care if she's credible or not. So long as she's slinging fecal material, she's happy.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePoor Rielle. She's a lot like Rush. She loves to make a fool of herself.
DeleteHey Rielle, why don't you put that 'real' photo of yourself back up? I've got some crows I need to scare away.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joNzRzZhR2Y
DeleteYou first, Tim.
DeleteIt's so entertaining to be able to elicit such reactions from you with such ease, just from a post from me.
DeleteYou've already got a picture of me up, remember. Hee Hee...oh me. Lordy...Lordy.
DeleteIf you put that picture back up, one thing I won't have to do is enlarge it. If I did that, I'd scare the crows AND my neighbors away.
The 23-year-old said in an interview Saturday that it may be too cold to attend President Barack Obama's public swearing in ceremony on Monday.
ReplyDeleteMallory Hagan, Miss America
_________
Niiiiiiiiiice! I don't blame you. I'd use any excuse I could to get out of it too.
My daughter met her yesterday at a day of service event in DC.
DeleteMiss America: Chill, I’ll be there
DeleteI'm sure she got a lot blow back from her comments that she might not go. You know how liberals are. They'll tell you how 'tolerant' they are in one breath, and call you a MFer for believing in something they don't in another.
DeleteI take it you read the article from the right leaning Politico and you don't approve of her position regarding gun safety.
DeleteWell, Tiny, you can rest easy that we don't think you're a "MFer" because we disagree with you...we think you are a MFer because you are a MFer.
DeleteFrom what I've read, it's pretty obvious she doesn't agree with much of what Obama is doing.
DeleteShe's obviously a very smart girl.
Tiny doesn't read any articles...only headlines...which is why he never has a clue about what is actually going on. It's a good thing, too, because actually reading an article would confuse him beyond reason...which is where he already lives.
DeleteNot that I give a rat's ass what any celebrity thinks or says, maybe Tiny ought to read a little bit of some articles before he pops off with his foolishness:
'Hagan, who said she voted for Obama, reiterated her support for a “longer waiting period” before aspiring gun owners can walk away with a weapon.
“I just think when you go in to purchase a gun, the ability to have a longer waiting period would benefit everyone, so no one is making rash decisions, and there’s time for that background check, and there’s time for the person who is purchasing the gun, has time to think about that purpose as well,” she said.'
___Politico
As always, stupid is as stupid does.
Get the head that's inside of your pants out Rush, and try using it.
DeleteIt's obviously the one on your shoulders is not functioning, you pathetic piece of stench infested poop!
Well, well, here are some of your “responsible” gun owners in action…all yesterday, National Gun Appreciation Day:
ReplyDeleteRaleigh – Gary Lynn Wilson is bringing his shotgun to the Dixie Gun and Knife Show (you know, the one with all the Confederate flags) to sell. While he is trying to remove it from its case, it goes off, injuring three people. One woman is still in the hospital with birdshot wounds to her torso.
Indianapolis – Emery Cozee buys a .45 at the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife show, decides to load it as he is leaving, shoots himself in the hand. Good shot, Emery. next time go for a head shot.
Medina, Ohio – At the Conrad and Dowdell gun show, a gun dealer had just bought a Taurus 9 mm from a show attendee. He removed the magazine, but “forgot” that there was a round in the chamber and pulled the trigger. The round in the chamber fired, ricocheted off the the floor, hit his business partner in the arm and thigh. The victim had to be flown 30 miles by helicopter to the hospital. Good bank shot, dumbo.
___All from AP
Keep in mind that every time you leave your house, there are geniuses like this all around you.
All the more reason to have their names in an easily accessible database, especially if you've got small children. I want to know if any of my neighbors have access to that kind of deadly force. I'll know to give those people a wide berth.
DeleteNations with strict gun control laws have substantially higher murder rates than those who do not in general. In fact, the 9 European nations with the lowest gun ownership rate have a combined murder rate 3x that of the 9 European nations with the highest gun ownership rate!
DeleteHarvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (pp. 649-694). Volume 30, Number 2:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf
http://theacru.org/acru/harvard_study_gun_control_is_counterproductive/
The United Kingdom:
DeleteIn the decade following the Labor party's election and banning of handguns in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77% to 1.2 million in '07- or more than 2 attacks every minute.
With just one exception, every public mass shooting in the USA since 1950 has taken place where citizens are banned from carrying guns. Despite strict gun regulations, Europe has had 3 of the worst 6 school shootings
DeleteIn 1982, Kennesaw, Georgia passed a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate subsequently dropped 89% in Kennesaw, compared to just 10.4% drop in Georgia as a whole.
Delete3 out of 5 polled felons say they won’t mess with an armed victim.
DeleteThe other 40% said that when they are in a bad mood, or just bored, they go looking for a cowering gun wimp to kill.
DeletePlease cite the poll you refer to. Betcha can't. Gee, Tim, stop it!!! I can't stop laughing!!!
DeleteThat article must be making the rounds in the right-wing blogosphere...Fox might be featuring it. I've seen it come up in a few Facebook arguments.
DeleteTiny Tim got his quote from a site called americangunfacts.com, or one like it…they are all crackpot sites that regurgitate the made up "facts" from the NRA site and/or make up their own.
DeleteTheir home page features a great graphic that shows the ratio of "guns used to protect private citizens" vs "guns used for murder, suicide and accidental deaths". The ratio comes out to 80-1 in favor of self defense, which means, according to their figures, that guns were used for self defense 1,916,156 times by Americans last year. This is an indisputable figure, even though it is a few hundred thousand less than the NRA's "official" count.
Figures don't lie…people with figures lie.
Another true story about my father:
DeleteIt was a very foggy night in December probably 1982. I had been to Hanes Mall shopping and I returned home to find my father tied up in a ditch almost in the road. At that time we lived just off what I believe was the 9th hole at what was Grandview Golf Club.
He had been robbed, beaten and tied up. He had had a gun on him, but he was jumped and the weapon was of no use. In those days business was good and most of the proceeds came in the form of cash so I imagine the robber got quite a bit of money.
It's probably a good thing my father wasn't able to get to his gun. If he had gotten to it, the robbers probably would have killed him. As it was he just had his jaw broken. His mouth was wired shut for almost 3 months and he had to eat all of his food through a straw after it went through the blender.
I guess the reason I would not mind if Bucky came to my house with a gun is that my father usually always carried one. We have no guns in my household and I don't want any. I am of the belief that more harm is likely to come from having a gun in the house than good from having one.
If you want gun in your house that's fine with me. I do think guns should be registered and that law enforcement should know the locations of where there are private arsenals in their district. I don't think this information should be readily available to the general public.
Having a private arsenal will not protect you if the government really wants to come after you. They can attack you with anything up to and including an ICBM, depending how mad you make them.
Permitting law enforcement to know where arsenals are might save the lives of police officers. Registering guns would also help law enforcement track stolen guns and it would permit the creation algorithms which could be used to provide "real" statistics on gun violence and gun "goodness". It seems that each side has its own facts and figures now.
I am very skeptical of Bucky's information on gun violence in European countries with low rates of gun ownership. I don't believe that having a gun makes you safer. After all, it worked out so well for my father that night.
A gun will make you a lot safer if a murderer trys to kill you, and you kill him first.
DeleteI like to keep things simple for you simpletons.
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA . . .
Deletei can't stop laughing
There are, no doubt, a half dozen or so murderers hanging out in Tiny's back yard right now...
DeleteAdd a few HAs for them...and me.
We'll all laugh, and then probably cry, when you put your real photo back up, Rielle.
DeletePlease don't enlarge the image, it's big enough!
No wonder Tiny failed sixth grade three times, he's not even at sixth grade level now, all these years later.
DeleteStill just a crude little fifth grade lowlife...I'll bet he puts his stubby little thumbs in his ears and wiggles his fingers during his daily TV marathon whenever FoxLies® accidentally tells the truth about something.
Wow! Tiny's stream of irrelevant posts is a never ending river. Here is one to add to the list:
ReplyDeleteChess, Not Assault Weapons, Should Be Banned
The London Eyre Court was a group of royal justices charged with trying all felonies, including murder. In 1278, the Eyre heard all cases that had occurred in the period since the court last met in 1253, 25 years before.
In those days, almost all murders were the result of fights or quarrels after drinking or during festivals, usually over women or personal insults. Of the 145 murder cases heard in 1278, two were the result of quarrels over chess matches.
I think that if we banned chess, that would have a significant effect on the murder rate in the US.
Speaking of irrelevant, I like ginger snaps and rye whiskey.
DeleteSince you, as a liberal Democrat, are clearly a threat to public safety, I will suggest to the President that he add ginger snaps and rye whiskey, along with chess, to the items to be banned.
DeleteHere is a story about a bunch of little Bucky's and one anti-Bucky:
ReplyDeleteI first saw Ellen on the playground of the two room school house that we attended, in 1954. Ellen was laying on the ground, writhing and jerking. It was terrifying to this little eight year old girl, but I was more horrified by the chanting crowd of children who surrounded Ellen.
“Witch…witch…witch…witch….” I’ll never forget it.
“She’s having a fit!!” Someone shrieked.
“She’s possessed by the devil!” Someone else hollered.
Ms. Allen, our second grade teacher, streaked toward the mob from across the playground. When Ms. Allen arrived, I was already on the ground hovering over Ellen and screaming at the kids to leave her alone. Ms. Allen dismissed Ellen’s tormentors with a withering look. By this time, Ellen had stopped her jerking, and she was in a deep sleep.
Ms. Allen scooped her up, and she carried her into the school and down the hall, where she laid Ellen upon a small cot. Ms. Allen, tenderly brushed Ellen’s hair back, and she asked me to stay with her until she woke up. That was when Ms. Allen explained to me about Ellen’s epilepsy, and that she had just suffered a “grand mal” seizure.
“When Ellen wakes up, don’t upset her,” Ms. Allen admonished. Then she left the little room, and I sat with Ellen, who soon awakened.
“I had a seizure, didn’t I,” She stated, with a smile. I nodded, as I took her hand.
“Did the kids all gather ‘round, again?” She asked. Trying not to upset her, I could think of nothing to say except the truth.
“Yes.” I said.
“They think I’m demon possessed, you know,” Ellen stated, simply. I nodded again, not fully understanding the cruelty I had witnessed.
Soon Ellen’s mother came for her and took her home. I then followed Ms. Allen down the hall to our classroom, where all the children sat with there heads down on their desks. Ms. Allen told them to sit up straight, and she laced into them, immediately. She must have talked for over an hour, explaining about epilepsy and superstition to a bunch of ignorant kids who had been programmed their entire lives.
From that moment both Ellen and I were ostracized, but I didn’t care, because I felt called to protect Ellen, and she became my first real friend. Ellen and I were total opposites. She was gentle. I was willing to initiate a fight at the first sign of trouble. She was a “lady.” I was an original “tom-boy.” She forgave all her tormentors. I was hunting them down, just aching for an opportunity. To me, Ellen was an angel of grace, and I became her guardian angel. And guard her I did, from the other kids.
I hated Ellen’s disease, because I saw how vulnerable it made her to a bunch of cruel and ignorant school yard bullies. What really upset me the most was knowing that the other children’s words and actions were a reflection of the ignorance of their parents.
Protecting Ellen, in the face of bigotry changed the course of my life. I had once been cruel and ignorant, just like the other kids, picking on others less able to defend themselves. I began to hate my own cruelty, and in time I rejected it entirely. Although I could not control the thoughts and actions of others, I could change myself. I began to choke the monster within myself, until it finally died.
Ellen and her parents moved that same year, and so did we. I’ve never seen nor heard from her in fifty years, but still she remains one of the most important persons in my life. Befriending Ellen taught me that I didn’t need to be a part of a crowd or a mob. Life has been lonely at times, but at the end of the day, when I take that last look at my face in the mirror, I know that I can live with the person who is looking back at me. And most of all, I can believe that I have the strength to stand alone, in kindness.
___Jaye Lewis
Jaye is a writer who lives in the mountains of southwest Virginia.