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Thom warns against comparing small, homogenous states like Montana to larger, heterogenous states like California. The same is true for countries. The entire country of Australia is only 23 million people, 95% of whom have Western European roots. It is a false comparrison to consider their laws as being successful in a country that has 15 times as much population, and virtually no common culture.
Bush could be tried for murder according to renowned Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. He won all but one case in his career and was the guy who put Manson away. Not a quack is what I am saying, author, etc.
Really no quick way to explain the possible prosecution here, one should watch or read "The Prosecution of an American President."
I watched the documentery (2012) and have since contacted my Attorney General in NY State to try Bush for murder.
I rarely listen to NPR anymore after being an avid listener for years.
I came across this article, about the lack of transparency at NPR, during my correspondance with NPR when I noticed Bernie was not being covered objectively:
http://www.cpb.org/ombudsman/display.php?id=235
Another thing that was revealed to me, this time by the NPR Ombudsman. NPR newsmagazines, Morning Edition and All Things Considered are no longer a part of SiriusXM programming.
Almost everytime I tune into NPR lately on SiriusXM during the work week it is market news and "info" about a product or company. Timing perhaps, yet it has happened so often that I am cancelling SiriusXM. From my perspective, SiriusXM is effectively "censoring" the news by not contracting all the offered NPR programs. Plus, I signed up for commercial free radio, not just commercial free music.
Thanks for reporting on this, it appears that yet another media outlet is being turned into corporate funded entertainment posing as news.
Crispy Popp -- What size crowds was Gary Johnson pulling? Did he have any of those national organizing events with 100,000 people? I think Bernie has a better chance.
Let's make it mandatory to have liability insurance for gun buyers and gun owners, just like we do for auto licenses. The industry will then regulate itself.
PFNELKAK -- You really need to read "The American Revolution of 1800". It seems that the American Revolution of 1776 and both French Revolutions just kept Aristocracy away for 10 to 20 years.
The only way to gain true (i.e. lasting) freedom is by political movements. It worked in the USA in 1800, and, of course, the best example is Gandhi in India.
Wiilie W -- Your suggestion about "License to Own" is what Thom says all the time.
ChiMatt -- How about instead of guaranteeing you that all those guns will be collected, I can show you that gun restrictions like those in Australia will significantly reduce the number of homicides.
UNC Tarheels -- How many armed robberies are there on college campuses?
If Teddy knew about drones, he might have suggested the first step in preparation for war would be to learn computer programming.
The Australian govt restrictions on guns seems to have helped them tremendously.
UNC Tarheels -- Raypc800 has a good plan, since the most probable reason that burglar is breaking into your house is to steal your gun. Do they teach stochastic processes at UNC?
They will never go to prison. They made a law in 2002 to make sure of it.
From Wikipedia:
"The American Service-Members' Protection Act (ASPA, Title 2 of Pub.L. 107–206, H.R. 4775, 116 Stat. 820, enacted August 2, 2002) is a United States federal law that aims "to protect United States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of the United States government against criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to which the United States is not party." Introduced by U.S. Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) and U.S. Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX)[1] it was an amendment to the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (H.R. 4775).[2] The bill was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 2, 2002."
Those sneaky bastards knew what they were doing, and knew that there could be reprocussions for their war crimes. So now, since the US is not a party to the war crimes treaty, the president is authorized to use "any means necessary," to get these criminals out, should they be brought up on charges in the World Court. Thusly, the law has been called, "The Hague Invasion Act," because the basis of the world court is there. Imagine, going to war with the Dutch, of all people, to get these damn criminals out of their war crimes.
This law needs to be repealed, and the Bush Crime Syndicate must be brought to trial, and made to pay for their war crimes. Including the fact that at the very least, they let 9/11 happen on purpose, then went after a country which had nothing to do with it!
Here's a link to the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Protection_Act
Maybe we should treat guns like cars. Demonstrate your knowledge of gun safety and regulations for your area and then be issued a "License to Own." Valid at all gun dealers.
Gun sales and aboritions are the same, in the sense that you can't undo them. You can't un-abort someone, and you can't un-sell the guns that have already been sold. The number I keep hearing is 400,000,000 gun already in the hands of my countrymen. Unless you can guarentee that those guns are all going to be collected, I'm not interested in limiting my ability to join the gunowners in the future.
Frothy Phlegm
. . . .
Foul are the putrid breezes
when The Donald snorts and sneezes,
as through his nose he squeezes
his frothy phlegm, -
- which worsens those brain diseases
among folks whom Trump then siezes
for whatever purposes he pleases:
√ to Think him a gem.
√ to Thrill to his whim.
√ to Sing him a hymn.
√ to Fill his ego to the brim.
================================
#20---right on the money.
Thom,
So tell me Thom, how do you think you got the freedom you have today? How did the rest of the FREE world get it's freedom? By throwing rocks(#19) at the tyrants and dictators of the world?
Hardly. Ask any vet from WWII and he'll tell you what it takes to keep your freedom. And that includes one entering your house to harm your family. I doubt you would stop him with a few kind words and a few rocks(#19) you left outside because they were too dirty to bring in.
Hardly. (TITLE - cannot compare)
JackieO, are you commenting on the Marla Liason piece? I didn't see marijuana metioned there...Sorry for you unfortunate reaction. Though perhaps "deadly" is a bit of overstatement?
No doubt. Water is perhaps the most essential "asset" remaining to be control (with the possible exception of clean air). With the decline in clean fresh drinkable water, we'll see mass movements of people, resulting in a overload in existing economic/social systems. Nations will wage economic war to oobtain it and keep it. If that doesn't work, they will wage military operations to either capture and control it or render it unusable by the other side.
To BeachN - Typical RW Nonsense - "I hate the Facts you have, so I'm going to change the subject".
The Right made a run on the PBS Board of Directors during the second term of the G.W. Bush administration and replaced some of the long term progressive movers and shakers who backed the original goals established for PBS in the sixties. We saw Jim Lehrer of the News Hour leave along with many behind the scenes producers as standards were changed to deter any future programming that had a Leftist slant ! You'll notice that PBS has increased it's reliance on so-called corporate public service messages that are essentially commercials often showing targeted products, a necessity as contributions from long time PBS supporters fall off reflecting their rejection of the new format and direction. Something else that has fallen off is the ongoing attacks by the Right in Congress to cut Federal Funding for Public Broadcasting, only 3% of the funding required by PBS came from taxpayers at the end of the Bush Administration. It's not surprising that NPR has jumped on the Right's bandwagon now that they control the purse strings !
Thom
have you been smoking marijuana? Gun free zones and gun bans do not work because carreer criminals do not abide by laws. Gun free zones are havens for criminals. Why do you think that there are so many robberies on college campuses? Bad guys know that they won't be met with resistance from college students. As for cities with gun bans look at all the shootings there for a place that is supposed to be gun free they have a lot of killings and those killings are done by criminals. Don't blame guns Thom blame the criminals. Unless you start blaming vehicles for causing DUI's, pencils for spelling errors and spoons for making people fat. I have a right to defend myself. I refuse to be a victim. Making good people helpless won't make bad people harmless. You like to qoute Theodore Roosevelt when it comes to corporate personhood. Maybe you read his thoughts on gun control. "The great body of our citizens shoot less as time goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world. The first step in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war is to teach men how to shoot!"-Theodore Roosevelt
At Raypc800 Only 1 problem with that. You are home alone it's 3 AM in the morning. You are awaken to the sound of glass breaking a burgular has just thrown a cinder block through your sliding glass door. You have 10 seconds to act. Grab your keys and hope you can see in the dark to unlock your safe remove the gun lock and grab a magazine go into the other room and load it.
Do you think if you ask the burgular to wait while you load your gun that he will wait?
Why isn't Louis Farrakhan in PRISON for trying to recruit 10,000 men to kill "WHITE FOLK"? Yeah..That is exactly what he said.. Trying to incite people to kill Just white folk and cops.. Guess that is ok with the Obama appointed head of Homeland Security who is also blk. No one left to enforce the law. If you or I did that we would be thrown in prison without an attorney under his "Indefinite Detention" law he has in place. Why are Americans not in an uproar about this??
Yeaaaah...you're all getting a taste of what Libertarians got in the last election when they tried to rally to get a qualified, experienced candidate (Gary Johnson) into the show and the duopoly circled the wagons. Bernie's great...but he will get shut out and not taken seriously. He will be marginalized into "lunatic fringe wing" coverage by mainstream media outlets but given some brief debate play where a sound bite will define him. Ultimately, he will play strong in a handful of states but risk playing that Jerry Brown or Ross Perot "spoiler" role and be villified by a Democratic base for doing so...taking precious votes from one of the "annointed ones".
Ultimately, NPR will work where their bread is buttered...and that means into the two mainstream parties who will field the winning candidate that will drive go-forward discourse on philosophical funding discussions. It's pandering, really, but that's where America's at. Don't kill the messenger. I'm as depressed as anyone else.
Regarding NPR's albeit subtle drift to the Right over the last many years, I can't listen to a single report, either locally produced by Phoenix' KJZZ or on the national feed, that fails to get my goat. Here's my $.02 worth regarding a June 25, 2015 Bernie interview conducted by David Green. Link to the audio included here:
http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/24/417180805/bernie-s...
To NPR's credit, they were quick with a thoughtful response to my criticism and even followed that up with another email thanking me again for my interest. And note that this predated the subsequent #blacklivesmatter dustups at various venues so my comments here do not speak to that subject matter nor to the gun control issue. I don't even recall that discussion!
Either I'm just too suspect of NPR to listen with an open mind, or Mr. Green was demanding a Hillary-Bernie soundbite faceoff instead of allowing Bernie to speak to the bigger picture! Please take a listen and comment on my letter below that is preceded by NPR's reponse. Was I off base?
Thom, you rock!
---
Dear Paul,
Thank you for contacting NPR.
We appreciate you sharing your concerns with us regarding David Greene's recent interview with Senator Bernie Sanders. We strive to offer the highest quality of news and information available. Listener feedback helps us to accomplish this goal.
NPR's Ombudsman recently wrote a piece evaluating NPR's coverage of Sanders since he announced he would run for the Democratic nomination for president:
http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2015/06/05/412015450/giving-long-shots-sanders-and-others-a-fair-shot
Ultimately, we welcome both criticism and praise, and your thoughts have been taken into consideration.
Thank you for listening, and for your continued support of public broadcasting. For the latest news and information, visit NPR.org.
Sincerely,
Kiara
NPR Audience and Community Relations
www.npr.org
_________________________________________________
Original Message: Mr. Green, your interrogation of Senator Sanders this morning was very disappointing.
Your insistence that Bernie respond to WHICH COLOR OF LIVES MATTER, ala the Hillary Clinton criticism, was embarrassing and simply reaffirmed my opinion of NPR's drift to dark side. You were perhaps wanting Mr. Sanders to play the hyperbolic phraseology game vs. allowing him to speak to the larger matters at hand?
Clearly, Senator Sanders is a pragmatist and, regardless your stubborn insistence, was attempting to bring the concepts of employment, economic disparity and just perhaps the little matter of multi-generational racism and indentured servitude to the discussion!
Excuse me, David, if my criticism of the interview sounds ad homonym. I don’t believe you’re a Bernie basher but please review your techniques and steer clear of sound-bite traps that do nothing to inform the citizenry. We all desperately need a more comprehensive participation in this upcoming election that will, in my opinion, literally pass or fail American society into the distant future.
I for one welcome Senator Sanders’ refreshing honesty to this debate and will continue to call out any and all obstacles, intentionally placed or not, to his fair and resounding hearing.
Sincerely,
Paul Tranby
Phoenix, AZ
Chuckle 8, we need another fraud to campaign as a progressive and then, when elected, forget what the people want, but instead, listen to the big money and govern as a Republican.