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In Santa Cruz CA our new parks and rec administrator receivede a salary of over $200,000 w/million dollar pension. Compare that to our teachers and staff who are now forced to teach with over 30 students per class. The parks adm designed new color dots to appear on our downtown streets. If someone who looks homeless is caught on the wrong color dot they get a ticket. If they sleep in a public place they get a ticket. If they urinate in the woods. How does a homelss senior walk to a public urinal in the morning? Homeless vets are being arrested for smoking a cigarette in the wrong place. This is how our society honors our vets? We burden homeless people with tickets then incarcerate them when they can't pay. The cost is over $2,000 a month to keep them in jail for being poor. We must sleep to live. We have a right to life. Give homeless safe harbor to sleep, without fear of tazer, incarceration, from being mugged and molested. Are they not citizens too? This is what awaits us when we loose our jobs.
Republican sociopaths and their lack of human empathy combined with the apathy of the new millineums will doom our society. It is time for the second bill of rights. Home ownership for single income families that are energy independent and water efficient.
While there were a few voices of moderation and reason among those that commented on your firearm agenda, the usual ratio of those incapable of rational thought were also present and accounted for.
First, I can see no rational thought process that would bring a law suit against a single manufacturer of a specific firearm in attempt to hold the manufacturer liable for misuse of their product. The reasonable arguments to the contrary are innumerable. But I will point out one. There are many manufacturers of the popular AR 15 rifle in our great, and so far free, country. These rifles are fundamentally all alike. I would be very interested to hear one of these descendents of Einstein explain why only one manufacturer should be singled out. Did the company in question make a gift of the firearm to the perpetrator of this heinous action?
Rather than use more words to support my position on this debate, I will quote a few men of wisdom, with the hope that your readers are not completely lost causes. I'm sure you are all aware that these are only a very small portion of quotations from our founding fathers pertinent to this debate. Do your research before formulating your opinions "gentlemen". Or I guess you could just believe everything Thom Hartmann tells you.
"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it." (Thomas Jefferson)
Variation: "The people will not understand the importance of the Second Amendment until it is too late."
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." (Thomas Jefferson)
”He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.” (Benjamin Franklin)
“Every man has a right to be wrong in his opinions. But no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” Bernard M. Baruch quotes (American Economist and adviser to US presidents, 1870-1965)
“Any man who believes the Constitution and Bill of Rights of The United States of America have outlived their usefulness and validity is no American and does not deserve the privilege of living under their protection.” (S. J. Thomas)
First, I absolutely agree this should have been done years---decades---ago. The only ones hurt were the Cuban People. Second, I have to agree with Hypnotad. The Corporate overlords have been greedily eyeing Cuba. It's one of the few places on the planet which hasn't been pryed open; closed markets are verbotten in today's global facist world in which multinational corporations operate, just as governments are installed and removed based on their ability to maintain a stable environment to peddle their wares and the public, if they're lucky, are given the illusion of choice at te polls. I just hope Cuba and the Cuban People are prepared for what may be coming their way.
Well you can see it in industry after industry, whether by accident or design, the smallholders are forced to either merge or leave. Farmers, truckers, physicians, pharmacists, shopkeepers, the independents in these and many other professions are under increasing pressure to "Walmartize", either joining larger much organizations, selling their assets, or just closing their doors. The result is not exactly a nation of serfs in some neo-feudalist way, but it is a pretty close modern approximation.
That may be true for small businesses, but currently CEOs get stock options as part of their pay package (that used to be illegal because of obvious conflict of interest). As a result CEOs are using company profits to buy back company stock and thereby improve their own bottom line at the expense of raising worker wages and investing in research and development for their own companies. It is well known that these CEOs are actually destroying the companies they run, but they don't care because they have inflated salaries, benefits and golden parachutes. A great book to read on this is investigative reporter Ellen E. Schultz' "Retirement Heist."
This assault on the middle class and working class has always been a GOP strategy. Read Republican and historian Kevin Phillips' book "Politics of the Rich and Poor." He also wrote "The Republican Majority" and "Bush Dynasty: Politics and Deceit in the House of Bush." The rightwing pro-corporate judges created by George W. Bush, including in the Supreme Court have robbed us of voting rights and allowed the wealthy to essentially buy our elections and our legislators, including sadly President Obama. While I believe he has tried to do some good, his constant appointment of Wall Streeters to positions in government, his support of all NAFTA style agreements which sent millions of our jobs overseas, have all hurt the average working American. Of course, it would have been worse with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan--just look at Ryan's budget which gives more tax breaks to millionaires like himself (about $200,000 a year) at the same time he's trying to destroy Social Security and Medicare. Voting does matter...vote Progressive for people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Wall Street would not hate Warren so much unless they feared her!
It sure was! Just like letting 911 happen and buying up 94% of our media. Karl Rove has the key steps to fascism in his rear view mirror and to further the Nazi party agenda in his sights.
On a side, I just wrote the Prez about his comment, some police depts. have picked up bad habbits, over time...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836 Bad habits? It's a conspiracy to hire those that would easily violate our civil rights! It allows a safe haven for sociopaths! I don't want to pay these social misfits to protect me! They won't!
It's just a matter of days, (with the Holidays, perhaps early next year) before the Republicans' corporate overlords reign them in over Cuba.
Do you think Coca Cola hasn't been waiting at the shore to sell in that new market (example applies to nearly every product). And perhaps it'll take a couple of years for capitalism to take hold there, but inevitably, GM will want to replace all those 1959 Chevys with new models....
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An alternative to raising the minimum wage, which can hurt small businesses, is to rather hitch an employers' corporate tax rate to the ratio between their total payroll vs. their gross profits, with special weight given to the median employee wage. Using the median wage keeps the payroll figure from appearing artificially high due to a few highly paid employees. The crux of it is that when the ratio gets too wide, say from 1:10 to 1:100 or even 1:1,000 (with the 1 representing payroll and the second number representing gross profits), then the company falls into a higher tax bracket. So they either pay it to their employees or to the Feds, and the bar is set so that its a much sweeter deal to simply increase employee wages rather than pay a higher tax rate. This approach, instead of an across-the-board minimum wage increase, protects smaller businesses while making sure that grossly profitable companies disperse some of that wealth to the people who are actually earning that money for them. What do you think?
Richard, I cannot disagree with anything you've stated, even if we diverge on how to vote. But Noam Chomsky (another dissenting Jew, at odds with Israli policy) has had the greatest influence on my assessment of the Israli-Palistinian conflict. As voters of conscience, suffocating under the impact of the oligarchy here at home, we are stuck between the proverbial "rock and a hard place". Feels like a no-win to me. But just know, Richard, that I get where you're coming from. - AIW
"CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA, CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!" - President Obummer
Need I say more? - AIW
Insurance to protect gun victims is practical. It needs to be compulsory and designed specifically for the gun risk situation. The objections of people who oppose it have straightforward solutions.
The most common objection is to claim that insurance can't cover intentional acts. That's simply false; many kinds of insurance pay to victims directly and not the wrongdoers and pay for insurance buyers actions or even crimes.
The next most common objection is that criminals won't buy insurance even if it's mandated. The solution to that is to make the last legal owner's insurance continue to cover a gun unless the next owner or possessor takes out new insurance. All the guns start out in legal hands.
upperrnaz, I respect your opinion and let me take this point by point. Or at least the points you've laid out in some kind of orderly fashion.
I want to state, as I have in this post, as in others before, I will not vote for any kind of war hawk, regardless of the military action. Warren just happens to support a military occupation, of which, American is greatly involved in foreign aid, military aid and using America's unjustifiable vetoing powers to crush Palestinians seeking justice on the world stage.
First, I am not sure why you've put "live there" in quotes. I have to respect your firsthand knowledge of the situation, however, I don't share you perception of media bias toward Palestine. I believe the opposite of what you are saying is true. The media frames Israeli aggression towards Palestine as justified and defensive. They paint Palestinian aggression as unprovoked and acts of terror. In both England and Israel, the coverage is much more critical of Israel, especially in England. The BBC, who can be suspect toward their own country, does an excellent job of telling a story that Americans don't hear of what happens in Gaza and the West Bank. I'm talking mainly about mainstream news sources.
I am not sure why you've mention Mawan Barghouti as a source. Is he supposed to discredit Hamas actions or support Israeli aggression? I don't support the militant actions of Palestine, however, they are not simply reacting out of religious hatred. Palestinians are reacting to Israeli dominations of every aspect of their lives. If you've “lived or live there” you must understand this point. Palestinians do not have to legitimize their existence in the Middle East, the Israeli state was born out of violence and terror, not the other way around.
Sen. Warren may make an excellent President, however, I have defined my criteria to where my vote will go in 2016. I was deeply disappointed with the Obama administration. I was duped by the hype and Obama’s soaring, but very empty, rhetoric in 2008. By 2012, I voted for President Obama on the much more cynical principle of the lesser of two evils. I made a choice after that very pragmatic and dubious decision to no longer vote for a politician that supports military action as an acceptable from of state action. Supporting Israel militarily is no different than participating in Israel’s illegal occupation.
In a functioning democracy, the American people wouldn’t be searching for a savior or “great man” or woman. In a functioning democracy, the people would make the decisions not an individual or a handful of individuals. Sen. Warren is not going to change the fundamental governing practices of the US government and that’s the problem. Enough about that, different topic, different time.
The US is driven by a constant war economy. That constant war economy also deals in selling weapons and using US foreign aid to subsidize private military/security contractors. Both the US and Israel have vested interest in public money from the US going to support Israeli occupation and US military corporation contracts, as well as Israeli military and private contractors. How does this not affect my “neighborhood”, as you put it? In effect, the citizenry of the US is subsidizing Israel’s illegal occupation and attempted elimination of the Palestinian people. Sen. Warren, more or less, supports this with a sense of pride and shamelessness that I can’t find in my heart to support.
AIW is correct that I will follow my conscience when voting. I also, share her disappoint with Sen. Sanders support of Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, as result of this, I will not vote for either as a candidate for the leadership of the world’s most powerful constant war economy. I do, however, support AIW decision to vote against the Republican candidate and I see the reasoning behind it. I also understand that enthusiasm that Sen. Warren’s has generated as a champion of Wall St. reform, however serious she may be; I’m much more cynical and suspicious of politicians.
Most of my sources for Israel/Palestine “conflict” comes from Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Norman Finkelstein, I find Noam Chomsky to be to be an extremely credible source and impeccable in his research. Atzmon Gilad, who openly admits to be a self-hating Jew, does have some interesting insights, but I don’t find him as credible or serious as the before mentioned individuals.
Upperrnaz, we are all in the same “neighborhood” with consequences for our actions. The US is a dysfunctional mess with greed, corruption and corporate dominance leading our limited representative government. We could slip into a corporate fascist state, corpo-fascism, if we are not vigilant as a citizenry. But, I would rather be here than in Gaze or the West Bank under the occupation of a brutal militaristic force.
The hypocritical nature of Israel’s illegal occupation alone should shame anybody away from supporting it, but justifying it is equal to collaborating with fascist during WWII in my humble or not so humble opinion.
Lots of muddy water here. If you are the legal owner of an insured gun that is stolen and used in a crime, is your insurance company then liable to pay up. And if they are able to cop out, do you then become liable to pay ? Who knows for how much. Mass shooters are not going to buy insurance.
Yes and whereas both vehicles and guns are dangerous, like vehicles, gun users should require training and licenses to use them; like cars, the guns themselves should have their own license/registration; and like cars, the owners should have insurance.
Insurance for guns really? That is the dumbest idea that I ever heard of. Under that scenario only the criminals and the wealthy could afford insurance. I think insurance companies rake into too much money and payout too little. Insurance is for oligarchs and ran by oligarchs. Insurance companies waste money looking for excuses not to pay claims. Thom is an intelligent person so why would he float a dumb idea like this?
I think that robbers who are killed by CCDW license holders should be exempt from lawsuits by the criminals family. The robber had no right to stick up a bank or other place of business.
I've fired a few guns in my life, a .22 simi rifle, 4-10 shotgun, 12 ga. shotgun, .38 cal. pistol, M-14 rifle, and M-16s that fire simi-automatic + fully automatic like a machine gun. The AR-15 is exactly like an M-16 that has simi automatic but not fully automatic capability but can fire as fast as a finger can flex and the operator can aim. When I first laid hands on an M-16 in Army basic combat training in 1970, it reminded me of the plastic Mattel Indian Fighter Rifle I had when I was a kid because it was so light weight and compared to larger heavier hunting rifles and shotguns it was so small. The AR-15 is no toy although i'ts light and easy to use. It's a very dangerous and deadly device. When it's projectile hits bone it tumbles along the bone for maximum damage. It was designed for one purpose and that purpose is to kill or put out of action as many enemy combatants as possible and it does a very good job of doing just that. That's why it's basic design and cartridge has been used by our military for about 50 years. Simi automatic operation makes the operator take aim with each shot, more efectively hitting the targets. Automatic operation of an M-16 causes the barrel to raise up and to the right causing some targets to be missed so because the AR-15 only has simi- automatic capability it can be just as deadly as an M-16 if not more deadly. I believe this AR-15 killing device should be kept out of civillian hands because it wasn't designed for any civillian purpose and because some civillians are crazy.
Reply to #30: Uppernaz, I’m not the one you’ve spoken to, but I appreciate your message. And I think you’re right. Either Warren or Sanders would have my vote in a heartbeat, as a presidential candidate. But I am very disappointed with their deference to Israel.
I wasn’t raised Jewish; it is by virtue of my maternal blood line that I am Jewish despite a non-religious upbringing. For a long time I identified with Israel. I still feel we Jews should have our own country, regardless of how much of the world's Jewish population occupies that country at any given time. But because of the many abuses and horrific cruelties inflicted on the Palistinians by Israel’s warmongers — to the point of mass genocide! — I no longer identify with Israel. And ithis saddens me, because I’m sure there are many fine souls among Israel’s citizenry. It wouldn’t surprise me if a large segment of Israeli’s population was as sickened by the plundering of Palestine and the genocide as I and like-minded Americans, we who view it as a crime against humanity. It is a crime our own government supports with money and weapons ad nauseam, in our names and on our nickel.
Whenever election time rolls around, like many Americans I am forced to make compromises I abhor. You are so right, uppernaz, we all need to vote in the best interests of our own communities. In many respects, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren fill that bill. Their mission sets them way apart from most of their colleagues, 95% of whom are only there to serve themselves, or so it seems. I believe Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren each occupy a seat in Congress to serve a purpose greater than themselves: the fight for “ordinary” Americans (translation: we Americans of ordinary means) to have a chance to thrive and prosper. They’re taking on the oligarchs in our behalf, against the backdrop of a 21st Century Gilded Age. We’re dealing with the worst institutionalized corruption and poverty statistics the U.S. has seen in close to a century. Their names are among what would amount to a very short list of politicians who remember, and still care about, their constituants, the ones they’re supposed to be serving.
Richard will vote his conscience, and I respect him for that. But if either Ms. Warren or Mr. Sanders run for president in 2016, that’s who gets my vote. - AIW
Matt, I think your psych prof was onto something.
I, also, absolutely agree. I am a certified NRA pistol instuctor and martial arts insturctor and I tell everyone, with whom I have conversations about self defense, that it is imperative for them to purchase self defense insurance if they feel as though their safety is so tenuous. Just as importantly I tell them that they need to write their legislators and encourage laws that require advanced safety, legal, and tactical training in order to take posession of a firearm. Gun registration will not fly in this country nor will banning firearms. But, requiring training just might curb the violence and satisfy the pacifists who feel that gun owners are merely potential murderers. I want to see this type of legislation more than any other kind regarding firearms. I take the right of self defense seriously enough to spend the requisite time needed for proficiency in hand to hand defense, firearm defense as well as just knowing when to get out of the area. If I can do it with my schedule then anyone can do it and it ought to be required if you want to carry a firearm.
Yes! Bird hunters, need to insure their shot guns, hunters their rifles or pistols, weekend target shooters their 22's. I was nearly killed by a careless downhill skier once, so they should also be insured! Dylan Kiebold and Eric Harris had a semi- failed plan to detonate a propane bomb, it could have killed or injured hundereds. Propane bottle ownership should definitly require insurance as the careless use of propane has caused countless injury and wrongful deaths. All dogs should be insured!
I must be confused, i thought a firearms theft from my locked car was covered by my auto theft policy, theft from my home my home owners policy, I suppose there could a Dick Cheney moment, like my skier friend whom had a careless skier moment(i dont think the skier was an evil piece of shit however).
So, maybe what we need is an individual mandate. An "Umbella Policy"! "Obama Care Plus"..... I wonder who cant wait? Gieco? State Farm? United Health Care? I guess I wonder the catogorie. Maybe just bypass the subsidiaries alltogether and send the premiums directly to Goldman or Citi.