2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Neighborly politeness.
The bullet went through the wall of Knight’s mobile home without injuring anyone. It traveled the distance between mobile homes, penetrated the wall of the neighbor’s mobile home, and struck the 15-year-old in the head while she was watching television in the living room, Snodgrass said.
If you are too stupid to clean a gun safely, you are too stupid to have a gun.
A Picture Is Worth 0
Headline: The state of Georgia utterly failed Atlanta, and then sought to blame forecasters.
Taxes are the price of living in civilized society.
Image via BartCop.
“Wound Collector” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Katherine Ramsland tries to find some explanations for the spate of mass shootings ending in the suicide of the shooter. The article does not purport to explain why they happen, but does find similarities among them that seldom get noted in the news coverage.
A nugget (emphasis in the original):
I call this coercive suicide. We don’t yet know Aguilar’s motive, but typically suicidal mass murderers have the added need to punish someone, to make a public show of their death as a “lesson,” and/or to add their own notch on the infamy scale.
Follow the link to find out what a “wound collector” is.
Teetotalling Totally Tea 0
Reg Henry goes on the wagon for a month and find parallels between teabaggers and another group of tea fanciers: parallels of fanaticism and excess. A nugget.
Of course, this being America, everything gets taken too far. The drys of yesteryear made the whole nation as miserable as one of my Januarys. Today’s Tea Party, averse to compromise, has been happy to shut down the government in honor of a Constitution that is all about establishing a functioning government dependent on compromise.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still pretty much status quo ante.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, increased to 333,000 from 332,250 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits fell by 16,000 to 2.99 million in the week ended Jan. 18.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite in the churchyard.
Three other teenagers were hit. Apparently, it was a random act of Second Amendment.
Plants with Pointy Hats 0
Somewhere under all this stuff are three dozen assorted pansies.
This is a beach resort that seldom gets much snow, let along 8.5 inches of dry powder. The neighborhood kids were using their boogie boards as sleds.
For a bit of perspective, note that Nevada is having its hottest winter in years . . .
Highs have the potential to surpass records of 71 degrees for Jan. 29 set in 1976 and 72 degrees for Jan. 30 set in 1971, Weather Service meteorologist Chris Outler said.
. . . and Cali is becoming a dry state.
Wells are running dry or reservoirs are nearly empty in some communities. Others have long-running problems that predate the drought.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another gun joins the politeness improv.
A 25-year-old Riverton man was accidently shot in the upper leg by his wife Sunday afternoon.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says the couple was target practicing with several friends near Hutchison Road when the 9mm handgun she was using went off striking the man.
First, There Was Duck Dynasty 0
Now comes Tennessee with Redneck Reality. Here’s a snippet from the preview in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.
Of course, those rights haven’t been endangered, but never you mind. Pretending there is a war on Christmas has helped Sarah Palin sell her new book, and stirring the fear pot has helped Fox News get more clicks on the Fox Nation opinion website.
More down home doings at the link.
Facebook Frolics 0
You can’t make this stuff up.
The Wauwatosa couple received an anonymous letter in the mail this month.
“It’s a little upsetting seeing, hearing and reading about someone’s vacations all year while we all can’t afford one,” it said.
The letter went on to tell them to stop being so selfish and have some kids.
More frolics at the link.
Coming Unglued . . . 0
. . . so I pulled the drawer out to re-glue it and a squatter moved in.
“Give Peace a Chance” 0
The Booman remembers Pete Seeger.
State of the Union Address 0
I’ll read about it tomorrow. That’s what newspapers are for.
In the meantime, I wish for the end of inane acronyms like POTUS and FLOTUS and SOTU.
A pox on the reporters and bloggers who think such constructions are cutesy-wutesy. They should STFU.
In other news, the snow in the street is up to the level of the top of the curb, indicating that five or six inches have already fallen, and it looks to keep up all night. Looks like a snow day tomorrow. See some pictures here.
One of the nice things about where I live is that I won’t have to shovel snow!