Friday, January 14, 2011

"The Glock" is a dangerous weapon. It is 'the gun of choice' by killers.

Sports are not going to disappear nor is the lucrative gun economy.  However, these weapons are completely unnecessary and irresponsible to allow to continue to exist in the USA.

...The smooth-firing Glock (click title to entry - thank you)  did not cause these massacres any more than it holds up convenience stores. But when outfitted with an extra-large magazine, it can raise the body count. The shooters in Arizona, Illinois, Virginia, Hawaii, and Texas could not have inflicted so many casualties so quickly had they been armed with old-fashioned revolvers. In its 2010 catalog, the manufacturer boasts that while the Glock 19 is "comparable in size and weight to the small .38 revolvers it has replaced," the pistol "is significantly more powerful with greater firepower and is much easier to shoot fast and true."

The Tucson gunman demonstrated those qualities all too vividly. Loughner is said to have emptied his 33-round clip in a minute or two, a feat requiring no special skill. (Glock does not sell magazines of that size to civilians, but some of its guns can accommodate them. The model 19 comes with a standard 15-round clip.) Loughner was wrestled to the ground by onlookers only when he paused to insert a fresh magazine. If he had been forced to reload sooner, the odds are good there would be fewer victims. Glock executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment....

The 'magazine' Loughner used is NOT sold with the gun.  THEREFORE, Loughner researched the weapon he wanted to use and how to enhance its ability to kill.  He obtained the 33 round magazines and set out on his mission.

He went to a Motel 6 to carry out his tasks because if he tried to organize himself with all the activity required that night he would have been discovered by his family, whom he did not want to risk being discovered.  His activity before 'his act' was very, very well researched and planned.  His activities from the motel room were 'direct' without being 'lost' or 'making mistakes' to his purpose and he was not wasting time.  When the first Walmart could not accommodate him within a short period of time he went to his 'second choice' and achieved his goal.

Barrett Says Glock Pistol Transforms U.S. Gun Culture (You Tube - click here)

Barrett is "W"rong.  The Glock is a very dangerous weapon even though it can be detected by x-ray.  Avoiding talking about any social problem simply allows it to develop.  The Glock was MERCHANIZED, by his own statements, and that is why it became popular.  It had nothing to do with the 'anti-gun' lobby or any other FREE SPEECH or PROTEST to end the gun accessibilty for such 'unnecessary' weapons in the USA.  Police and agents are the only people that should be allowed carry them.  If they showed up during the shooting, whcih lasted two minutes doing the damage it did, there would have been at least one dead officer until the gunman was dead.  I have to wonder if Loughner was wearing body armor, although I don't believe Walmart sells that and he probably could not afford it.

Anyone recognize her?

She has a DEFINED substance abuse problem, is very dysfunctional in her own life, is a 'threat' to herself and other, has a family that loves her deeply and there is very, very little that can be done through the court systems to stop her slide.  Donald Trump refuses to put her on Celebrity Apprentice.  Wow. 
Surprise, surprise. (click title to entry - thank you) Lindsay Lohan might be off the hook for her little incident involving the Betty Ford  staffer Dawn Holland.

According to TMZ, the case might be dropped because Holland has no interest in pursuing it.

Donald Trump to Lindsay: You're Not Hired!

She submitted a declaration to the D.A. that said, "I do not desire Ms. Lohan prosecuted for the events of December 12, 2010. I will not answer any questions to any policing or prosecutorial agencies regarding the events of December 12, 2010."

She reeeeeallly wants nothing to do with this all of a sudden! It’s almost too weird. It’s one thing if she didn’t care either way, but she’s making such a strong case against prosecuting Lindsay that it’s fishy to me.

It took Mothers Against Drunk Driving to begin the process of lowering deaths by drunk drivers.  If the CARS are the weapon of choice and alcohol facilitates it, then there is a chance it won't happen.

BUT.

If guns are the weapons of choice there is no to little recourse.

It is impossible to legislate behavior.

What Do Community Colleges Owe Their Students? (click title to entry - thank you)

Pima County Community College has taken a lot of heat over the past week because school officials recognized that Jared Lee Loughner was a troubled young man but failed to secure mental health treatment for him. But some have defended the school, arguing that educational institutions are responsible for, well, education, not their students' psychological well-being. Whatever the merits of the argument, school shootings, suicides, and other tragedies have drawn colleges further and further into the mental health world. According to USA Today, 80 percent of American colleges have some sort of "student of concern committee" responsible for identifying people who pose a danger to themselves or others. But critics argue that such groups are ineffective, no matter how well-intentioned they are, and sometimes they're not well-intentioned. In one case, an administrator demanded a mental health evaluation for a student who was causing political problems for him, and in Brooklyn, college officials had an international student committed when she complained (correctly) that her landlord was spying on her.

Read original story in The New York Times | Friday, Jan. 14, 2011

The New York Times Article.

...Virginia and Illinois passed laws (click here) requiring colleges and universities to establish multidisciplinary threat-evaluation teams. Today, more than half of the country’s 4,500 colleges and universities “acknowledge the need and have formed some capacity” to assess student threats, said Steven Healy, a former Princeton University police chief, who leads training programs in threat assessment under a grant from the Justice Department. On Tuesday, he was leading a workshop for 70 educators in Phoenix, which he began with a moment of silence.
At Virginia Tech, the Threat Assessment Team — a national model, whose members include the dean of students; the director of counseling; a university lawyer; and Dr. Deisinger, a psychologist who also holds the title of deputy police chief — meets weekly, discussing 6 to 20 cases.
A campus Web site about the team answers a hypothetical question, “Can’t you just make people leave campus if they are a problem?” in this way: “When people remain part of the Virginia Tech community, on-campus resources are available to them, and campus administrators are in contact with them to provide support they might not have if they were removed.”
In Arizona, people can be sent involuntarily for a mental health exam after any concerned party applies for a court-ordered evaluation, which can lead to mandated treatment....

There are many states that have laws which allow 'persons of concern' to be picked up for evaluation and possibly for commitment.  People involved with substance abuse are the best candidates and are often referred to treatment, but, others that are considered a 'social problem' are released after the initial evaluation and/or if committed they stay a few days to a week, take the medication perscribed and released after they are 'in compliance' to return home to simply stop taking the medication perscribed. 

This has all been tried before and it is why the best way to prevent and stop violence is to eliminate the weapons that cause them.

It is nealy as psychotic to believe in the USA that any citizen has to fear for their lives enough they have to arm themselves from their government.  That in and of itself is delusional thinking.  There is NO WAY anyone could stop the USA military if it were turned loose on the citizens of the country. 

There are too many people, in command of those forces, to ALLOW that dynamic to occur.  It won't happen.  There are agencies of the FBI and CIA and all kinds of civil rights groups that simply 'safeguard' that dynamic from happening.  Not that people don't slip through the cracks like McVeigh, or the Holocaust Museum killer, but, for a mass amount of people to 'find a threat' coming from their government is nearly impossible in the USA.  I just don't see it.  We have to many allies that stand guard over us as well.  I just don't see THAT as a viable reason to own guns and ammunition.


...The timeline (click here) also confirms a previous account by law enforcement officials that Loughner was stopped at 7:30 a.m. by an Arizona Game and Fish Department officer. That officer gave Loughner a verbal warning for running a red light on his way home.
Between 7:31 a.m. and 9:40 a.m., authorities say, Loughner returned to his house, removed a black bag from his vehicle and fled on foot, carrying the bag, after his father, Randy Loughner, confronted him.
Shortly thereafter, a cab driver picked up Loughner from a nearby Circle K convenience store, then dropped him off at a Safeway, the scene of the shooting. At 9:54 a.m., Loughner and the cab driver entered the Safeway to get change for the fare...

His family was beyond being able to intercede with him.  No doubt his father was livid because his son was out all night without knowing where he was and what he was doing and whom he was with.  It is still my opinion, Loughner was very careful about being 'found out' and measured his behavior around people he came in contact with that could stop him and this is still more proof.  He was very covert.  The 'label' everyone wants to put on it is 'Lone Wolf.'  We have heard the descriptions over and over and over again about how 'nice' people can 'appear' and how they were never preceived as a threat 'like this,' etc., etc., etc.  This is really no different.  He was going through a 'process of failure' in his life and making up his mind to find meaning in some way. 

Boy, oh, boy.

Let's get this on record. The Morgan profit increase occurred BEFORE Daley went into the White House.

...Yet lately the No. 2 U.S. lender (click title to entry - thank you) has lagged behind its less impressive peers (see chart, right). Though the bank has gained market share in all six of its major businesses since the financial crisis erupted in 2007, says Mike Mayo of CLSA, the stock is trading at a discount to its historic valuation....

Morgan was the ONLY investment bank that was solvent going into the financial crisis.  Morgan has never been as big on profits as other banks.  They have already had lower stock prices that have been 'in reach' of the small investor.  It has always been a fairly 'bet' when it comes to investing and this is no surprise when one realizes it was solvent AFTER it absorbed the failing banks that were failing left and right since 2007.

Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr returns from a three year religious sabbatical and already the Anti-Sadrists are preparing for the next invasion.

I love this paragraph.

...During his three years (click title to entry - thank you)  in exile al-Sadr has spent his time studying under some of Iran’s hardline ayatollahs at the Holy City of Qom, the place where Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, developed his radical Islamic ideology....

To begin with, he was never exiled.  It was a known fact he wanted to study to have a potential to rise to the status of Ayatollah as his father did.  There is this weird precept to the religion that the distaff side of a Holy Man's lineage 'sorta' demotes him to be a Cleric at best.  That is where the Shi'ites and Sunnis part company, so to speak.  The Shi'ites have a reverence for their female lineage that offers esteem to the Holy Men of that family.  So, there is a better than 'good' chance Moqtada will be an Ayatollah or Grand Ayatollah someday considering Saddam Hussein nearly wiped out the entire lineage.

I don't know about anyone else, but, I think of higher education as of at least four years for an undgergrad degree.  I doubt Seminary is much different.  So, to realize he was studying in Iran is understandable as no opportunity of that nature was offered in Iraq.  A Shi'ite Seminary?  Where?

I think the man arrived by car.  It might have been a commercial jet, but, he didn't decend on a cloud or on a chariot of fire, okay?

He arrives to a country with an election process whereby his supports are called, of all things, Sadrists.  I'll be darn.

You know, I wonder if he has a newspaper enterprise yet?  The Bush Guys destroyed his last one.

Oops, there goes freedom of the press.

You know something else, he didn't march into the country of Iraq with tanks and bombers over head like we did.

I wonder how the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is doing?  No one ever hears from him anymore.  I have to wonder if that cardiac procedure in Great Britain was 'all that.'

What was that guy's name that advised Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld?  Screwball or Fastball or Have a ball?  Remember that guy?

Well, they are getting set up for the next one.

A number worry that the firebrand cleric will once again spark violent confrontations and question whether he has really changed.  (click here)

January 10, 2011
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Baghdad — Even as supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr rejoiced at his return to Iraq, some in the country's Shiite Muslim majority population expressed alarm Sunday about the implications of his homecoming.
In Baghdad and the southern provinces of Basra and Maysan, the news gave deep pause to some Shiite Iraqis, mindful of Iraq's history since 2003 and wondering whether Sadr would once more spark violent confrontations, or whether he had in fact truly evolved....

Go get 'em, Ned.  Those conservatives with all the money to buy newspapers simply love this stuff.

"Faces of the Fallen" (click here)  Maybe next time 'you all' need to really 'get it right.'

Unfortunately we are still in that country and receiving fire with dead soldiers.  We not going to continue to do this and if there is an escalation of tensions and fighting, then we need to leave.  DEFINATELY.  We have been there BEFORE !

If the Iraqis need to separate into three autonomous provinces and fight to do it, then I'll guess they will fight it out alone !

8 U.S. Soldiers Killed Iraq NE- from 2008

As dedicated as Robert Gibbs is to providing factual and good information to the press...

...he missed 'the mark' yesterday with the Russian journalist. 

Rather than addressing the question with full 'content' of understanding, Gibbs chose to state 'the obvious' but not the 'reality.  He spoke about 'Americana' and NOT America.

The point the Russian journalist was making was exactly 'the point' Gibbs was unable to formulate an answer to.  The journalist portrayed 'not hatred' of American values but a very important point of 'denial' of the current American political process. 

Gibbs spoke of the FACT, American values does not include such violence against its government.  Talking about American Values was not the point and it was wrongly taken as a 'Russian opportunity' to defame the USA.

That wasn't at all the case.  Just because the journalist had a Russian accent doesn't mean he was being judgemental so much as being poignant.

His statements reflected the fact that violence, especially out of control social violence, is a very REAL part of the American landscape AND conveniently dismissed when 'talk' about violence is engaged in political discourse. 

The Russian Journalist was reflecting the 'value system' of the ever changing 'political face' of the recently elected House of Representatives which touts the USA Constitution as the do all and end all of the American government's challenges.  The journalist was being reflective of the 'value system' he is engaging within the current Legislative Branch of the USA.  Gibbs needs to get his mind around that fact and address the question without denying the reality.

The journalist was not out of line and shows exactly how 'denial stricken' the USA Press Corp sincerely is when it cannot even 'contextually' embrace the question from a colleague.

The answer by me is simply this.  "While the USA Constitution reflects all the words and the values associated with those words, the reality of the American Landscape is different.  The reality of the American Landscape reflects social problems that are addressed by laws.  The law in and of itself cannot stop violence although arguably IT SHOULD."

It is good to know at least ONE journalist among many is not tainted from reailty for the purpose of policital punditry.

This accounting in the Washington Post by a former classmate to Mr. Loughner is more than interesting.

From June 14: (click title to entry - thank you)..."We have a mentally unstable person in the class that scares the living crap out of me. He is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into class with an automatic weapon. Everyone interviewed would say, Yeah, he was in my math class and he was really weird. I sit by the door with my purse handy. If you see it on the news one night, know that I got out fast..."

Loughner was a very disgruntled young man.  The reports of him arguing with professors regarding grades, PROBABLY, showed how his family was attempting to have him take life seriously.  He was not 'free falling' unnoticed. 

We don't know what the family has been through either.  Having a sincerely troubled young man in a household is very, very upsetting while trying to seek resolutions where resolutions can be found.  I am confident many people if they reflect on acquaintances and their own family, perhaps their own family can somewhat identify with events that occur within our own understanding of these events.  Perhaps not everyone knows of such circumstances in other's lives, but, they exist.  There are more young men in the USA going through emotional shifts while 'out of reach' of any real resolve to their problems.  This isn't necessarily a male problem, it is just that men tend to become aggressive while females tend to be passive and removed during difficult times in their lives.

It is a problem and the reason it is a problem is because we are a nation of 'personal freedoms.'  Add to that the dynamics of 'merchanising' for economic purposes any personal freedom of a USA citizen has and there is evem more difficulty in 'reining in' people 'at the extremes.'   And don't tell me the merchanising of American freedoms doesn't happen, that would be a huge lie. 

Taking someone out of their day to day life and focus and earning and purchasing power is a huge dilemma for the judiciary considering the laws that oversee such events in a human life.  When people are removed by police to a onfinement center to be evaluated for instaibility to harm themselves or others it disrupts their employment and in many instances in low paying jobs it could cost them that tenuous attachment to income and a potential beyond their current status.

When a citizen lives within a democracy dominated by capitalism whereby life is guaranteed to them through engagement of that capitalism, there is little tolerance of problems sush as missing work, not calling in to a supervisor because they were 'detained' and school assignments being handed in late; it only creates more emotional turmoil and more focus on 'the system' as the problem with the 'enhanced' injustice of 'failure' to be successful.

It might have been that a 22 year old young man bargained to be a student to improve his life in order to maintain a status with his family and their hopes were to have him 'straighten out.'  The news reports included multiple visits to the family home.  I guarantee you the family has been through plenty.  If Loughner were 'smart enough' through trial and error to know what he could get away with 'in behavior' to stay out of reach of authorities there isn't any change in the law that is going to improve that EXCEPT to push 'tolerance' back a notch or two. 

I doubt the family was interested in 'sheltering' him from sincere help, either.

There is no legislation anyone can write that will chanage this violence EXCEPT removing THE OPPORTUNITY to own and use assault weapons within the borders of the USA.  Any PARTIAL measure short of that, will definately result in other and maybe even increasing violence within the USA. 

WHERE are the studies that say differently?

The 'Public Tone' definately has a place here.  People such as Loughner achieve greater and greater validity for their 'power struggle' when it is validated in a 'faux purposeful' way that is exploited for commercial gain. 

There may have been plenty of clues he may have been approaching aggression rather than 'self hurt,' but, I don't know that law enforcement could sincerely 'make that call' in a way that actually removes people from their lives.  Judges are very, very careful about these issues.  Lots of VALID reasons why they have to be.  Sincerely HAVE TO BE.

This problem is a societal problem and not a legislative problem to control citizens and it is why 'weapons' have to be regulated and controlled because the people cannot necessarily be regulated, controlled or 'fit a logarithm' a computer could speak with to PREDICT what is coming next.  Social problems have to be addressed through measures that dilute the ability of 'social members' to 'deliver on outcomes.'  It is NOT necessarily a 'profit driven' approach NOR should it be.

In a society such as the USA whereby "The Second Amerndment" existed to ensure THIRTEEN original colonies from potential return of 'the king/ POTUS' it has no real meaning in a First World Country other than for reason of sports.  If 'personal protection' is the answer realize a 'legal gun touting citizen' coming out of a store where the Congresswoman attended to her citizens' concerns nearly shot an innocent man that grabbed the gun from Loughner's hand, believing he was the gun man.

HELLO?

Wouldn't that have been interesting, huh?  Citiznes believing that Loughner had an accomplish and shooting each other in the heat of the moment.  It is a lousy idea that simply doesn't have credence in a civilized society.  Guns should never be 'merchanized' as personal protection or as a 'shooters club.'  Not that they don't occur, but, it should never be that imposing 'in the fermament.'  Never. 

Hate in any form should never be tolerated in public discourse.  And hate backed up by actions and words is simply outrageous.  Unthinkable.  Even if only implied.

Adoptions can be lucrative. I am not surprised there is opposition of a Mental Health program that deals with abortion rights.

Lauren Gard has been counseling on Exhale's hot line since May.

...Calls to Exhale’s hot line (click here) surged after the program. But some opponents of abortion, including Bill O’Reilly, the conservative commentator, sharply criticized the program as “glorifying” abortion. Jill Stanek, a popular anti-abortion blogger, inaccurately accused Exhale and other “pro-abortion ideologues” of underwriting the program.
Advocates of abortion rights, on the other hand, mostly viewed the program more neutrally and even suggested that it might help curb abortion by showing the difficult decisions involved.
The reaction to the program has frustrated some Exhale staff members who said they never wanted anything to do with politics — Ms. Baker described Exhale’s position on abortion as “pro-voice.” It has also raised questions about whether an organization that calls abortion a “normal part of reproductive life” can avoid being drawn into the political battle over abortion.....

If it is NOT a normal decision to women seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, then what is it?  Deranged?  By whom's standard?  The Christian Conservatives (a policital faction in the USA)? 

The BIBLE standards according to Christians is NOT included the DSM IV.




 
 

The political influence of the Christian Conservatives is grossly out of balance in the USA.  The reason for that is the FEDERAL funding of special interests.  It is corrupt and should not be occurring.  Let's see how much the Repuglican House rolls that back to Pre-Bush levels.

Intimacy is a comfort.  For people with lower incomes and not much else but togtherness as a remedy to life it is a huge comfort.  It is allowed to be a comfort, a human comfort, under the laws of the USA.  Until the Christian Conservatives Political Faction comes up with a substitution for comfort in intimacy will there be NO abortions.  Sex happens, babies DON'T.
The privacy of the support netword, "Exhale," help isolated women resolve their turmoil and gives them support where no support groups exist or are necessarily desired.  I thank the people at "Exhale."

The EPA has made the right and best decision.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is making good on a 9-month-old threat and revoking a permit for West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal mine.
The agency said Thursday that Arch Coal's Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County would cause irreparable damage to the environment.
The nearly 2,300-acre operation would bury 7 miles of streams. EPA says it would likely hurt downstream water quality.
Arch has argued killing the project would hurt West Virginia's economy and tax base.
The St. Louis-based coal company has planned to invest $250 million in the project, creating 250 jobs.
The mine was permitted in 2007 but has been delayed by lawsuits.
This is only the 13th time EPA has vetoed a water permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

When the EPA turns sumersaults to 'find a way' for an entire year, it needs to be called what it is.  The Logan Mine was a disaster waiting to happen and would have caused severe impairment of citizens' ability to live productive lives with longevity and good health.

Sludge dam near mountaintop removal coal mining site in
Logan County, West Virginia (Photo by Kent Kessinger courtesy
NO MORE !!!

We have had enough of lousy business practices that destroy lives and ultimately costs the American Taxpayer more money than the company could ever produce in the first place.

The proposed mine project would have:
  • Buried more than six miles of high-quality streams in Logan County, West Virginia with millions of tons of mining waste from the dynamiting of more than 2,200 acres of mountains and forestlands.
  • Buried more than 35,000 feet of high-quality streams under mining waste, eliminating all wildlife.
  • Polluted downstream waters as a result of burying these streams, leading to unhealthy levels of salinity and toxic levels of selenium that turn fresh water into salty water. The resulting waste that then fills valleys and streams can significantly compromise water quality, often causing permanent damage to ecosystems and streams.
  • Caused downstream watershed degradation that will kill wildlife, impact birdlife, reduce habitat value, and increase susceptibility to toxic algal blooms.
  • Inadequately mitigated for the mine's environmental impacts by not replacing streams being buried, and attempting to use stormwater ditches as compensation for natural stream losses.

When it comes to long term costs to the state and federal governments these projects never, ever call up THAT DATA.  It is all short term gains without any consideration for what lies 'after the profit' runs out and it no longer makes enough money to continue to any environmental standard if any existed in the first place.  The population of the country isn't getting smaller, BUT, between lousy mining practices and hydraulic fracturing practices its clean water supply certainly is.

The House Repuglicans can have fund DEFUNDING the Superfund, right?  Let the local and state governments pick up the cost.  What the heck, why not?

Superfund Sites Where You Live (click here)

...The Kerr-McGee (Columbus) (click here) site in Mississippi, previously regulated under the state and federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) programs, could not be managed under RCRA authority following the potentially responsible party’s bankruptcy filing. As a result, the responsibility of the site transitioned to the Superfund Division. During the transition, a community engagement plan of action was immediately crafted for the site....

EPA vetoes water permit for W.Va. mountaintop mine  (click title to entry - thank you)

By VICKI SMITH