Saturday, January 12, 2013

Weekend Links / Open Thread

Flu-y Hooey: it's the big one, folks. Hope none of you is suffering, but if you are, that you were able to score some Tamiflu or other anti-viral meds that temper the vile effects, and are otherwise being well cared for. If you haven't yet had your fill of Flu Lit, you can find some here, here, here and for comic relief, here. (hint: it's another Rush Limbaugh conspiracy theory.)

In New York City, officials don't think the flu is making people cough enough. They have begun mass, 24/7 open-air burning of the tons and tons of Superstorm Sandy debris, despite protests from the American Lung Association and other environmental groups. As you may have guessed, the pollution is being perpetrated in a non-affluent section of the city, so the plutocrats will have no need to don their monogrammed gas masks. More here. (h/t WestVillageGal.)

While current mainstream media coverage of education has devolved into whether we should arm teachers and turn schools into militarized zones, a brave group of Seattle teachers is choosing to fight back. Not with guns, but by unanimously refusing to administer those odious state-mandated standardized tests this spring. (h/t Barbara Madeloni.)

And speaking of odium, is it me, or are President Obama and his band of crony capitalists now going out of their way to provoke unprecedented levels of disgust?  I've reached the point where the very sound of his voice affects me in an unpleasant, visceral way. I am just grateful that those smirking images of him have ceased following my every Internet click (the following is now covert, of course.)





No, it isn't just me. One of his own former national security advisors is now publicly calling him "as ruthless and indifferent to the rule of law as his predecessor".

But sadly, even so-called progressives still support the man despite all the damning evidence of his corruption staring them right in the face. Sen. Bernie Sanders, self-described independent socialist, is a prime example of somebody who can rail and rage against the Boss Man's behavior, but never quite take that ultimate denouncing step. Bernie's statement that he will not vote for Treasury nominee Jack Lew begins "As a supporter of the president, I remain extremely concerned that virtually all of his key economic advisers have come from Wall Street."

Huh? How about withholding your support of the president, Bernie? How about leading a contingent of Progressive Congress Critters to the White House to protest? 

Better yet, listen to what Bill Black has to say about Loopy Lew, whom Bernie apparently can't help smarmily calling "intelligent" despite massive evidence to the contrary. Black just goes for it, and calls him a dumb-ass and a crook and an epic fail, and thus an ideal and extremely useful idiot for the PTBs.

At least when Bush was around, people used their brains and expressed their disgust in greater numbers. But for some reason, Barack is sheathed in so many layers of protective teflon that Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave with jealousy. Obama has got to be a master hypnotist with the 50% approval rating he currently enjoys.

You've heard of those Good Christian Bitches, and have probably had the misfortune to meet or even be related to one. But at all costs, avoid the League of Minnesota Granny Obamabitches, who make it their business to spy on their neighbors, troll comment boards,monitor dinner table conversations, and send all their findings to state and national Democratic Party databases. Buttinskyism has been taken to a whole new level. Crones & Drones are now vying for your personal space. It's getting a little cramped out there in Amurika.

Feel free* to join the National Conversation on these or any other issues that are striking your fancy or pushing your own personal odium button. Happy Weekend.

*Update 1/13: This does not include the freedom to call for armed rebellion and other violence. I just deleted several inflammatory comments along those lines which were posted overnight. I recently removed the comment moderation feature and the honor system thing had been working very well until now. But if this kind of crap continues, I will be forced to start holding and previewing everybody's comments again.

Additionally -- as I have stated in the past, I don't mind the occasional (and respectful) anonymous comment from the casual visitor to this site. But if you want to engage with other contributors, you're going to have to identify yourself a little better than "Anonymous."

33 comments:

James F Traynor said...

It really is getting worse by the day.

Zee said...

@Karen--

I see that Mayor Bloomie has decided to extend his concern for our health beyond controlling guns and soda pop serving sizes.

Now he has decided that he knows better than NYC's doctors just how much—and what type of—pain killing medication to dole out to those who go to the emergency rooms of the city's hospitals:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news
/article-2261186/Mayor-Michael-Bloomberg-drugs-Bloomberg-says-combating-addiction-epidemic-priority-hits-claims-plan-restrict-prescription-painkillers-penalize-poor.html

Supposedly, this measure is intended to cut down on addiction to powerful prescription painkillers.

However, I agree with some of the doctors who were interviewed for this and other articles on the same topic, that this is merely a slap in the face of the poor and uninsured.

A couple of years ago I went to the e-room, doubled up in a fetal position with screaming pain running down my left leg. After a couple of morphine injections, I, too, was sent home with a three-day 'scrip for Hydrocodone and no suggestions as to what to do next, other than to come back to the e-room again if I needed more painkillers.

(Turns out that I was treated by a PA when I thought he was an MD. Don't make that mistake. PAs are much more cautious and restrictive than “real docs.”)

Happily, my PCP could get me in to see a spinal specialist the next day, where I was prescribed Oxycontin to get me through to an MRI the following week (two herniated disc pressing on my sciatic nerve), and two spinal injections the week thereafter. Still, I was on Oxycontin for a month before the injections kicked in and I could begin to walk, first with a walker and then with a cane. For three months I was virtually crippled.

It is unimaginable to me that someone would be released from the hospital in the kind of pain that I was experiencing, with three days of sissy painkillers and neither the resources nor the knowledge to determine where to go next for real treatment other than back to the e-room.

It is time for single-payer health care in America, and for politicians to leave our doctors alone to treat their patients as they see fit.




barbara madeloni said...

Thanks Karen for sharing the news about the Seattle teachers. Another Seattle high school has joined them in boycotting the test. These teachers have taken a tremendous risk and need our support. You can sign a petition of support here:https://www.change.org/petitions/seattle-public-schools-support-garfield-high-school-teachers-refusing-to-administer-the-map?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_after_sign

we struggle on.

James F Traynor said...

Single payer health plan? When they won't even let us have it as an option? In other words the term is not even possible in our present political system. So what do we do, change the system? But couldn't that be considered treason? And could an individual supporting it be considered a terrorist by aiding and abetting the enemy? And could he be named so by the executive without cause? And charged and convicted by a military tribunal? Apparently yes in our current legal system. Single payer plan? Not bloody likely.

Zee said...

@Karen--

The article about the Minnesota League of Granny Obamabitches was as scary as it was fascinating.

Good liberals "who make it their business to spy on their neighbors, troll comment boards,monitor dinner table conversations, and send all their findings to state and national Democratic Party databases..." with no understanding--and maybe no interest--as to where those data will go afterwards, or as to what ill purposes they might later be used for.

"One data volunteer even joked about holding "rat out your neighbor parties," where friends would be encouraged to add notes about the political views of other people on their block.

These aren't neighbors, they are rat-bastard snitches who will probably work just as eagerly for Big Brother when he truly comes to power as they do for the Democratic Party just now.

Last thread Denis quoted one David Simon who wondered why "we can’t rely on collective, utilitarian will to achieve a safe and viable society, that government by the people and for the people is, at this point, an empty catchphrase for fools and weaklings."

This is why.

I try hard to love my neighbor as myself, but the simple fact is that there is always SOME neighbor out there who is ready to bite you in the ass the instant you turn your back on him/her.

Jay–Ottawa said...

@ Barbara M

The story at the link to the Seattle teacher strike does not relate the "Measure of Academic Progress" (MAP) test to national issues on school management. Is the revolt against MAP a distinct local issue against a specific sweetheart contract by the superintendent or is MAP an integral part of the national issue of "teaching to the test"?

If the revolt against MAP in Seattle is part of the widespread national teacher disgust with "teaching to the test," this revolt could spread rapidly like OWS last year.

A rolling revolt across the land by teachers opposed to the Arne Duncan gimmicks (and, may we hope, other odious moves by the Obama Administration) could develop into another OWS phenomenon that just might be more organized, more appealing and more enduring - and with less likelihood of being derailed by provocateurs or BlackBlock anarchists.

Sigh. Any straw in a storm ....

Denis Neville said...

Astronomy compels our souls to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.

“If there is anything that can bind the heavenly mind of man to this dreary exile of our earthly home and can reconcile us with our fate so that one can enjoy living—then it is verily the enjoyment of the mathematical sciences and astronomy.” - Johannes Kepler

Astronomers have discovered the largest known structure in the universe - so large that it would take a vehicle travelling at the speed of light some four billion years to cross it.

http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/224-news-2013/2212-astronomers-discover-the-largest-structure-in-the-universe

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” - Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Astronomy, as nothing else can do, teaches men humility. - Arthur C. Clarke

barbara madeloni said...

@Jay Ottawa

Will this become a new Occupy? Who can know? The action seems carefully constructed to bring in as many people as possible--how they got the nearly unanimous vote from teachers. But the teacher leaders and the activists they are connected to get the big picture. Check out the two links below on common dreams this hour about the boycott. As a tactic this has the potential to draw national attention to the crime of standardized testing, to shift the narrative some. Will it inspire more teachers to say no? I am alternately impressed by people's courage and shamed by their complacency. There is, however, a growing movement to fight back.
Here are the common dreams links:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/12-2

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/12-4

Zee said...

@Denis--

I like to think that geology has taught man something about humility, too.

Geologists first put numbers to the long age of the Earth, and mankind's very brief history upon it.

Geologists also revealed the vast number of species that have come and gone during Earth's existence, which should be a constant reminder that we can very easily join in extinction the 98% of all species that ever existed on the face of the Earth if we are not careful.

And geochemists provided some of the first clues to astronomers as to the age of the universe, if I recollect correctly.

If astronomy humbles us in terms of the vastness of space, geology humbles us in terms of the vastness of time, and our very brief existence.

4Runner said...

Haven't yet had my "fill of Flu Lit" and so I couldn't help noticing the mention of "pollution being perpetrated in a non-affluent section" of NYC. It of course is no fluke that your more affluent and influential types prefer to join fluvialists in their English-fluent neighborhoods where the situation is less fluid.

Karen Garcia said...

@4Runner,
Yeah, just when we thought the flume of effluvia had reached maximum flux, we only get flummoxed over and over and over again. What the fluck.

Denis Neville said...

@ Zee

The PBS series “Life on Fire” about volcanoes is a humbling reminder of earth’s destructive forces.

The recent Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, which was pretty darn impressive IMHO, was in geological history a relatively minor eruption. There are four other Icelandic volcanoes that have the potential to create far greater catastrophe.

Interestingly, Ben Franklin made what may have been the first connection between volcanoes and global climate while in Paris as the first USA diplomatic representative. He observed that during the summer of 1783, the climate was abnormally cold in Europe: the ground froze early, the first snow stayed on the ground without melting, the winter was more severe than usual, and there seemed to be a constant fog over all Europe. What he observed was the result of the enormous eruption of the Laki chain of volcanoes in Iceland.

Denis Neville said...

@ 4Runner and Karen –

That was totally fluvial!

Those in the less affluent and more fluid sections…

“victim(s) of bad medicine, bad air, bad food, farcical education, a despicable popular culture” - Anthony Burgess, 1985

The more affluent and influential types prefer to join fluvialists in their English-fluent neighborhoods,

But…

“The downtrodden are the great creators of slang.”

“Then, brothers, it came. Oh, bliss, bliss and heaven. I lay all nagoy to the ceiling, my gulliver on my rookers on the pillow, glazzies closed, rot open in bliss, slooshying the sluice of lovely sounds. Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh.”

“Great Music, it said, and Great Poetry would like quieten Modern Youth down and make Modern Youth more Civilized. Civilized my syphilised yarbles.”

“Come and get one in the yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou.”

― Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

Outsida said...

NDAA = Indefinite detention, Homeland 'battlefield', no evidence, no lawyers, no judges, no hearings, punishment or assassination of civilians merely based on SUSPICION, and total government deniability/secrecy
+
Obamabitches squealing on those opposing government policy or owning a prohibited firearm or being an Occupier
+
Suspicious Activity Reports (Squealer Reports) filed by public officials to Homeland Security
+
National corporate media suppressing messages that challenge the Establishment (Seattle teachers, Occupiers, etc).
+
Pervasive national security police state monitoring and storing everyone's electronic communications
+
ASSAULT WEAPON BAN
=
Enter the government's railcar or black SUV peacefully and without resistance.

So who should we REALLY fear more? Is it the random lone insane gunman or the apparently sane, well organized, weapons-rich, multi-agency national security police state which has given itself dictatorial powers, cloaked itself in total secrecy, and stolen our legal protections?

Eisenhower warned us about this.

Anonymous1 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Annie Oakley said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Denis Neville said...

Krugman asked, “So What Will You Do, Mr. President?”

Since Democrats are now the austerity promoters for the starve-the-beast state, the answer is…

As Karen responded, “The debt ceiling threat by the nasty Republicans is just the fig leaf needed for a Democratic president to actually succeed in the plutocracy's long-planned, long wished-for goal of dismantling the New Deal.”

Krugman says he gets calls [from the White House].

Commenter Anne remembers when “Paul Krugman explained early on in joining the New York Times that he wished for no calls and got no calls, for that was compromising, where carefully analyzing what was commonly understood what not compromising.”

Krugman, on Bill Moyers, defends Jack Lew for Treasury Secretary, because Lew has WPA art hanging on his office wall?

Yves Smith @ Naked Capitalism writes:

“Krugman most assuredly is carrying Team Dem water for austerity lite, versus Republicans’ Latvia redux version.”

“Krugman is fixated on saying the Republicans are bad guys (true) and Dems are good guys (not true). And even when he says the right thing early on (as in opposing the TARP, as pretty much everyone with an operating brain cell did initially), he falls in with good Dems when they “cave” (which under Obama is going where he wanted to go anyhow, Obama whipped hard for the TARP). He either argues for pragmatism/necessity or goes largely silent and makes a small bleat of weak approval.”

“The Dems sell out ordinary people too, but they wrap it in pretty technocratic sheen and pretend to be nicer than they are. As Matt Stoller has said, they are authoritarians who are in favor of gay rights.”

Denis Neville said...

Barbara Madeloni said...“I am alternately impressed by people's courage and shamed by their complacency.”

Do the American elite want real public education? Is the deterioration of public education by design?

George Carlin’s answer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ

Democracy requires an informed citizenry and it has been the evil genius of the elites to manipulate the envious know-nothings to dumb things down.

The deterioration of American education is part of the larger erosion of American society. The elites loot our educational system by creating charter schools or underfunding public schools. They have set parents against teachers, and private sector employees against public sector teachers. They have corporatized higher education by turning it into an adjunct of corporations. They have saddled college graduates with enormous debt that renders them docile and exploitable.

Noam Chomsky:

“The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don't know how to be submissive, and so on -- because they're dysfunctional to the institutions.”

“If you quietly accept and go along no matter what your feelings are, ultimately you internalize what you're saying, because it's too hard to believe one thing and say another. I can see it very strikingly in my own background. Go to any elite university and you are usually speaking to very disciplined people, people who have been selected for obedience. And that makes sense. If you've resisted the temptation to tell the teacher, "You're an asshole," which maybe he or she is, and if you don't say, "That's idiotic," when you get a stupid assignment, you will gradually pass through the required filters. You will end up at a good college and eventually with a good job.”

But there is a growing movement to fight back…

“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.” - Noam Chomsky

Yes, those teachers have taken a tremendous risk and need our support.

Jay–Ottawa said...

@Barbara Madeloni

Thanks for the links to Common Dreams. As you say, they report one more school in Seattle (Ballard High) joining the teachers’ boycott at Garfield High against MAP. Let the dominoes fall! MAP is a local iteration of testing for the sake of testing in the national testing craze.

Testing makes money for educationist entrepreneurs. Both teachers and administrators concede that MAP measures nothing. It's something to sell. Testing is an enormous profit opportunity. So much education money now in public hands could be shifted into the hands of private entrepreneurs through testing. Just the way charter schools suck away public school money with debatable classroom results.

So much debate about whether teaching to the test advances learning. Learning, responsible thinking: meh. Facts, and fast, just like Jeopardy: that’s what counts in the corporate world. One thing for sure, the testing business conditions students for the corporate world for which most students are being groomed under the new fads in curriculum.

Now, uppity teachers in Seattle are trying to disrupt settled educational policy. Should superintendents and Boards of Education take a lesson from Ronald Reagan’s playbook with the Air Controllers and fire en masse teachers who refuse to toe the line? Should we call out the police, the militia? Chase rebellious teachers out of the classrooms with batons? What would Arne Duncan say? Could this be the resurrection of OWS in another guise?

According to Diane Ravitch, who has weighed in on the dustup, the Garfield High boycott “is the first time, to my knowledge, that the entire staff of a school has said ‘no we will not do this.’”

The teachers’ announcement of their boycott was done with bold media-savvy verve before the media. Are the teachers teaching us a lesson in responsible resistance?

“If I don’t step up now, who will?” said Mario Shauvette, a Garfield High math teacher. Now there’s an inspirational bumper sticker. Will thousands of teachers across America repeat the line? And then the rest of us on other policy issues?

I recommend the links posted by Barbara M. At very least, sign the petition.

Anonymous said...

So how is "anonymous" different from "zee" or "4Runner"? Unless one uses one's actual name, what difference does it make?

I quit using my real name--and posting--because this blog became a a little choir of five or six preaching to itself, but I do like to look in now and again just to see some of Ms Garcia's very fine writing, even though I usually settle for the NY Times comments.

Karen Garcia said...

As I have explained before, if you want to become part of a discussion group rather than simply commenting once in awhile, you will have to at least make up a name. It is getting extremely awkward having to distinguish between"Anonymous 1" and "Anonymous 2", plus it sounds downright Orwellian. Remember that old show "The Prisoner" when people's names became numbers? Same thing -- it is dehumanizing. We have enough of that in the world.

James F Traynor said...

Yeah, Anonymous, just what is your problem? And if we didn't preach to our respective choirs, we'd all go nuts. And I'm beginning to think our 'choir' is pretty damn big. I've a growing feeling there's a hell of a lot of people out there just humming along -in 'choirs' all over the place, a lot of them unaware of the others. Either that or I'm suffering from tinnitus.

James F Traynor said...

And, besides, it's more like a jam session.

Denis Neville said...

Commenter who hides behind “anonymous” tag quit posting and using his/her real name because Sardonicky “became a little choir of five or six preaching to itself.”

While “anonymous” is perfectly entitled to his/her views and not put his/her name to them, the chosen manner - an expression of contempt for followers of Sardonicky - has the same value as a pile of dogshit on a public trail - something to be noticed but stepped over or around. Such is the democracy of the gutless whose commonest weapon is abuse hurled from behind the ramparts of their anonymity.

If “anonymous” has nothing nice to say, he/she doesn’t have to read comments to Sardonicky. Who forces him/her to read them? People who are disposed toward trollish comments ought to have a few ideas of their own and follow them instead of trying to tear other’s down.

Karen’s writing is not only superb, but her blog has permitted a mighty fine jam session (as James aptly describes) - comments, humor, thoughtful replies that make interesting, intelligent points, instigate debate, and references that spark further investigation - inspired by her writings. They are there for those who want to read something a little different. Karen generously provides that opportunity for those that appreciate it.

Clearly “anonymous” doesn’t and we respect that. The world is big enough for everyone’s beliefs, tastes, likes and dislikes. Yes, by all means, “settle for the NY Times comments.”

Pearl said...

James and Denis:

I, and I am sure many others of our group, appreciate your messages to Anonymous 1,2 or 3,etc. I have a journalist friend in N.Y. (Jerry Mazza) who writes excellent articles in the same vein and concern as Karen and he has told me about some of the hateful e-mails sent to his website - some of them even threatening!

Reading some of the vitriolic,vile comments in the conservative-right wing columns from readers about politicians they don't like is very scary and I would hate to think some of these trolls, as Karen calls them, might own guns!

I have also done more and more reading of columns and articles in various internet websites, that are taking up the fight against the excesses of entrenched, close minded attitudes that are pushing the U.S more and more over a dangerous cliff beyond just the financial. There are more and more of them from writers who have been silent until now and I completely agree with your comment James, that there are indeed other choirs humming along whose voices are getting louder and louder.

I have personally written to Karen of my deep appreciation for her fine work and courageous efforts to inform and educate us and am happy when she is consistently at the top of the heap when commenting to the N.Y.Times columnists. It indicates how respected she is by the many hundreds of readers who recommend her and are encouraged (as well as the columnists) by her outstanding contributions. We have a gem in Karen's Sardonicky website and I am inspired by her work and the readers' responses as I am sure you all are.

Anonymous said...

If anyone can tell me why I'm unable to post comments using my iPad,it would be appreciated.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/14/deepening-mess-words-polish-economist


I feel very old.

Anonymous Z

Anonymous said...

Ah, I see there's some awkwardness with the Anonymous appellation, although it is included as an option. In any case, from now on I'll use 'General Jinjur', which aptly depicts a character with all the fight-for-justice power of a pair of knitting needles.....

General Jinjur
(formerly Anonymous Z)

ps Am I the only one who has a hard time distinguishing the letters that prove I'm not a robot?

Zee said...

@General Jinjur--

I, too, often have problems not only with the letters, but sometimes even reading the numbers, which appear to be street addresses posted on houses, curbs, or mailboxes.

However, if this new approach spares @Karen a bunch of spam, I can live with it.

Some time ago I took to preparing my remarks using a separate word-processor and saving them there before I try to post them. That way, if I have a problem with the "robot detector" my comment is not lost and I can try again.

That has worked thus far.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Zee. That's an excellent idea. Many years ago I did something similar when preparing comments for ngs and sooner or later I might have remembered ; )

Karen Garcia said...

I hate the Captcha too -- I usually flunk it, and then have to go through about three cycles before I latch on to something that my dim eyes can actually read. Luckily,I don't have to jump through the hoop on this particular site because the Captcha does not apply to the pre-approved administrator(moi!)I had no choice but to add it due to much spam. Sorry!

When you want to post anonymously, please select the Name/URL option and type in your name or handle -- I don't care if it's real or fake, we just need something that will help you stand out from the crowd! I have no control over the Anonymous choice, by the way. That is Google's doing.

General Jinjur said...

@Karen

Yes, I just figured out how to 'stand out from the crowd' lol. And yes, it also takes me about three attempts before I clear the number/character hurdle.

And let me be among the many (posting and non posting 'members of the choir') who greatly appreciate your blog and the issues you address.

Anonymous-ONE said...

To Karen Garcia: You deleted my post on a false premise that it called for "armed rebellion and other violence". What utter nonsense. My post is repeated below.

Apparently you lack the intellectual honesty to post to my question about Nancy Lanza, mother of Adam Lanza who perpetrated the horrible Sandy Hook shootings: "What kind of mother teaches a mentally ill child to shoot, and gives him access to firearms?"

Presumably you are also unable to connect all the dots of violence in our society, including abortion. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), since 1973, roughly 50 million legal induced abortions have been performed in the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States

Of course, this is your blog and you can do as you see fit, however you sound like hypocrite not unlike those about whom you write.
------------------
Anonymous1
@ Pearl

First, I am Anonymous1, not Anonymous

Second, YOU raised the issue of hunting with firearms, and I responded. Pearl: "There is one step between the use of guns under conditions of animal sport which many people are not happy about," Are you tying to say hunting animals leads to killing children in a school? I say "What kind of mother teaches a mentally ill child to shoot, and gives him access to firearms?"

Third, apparently you have no first-hand knowledge of military training, just third-party hearsay. Your gratuitous invoking of hearsay war stories does nothing to answer my question: "What kind of mother teaches a mentally ill child to shoot, and gives him access to firearms?"

Guns are NOT the problem, they are a symptom of a wide range of structural issues, from bad parenting and child abuse, to a fear of our government, our neighbors, and the "other".

What about Hollywood glamorizing killing in violent films? Parents who give toy guns to their children? Parents who allow their children to play violent video games? A mother who teaches a mentally ill child to shoot, and gives him access to firearms? What about the connection between the acceptance of violence on the factory farm to put dinner on the table, and violence in society?

What about the violence of abortion, killing the unborn? According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), since 1973, roughly 50 million legal induced abortions have been performed in the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States

50 million legal induced abortions vs. 26 dead at Sandy Hook. Yes, the 50 million induced abortions were legal, but at what cost to our society?

Pearl, please connect the dots of violence in our society, and stop blaming a piece of metal that shots projectiles. Connect all the dots of violence, not just the Democrat-friendly dots.

Karen Garcia said...

@Anonymous 1

My apologies for lumping your deleted comment into those that advocated armed rebellion and violence. My mistake. Your was deleted because you hid behind cowardly anonymity to engage with another commenter (against the rulz!) and also because of your specious, unoriginal and deliberately inflammatory false equivalence between abortion and gun violence.

I am letting it stand this time, because on second thought, I think my readers should not be deprived of the treat of seeing professional trolldom in action.

Next time, try the Breitbart site, or any number of wingnut venues, where you are sure to find more kindred spirits. Peace.