Saturday, June 18, 2011

My Thoughts on Guns

With all the gun talk I've seen going on this week I figured I'd write about how I feel about them. People on the right have been going on about how Obama wants to take away their guns which just isn't the case. There's people in Congress pushing Obama for stricter gun control. Not the other way around.

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, has written a letter to President Obama rebuking him for not pressing Congress to create some restrictions on guns and gun ownership.

Mr. Lautenberg has filed three amendments on gun issues. One seeks to reinstate a ban on high-capacity gun magazines; another would close the so-called gun show loophole, which permits some people who buy guns at gun shows to avoid background checks otherwise required by federal law; the last would close gaps in the law that prevent the government from stopping suspected terrorists from buying firearms or explosives. For more on this article click here.


Lautenberg makes some very good points for stricter gun control. American citizens don't need high capacity gun magazines. There's no reason for them and having them on the market just allows them to end up in the wrong hands. I also believe that we need to make sure that the mentally unstable aren't buying guns too. I don't want some crazy person running around with a Glock.

I also don't believe in allowing terrorists to buy guns. That's just insane. Put people are so stuck on the second amendment and the fact that they want it to be easy for them to buy guns that they could care less if anyone else who shouldn't buy them is buying them. The Al Queda leader told terrorists to buy guns at American gun shows because they don't require a background check. Sure, they may be able to get a hold of them from the black market but it doesn't mean that we should just let them walk into gun shows and buy them. It's just another way for them to rub our noses in whatever they're doing.

I had someone tell me that they'd rather have a 'few negatives' than have their 'rights taken away'. 64 out of every one million Americans die every year from violence. If we roughly have 310 million people in America that's 4,843,450 deaths every year. Two out of every three of them is done with a gun. That is 3,229,166.67 Americans murdered every year by guns. Homicide rates are also higher in states that own more guns. Louisiana has the highest murder rate out of all the states; 107 deaths for every million people. Every three hours in America a child dies from gun violence. That's 2,920 children dieing every year from it. Does that seem like a 'few negatives' to you?
Note: This information came from: The Spirit Level by Kate Pickett & Richard Wilkson


As you can see the US has the worse homicide rate out of all of the industrialized aka advanced economy nations. We also have some of the worst income inequality out of all the industrialized aka advanced economy nations.

The Ohio legislation has a bill right now that would get rid of the concealed carry permit for the state and allow guns into daycare centers and college campuses. I don't think any of this is a good idea. It's bad enough they're now allowing guns into facilities that serve alcohol and now they want to do this. And a concealed carry permit makes sure people at least get somewhat of an idea on how to use a gun and what rules to follow with it. Taking that away is just going to make a huge mess for someone else to clean up.

Carrying a gun also increases your change of getting killed:

Overall, Branas's study found that people who carried guns were 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 times as likely to get killed compared with unarmed citizens. When the team looked at shootings in which victims had a chance to defend themselves, their odds of getting shot were even higher.

While it may be that the type of people who carry firearms are simply more likely to get shot, it may be that guns give a sense of empowerment that causes carriers to overreact in tense situations, or encourages them to visit neighbourhoods they probably shouldn't, Branas speculates. Supporters of the Second Amendment shouldn't worry that the right to bear arms is under threat, however. "We don't have an answer as to whether guns are protective or perilous," Branas says. "This study is a beginning." For more on this article please click here.

All these reasons are why I think we need better gun control and more education on gun safety. There are so many things we could do about this if we just tried. Now we just need to convince the crazies on the right that gun control is a good thing and not a bad thing.

"And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand."
~George Bernard Shaw

"It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind."

~George Bernard Shaw

"There have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used.... Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was. The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness. The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed."

~Gil Bailie

"If you rejoice in revenge, torture and war , you cannot say you’re a follower of the guy who explicitly said, 'love your enemies' The next line isn’t 'and if that doesn’t work, send a titanium fanged dog to rip his nuts off.' He has lines like, 'do not repay evil with evil,' and 'do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you.' Really, it’s in that book you hold up when you scream at gay people."

~Bill Maher

Why Income Inequality Is Bad for Your Health





The book this women is talking about is called The Spirit Level. I'm in the process of reading it and it's a really good read.

Bob Schieffer's Gun Control Reform



Baby Bikinis vs Real Sexual Exploitation of Children?



Tim Pawlenty's New Hampshire Ally: Obama is a "Jungle Alien"

Tim Pawlenty's New Hampshire Ally: Obama is a "Jungle Alien" - Mother Jones

"The party took place at the home of Ray Shakir, a local Republican activist and retired construction executive, who calls President Obama a "jungle alien," Hillary Clinton "Osama's dream girl," and once labeled certain disabled children "uneducatable" and thus undeserving of taxpayer-funded schooling."

I don't like people like this. And I don't like people who associate with people like this. Skakier also sounds like another Rush and Beck. Just what we don't need.

Thom Hartmann: How to Cut Wall Street Down to Size



Friday, June 17, 2011

God Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder

God Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder - The Onion

LOL

7 Steps: Media Domination & Destruction

"[Dean] doesn't speak for me with that kind of rhetoric, and I don't think he speaks for the majority of Democrats." -- Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

"It doesn’t become the chairman of our party to be as loose with his lips as he apparently is." -- Former Democratic Party Chairman Bob Strauss

"My own view is, the chairman of the DNC is not the spokesman for the Democratic Party." -- Former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards

These are the words that Democrats used to condemn their own party leader when questioned about a couple of Howard Dean’s recent comments. Dean roughly said that Republicans don’t work for a living and that Tom DeLay should be sent to jail when he goes back to Texas.

Does Dean really believe that no Republicans work for a living? Of course not. Does Dean believe Tom DeLay is facing an imminent jail sentence for his ethical problems? Of course not.

These are simple hyperboles that are commonplace in normal discussion. But we’re not having a normal conversation. Our national conversation is dominated by right wing talk show hosts who blow everything Democrats say out of proportion and completely ignore the real problems of America.

So, in this world, invading a country that didn’t attack us and posed absolutely no threat to us is no big deal. But Howard Dean overstating his distaste for Republicans is an enormous deal. In this world, lying about Saddam Hussein’s connections to 9/11, his WMD capabilities and misleading us into a highly destabilizing preemptive strike against another country is a tiny issue. What Howard Dean said last week is a giant issue. Tom DeLay’s ethical violations aren’t an issue, what Dean says about them is an issue.

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. How many times are we going to fall into this conservative talking point trap? Democrats shouldn’t be backpedaling from aggressive comments, they should be attacking straight ahead. To paraphrase what are quickly becoming the immortal words of George Galloway – we should not come as the accused, but as the accuser!

It sickens me how easily Democrats fall for the traps that conservatives set for them. It’s a little stunning that these party leaders haven’t caught on to how this game is played, so I’ll lay it out for them. This is the quick and easy Seven Step Plan for Media Domination and Opponent Destruction used by conservative television and radio talk show hosts on a regular basis:

Step One:
Select the strongest person on the other side – and target him for destruction. Attempt to destroy his credibility in the mainstream media, so that reporters will be skeptical of him and eventually his own party will disown him.

Step Two:
Comb through all of the speeches of the target. Fine one to two sentences that can be taken out of context and beat to death. Portray these few, isolated statements as extreme.

Step Three:
Repeat Step Two eight hundred times until three things happen:
1. Every time, the target is mentioned, the audience will think of only the charges you have repeated ad nauseam.
2. The conversation is no longer on the topic at hand but about what your target said about the topic.
3. Your target sounds like an extremist simply because you have repeated the charge enough times.

Step Four:
Co-opt the mainstream media into doing your dirty work. If you keep talking about one issue long enough (e.g., Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, what Howard Dean has said), the mainstream media will feel like it’s an important issue “everyone” is talking about and will be “forced” to cover it.

Step Five:
Get the targets own party or allies to turn on him by admitting – after lengthy and ceaseless questioning from the mainstream media, as well as, the conservative talkers – that what was said was not right or prudent. And then after this is repeated a couple of hundred times, even your opponents will start to believe that your charges against the target have a lot of validity.

Step Six:
Get your opponents to take down their own people for fear that they will keep getting asked the same annoying, senseless questions from you and your proxies. And the reason they will give is the one you conveniently planted – the target has become a distraction.

Step Seven:
Laugh as hard and as long as humanly possible that you just got the media, who you call liberal, and your political opponents to take down their own man because he had become a distraction when in fact the whole point of the exercise was to distract the media and your opponents from the real issue. Pat yourself on the back for killing two birds with one stone – destroying your target while avoiding the real issue – and making your opponents look weak and ineffectual. Laugh one more time.

Here’s what Senator Biden should have said when asked on the Sunday morning talk shows about Howard Dean’s comments:
“Who wrote that question for you? Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity? You are spouting a senseless, conservative talking point. Howard Dean obviously doesn’t mean that no Republicans work for a living. He made a simple misstatement in the heat of the moment because he was justifiably angry at what this Republican Party and its leadership has done to the average working family in America. How they have saddled them with over $25,000 in debt for every man, woman and child alive. For how they have lost over a million jobs in five years. For creating the largest deficit in United States history. For rewarding companies that outsource jobs to other countries. For ignoring their real problems – the rising cots of gasoline and out of control health care prices. For sending their sons and daughters into an illegal war based on faulty assumptions and outright lies. Under the circumstance, wouldn’t you be angry? Aren’t you glad someone is angry? And that someone is fighting for you, even if he fights a little too hard at times?”

The media responds to pressure. If we keep backpedaling, the conservative and the mainstream media will keep rolling over us. If we respond with strength, they will be the ones who start to backpedal.

There was no WMD, there was no Iraqi connection to 9/11, we do have the largest deficits ever, they have lost over a million jobs, they haven’t addressed healthcare, Social Security is a success that is currently running an enormous surplus. We have the facts on our side. Now all we have to do is stop moving backwards and giving up ground for no reason. Move forward! Go forward!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/seven-step-plan-for-media_b_2236.html



Talk Show Host Says Kill Blacks





It's people like this who give Americans a bad name.

Perfect Example of How Our Gov't is Run by Lobbyists





For-profit colleges suck. Everything Cenk said about them is true. I go to one and my education isn't worth what I payed for it. Hence graduate school at a normal College to further my lacking education in my field.

And Obama you shouldn't of caved! >:(

The Big Picture: June 17, 2011



Vermont Yankee



It's Time to Lose Grover

It's Time to Lose Grover

This guy is crazy and the GOP is crazy for following him. Those 41 senators need voted out of office for signing that pledge.

Bush Admin Tried To Destroy Anti-War Professor



Motivated In Ohio: The Kasich Project | College Democrats of Ohio

Motivated In Ohio: The Kasich Project | College Democrats of Ohio

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Why is the Obama Administration Being Sued Over Libya?

Why is the Obama Administration Being Sued Over Libya?

Obama's getting sued over bombing Libya and Bush didn't get squat?! Bush started two wars and tortured prisoners and there's people who are ok with that but Obama bombs Libya and all of a sudden everyone's getting all righteous on him? Hypocrites much?

Executive Dir. of Albert Schweitzer Institute Speaks at 10th World Summit for Nobel Peace Laureates





The world could learn a lot from Albert Schweitzer's views. I'd rather follow him than Ayn Rand.

"Everyone must work to live, but the purpose of life is to serve and to
show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become true human beings."
~Albert Schweitzer

Motivated In Ohio: "This Is The Most GUTLESS Institution!" Congresswo...

Motivated In Ohio: "This Is The Most GUTLESS Institution!" Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

This woman is awesome! We need more people like her!

Five of the Nastiest Examples of Wal-Mart Evil

Five of the Nastiest Examples of Wal-Mart Evil - AlterNet

Tea Party Vs Chamber Of Commerce



No Sex Before Marriage For Women?





You have to love double standards.

Motivated In Ohio: Embarrassing Behavior Over the Weiner "Controversy...

Motivated In Ohio: Embarrassing Behavior Over the Weiner "Controversy...: "Finally, someone is saying what I think, only better! Thanks Keith."

Anthony Weiner

So Anthony Weiner is resigning but they're letting the guy who slept with prostitutes stay. And Newt Gingrich is running for president even though he's had two affairs that he's blamed on 'Loving America too much'. I could go on and on.

It is a sad day for the progressives. We just lost a good man who stood up for the American people and the middle class. We now have one less voice in congress for us.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Thom Hartmann: Will Banksters stand by and watch the "U.S. S.O.L." sink?





We really need a revolution. I hope we're able to do that in 2012.

Stop Speculation



GOP: Cut Women & Children First! - Con Job





I'm really sick of these priorities. I'm also really sick of the GOP at this moment. I don't know why I still try and debate with trolls >_<

Al Qaeda leader instructs terrorists to purchase firearms at U.S. gun shows

Al Qaeda leader instructs terrorists to purchase firearms at U.S. gun shows - Daily Kos

This kind of thing should not be allowed in the US! Why are we letting terrorists buy guns in America? Oh yeah, I forgot, the GOP think anyone should be allowed to buy a gun because they hate gun control!

EPIC FAIL: 2nd Republican Presidential Debate


*Vulgar Language Warning*

Guns in bars bill passes Ohio House, Senate concurs, Gov. John Kasich to sign it

Guns in bars bill passes Ohio House, Senate concurs, Gov. John Kasich to sign it

Today is a scary day in Ohio.

Motivated In Ohio: ProgressOhio In The News: New Bill Would Allow Con...

Motivated In Ohio: ProgressOhio In The News: New Bill Would Allow Concealed Carry at Daycare Centers, College Campuses - Progress Ohio

This legislation is INSANE.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Motivated In Ohio: Thom Hartmann: Sexual predators and serial rapists run wild in free trade

Motivated In Ohio: Thom Hartmann: Sexual predators and serial rapists run wild in free trade

Sexual Predators and Serial Rapists Run Wild at Wal-Mart Supplier in Jordan

Sexual Predators and Serial Rapists Run Wild at Wal-Mart Supplier in Jordan

Sexual Predators and Serial Rapists Run Wild At Wal-Mart Supplier in Jordan, According to New Report By Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

This is just horrifying! We need to get a list together of what these people make so we can get the word out to boycott them!

Voter Suppression Strategy: Ohio Republicans Moving To Make it Harder To Vote



Thom Hartmann: Read My Lips: "No More Tax Cuts"



McDonald's Charging African-Americans More?



Thom Hartmann: To Be a Follower of Ayn Rand - Is It Necessary to be an Atheist?



Rick Perry Blames God for Recession





It seems he need to read the Gospel of Matthew. Specifically the versus where Jesus says to take care of people!

Thom Hartmann: The Good. The Bad and the Very Insatiably Ugly! Feminists, Weinergate & Limbaugh



How LeBron Broke the Golden Rule of Sports





“All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point.”
~Lebron after losing the championship series.

I got one word for you LeBron, KARMA!

Motivated In Ohio: Memo To GOP: Medicare Is Better At Controlling Costs Than Private Insurers--Think Progress

Motivated In Ohio: Memo To GOP: Medicare Is Better At Controlling Costs Than Private Insurers--Think Progress

Monday, June 13, 2011

Rush Limbaugh: It’s Liberal Women’s Fault Weiner Cheated

Rush Limbaugh: It’s Liberal Women’s Fault Weiner Cheated

Dear Rush,

You are ignorant! You have no idea what women go through on a daily basis and this just goes to show how much women are blamed for the stuff that men do! The stupid chauvinistic pigs in office have things leaning so far to the right women can't be women anymore you moron! They're taking our rights away and you're trying to blame us for what Weiner did?! He's a grown man and he can make his own choices! It takes two to tango you dolt!

~Underground

The L-Curve: Income Distribution of the U.S.



"Prop 8 - The Musical"



A Quintessential Comment on the BETRAYAL of Rep. Anthony Weiner



Child Labor: Problem in Our Own Backyard



Quick Ruling Expected on Gay Jurist in Proposition 8 Case

Quick Ruling Expected on Gay Jurist in Proposition 8 Case - LA Times

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Democrats Are Traitors

*Vulgar Language Warning*


Motivated In Ohio: The Christian right's war on America--Ohio Daily Blog

Motivated In Ohio: The Christian right's war on America--Ohio Daily Blog

Dog Tries to Get 'Stranger' to Throw Stick





LMAO!

My Thoughts on Stereotypes

*Vulgar Language Warning*
The first thing that pops into my head at times when you hear about people being racist is Achmed the Dead Terrorist saying, "You racist bastard!" to Jeff Dunham at his comedy shows. It wasn't even that apparent to me how racist people still were until Obama came into office. Because if he was a white man, I doubt they'd be taking him through the ringer on everything. Hell, Bush had a drug and alcohol problem at one point and no one even batted an eye lash at it. But everything with Obama is different.

They've question his religion even though he's said himself he's a Christian, has accepted Jesus as his savior and goes to church. And even though he's done all of these things people still insist that he's a Muslim and they question the churches he goes too. And then there's the whole birther thing. And no one would do that if he was a white man. Well maybe some of the crazies would, but not on such a huge level would it of happened. Then, you have the fact that he received the highest honors at Harvard University and they're questioning his education! They don't just let anyone become the Editor of the Harvard Law Review!

Ron and Rand Paul think that the Civil Rights Act was wrong because they think people should have the right to refuse service to someone for whatever reason. Which I think is ridiculous since the Declaration of Independence says that all men are created equal. So because it says that we all should have equal rights and I don't think that someone should be able to refuse service because of someones race. That isn't what this country was founded on and it's not what we stand for. We all bleed the same damn color so skin color shouldn't matter to anyone. And the fact that it does is just depressing.

I also don't understand that if the Declaration of Independence says:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."


Can we even legally say that gay marriage is illegal if this in our Declaration of Independence? Because if all men (and women of course) were created equal than we cannot say that one group of persons can't have the same rights as another group because then our Declaration of Independence would be null and void. And if people say that because they said Creator that it's what rights God gave them there are various arguments for that. A creator could be their parents because their parents created them when they chose to have a child. It doesn't have to just apply to God.

Some Americans also have a Muslim problem. Which is also ridiculous. Just because someone used a means to an end doesn't make it evil. You have people out there who misuse Christianity so you can only expect for the same thing to happen with other religions. And with the way this problem is going we will be no better than Nazi Germany. Yes, Nazi Germany. We may not be going after the Jews but we are going after the Muslims for stupid reasons and it makes us no better than Nazi Germany. And that is not what this country stands for and we are better than that. And just because you don't agree with how their religion treats people doesn't mean it doesn't happen with other religions. Just take a look around and see for yourself.

Women don't only have stereotypes, we also have double standards. And all of them suck. Just because a woman has different plumbing than a man doesn't mean she isn't capable of the same things a man is. I'm also tired of men trying to say what a woman can and cannot do which then gets us into the inequality aspect of it. And I could go on and on and on about that. Women have been fighting for these rights for years and we're now starting to go backwards instead of forwards because of these stupid chauvinistic pigs in office.

And for some reason there's people out there think that a woman's place is in the home or that all women should be girly girls. Are you fucking kidding me? Some of us were taught to be independent and to think for ourselves. Not everyone wants to be a house wife. But if a woman chooses that path than that's her right to do it. But it shouldn't apply to all the women out there. And this whole girly girl thing. Give me a damn break. Some of us like to be comfortable and not spend an hour or more everyday getting ready to go out. We're not fragile. We don't have to be coddled and treated like trophies because that's not what we are. We're not your property, we won't be brainwashed and we won't have these things expected of us all the damn time. It's our choice, not yours.

"Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason."
~Abraham Joshua Heschel

"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.  If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'  They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes."
~Clare Boothe Luce