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Tag Archives: As I see It

Post Newtown-Et al.


As the debate over gun (firearms) control  and Second amendment rights to bear arms continues, again we see each side courting favor for support in the media. While there may be some validity in each side’s argument. Neither  of    them seem to be able to just shut down the rhetoric and make some effort towards an accord or some reasonable decisions. This seems to be an abstract concept as they are apparently not interested in a balanced solution. While professing to   speak for all americans (firearm owners or not) The NRA has maintained their hardline against certain types of firearms being regulated. This hardline is where some members (if they will admit it) deviate from the organizations mainline. Nobody wants to regulated by government but if we face the facts, without some government oversight and regulation we would be in deeper trouble than we are now. Ours while not perfect is still a model of  government that works, the downside is that we have come to rely on elected officials who are only human and prone to mistakes as we all are. It is within our ability as citizens to demand proper laws that will hopefully reduce the chance of these types of firearm incidents occurring with or without the NRA’s support. This is not a slam on the NRA but more a question as to what the NRA could be doing to help reduce the chance of these incidents occurring again. We already know that some of our Congress members have been reluctant in enacting or altering any firearms laws but sometime the “bullet has to be bitten” for things to get better.

Several Things Considered


Recent war of words on gun control (should be firearms control), Afghanistan and new cabinet members produced many thoughts in my head and I need to get them out. The fire arm situation comes down to who can invoke a reasonable solution to a prickly problem. It is understood that the tragedies could possibly have been prevented but what would have prevented them? We have a host of laws in most states on firearm ownership and use but we have nothing on the mental state of a person purchasing or owning them. There are background checks and these checks no doubt have prevented the sale of firearms to some. We have no method of determining the mental state of an existing firearm owner of future purchasers. It is possible that perhaps the limitation on who can own or purchase “assault” type weapons could have prevented or  limited the loss of life and injury in the recent events but it seems that the doers of these bad deeds had mental issues that would by law (if it existed) have been prevented them from purchasing or owning firearms. It is true that the Connecticut situation is different in that the shooter did not own or purchase the firearms but had access. It appears that a list of solutions are possible up to and including a special license to buy or own “assault” type weapons but will this do the job? I have no specific recommendations but some sort of special application could apply to these type of weapons where the applicant would have to survive a mental provision or test. On to Afghanistan: The president of Afghanistan is not an ally and never will be, he is no more than the highest ranking feudal leader in the country and will always be. He will take aid and assistance from anyone who will give it and give nothing back beyond lip service. WE need to get out and let the chips fall where they may. Cabinetry: There are several proposed members of the Presidents cabinet and some prove to be controversial but never the less most if not all will be confirmed. The Congress appears to take more interest in small issues to avoid the biggest issue-the economy, that being said I again state that we need to think in terms of changing the membership of Congress on the State and Federal level. No more to be said today on this. Happy New Year.

Retail Xmas


Having had the opportunity to work during the past holidays from Thanksgiving through Xmas, I have made some observations. All retailers at the end of the year aim for initially “black Friday” then everyday after that to improve their bottom lines. This continues up to and including New Years sales ( the eve, the day and sometimes days after).  There are clearance sales of all sorts, there are end of year specials along with the shock troop kind of ads to help unload the seasonal items that take up shelf and floor space. This transition period usually requires  a team of  people to make these changes move quickly and as smooth as possible. This period of change does create a look of chaos and a Hodge podgy look for a short time but at the same time for those shoppers who delight in bargain hunting and have a “flea market” mindset these areas are gold mines. The upside is that these miners are important in clearing out those pockets of remnants. The downside is that workers toil overnight to police these areas while preparing for the next seasonal change at the same time continuing normal replenishment .These pre and during holiday work times have left me with a sense of not enjoying the Holidays as I once did. Previously I enjoyed hearing the Xmas carols from the wide assortment of singers and musicians but I found my self pretty tired of it since there was loop of the same singers and songs blaring with a sprinkling of company ads to sour the mix. In previous times I looked forward to cueing up several (now CD’s) albums of Xmas music, having a nog or two and some good food or snacks. This year I could not wait for it all to be done, the one pleasure that remained was the fun of setting up of the outdoor lights and the figures. I have decided that when the end of the year harvest time through Xmas rolls around again  I will be taking a vacation from work with or without pay.

Poisons We Take In.


A recent televised Dr’s show was pointing out the amount of poisons we ingest daily. While the basic premise is correct but a bit inexact. As humans we have and will continue to ingest these poisons only in the organic forms. These organic forms in the small quantities we take in just pass right through leaving the benefits they provide and causing no harm. The true poisons are the synthetic forms of these same compounds. These are the deadly forms and the ones that are commonly used in manufacturing and food production.  The reason for the synthetic compounds is that they aid in the production of food, clothing, and the maintenance of  crops grown for food. In  the years of scientific involvement in crop production, the processing and growth  of  food crops has involved the synthetic poisons since the organics are not as readily available in the quantity required for those uses.  The scientists have been very successful in improving our lives by creating  these synthetic compounds yet the long range  after effects were never considered. Look at  the vast amount of plastic materials that will never decay and will always be around. These plastics have no purpose once they have been used and the industry has not figured out a way to recycle all of it. Once placed in a  landfill, they  decay at a very slow rate while leaching their individual parts into the air and soil. These components become airborne and are washed out into the ground and thereby the water table due to weathering. This cycle brings the poisons back to us in what we eat, touch and feel. Did you ever wonder why some of the everyday items we use work so well?- poisons!

Is It Just Me?


Our neer do well Congress has finally shown how useless they are. We as voters have never really trusted elected officials but we have re-elected them time after time out of ignorance, laziness or party loyalty. In retrospect our 535 with all of the recent hedging and media appearances (for no good reason) have failed to do what we pay them (handsomely) for. This is not a new development, we have just been lucky enough to have modern mass communication that  tells us everything the Congress does  and says (and they seem to love being in the spotlight) even if it what is issued barely relates to the truth. The past few years  (and more) should make it clear that our Legislators have only the interests of their big money backers and  what ever it takes to look after themselves. If we do not begin to vote against these long term  seat fillers, our government malfunctions will continue. This has nothing to do with anything more than firing non productive workers.

Firearms Again


The radical statements and solution put forth by the NRA leadership are at once unreasonable and a bit scary. Armed guards in schools and maybe other institutions’ is a bit over the top, if the aim is to keep renewal of the  ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines  off of the table in Congress. This does not and I doubt will affect other firearms laws and rights. It is always possible to have the laws subverted to include more restrictions but vigilance by the public is required to prevent that. The vigilance has more to do with voters looking at what the law may entail instead of accepting a partial explanation from Congress and the media. We often get information from a single source and take it as correct or true, this is a mistake. Each source has their own agenda and that agenda is not necessarily good for us. The modern electronic delivery of information has the ability to inundate us with information and a lot of it is so much  rhetoric and not enough truth. The solution for the assault weapons ban along with high capacity magazines seems simple to me so my thought is: special licensing for owners, restrictions on how many magazines can be owned for these weapons. These ideas may not be feasible or plausible but it is a starting point. This does not need to be played out in the media, the only way to do this is take the information,  discuss it and create a solution.

Wasted Millions


Of  all of the millions of dollars spent by big money donors to defeat the President how much could have been spent to assist the poorest Americans instead?  This appears to indicate the self serving nature of  these “donors”. The ability to spend these huge amounts of money to preserve their political power is seemingly more important than using that same money to help the folks who have lost jobs due to the outsourcing done by some of these folks. Although I can appreciate idea of not paying more taxes than necessary, I understand that the country runs on taxes from all of us except the very poor and the unemployed. So paying your share of taxes would potentially move some of the unemployed and possibly some of the poor from those positions and into a taxpaying role.

No Call Registry


The National no Call Registry used to cover only 800 numbers but now  that phone solicitors use local area codes and other number other than the original 800 series. These  too can be registered. Imagine how much time you could spend registering the multitude of numbers received for solicitations and surveys? The National no call registry requires you to register along with your phone numbers and it takes at least 30 days before it takes effect. You can submit complaints against phone solicitors after that and only if you request that the soliciting company or their agent remove your name from their call list. If this does not occur, you can then submit a complaint with the national no call registry. Does this work?, I cannot be sure but it is certainly worth the effort.

So What


I read in one of several feeds I receive about the “hot” women who are in committed relationships with women. Isn’t this a bit silly? While this information is possibly newsworthy, I  say so what? If men obsessing over well known attractive women halts due to those women’s  sexual preferences then we could be in trouble. Modern times call for modern thinking, sexual preferences have been “outed” and accepted as normal by most rational people yet there are  some hardliners who still maintain the staunch position of  who  should date or marry who. It should not take a National or local law to allow freedom of expression or preference in America where people are supposed to free to live the life they choose without fear of condemnation. If we paid this much attention to our elected officials we would possibly have a  better functioning government.

Blasphemy or Just Callousness?


The Springfield Urban league has committed a seemingly planned slap in the face of its area of service and it’s Head Start employees. The annual Gala (now called anniversary) has as guest speaker  the U.S. Attorney of the central District of Illinois. The speaker is Mr. jim Lewis who in his career has been a civil rights advocate  and Head Start worker with a grand reputation for fighting for the rights of minorities. They (The Springfield Urban League) in my view have contrived to smear a coat of fresh paint on their faces to hide the evil deeds they have heaped on the community and it’s residents. Mr. Lewis’ background would make him an excellent choice for the speaker if the league were a better community based organization. Mr. Lewis’ appearance while not mitigating his accomplishments adds an  air of approval for the “League’s actions” of the past few years. I am sure if Mr. Lewis knew the poor track record of the Springfield Urban league, he would surely have declined this invitation.