January, 2013 archive
Gun Nuts and Godwin’s Law 2
Despite what the NRA tells you, Hitler did not confiscate all the guns in Germany.
The first half of the article chronicles gun nuts’ numerous recent invocations of Godwin’s law; if you’ve been paying attention, you can skip it.
The last half gets to the history.
At the very least, check out the penultimate* paragraph.
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*Despite what some persons seem to think, “penultimate” does not mean “more than ultimate.”
Really.
For the Birds 0
Would it be safe to say that they gave a police to the bird?
“Police measures were launched because it couldn’t be ruled out that an accident had occurred,” the police said in a statement. The officers called the landlord and summoned the fire brigade and an ambulance.
The tension increased until a fireman finally managed to open the door.
“To their surprise they only found a parrot in the apartment, a talkative Blue-fronted Amazon. The parrot was sitting happily in its cage and greeted the officers with the words ‘Mama,’ ‘Papa’ and ‘Mama Come,’ the statement said.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Duck! Great Crested Cormorant
6
It was strolling down the street with a nonchalant dignity. As I paused at the “Yield” sign, it gave me a “What are you doing here” look.
Update:
I have received a proper identification. Thanks to the person responsible.
I think it was a female mallard, as mallards are the most common in these parts, but I’m not sure. I spent a while trying to identify it at this site, but, since most of the birds were pictured in the water, it didn’t help much.
Electronic Leash 0
I used to work for a company that manufactures RFID identification and tracking systems. They make for very convenient business and industrial security systems by doing away with the need for keys and ensuring that employees have access to areas where they belong, but not to areas they do not.
Using them to track persons in their daily activities, though, is a step beyond that. They may not be the “mark of the beast” (I certainly don’t think so), but they may easily be the mark of the beastly.
I can see a time when we will all be micro-chipped “for our own good.”
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still pretty much steady.
(snip)
Today’s report showed the number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped 127,000, the most since January 2011, in the week ended Dec. 29 to 3.11 million. The figure does not include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs. . . .
Those who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments decreased by about 75,500 to 1.99 million in the week ended Dec. 22.
Sales, Not Sports 0
According to Myron Pitts, results of a recent survey show that NRA members are not nearly so hostile to at least some regulation of gun sales as are the leaders of that lobbying group. A snippet (emphasis added):
Seventy-four percent of NRA members support requiring a background check for anyone who buys a gun (emphasis mine).
Seventy-nine percent support requiring background checks on employees who work for gun retailers.
Seventy-four percent believe gun permits should be granted only to people who have completed gun safety training, and 68 percent believe permits should be denied to people with violent offenses in their past.
You never, ever hear this kind of thoughtful moderation, however, from the leaders who speak for the group’s 4.3 million members.
The survey numbers suggest that the NRA leadership – extremists such as LaPierre – are speaking for and fighting for the gun lobby, not the gun owner. Every solution they are likely to propose to address the issue of mass shootings will always involve adding more guns to the equation, not fewer. That’s because the gun lobby wants one thing: gun sales for its manufacturers.
Click to read the rest. It’s now behind a paywall. You are free to search for it.
Collateral Damage 0
Asia Times looks at civilian losses in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Viet Nam.
It’s not pretty. It is, indeed, rather an indictment of the heedlessness of America’s shoot-first foreign policy.
It should be required reading for the gunslinging crowd whose preferred solution for any international kerfuffle is to shoot.
A nugget:
Then there are those 3.2 million Iraqis who were internally displaced or fled the violence to other lands, only to find uncertainty and deprivation in places like Jordan, Iran, and now war-torn Syria. By 2011, 9% or more of Iraq’s women, as many as 1 million, were widows (a number that skyrocketed in the years after the US invasion). A recent survey found that 800,000 to 1 million Iraqi children had lost one or both parents, a figure that only grows with the continuing violence that the US unleashed but never stamped out.
Follow the link for more and more depressing numbers.
News, Ripped from the Ticker 2
Warning: In worst taste than usual.
Christie’s Christening 2
Dick Polman thinks he knows why Chris Christie is all the rage these days.
It’s not his bluster; it’s certainly not his policies; it’s certainly unlikely to be the avoirdupois.
No, it’s that politics abhors a vacuum, even as it loves vacuity.
This is where Christie comes in. He’s a potential party leader, if only by default.
An Unregulated Militia 0
Thom parses the actions and writings of the founder to determine the intent of the 2nd Amendment and finds that fomenting the overthrow of the government not part of it.
In Which I Wish We Had Been Proven Wrong 0
It was not two weeks ago that I told my brother that, as fed up with big time football as I am, I wanted to catch at least one Washington Redskins game so I could see their rookie quarterback while he could still perform “because I know he’s going to get hurt.”
My brother agreed, “His style of play won’t work in the NFL–the defenses are too big and fast.”
So guess what game I ended up watching.
Spots before Your Eyes 0
In case you wondered why television is littered with ads for products you can’t buy without a doctor’s order, Barnum had the answer: There’s one born every minute.
The practice, which can contribute to higher health care costs, was found to be more likely among doctors who received free drug samples or free food from drug companies or who had financial relationships with drug companies.