‘Now the time has come; there is no place to run’
As we all know, the Mayan long-count calendar comes to an end today, at the winter solstice of the 13th b’ak’tun. And there are three basic interpretations of what happens next:
A.) Nothing.
B.) A new era begins, dramatically different from that which came before.
C.) It all ends. Everything. Kaput. Finito. Put a period on that sucker.
"I swear, these fools will believe almost ANYTHING!"
Option A, while most likely, is also the least amount of fun. Totally boring.
Option B, on the other hand, offers far more opportunities for exploration. Might we really be at the dawning of a new age? There are some who say we might very well be.
Consider, for example, the fact that the last time the Mayan long-count calender flipped over was some 5,129 years ago. And what was happening around that time frame?
A lot, as it turns out. Roughly 5,000 years ago, the Stone Age ends. Early agriculture begins in North Africa. Troy is founded. Betty White is born. Stonehenge is built. Cities emerge. The Bronze Age begins, and with it recorded human history. It was indeed a time of total transformation of human consciousness.
Are we now perched at the edge of another such transformation? The evidence. some say, is compelling. Consider, for example, this portion of the Dresden Codex, a Mayan book and the oldest known book written in the Americas. It is reported to deal with the end of time. Note the prominent figure carrying a bucket spilling water — a water carrier. As in Aquarius, the water carrier.
As in Age of Aquarius, dawning of? I report, you decide.
For those of a more pessimistic frame of mind, we offer Option C. The problem with Option C is that many, many prophecies of the end of time have been issued by charlatans over the centuries, and so far none has come true.
And how do we know they’ve never come true? Because you’re still sitting there reading this, you dummy.
But you see, that’s the easy answer to the easy question. The deceptively easy question. Here’s a tougher question: What if we’re NOT really here? What if the world as we knew it really HAS ended, and we are now someplace else but just don’t realize it?
Sure, everything may look the same. It may even feel the same. It’s Friday. Friday Night Travelin’ Music is on Bookman’s blog, just as it always is. It’s all exactly the same.
But … isn’t it all just a little TOO exactly the same? What if this world is SUPPOSED to look the same and feel the same as THAT world?
In the words of that great seer, Rod Serling:
“We know that a dream can be real, but who ever thought that reality could be a dream? We exist, of course, but how, in what way? As we believe, as flesh-and blood human beings? Or are we simply parts of someone’s feverish, complicated nightmare? Think about it, and then ask yourself, do you live here, in this country, in this world, or do you live instead… in the Twilight Zone.”
I suspect that is a question that John Boehner has no doubt asked himself often.
Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
EXCELLENT COWBELL!
– Jay Bookman
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887 comments Add your comment
Rightwing Troll
December 23rd, 2012
12:39 pm
” Every Israeli citizen has to do 2 years with the IDF. ”
Everyone but the ultra Orthodox (ultra conservatives), they are exempt from compulsory service, and from having to work. We subsidize Israel’s military so they can pay for a segment of their society to perpetually exist on welfare and study the Torah all their lives.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
12:39 pm
Kam: Fred is probably like me and most men that HATE TO SHOP!
Hate to shop!!
That’s SACRILEGE!
I wanna know in advance what to get and where to get it. I don’t like wandering around from store to store looking at all the stuff.
Then its no a surprise!! Duh!!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
12:41 pm
We subsidize Israel’s military so they can pay for a segment of their society to perpetually exist on welfare and study the Torah all their lives.
Shhhhhh!! Ixnay on the Israeli welfarnay!
Rightwing Troll
December 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm
” It’s a puzzle, video games and movies don’t seem to me to have any weight, access to guns ain’t going away, and not much can truly be done about identifying mentally ill much less actually treating them with any success…”
The thing about video games, to me, is not so much the violence, but the social isolation provided by the networked games.
we’ve raised a whole generation of boys who live a dark basements and who’s entire social skillset consists of an anonymous screen name and the constant taunting and smack talk to other anonymous screen names. (kind of like political blogs)
They’ve been raised not learning how to lose, because as children they weren’t allowed to. And they have no respect, or sense of empathy for others because they’ve never grown too big for their britches and been punched in the nose as a result. Instead all that normal boy stuff has been replaced by anonymous trash talk and endless “killing” with no adverse consequence.
Rightwing Troll
December 23rd, 2012
12:52 pm
I know Debbie, I’ll be accused of wanting to push Israel into the sea for speaking out… But to me it’s yet another grand hypocrisy on the wingnut’s part, unequivocal support for a religious welfare state, paid for by our tax dollars.
Traneaya
December 23rd, 2012
12:55 pm
DebbieDoRight – A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
12:30 pm
“How many of these blacks are in a position of power to change people’s lives?”
Does the President of the United States count?
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
12:57 pm
Rightwing Troll
Oooooops. Forgot about that group. Should have said “most every” instead.
Rightwing Troll
December 23rd, 2012
12:58 pm
“Does the President of the United States count?”
Yes if you’re counting the increased membership in the KKK, and the increase of weapons sales as changing people’s lives…
indigo
December 23rd, 2012
1:09 pm
Debbie – 12:30
Maybe we should just abandon our Democracy and voting and become a Communist country with blacks in charge.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
1:15 pm
Does the President of the United States count?
Could you name a few laws that he’s advocated or advanced that does at least one of these things that I’ve talked about previously:
**How many blacks make laws that curtail or disintegrate whites rights to vote? How many blacks make laws that belittle or disenfranchise millions of ethnic minorities regarding immigration?
**And to top it off, how many blacks in a position of power went on national television and denigrated the Indian nation by saying that someone doesn’t “look indian enough”?
Thanks for playing! Buh bye Boo-Boo.
================
RT: The thing about video games, to me, is not so much the violence, but the social isolation provided by the networked games
True — but when you look at a country like Japan, who makes most of our games and who plays them, they don’t have the high prolific body count as America does. And when someone goes whacko in Japan, the people don’t say, “It’s the video games!!”
====================
RT: I’ll be accused of wanting to push Israel into the sea for speaking out… But to me it’s yet another grand hypocrisy on the wingnut’s part, unequivocal support for a religious welfare state, paid for by our tax dollars.
Shhhhh!! You wanna bunch of crazy folks after you?!? OK I’ve got a plan, we’ll do like the Romney …………….we’ll get you a magic etch-o-sketch and pretend this never happened!! And if someone brings it up, we’ll say, “Are you anti-American?!” and act shocked!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
1:27 pm
Everybody congratulate me!! I’m a brand new aunt again!!
My sister just gave birth to two boys! (FINALLY!) Everyone’s at the hospital, (I’m home with my aunt and nephew); so I missed all the long hours at the hospital (yeah!!!)
Since i got my sister to name her first child after our grand, I’ll probably not have a chance to name these two; she’ll probably name them after our father and her husband; but I was really digging the name Deacon (like the football player); and i”m going to give her my two cents anyway!!
Oh and congratulations to my sister too!! and her husband! (forgot about them!)
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
1:33 pm
Congrats Debbie.
Two more “commies” to scare indigo.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
1:39 pm
getalife:
thanks!
indigo
December 23rd, 2012
1:53 pm
getalife – 1:33
I’ve heard funnier things than that from a pregnant nun at an abortion clinic.
RF
December 23rd, 2012
1:54 pm
DDR: congrats on the nephews!!!
Thanks for the boa. Purple….me LIKES!!!
“Maybe we should just abandon our Democracy and voting and become a Communist country with blacks in charge”
COOL– soul food for everybody and some good soul music blasting from every street corner. Man, I could get used to that!!
RF
December 23rd, 2012
1:57 pm
@DDR 1:15- Whew, I think I may have to hand the boa back after that!
indigo
December 23rd, 2012
2:00 pm
David Grainger – 11:18
josef – 11:32
The classic Mayan civilization collapsed in the 9th century, long before the Spanish came to America.
Jerome Horwitz
December 23rd, 2012
2:01 pm
Hey Kam – Yeah 1-1 against Swansea. Lots of chances – nothing in the net. Didn’t get to watch the Chelsea match as the dogs needed walking. Glad to hear they were doing well.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
2:02 pm
Hallelujah! We’re getting back to normal…Israel and them d*mned Jews! Whew! Now I can relax!
DDR
Mazel tov…if I’m allowed to say that…
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:02 pm
“The arrival of the whites was “predicted/prophesied” in the Chilam Balam and connected with Quetzalcoatl”
Goodness, but I do get all tingly when a man talks all educated like that. Pass me the fan, Prissy, I think I’m feeling a little faint…
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:03 pm
indigo,
The commie comment was the dumbest thing I have read in a long time.
JohnnyReb
December 23rd, 2012
2:03 pm
Grover Norquist was on This Week with Stephie. He deserves a commendation for remaining calm and collected and not strangling Katrina vanden Heuvel to within a breath of her life.
I could further list various words of opinion on vanden Heuvel, but none would get past the blue nose. Suffice it to say, she is an example why there will never be political agreement in this country. Most sane Lefties would settle for banning semi-automatic weapons and 30 round magazines. Not her. She wants to take away all the guns, don’t ever doubt it. A pox on her house.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
2:04 pm
indigo
That, too….
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
2:08 pm
Thanks RF!! Just got off the phone with one of my brothers — he was ragging on my sister cause everyone was hoping to (finally) get more girls in the family.
My family is loaded with boys, boys, boys!! We were all hoping for at least ONE girl outta the two!
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:08 pm
reb,
He is just a lobbyist. If you want to stop the massacres at schools, you have to ban guns like other countries. Those kids are dying for your freedom to have guns.
SOUTHERN ATL
December 23rd, 2012
2:13 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COyYBfxHhWI
josef
December 23rd, 2012
2:13 pm
RF
I had a buddy back in university who was involved with the Mesa Redonda de Palenque group!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
2:14 pm
josef: DDR Mazel tov…if I’m allowed to say that…
Of COuRSE, and thank you!
RF: Goodness, but I do get all tingly when a man talks all educated like that. Pass me the fan, Prissy, I think I’m feeling a little faint…
Watch out there now! I don’t know nuthin ’bout no fans! Just boas!
JR: Only you…………….sigh……….that’s all, only you.
I was watching This week with George this morning, I thought it was an invigorating and enlightening conversation this week. Even Peggy Noonan, RightWingTroll extraordinaire see the need for comprehensive adjustments to our “gun envy” obsession.
JohnnyReb
December 23rd, 2012
2:15 pm
getalife – so you think I don’t know Grover is a lobbyist? My comment was on vanen Heuvel being so ridiculous and obnoxious. She is a far-Left kook who hurts the debate. She should be sentenced to permanent kitchen duty in her upper Manhattan mansion.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:18 pm
reb,
She passed the moral test and does not want kids to die so you can have guns.
You failed and want kids to die so you can have guns.
It is a test from God.
JohnnyReb
December 23rd, 2012
2:20 pm
Debbie – I agree Peggy had some good comments. So did Booker. vanden Heuvel on the other hand demonstrated her extreme Left position. I would like to see her and Huffington on the next explorer rocket to Mars!
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
2:20 pm
DDR
Congrats on the addition to the family!!!!!!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
2:21 pm
getalife: The commie comment was the dumbest thing I have read in a long time.
Just ignore indigo. Sometimes he’s in a “fighting mood” and lets emotion overcome reason. I wasn’t certain, but i think indigo may be a man.
At first I thought he was a sane, rational woman; but these last couple of days…..well………
And NO male bashing comments from the peanut gallery! Thank you!
JohnnyReb
December 23rd, 2012
2:21 pm
getalife – I am surprised. You are even dumber than I thought.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:22 pm
reb,
Another argument is in a globalization era, will corps move to countries that banned guns like China?
Yes, they are .
Andrea Bocelli
December 23rd, 2012
2:22 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwp1CH5R-w4
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:23 pm
“My family is loaded with boys, boys, boys!! We were all hoping for at least ONE girl outta the two!”
We had a goodly run of girls in the latest generation in my family. Sounds like yours is just keeping the balance!
getalife: we’re way past banning, and we have far too many in circulation right now that are becoming nearly priceless just at the mere mention of banning them. What has to happen, and this will take a couple of generations at least, is to break the love affair with the guns. That’s not very likely, but I never thought MADD would get as much done as they have to change policy and perception about drunk driving. Nothing will change until we, as a society, change our view of what proper ownership and use of guns really means. We’ll have the 2nd amendment thrown at us like it’s the stone tablets Moses brought down from the mountain until then. Let them freak out and wear themselves out.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
2:28 pm
JR: She should be sentenced to permanent kitchen duty in her upper Manhattan mansion.
Ouch! I would call “foul” and issue a yellow card, but with my previous “male” comment I can’t take the high road. DAmmit!
JR: Debbie – I agree Peggy had some good comments. So did Booker. vanden Heuvel on the other hand demonstrated her extreme Left position
Agreed, sorta. VanH is just very passionate about the topic, as a lot of people are. Booker was passionate too, but took a different approach to the subject. I think, the people in the middle of a firestorm — like a Booker or in this instance a Noonan — are perhaps the BEST people to act in a crisis like this.
People in the “middle” so to speak, don’t get swayed, (either right or left), with emotions.
===============
Thanks Bro! My mom sent me a picture of them – those kids are FAT! No wonder my sister couldn’t stop eating!
Oh and they have these really big heads too. I’m hoping they’ll grow into them……don’t wanna have to nickname the kids “Headquarters” or “Football Head” when they get older.
You know how cruel aunts can be…….
josef
December 23rd, 2012
2:28 pm
DDR
Indigo is an odd duck…he likes to pick a fight, and will destroy an otherwise valid point of discussion with language certain to alienate. Essentially, he’s mad at the cosmos for ever having put him here…maybe in the next life…
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:29 pm
DDR: here’s a fan for a proper southern lady to carry on the verandah in the summertime.
http://wistariahurst.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Fan-Hand-300×206.jpg
reb: I kinda like Arianna Huffington. She’s actually not as far left as you might think, and that accent is just plain cute! Seriously, I’ve found her to be fairly moderate in her views and sensible about most issues. Not conservative by any means, but not the hack Vanden Huevel can be.
JohnnyReb
December 23rd, 2012
2:31 pm
One more comment, then back to work.
I grow increasingly concerned for the fate of our Country as our state has arrived at a place where a minority aided by media and pop-culture influence enough low information voters to put in charge again an administration that is destructive to the very foundation of our Nation.
While the reelection of Obama was everything other than a mandate or landslide enjoyed by Reagan, the media aids the hard Left in putting forth a narrative that the election results should dicate the Right rolling over and giving them everything they want without oppostion.
The gun control debate is but one example, and one in which the Left will see extreme opposition to more gun control law. Tactical rifles and large magazines may indeed again be banned, but it’s not going to be pretty getting there and the fall-out afterward will stop many a political carrer.
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:33 pm
“Essentially, he’s mad at the cosmos for ever having put him here…maybe in the next life”
I know a few like that. I think they must have been cats in a past life, and they’re just pissed at actually having to do something to earn their supper in this life. I think those are the people most likely to come back as cockroaches in a boot factory in the next life.
JamVet
December 23rd, 2012
2:35 pm
Hi SOUTHERN ATL! Long time, no see!
That sacred music from you (And Andrea.) is the holiday antidote to Reb’s profane posts.
One of my favorite Christmas carols – Hark! Harold the Angel Sings. (Adapted from the Hebe, Felix Mendelssohn and his Festgesang zum Gutenbergfest…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qApyHw2lv4w
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:37 pm
“the media aids the hard Left in putting forth a narrative that the election results should dicate the Right rolling over and giving them everything they want without oppostion.”
You really don’t watch Fox, do ya? The “media” are only reporting what gets viewers to watch, so there must be a few “lefties” out there paying attention. And I think the right is hardly rolling over. They’ve stood their ground to the point of the nation losing points on its credit rating rather than “give” the president anything. And the current stagnation on the fiscal cliff issue is yet another example of their intransigence. Those who support them should be overjoyed…oh wait, that’s right, we all take a hit on this one. The fracturing and infighting in the Republican party right is hardly to be celebrated, IMO.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:37 pm
Well said RF. Banning guns is unconstitutional so we have try other solutions. My argument about bans is it did work in other countries and no kids got shot at school.Fact.
Moving forward, our government has to act to protect the kids but it will be a small change but the start of change. This is what our President is all bout. Get the change started. It is up to the people to keep fighting for it after he is gone.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
2:41 pm
RF: Nothing will change until we, as a society, change our view of what proper ownership and use of guns really means. We’ll have the 2nd amendment thrown at us like it’s the stone tablets Moses brought down from the mountain
Word. But what I’ve been saying ever since NewTown and those “2nd Ammendment Groupies”, is that NO freedom is absolute.
The 1st Ammendment is a good example — You have a right to free speech, but if you go and threaten someone, speak of usurping the US, yell “Fire!!” in a crowded movie theater, you’ll see how quickly that “right” has disintegrated.
============
josef — I know right! indigo picked a doozy with SoCoBro yesterday. And for the life of me I couldn’t see the disconnect. They were both saying the same thing, just in different ways, but for some reason, indigo took offense to the WAY SoCoBro said it!
Made no sense to me, so i just stayed out of it.
====================
JR — After that jibberish you posted at 2:31; its a good thing you’re leaving. If you’re gonna crack one open and let it rip in a crowded room; the best thing to do is exit, stage left.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
2:46 pm
RF
Yeah, that sounds about right! Unmentionable claims I was a honey badger…in a boa no doubt…
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:46 pm
indigo is very concerned race.
Methinks he might be a racist.
SOUTHERN ATL
December 23rd, 2012
2:47 pm
JamVet all is well here…that was beautiful… and back at ya!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPvAQxZsgpQ
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:47 pm
“Banning guns is unconstitutional so we have try other solutions. My argument about bans is it did work in other countries and no kids got shot at school.Fact.”
True, but they didn’t have an estimated 50% of the worlds guns within their borders nor the 2nd amendment to energize the gun owners. There are just too many in circulation, and federal bans will only make them more popular and generate what will clearly be a black market for them. I think this one is going to have to come from the ground up with groups forming similar to MADD. The legislation should only come when those groups persuade enough support to give them some clout. Creating a ban from the top now is only going to push the polarized right further away and end up putting more guns in the hands of the REAL freaks who don’t need much of a reason to use them to prevent “tyranny”…and I gaur-on-tee they’ll use that worn out argument to justify all sorts of illegal activities to “protect their Constitutional rights.” We’re dealing with a very strong, energized group on the far-right that are enjoying their power over the conservative movement right now. Federal bans will only feed that monster and give it more reason to be angry. That, in my opinion, makes them much more to be feared for the time being. Start from the other end and organize, publicize, campaign, and march like the MADD folks did twenty years ago. It will take time, but that will do more in the end than hasty legislation right now will.
RF
December 23rd, 2012
2:50 pm
“in a boa no doubt”
no doubt, of course!
“But what I’ve been saying ever since NewTown and those “2nd Ammendment Groupies”, is that NO freedom is absolute”
Absolutely!! Just try getting that across to the NRA folks. They think the only reason it’s the SECOND amendment is because nobody in the room when they wrote it had a gun with ‘em so it would be given it’s proper place as the first…and likely ONLY.
tiredofIT
December 23rd, 2012
2:55 pm
It seems like a rather odd point of view when two of your major concerns in life is guns and how much taxes the rich pay.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
2:57 pm
tired,
I read your point in the NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-send-in-the-clowns.html?hp&_r=0
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
2:59 pm
Absolutely!! Just try getting that across to the NRA folks. They think the only reason it’s the SECOND amendment is because nobody in the room when they wrote it had a gun with ‘em so it would be given it’s proper place as the first…and likely ONLY.
I’m gonna take that one and steal it from you. Sorry.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
3:03 pm
The Nativity Story Is On!! That’s my FAVOrITE of all of them!
It highlights what a good man Joseph was; how selfless and caring. That’s the first time, JOSEPH is highlighted in all the films that I’ve ever seen.
Oooh and THE game is on! I’m taping both but only watching the Nativity Story in real time. Later gators!!
RF
December 23rd, 2012
3:06 pm
“I’m gonna take that one and steal it from you.”
Go forth and use it wisely, o ye of the big breasted boa wearers!!
Seriously, think about it. That’s the only amendment we really needed. They won’t let you say what you think–shoot ‘em. They won’t let you vote– shoot ‘em. Those dang Jehovah’s witnesses ringing the doorbell on Saturday morning and interrupting my coffee/meditation– blast away! Hell, I could pretty much call anything I don’t like “tyranny” and shoot away at it.
I PROMISE I haven’t been smoking anything illegal…well, there was that time in college, and I inhaled FULLY!!
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
3:22 pm
DDR
Don’t do those boys like that…
oldguy
December 23rd, 2012
3:30 pm
Direct quote from the CDC:’
“The best evidence we have to date is that if there is any positive impact from gun control laws, that the impact is so slight that we can not even detect it. The CDC study was unable to find any such benefit and recommended another as they were unable to make a determination.”
The later study Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review remains the largest and most extensive study conducted on the subject. With the exception of Wilson, everyone on the panel was on record as being pro-control before their appointment. The panel conducted its own research and examined 253 journal articles, 43 government publications, and 99 books.
The panel was unable to find a single law or regulation that had a positive effect of overall violent crime or accidents involving firearms. The closest to a positive effect was that gun control laws and regulations can reduce the number of suicides committed with firearms even though it has no impact on the overall rate.
That is the best evidence we have to date. So, if gun control laws at best have such little impact that it can not be detected, just what do you suggest?
A quote from another of those knuckle-dragging retards:
“Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s
liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims
landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to
ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally
indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil
interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” George
Washington
I’ve got a suggestion; Since all of the school shootings have been committed by white, male teens lets put all white male teens in “special” boarding schools (call them retraining centers) and isolate them until age 21 when we can have psychologists certify they are no longer a threat to others. We can retain the ones that don’t pass the exam.
See, problem solved!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
3:55 pm
Commercials are on — Here’s another one from a few other patriots old guy:
upreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Sunday the Second Amendment leaves open the possibility of gun-control legislation, adding to what has become a slow-boiling debate on the issue since the Colorado movie theater massacre earlier this month.
Scalia, one of the high court’s most conservative justices, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the majority opinion in the landmark 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller stated the extent of gun ownership “will have to be decided in future cases.”
“We’ll see,” he said.
Scalia’s comments follow the July 20 massacre at the Aurora, Colo., movie theater in which the alleged gunman, with the help of a semi-automatic weapon and an ammunition clip that could hold as many as 100 rounds, killed 12 and wounded 59 others.
On Wednesday, Obama talked about possible changes, but the following day Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he couldn’t fit the gun control debate into the schedule.
Asked if the Senate might debate the issue next year, Reid said, “Nice try.”
The president was not specific about what measures he’d like to see enacted when he touched on the issue in a speech to the National Urban League. He affirmed his belief in Americans’ right to own guns, but he singled out assault rifles as better suited for the battlefield.
“I believe the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms,” he said. “But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not on the streets of our cities.”
Obama also called for stepped-up background checks for people who want to purchase guns and said he would also seek a national consensus on combating violence.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney clarified Thursday that the president is not necessarily talking about new laws.
Scalia said exceptions to gun rights were recognized when the Second Amendment was written, including a tort that prohibited people from carrying a “really horrible weapon just to scare people like a head ax or something.”
Republicans have largely said new laws are not the answer.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/29/scalia-opens-door-for-gun-control-legislation/#ixzz2FuUlEXhV
District of Columbia v. Heller:
Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose:
For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues.
The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.
Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons. Pp. 54–56.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller
paulo977
December 23rd, 2012
4:18 pm
Debbie D R ……Congrats !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8R67wHD_FY
indigo
December 23rd, 2012
4:30 pm
getalife – 2:03
josef – 2:28
RF – 2:33
I will give your posts all the attention they deserve.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 23rd, 2012
4:33 pm
DDR
And a belated congrats to you and your family from me as well.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
4:35 pm
Thanks paulo! These two make my 11th and 12th nephews! On my side we have only 1 girl born in the past 15 years.
On Dudley’s side, there’s only been one girl born too, (he has 2 boys from his first marriage)
I’m hoping Dudley’s sister has another baby — and Im hoping its another girl! I haven’t talked her into it yet, but I’ve got my fingers crossed!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 23rd, 2012
4:37 pm
Thanks Kamchak!! I’m hoping my sister calls one of them Deacon. She hasn’t said what she’ll name them yet, but I’ve been dropping hints for the past few months!
indigo
December 23rd, 2012
4:40 pm
Debbie – 2:41
I was just responding to your 12:30 anti-democracy diatribe.
And, if you think SoCoBro and I were “both saying the same thing, just in different ways”, I can understand why you say it “made no sense to me”.
It seems both your intellect and reading comprehension are sadly lacking.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 23rd, 2012
4:41 pm
Time to profile white men?
Let’s review: Any honest observer should be able to admit that if the gunmen in these mass shootings mostly had, say, Muslim names or were mostly, say, African-American men, the country right now wouldn’t be confused about the causes of the violence, and wouldn’t be asking broad questions. There would probably be few queries or calls for reflection, and mostly definitive declarations blaming the bloodshed squarely on Islamic fundamentalism or black nationalism, respectively. Additionally, we would almost certainly hear demands that the government intensify the extant profiling systems already aimed at those groups.
Yet, because the the perpetrators in question in these shootings are white men and not ethnic or religious minorities, nobody is talking about demographic profiling them as a group. The discussion, instead, revolves around everything from gun control, to mental health services, to violence in entertainment — everything, that is, except trying to understanding why the composite of these killers is so similar across so many different massacres. This, even though there are plenty of reasons for that topic to be at least a part of the conversation.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
4:43 pm
Wow, that Saints Cowboy game was awesome.
Who Dat?
josef
December 23rd, 2012
4:45 pm
DDR
Ignore him and he doesn’t go away!
josef
December 23rd, 2012
4:53 pm
getalife
You’re here. It looks like the preparations for a break-up of Syria appear to be gaining momentum. Alawites are resettling along the Coast, the Kurds are solidifying their control in the Northeast. The Israeli’s are reporting an huge increase in the number of Druze in the Golan applying for Israeli citizenship in reaction to the recent UN declarations to return the region to Syrian control. The Palestinans have, once again been made homeless with nowhere to run, but running nonetheless. The Shia and the Christians? The only way out seems to be Lebanon…
pogo
December 23rd, 2012
4:57 pm
Enjoy this Christmas. The next one’s are going to be worse.
After reading the WSJ’s article today about Obama’s negotiations with Bohner, I believe that Obama’s arrogance (and pure stupidity) is going to be this countries undoing. He now truly does fancy himself the “Supreme Leader” in the style of other dictators in the world. Though he was not granted a mandate in the election, he now believes that he has one anyway. OR, maybe, he really does just want the United States of America to fail and become a third world nation who can do nothing. You sure couldn’t tell any different from his level of concern about any of this Fiscal Cliff stuff, could you?
He doesn’t care because he is now wealthy and he and his family will be taken care of from now on. But make no mistake, all of entitlement babies out there whose self-serving/entitlement based support of him that he has taken advantage of will soon care because the “free-lunch” is going to run out for them within the next few years. And Obama will be sitting laughing in Hawaii in his newly rennovated mansion. And they will be standing in a line somewhere hoping for scraps.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 23rd, 2012
5:00 pm
After reading the WSJ’s article…
Aaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnddddd I stopped reading.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
5:02 pm
pogo,
I read it too and our President is a fighter:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324731304578193770576333616.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
5:04 pm
Geez… There was all this talk about how Bush would screw up America, and we’re still the sole superpower. So, excuse me if I’m a bit blunt, but all this whining about Obama destroying America is bull****!
America will continue as it has since the 1700s. Some of us will keep fighting and killing each other, while others will continue to rob us blind. That’s just who we are and what we do. If McCain had won in 2008, there ain’t much different that could have been done to get America upright again any faster than what we’ve seen. As a matter of fact, had McCain won, I doubt the GOP would control either house of Congress, so McCain would have either had to go with Democratic legislation, or he would have been using the veto like people breathe.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
5:11 pm
BROSEPHUS
“…but all this whining about Obama destroying America is bull****!”
I was thinking more paranoid schizophrenia. but bull**** works, too.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
5:13 pm
josef,
Thank you for the information. It was looking like a sectarian civil war there like Iraq but the Turkey situation seems to over. Air strike killed about 90 waiting for bread.
TBS
December 23rd, 2012
5:17 pm
DDR
Congrats. Hope your sister and the little ones are doing well.
Merry Christmas
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 23rd, 2012
5:17 pm
DDR, congrats to your family.
Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a strong ally of the National Rifle Association and its legislative priorities, told CBS’s Face The Nation on Sunday that she could support tighter regulations of high-capacity magazines in the aftermath of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Well when Texas starts agreeing that sensible gun laws are needed, it’s a definite plus for the possibility of getting to sensible resolutions.
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
5:20 pm
josef
Describing this crap as paranoid schizophrenia is seriously demeaning to those who truly suffer from that illness. This country has survived worse and will continue on. I find it odd that the very people who come here with that Obama crap will turn around and try to lecture the blog on the Constitution and such. It’s almost to the point where it could be insulting to any rational American to be compared to people who talk like that.
I’m just glad that none of these people are related to me. I’d be embarassed as hell to hear any of my relatives talking like this, especially in light of how many of my relatives have put their lives on the line to protect this country.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
5:21 pm
getalife
I do wish more of our own hereabouts would take a closer look at what can happen when neighbor is pitted against neighbor. We fool ourselves if we think it can’t happen here. Not that I think we’re anywhere near that situation, but we’re certainly at a crossroads with signs pointing that direction.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
5:21 pm
Stay the course pogo.
You are being marginalized with that “free lunch” bs.
Just what I wanted.
Thanks.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
5:25 pm
BROSEPHUS
“Describing this crap as paranoid schizophrenia is seriously demeaning to those who truly suffer from that illness.”
I thought about that before I posted it. but I went ahead anyway. It is, imeoiuo, reflective of a socially shattered personality reacting as if any and everything is “out to get” them.
And I would agree that we have come through worse, but not before tremendous damage was done.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 23rd, 2012
5:25 pm
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
5:27 pm
josef,
I think the red states can breakaway if we default like the USSR.
They blew out the deficit and that is probably their plan.
I think President Obama is the last chance for our government to keep that from happening.
He is trying and he is competent so I think we will not default like they want.
Yet.
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
5:29 pm
Keep Up
I don’t know if any type of legislation will work, but there was one thing I felt was truly lacking in this country. Seems as though I’m not the only one who had the very same thought though.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/22/opinion/martin-newtown-carnage/index.html?hpt=op_t1
One of the things that I struggled the most with is that I have seen what a .223 round does to the human body. After seeing what it does to an adult, it is quite sickening to think of what the first responders saw when they entered that school building. I distinctly remember reports on that day where police led people out of the school with their eyes closed. You don’t want to lead people out blindly during an evacuation, so for them to do that let me know that the scene was extremely gruesome to see.
In other countries, the media will publish pictures of crime scenes. The worst one I’ve seen is from Mexico where one of the cartels killed, decapitated, and dismembered some people. They actually skinned the face and left the face, like a mask, on a post in front of the store where the bodies were found with the skinned head sitting on the torso. I can guarantee that this country would have an entirely different outlook on guns if we had to witness the brutality of what they did inside that school.
TaxPayer
December 23rd, 2012
5:34 pm
Mitt is in denial. Mitt could not even beat the “community organizer” using all of his business prowess in 2016.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
5:37 pm
getalife
I wish it were so simple as red state-blue state. Call it whatever else you will, the War of 1861-1865 outside the border regions had few characteristics of a true civil war. This time around, the “sides” are not living in geographical isolation one from the other.
indigo
December 23rd, 2012
5:42 pm
josef – 5:25
I see you respond to Brosephus like a frightened little boy.
I don’t.
getalife
December 23rd, 2012
5:45 pm
josef,
True, even the majority in Texas do not want to secede.The right just need to accept the fact they lost and act like Americans. I have to give ryan credit when he said our President won fair and square.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
5:47 pm
indigo
Respond to Brosephus how? Why in the world would I be “frightened?” He’s one of the few posters hereabouts that I don’t ever worry about having to ’splain myself to.
Towncrier
December 23rd, 2012
5:51 pm
ROFL!
“Time to profile white men?”
Please remember that Google can be your friend if you let it be:
http://blackpeoria.wordpress.com/list-of-black-serial-killers/
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 23rd, 2012
5:56 pm
Brosephus, I agree that it would help adults to see the carnage but I am almost afraid that with what is show on some movies that it might be too easily dismissed. Its one thing to see in person, another to see in real life. I remember as a kid in high school seeing the carnage of a vehicle where a friend lost his life, and seeing raw red flesh still on the rear view mirror. It made an impact for life.
But I don’t share the view that any efforts at sensible gun control are doomed to failure. It will be a long term process but we can reduce senseless gun violence. And if we can actually stop the NRA from stopping tracking of the programs, perhaps we can determine what really works best.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
5:56 pm
Remind me not to click any more of TC’s links…now THAT one will appear on my sites visited roster with the watchers of such things….!
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
6:01 pm
josef
Your explanation makes a valid point. I stand corrected.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
6:04 pm
BROSEPHUS
Been meaning to ask you, you caught any of History Channel’s “Bamazon?”
Towncrier
December 23rd, 2012
6:05 pm
“One of the things that I struggled the most with is that I have seen what a .223 round does to the human body.”
It is the muzzle velocity of the AR-15 that makes it so destructive. That alone is perhaps why ownership of such weapons should be restricted. But, as it has been pointed out by others, the worst school killing happened almost a century ago using dynamite:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
and the AWB of 1996 was in effect when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used a pump shotgun and 2 9mm handguns.
“I can guarantee that this country would have an entirely different outlook on guns if we had to witness the brutality of what they did inside that school.”
No, I don’t think you can guarantee any such thing. The Romans, for instance, seemed to have little aversion for that kind of brutality as witnessed by the gladiator games, public crucifixions and feeding people to wild animals. Fast forward to the present age and consider the astonishing brutality of tribal warfare in Africa. If Americans truly had an aversion for violence and brutality, people like Tarantino would not be “successful” multimillionaires.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
6:06 pm
BROSEPHUS
“I stand corrected”
Scardy cat! -)
Towncrier
December 23rd, 2012
6:07 pm
“Remind me not to click any more of TC’s links…now THAT one will appear on my sites visited roster with the watchers of such things….!”
LOL…Did you watch the video? I didn’t. Was it bad? If so, I guess I should have just reproduced the list of black serial killers.
Brosephus™
December 23rd, 2012
6:08 pm
josef
You respond to me like a frightened little boy???
Maybe this sickness is much more widespread than either of us could even imagine. Maybe it’s early onset paranoid schizophrenic delusional lickspittle that we’re actually observing.
josef
December 23rd, 2012
6:11 pm
BROSEPHUS
Heh, heh…I bet there’s an academic paper in it somewhere!
TC
Ooh, no…I scrolled down to the comments section and fled post-haste!
Towncrier
December 23rd, 2012
6:15 pm
“Ooh, no…I scrolled down to the comments section and fled post-haste!”
Ahhh….Dang! Do I look stupid! Geez, I hate how factual information is tinged with so much bias and hatred from both the left and the right. So I guess JamVet was right all along: I am a racist!