No blog today…or at least not much of one. Had surgery on my wrist on Friday and I’m just not up to a lot of typing yet.
I will tell you I still like Dr. Tigger, but Scott the CastMan has stolen my heart. A sweeter guy doesn't exist in the medical world and if he weren't young enough to be my kid...or if I weren't old enough to be his mom....I would be a lost cause. He gave me glam band for my arm. It sparkles. It looks like I'm supposed to have a life. He's so optimistic! You gotta love that!
For those of you who know me and have expressed concern, I am taking the rest of the week off. I have come to realize that 60 is not the new 40 when it comes to bone knitting and bouncing back. Big thanks go to Cousin Laurie, Handy Andler, my local kiddies, and my friends Elaine and Leslie for pitching in to help...and making me feel less awful about this whole thing. Even my father-in-law has taken up the cause acting as my scissor hand and potato slicer...he's blind....so I place the blade and he does the hard stuff.
Gee, I wonder if the NY Times has noticed one regular commenter has fallen by the wayside. Hmmmm.
Please feel free to leave you own blog entries in the comment section. I could use some good reading. I am definitely not used to all this inactivity!
I promise to use my adventures in health care for my pithy comeback.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Don't FOOSH.....fall on outstretched hand. Seriously dumb.
WP, I hope your arm is healing. I'm sure you’re reading/watching intently and simply saving your comments/posts for the (hopefully) near future. That being said, I'll take the honor of making a post. I'd love to hear your thoughts, but am willing to wait until you are medically cleared. My post is in two parts because I can only submit so many characters at a time.
ReplyDeleteWhile the debt ceiling debate (really, we are debating this?) is heating up, gun control is the topic du jour. First of all, is "gun control" really the appropriate way to reference what is being debated? Maybe people protection, life extenders, or reality checks would be more proper labels. Anyway...President Obama is set to provide a list of things he wants to put in place to attempt to stem the rising tide of gun violence in this country. Of course, the NRA (read "gun companies") is not very happy about this (read "apocalyptic").
No "gun control" but the NRA does think there is one (and only one) appropriate response - more guns. More guns in school, more guns to teachers, more guns on the streets, you name a place or a group of people and then add "more guns." Yes, this will cost money, but the NRA is willing to help and it seems as though much of Congress and many of We the People think we should spend some cold hard cash to support this idea.
I can't believe this is serious. It is an insult to We the People, the actual hunters and sportsmen that make up the NRA, and all the victim of such needless violence, to think that "more guns" is the answer. The NRA and their right-wing brethren will tell you that taking away the guns won't work; people will just use hammers, knives, their hands, etc. There is a big difference between killing someone with a hammer and a gun. For starters you have to have get close to them. Since less guns won't reduce violence, we should just add more guns to the mix. Certainly the wild wild west was a safe place because everyone was armed. I'm sorry, this isn't the Cold War and we're not in an arms race with the Khrushchev.
Let's look at some real ideas.
1. Research: We don't even know the extent of the gun problem in this country because the NRA has successfully lobbied to defund nearly ALL gun research. We don't know what we don't know. It's time to take our heads out of the sand and look around. We may not like we see, but I don't really like what I'm seeing right now either.
2. Mental Health Requirements: Let’s do our best to ensure mentally disturbed individuals are not buying weapons. Background checks need to include mental health red flags. This one is pretty well supported by most individuals (even the NRA, but sorry, I don’t consider the NRA an individual – heck, I don’t even agree with the SCOTUS that they are a “person” let alone an individual).
3. Close Loopholes: Okay, if we want to make sure we screen for the mentally disturbed, we should probably screen everyone. It makes sense. Right now, you have to have a background check to buy certain weapons unless you buy them at a gun show, off craigslist, or from your buddy. Nope, make the sale of every weapon contingent on receiving a thumbs-up on your background check. Not a big deal right? Oh yeah, the big bad government just wants to track your every move and every weapon. Wait, they already track your every move by requiring you to register your car and use license plates? Crap!
4. Ban Unnecessary Weapons: Not “assault weapons,” because what is an “assault weapon”? We need to define the weapons we want to ban carefully. All semi-automatic weapons? That would include a large chunk of the pistols, shotguns, and rifles currently on the market and in American homes. Weapons with short barrels? Short stocks? I don't know the answer, but I think we can find a way to define what is unnecessary for hunting/sporting/self-defense use without banning everything. Heck, even George H. W. Bush banned guns in 1989 (just ones made internationally). If he can do it while the Cold War was still raging and Reagan had just left office, we can do it now.
ReplyDelete5. Ban High Capacity Magazines: Again with the undefined terms. What is a “high capacity magazine?” I’d set the number at five bullets but maybe we’ll agree to expand it to seven. If you can’t hit bambi with seven bullets, go to a petting zoo. If you can’t kill the charging bear with seven bullets, he’ll probably chew up the next ten shots as well. If you need more than seven shots for self-defense, you probably could have run, are doomed, or in a Bruce Willis movie. In all these scenarios, more shots won’t help.
6. Make Bans Comprehensive/Retroactive: Don’t be foolish and say that the above bans only apply going forward. The run on guns over the past month has already been unconscionable. If such a prospective ban were to be enacted the gun industry would make BILLIONS as they would sell many years’ stockpiles of weapons in just days. Those guns aren’t just going to go into the closet. They aren’t going to hunt the overwhelming deer and turkey populations that will suddenly appear. And (despite what entertainment industry will have you believe) they aren’t going to be used to stop the zombie apocalypse. Those guns are going to be out there, floating around our homes, our streets and our schools. Even if the NRA and the gun industry provide free gun safes, gun safety, trigger locks, breathalyzers, mental health checks, target range passes, and paintball ammunition with every purchase, these guns will be used for violence against PEOPLE. If a gun is illegal, it is illegal. Old ones are not less dangerous because they were bought by a certain date. Ban them all.
6. Make Bans Comprehensive/Retroactive: Don’t be foolish and say that the above bans only apply going forward. The run on guns over the past month has already been unconscionable. If such a prospective ban were to be enacted the gun industry would make BILLIONS as they would sell many years’ stockpiles of weapons in just days. Those guns aren’t just going to go into the closet. They aren’t going to hunt the overwhelming deer and turkey populations that will suddenly appear. And (despite what entertainment industry will have you believe) they aren’t going to be used to stop the zombie apocalypse. Those guns are going to be out there, floating around our homes, our streets and our schools. Even if the NRA and the gun industry provide free gun safes, gun safety, trigger locks, breathalyzers, mental health checks, target range passes, and paintball ammunition with every purchase, these guns will be used for violence against PEOPLE. If a gun is illegal, it is illegal. Old ones are not less dangerous because they were bought by a certain date. Ban them all.
ReplyDelete7. Legalize Marijuana: You may be asking “how does this fit”? Well, if we move marijuana into the legal stream of commerce, we remove a major source of income from violent drug smugglers and dealers. They no longer need guns to protect their marijuana trade and they don’t have the money to arm their armies. The drug war hasn’t been successful, but it is allowing the bad guys to arm for war.
8. Enforce the Laws: The White House and DOJ need to require all US Attorneys to strictly enforce the gun laws currently in effect and all those subsequently enacted. I don’t work in a US Attorney Office and I’m currently at a Hilton Garden Inn, not a Holiday Inn Express, but I find it unlikely that any US Attorney is regularly prosecuting these violations right now. If we start prosecuting, the message will get out. People don’t like prison. They don’t like having all their weapons seized. These new prosecutions will require a reprioritization at the DOJ. Maybe people can come to agreement that protecting the lives of children and innocent people should take some precedence.
These are just a few ideas. Hopefully the VP gave POTUS even more that he will act on. Notice I didn’t write anything about paying armed individuals of local elementary schools. But wait, the Right is willing to spend money on kids? Awesome! Let's start by putting HEALTHY food in schools. Not low-cost, highly unhealthy, processed crap - real food. Get the kids off on the right foot. Next, let's reinsert science labs, art class, music and the like back into the curriculum. It's fairly common knowledge that these things increase scholastic performance and enhance learning.
So, let's use our brains: add a few laws to protect our kids from violence and then use all the money people are willing to spend on armed guards to truly help our children!
Well thought out and well expressed. Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteLuke said: Notice I didn’t write anything about paying armed individuals of local elementary schools. But wait, the Right is willing to spend money on kids? Awesome! Let's start by putting -----------------HEALTHY food in schools.
ReplyDelete---I find most of Luke's comments to be self-serving. But I find all of them to be misguided. For instance, in the last comment, Luke said he wants money for armed guards. However, he wants to hoodwink those contributors by using the money to have better food in the schools. OK, Luke- that would work once. You'd never get that money twice, my friend. Or maybe you're just making a joke? Well, earlier you said that you 'didn't know the answers' but you believed we could come to a consensus. You'll never come to a consensus without taking this seriously, and using diversions to get your desired results.
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I'm not a gun owner, and I don't hunt. (Although I fish,so please don't take my fish rod from me...as you may deem it to be an assault weapon).
Finally if you want to protect your kids from violence, limit their video game playing and television watching, and encourage them to live life in the real world. Although, the real world seems to be tainted with the pharmaceuticals currently on the market, and could possibly be the main culprit for violent behaviors in society.
-doug-