Monday, December 17, 2012

$10,000 for your thoughts


The Internet bristles with Comments after Fri.'s events in Newtown:

"A good start to fixing these behavior issues would be to always be kind, do not bully people or taunt them through social media.  Thank you"

"Bad things still happen and will never be fully preventable, but we can minimize their impact.  No semi autos or large clips would be a start."

"Join me in a crusade against our politicians --
8-shot-max clips for both rifles and handguns, NOW!...
It's obvious that we can't detect these killers ahead of time.  But we CAN slow them down.  8-round clips!"
--------------- [..."a crusade against our politicians"...I'd tend to want to switch that to "a crusade to lobby our politicians, or convince, or petition....petition them, I think.  Interesting it came out the way it did when he typed it, though -- a crusade against...that's how the people feel, now, like politicians are just one more enemy-group to be crusaded "against"...and -- that's not bad, the politicians can "take it."  Go for it!  Crusade to persuade.]

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Reading articles and comments, thought:  "Ban the big clips."  Or -- magazines (?) drums (?) experts may tailor the terminology....
That might be all right with the NRA because it isn't gun control, it's bullet control.
(Then again, do we have to clear everything with the NRA?)

Was thinking:  causes of these mass murders --
easy availability of fast-shooting weapons,
mental health issues not addressed,
examples of violence in our culture -- movies, games, music, etc.
{maybe also media attention causes the next one to think, "I'll get famous" -- this aspect would probably come under the "culture" heading.

super-efficient kill-machines
crazy ("troubled") individuals
culture

People can do something about each of those.

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D. Roth in NY:  "The Bill of Rights was written when single shot muzzle loaders were state of the art.  Those days are gone.  When 20 kindergarteners can be executed in a few minutes, the law must change.

I want our Senators and Representatives in Congress to stop being bribed by the deep pockets of the NRA.  Get off the NRA payroll."

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Jen D in NJ:  "Go to open secrets.org and see how little money our politicians have sold their souls for.  Not one of them has received more than $10,000 directly from the NRA in the 2012 election cycle, yet they kowtow and cower before the organization."
------------------- [True, $10,000 in a campaign for Congress is probably about like a dime for most of us working people...next thought / understanding:  the congressman or senator serves NRA interests not because the NRA gives him large amounts of money in campaign contributions, but because

if he doesn't vote NRA's way,

the NRA will spend the Serious $ to
defeat him.

It isn't so much being bought, as it is being bullied.

Not so much "kowtowing" as it is being "cowed."
Negative motivation.

Result is the same...the constituents doubt whether they are being listened to.]

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Then on cable news show, Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania says, "The NRA is a paper tiger!  All we need is some congressmen and senators who aren't wusses." 
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-30-

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