I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Wabbit

Country people and city people just do not see guns in the same way.  In the country they are mostly for shooting sports and hobbies.  A benign view.  In the city they are mostly about people shooting each other every darn day.  A tool of aggression.  Sadly enough, the two thought patterns will only start to agree when and if the carnage spreads to the country. 

Obama should know better ... he gives in to one of the Republicans demands (CPI) and then GOP supporters trash him as the evil monster who is trying to take away their goodies.  Obama supporters need to lean on him hard on protecting Social Security.  And they are.  Which I'm sure will also be convoluted into something evil.   

suzieq60

Went and had my blood test and then went to a shoe store which I keep going to on Sundays and forget it's closed.

I have really big feet and they had sandals on sale and I wanted sandals and need good ones. Well, 2 pair (same style but different colours) were in my size. Fabulously expensive brand - only $69 a pair. I snapped them up and when I got home, I checked online to see what the original price was - $199.95!!!! The online shop had them on special for $179. Did I luck out or what - I'm over the moon. I'll have a comfortable summer later this year. I'm sick of buying cheap ones in a Wallmart type store and my feet hurting all the time.

1Athena1

Wabbit, you are right. Guns spark radically different associations depending on where you live, and country people who have used them for decades to shoot pheasant and deer must wonder why on earth people living in Chicago and DC think they are so bad. On the other hand, I doubt whether your average hunter uses a semi-automatic.....Unfortunately, it is those rural voters, with less access to diverse sources of education and information, who may most easily believe that "Obama wants to take their guns away."

It is a situation that plays right into the NRA's hands, because they can easily confuse the issue for voters.

Still can't get it out of my head that in the world's second-largest democracy it is easier to get a gun than to vote because some folks lack critical thinking and reading skills (re: the Constitution).

alexandria58

It is indeed the height of irony that the very people who are arguing and fighting to make voting more difficult are unwilling to put any restrictions on buying guns.

I do see the necessity of a gun in a rural area- not only to hunt, but frankly, you are pretty far from any law enforcement.  People were breaking into homes on my street in Vermont to rip out pipes and the town does not have a police officer.  Have to rely on the state police - who are not necessarily that close.  But Biden is right - you keep a shotgun for protection and a rifle for hunting, not an assault rifle.

The six year old shot by a four year old  -playing pretend - just died here in New Jersey. 

It is heartening to see lobbying efforts to counter the influence of the NRA.  I like that the Mayors Against Illegal Guns are going to start grading congressmen on this, and I really like the lobbying from families whose children were slaughtered.  Maybe there is hope that at some point, we can curtail this madness.

RetiredLibby

There is hope, however faint, of evolution on guns and progressivism. My 87-year-old FIL from a tiny town in Wisconsin, who now lives in a medium-sized town in Wisconsin, has had guns all his life. They hunted for food growing up (he plowed the fields for spring planting behind a horse just before he went off to WWII). He was a staunch Republican his entire life - never cast a vote for a Democrat. Ever. After Dumbya and the Cheney Administration lied us into a war and trashed the economy, FIL got angry. Very angry. He was with Army intel in the Philippines after liberation. He knew the true cost of war, and he was (and still is) furious. For the first time in his life, he voted a straight Democratic ticket in 2008. He voted to recall Snott Walker. And he voted a straight Democratic ticket in 2012. We were there in January for a family funeral, and he inveighed long and angrily against the NRA and the gun lobby. He is vehemently opposed to military-type weapons, high-capacity magazines and jacketed rounds in the hands of civilians. He has a couple of shotguns and a rifle or two, but he absolutely, categorically opposes anyone but law enforcement or the military having assault-type weapons, magazines or ammunition. He is a fiscal conservative but he is absolutely a pragmatist, and he is not afraid to wade in and go toe to toe with knuckledraggers who insist 'Murika-gunz-no taxez. There is hope.



L

bluedahlia

Some people just love the colour blue.  I'm flattered!

bluedahlia

alexandria58

Blue is the color of the sky.

The color of the deep ocean.

Blue cornflowers in the summer wind.

Winter ice glinting over a northern pond.

A soothing calm after the heat of a summer day.

The color of my true love's eyes.

What is there not to love about blue?

bluedahlia

For E!

bluedahlia

Alexandria, I kinda favour it myself!  hehehe!

bluedahlia

hahahahah!

bluedahlia

bluedahlia

IllinoisLady

And I was just about to say...and the name Blue but you beat me to it.

Jackie

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

gardengumby

A state religion???  R U kidding me???

IllinoisLady

I'm with the rest of you and especially HL's FIL.  The NRA and so very many in the GOP don't really care about YOU, whomever the YOU is and only care about their own little bubble, pond, or whatever and time is a fickle thing.  In the end, with great perseverance, I think you will just not be able to railroad 90 percent of the people of the U.S.  The big names in NRA in my humble opinion are lunatics that are into control. 

Ok....there are a few GOP'ers that are as well.  Its just so great that they are not 'racist' too.  Oh wait, I might be wrong about that. 

ADD Info has a piece showing much un-kindness and questionable strategy from M. McConnell towards the possibly of facing Ashley Judd.  She has since made it clear she won't run, but opinions regarding McConnell were already fairly unfavorable.  I think he should begin his good-byes.  He I think will surely end up in the Losers Corner this time out and not a minute too soon.  

I do believe if many of the Republicans could look through other eyes for just a short while they would be horrified at the perception.  At least I'd like to think many of them would.  It has the appearance of such ignorance bordering on insanity.  I still  have hope the Republican party can rebound but I also think, with every blunder and obstructive move, there goes more losses to make up.  There seem to be an awful lot at this point.  Maybe several elections worth.

Jackie

bluedahlia

gardengumby

I simply do not understand the hatred that I see from many Republicans.  As I've said before, most of my hubby's friends are Republican, and I work with a number of Republicans as well.  Though we both get along well with both co-workers and friends, I will often see signs posted in cubicles or hubby will come home regaling a new story - and oft times the crux of the story is simply some new thing that someone has received in e-mail or heard on FAUX news or Rush Limbaugh that is truly nasty and patently false.  It only takes a tiny bit of energy to look up reality - but I guess that reality isn't what is they want. 

I miss the Republican party of my youth.  For that matter I miss the Democratic party of my youth as well   I miss the USA of my youth, but maybe what I miss never really was, either.  I remember some of the hatred I heard spewed about Kennedy when they minted a coin with his profile - and renamed Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy.  He had the morals of an alley cat, but he was a good President.  That was all that mattered as far as I was concerned.  I'd rather have a President who has mistresses lined up in the alley, but can truly govern than have a President who sells the country out to business interests while claiming the high moral ground. 

Even as a child (and I was a highly religious person raised in a highly religious (fundamentalist) family) I couldn't understand why the President's religious persuasion mattered to anyone.  People were so concerned about Kennedy being a Catholic.  I can't tell you how much I would enjoy seeing the first non-Christian president elected in my lifetime - but I sincerely doubt that will happen.  That would, IMO, be a much more important milestone than seeing the first woman president.  It would mean that Americans finally have actually taken to heart the separation of Church and State.

pip57

We just got the call.  We have bought a house!!

Wabbit

Suzie ... nothing like a bargain to perk you up!  Congrats on the new comfy shoes.  I found a brand new Dyson hand vac with the tags still on it at the local flea market for $30 a few years ago and was in hog heaven.

Wonder how many of the gun folks saying the bad guys will just kill with a knife instead would take me up on an offer of a fight to the death with me having a high powered gun and them just a knife?  I'm certainly not in favor of taking all guns.  I don't think anybody is.  The gun is just a tool.  But some of these guns are such deadly tools.  They have no other purpose than killing people and nobody has a chance against them in the wrong hands.  Logic says you don't want them out there in civilian hands. 

I'm just glad that the latest nut job only had a knife when he flipped out.  It's bad enough as it is but if he'd had guns we would have had another big group of dead people to mourn. 

Wabbit

Yeah for pip's new house! 

I'm sure McConnell is having panic attacks wondering what other nasties of his are out there.  People need to figure out that nowdays anybody with a phone can take pictures and record.  He's blathering about his office being bugged but that isn't even necessary anymore.

QuinnCat

Imho, the root of all of these problems we have with non-sensical, extremist Republicans is the gerrymandering of Congressional Districts.  Until this Congress, we had the absolute dumbest Republican Congressman in the House - and that's saying a lot.  I think he finally got a ranking appointment on a prominent committee after 3 decades...even the GOP knew he wasn't capable, but shortly after that the RNC told him to not reapply and he retired - people were finally catching on and he might have lost his seat in 2012.

Didn't matter, he was reelected every 2 years because the district was slanted to ranchers and farmers who need water, more than the wildlife, amongst other Conservative thought patterns, and very rural.  They see an "R" and vote.  I remember my Congressional District use to be aligned along county borders - less biased.  Now, geographically, it is has hooks and a long skinny tail, if you see it on a map.   

In states where the legislature and Governor's are R, they will create district boundaries that give them the biggest bang for their buck.  Add to that, lightly populated rural states still get 2 senators, while New York and California also get 2 Senators, it puts this country, undualy, in the hands of Conservatives.  It also biases House voted, particularly, toward rural voter opinions. Add to that that R's are really about business, not people, meaningful gun legislation will never happen.

btw, if one likes your 12 guage 370 Winchester and your Remmington 30-"ought" 6 for deer hunting, it is just a natural extension to like other guns, not used for hunting.  Ofcourse, many hunters will carry a handgun to execute a mercy shot.  I can't tell you how many days I came into work and saw the guys perusing gun catalogs, or talking amongst themselves about their 9mm handgun.  Never saw that in Berkeley!  Today it would be the internet.  I suppose it's like women and fashion, or me and decorating.

I think the only solution to the gun problem, the war problem, the Republican problem, to be blunt, is what Howard Dean is doing right now.  The "Purple to Blue" project.  He's picking states with close legislatures and putting PAC money in districts that can flip the State governments blue.

In a conference call, Dean said that Democracy for America's "Purple to Blue Project" would work to swing state legislatures from Republican to Democrat, starting in Virginia, then adding three states in 2014. DFA plans to spend $750,000 on behalf of five candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates this year, said Nick Passanante, who will head the program for DFA.

Dean, former Democratic National Committee chairman and presidential candidate, stressed the importance of stopping what he described as extreme ideas being generated by lawmakers in state Capitols around the country. He focused on Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, as well as lawmakers in Richmond but cited other examples, including the abortion bill signed Tuesday by North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R).

“What DFA’s effort to do here is stop the right-wing extremists," Dean said. "This is about sane normal Americans taking on these extreme people with bizarre ideas.”

He stressed starting at the grassroots level, and indicated the project would be in place for several years and would be part of DFA's strategy to elect a Democrat to the White House in 2016.

Passanante said the group plans to expand next year to Iowa, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The states were selected, he said, based on the amount of swing districts that could be flipped from Republican to Democrat, along with the actions taken by Republican lawmakers there.

 

QuinnCat

Wow Pip.  That was fast.  Congratulations.

crazy4carrots

Pip, so glad it's all working out for you and that DH will be close again to family.  The Kawarthas are so beautiful -- truly nature's gift!

I think if only folks would look behind the curtain and see that those pulling their strings are really the gun manufacturers, using the NRA as their puppet master.  In the end, it all comes down to profits profits profits and selling more and more guns.

As for gerrymandered districts that make no geographical sense whatsoever-- the one Elizabeth Colbert Busch is running in in SC is a perfect example. 

Anonymous

Pip~~Congratulations on the new home!!!



Blessings

Paula

Anonymous

Yeah, pip - Hapy New House Dancing one & all.  Bartender, where's the bubbly?

HL - I am IN LOVE with your FIL.  Hugs to him.

Get too angry even thinking about what Congress isn't doing - and Kam nailed it "gerrymandering" - both state poitical parties do it, and we're stuck with the results for many years to come.  Don't expect 2014 will change much.  Have to wait til the next Census, I expect, to do anything to change at state level.  The polarization is paralyzing.

Tho it's sad, really sad, I do have to laugh at the people who honestly fear the "black helicopters descending" - imagine the people in NC, will create quite an "interesting" state religion.  The mind, what's left of it, boggles....

Anonymous

oooops....meant to say - BLUE IS MY FAVORITE COLOUR.

And I wish my friends here wouldn't waste their time reading anywhere it isn't PRAISED.  tee, hee..unless they want to read what some Ban, that's a deordorant, isn't it, Ned, are still saying...