It's official. John R. Bolton, the former Ambassador to the UN under Dubya and current favorite go-to cranky guy on Bullshit Mountain News, is a dickhead for saying that Hilary Clinton's illness is a "diplomatic illness."
Clearly, he's a dickhead for many other reasons than this, but this one takes the dickhead cake.
Way to stay classy, John. And there are others on Bullshit Mountain who are just as classy.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
NRA finally speaks about Sandy Hook and I agree with some of it...
Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, has finally gone on the record in what was billed as a news conference. Although the word "conference" suggests a two-way dialog, an exchange of ideas, Mr. LaPierre said his piece and would not take questions.
Principle among the NRA's suggestions is that the US Government do whatever it takes to place armed guards inside schools around the country. The NRA's name for this program is School Shield. I'm left to wonder if they'll also be promoting a Shopping Mall Shield, a Movie Theater Shield, a Church Shield, an Abortion Clinic Shield, and a General Workplace Shield, but time will tell, because the larger picture is not just about schools.
Maybe it's just me, but it does seem nothing less than odd that an organization dedicated to the argument that US citizens must arm and defend themselves against their big and scary government is asking that same big and scary government to act bigger and scarier.
That the NRA is nothing more than a lobbying organization is obvious, and I'm not a fan of them, but I do believe in the right to bear arms; I just don't need an advocacy group to enable me, to justify my belief.
I do agree, though, that voluntarily armed teachers in schools could help be a deterent to evil people intent on doing evil things. Criminals don't obey laws; this is why they're criminals. An insane thug intent on insane thuggery will see a sign that reads "Gun Free Zone" and interpret it as "Target-Rich Zone." Anyone who thinks otherwise is being naive.
Moreover, though, I think the forces set against this happening --- i.e., the parents, other teachers, administrators, legislatures, both state and federal, and others --- will try prevent it from even being tried. Mr. LaPierre said that the best way to counteract a bad person with a gun is with a good person with a gun, and I do agree with this... in principle. We just need to be sure the implementation is appropriate, that everyone is on the same page with it, and that the ways it can backfire are considered clearly before trying it.
It's a radical idea, but banning weapons has proven completely useless in the past, so why do it again.
Principle among the NRA's suggestions is that the US Government do whatever it takes to place armed guards inside schools around the country. The NRA's name for this program is School Shield. I'm left to wonder if they'll also be promoting a Shopping Mall Shield, a Movie Theater Shield, a Church Shield, an Abortion Clinic Shield, and a General Workplace Shield, but time will tell, because the larger picture is not just about schools.
Maybe it's just me, but it does seem nothing less than odd that an organization dedicated to the argument that US citizens must arm and defend themselves against their big and scary government is asking that same big and scary government to act bigger and scarier.
That the NRA is nothing more than a lobbying organization is obvious, and I'm not a fan of them, but I do believe in the right to bear arms; I just don't need an advocacy group to enable me, to justify my belief.
I do agree, though, that voluntarily armed teachers in schools could help be a deterent to evil people intent on doing evil things. Criminals don't obey laws; this is why they're criminals. An insane thug intent on insane thuggery will see a sign that reads "Gun Free Zone" and interpret it as "Target-Rich Zone." Anyone who thinks otherwise is being naive.
Moreover, though, I think the forces set against this happening --- i.e., the parents, other teachers, administrators, legislatures, both state and federal, and others --- will try prevent it from even being tried. Mr. LaPierre said that the best way to counteract a bad person with a gun is with a good person with a gun, and I do agree with this... in principle. We just need to be sure the implementation is appropriate, that everyone is on the same page with it, and that the ways it can backfire are considered clearly before trying it.
It's a radical idea, but banning weapons has proven completely useless in the past, so why do it again.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
I don’t know, maybe it’s just us…
Some of our idioms might say a great deal more about us than we know…
- Shoot yourself in the foot
- You’re firing blanks
- Shoot the works
- Shoot for the moon
- Shoot too high or too low
- Shot down in flames
- Shoot the cat
- Shoot cookies
- Shoot the messenger
- Shoot hoops
- A turkey shoot
- A shot in the dark
- Shoot from the hip
- Shoot down an idea
- Shoot the front door
- Shoot fish in a barrel
- Shooting sitting ducks
- Shoot the bull
- Sure as shooting
- The whole shooting match
- Shoot first, ask questions later, and
- Shoot the breeze
Or maybe I’m just shooting my mouth off.
Friday, December 14, 2012
What you did makes you an asshole and nothing more...
This will possibly offend some and piss off others, but I don’t care.
My heart hurts.
As I’m certain far too many of us are, today, I’m sick and tired and heartbroken and pissed about another in a far too long line of seemingly endless episodes that find apparently suicidal numbskulls wanting innocent bystanders and strangers to share in their own callous and craven and cowardly self-inflicted ends.
Row and I lost two dear and long-time friends to suicide and a third to a selfish and unintended act based on self-destructive behavior, as we later discovered. We loved them very much and miss them even more.
We spoke with them on the phone or in person a couple of days before they saw to their own ends. In those conversations, nothing was said about their struggles. Nothing was said about their pain. And speaking for myself and much to my eternal regret and my everlasting sense of shame and guilt, I wasn’t even remotely aware of what they might have been going through in what would prove to be the last moments I’d ever spend with them. We loved them very much and miss them even more.
This said, if anyone out there is struggling, in pain, and possibly contemplating completing suicide, please… please… PLEASE… talk to someone or ask someone to talk to you. PLEASE get help. PLEASE search for a solution, because you just might be able to find one.
But… if you insist, instead, on taking your life as a permanent solution to what is probably a temporary problem --- and make no mistake, this is exactly what suicide is --- if you insist on depriving your family and friends of your love, of your light, of your life and their life with you, then… just… fucking… DO it. Take your life.
But don’t you dare even contemplate taking the lives of innocents who never did you any harm, because all that does is end their lives, ruin the lives of those who loved them, make too many even sadder than you might have felt you were, and permanently, eternally, brand you as a coward and an asshole.
My heart hurts.
My heart hurts.
As I’m certain far too many of us are, today, I’m sick and tired and heartbroken and pissed about another in a far too long line of seemingly endless episodes that find apparently suicidal numbskulls wanting innocent bystanders and strangers to share in their own callous and craven and cowardly self-inflicted ends.
Row and I lost two dear and long-time friends to suicide and a third to a selfish and unintended act based on self-destructive behavior, as we later discovered. We loved them very much and miss them even more.
We spoke with them on the phone or in person a couple of days before they saw to their own ends. In those conversations, nothing was said about their struggles. Nothing was said about their pain. And speaking for myself and much to my eternal regret and my everlasting sense of shame and guilt, I wasn’t even remotely aware of what they might have been going through in what would prove to be the last moments I’d ever spend with them. We loved them very much and miss them even more.
This said, if anyone out there is struggling, in pain, and possibly contemplating completing suicide, please… please… PLEASE… talk to someone or ask someone to talk to you. PLEASE get help. PLEASE search for a solution, because you just might be able to find one.
But… if you insist, instead, on taking your life as a permanent solution to what is probably a temporary problem --- and make no mistake, this is exactly what suicide is --- if you insist on depriving your family and friends of your love, of your light, of your life and their life with you, then… just… fucking… DO it. Take your life.
But don’t you dare even contemplate taking the lives of innocents who never did you any harm, because all that does is end their lives, ruin the lives of those who loved them, make too many even sadder than you might have felt you were, and permanently, eternally, brand you as a coward and an asshole.
My heart hurts.
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