NRA is Both Impractical, Expensive and has Already Been Proven a Failure!

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Among full-time and part-time public school teachers in 2007–08, some 76 percent of public school teachers were female, 44 percent were under age 40, and 52 percent had a master’s or higher degree. Compared with public school teachers, a lower percentage of private school teachers were female (74 percent), were under age 40 (39 percent), and had a master’s or higher degree (38 percent).
In addition, among both males and females, 83 percent of public school teachers were White, 7 percent each were Black or Hispanic, 1 percent each were Asian or of two or more races, and less than one percent each were Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska Native in 2007–08.
Source: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28

In addition you have c. 98,000 public schools, c. 33,000 private schools, and 6700 institutions of higher ed.
Source: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=84

So, one cop per school would be roughly 137,000 additional cops, if one cop per school was enough. Assuming worst case scenario, how long does it take a very healthy cop to run from the main office to the library at NU? Do you suppose the med student who did the Aurora cinemas, wouldn't have had the brains to set up a diversion at the oppposite end of a campus, if that was his target?
If I'm not mistaken, that number 137,000 would be about one quarter the total number of folks in all our armed forces, no? How much is that going to cost? Will you pay those taxes?

Columbine had an armed guard.

Viginia Tech had a police department.

And Fort Hood was an army base!

Far cheaper to fence the schools and have tightly controlled access, with video cams with motion detectors to check for fence climbers.

Refined Version, Keeping Guns Away from Dangerous Types, Continued

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I keep on refining this: 

You say it can't be done??? HA!

How to do it? Simple, you, or a company you pay a premium to, posts a $1000 bond for each gun you buy, at the time of purchase. If you can present the weapon to your local sheriff one year later, the bond required drops by 20% for each year you can present it. If you "lose" it, if you can't show you've sold it to a legitimate dealer, you now owe the bonding company $1000 + whatever fees you agreed to, in the event you screw up. The $1,000 winds up in the victims fund.

You WILL keep your gun LOCKED UP. You WILL NOT SELL it to some creep on some dark street. If you have to pay, you bet your sweet bippy you will not add to the problem. And if you "lost" it, you are prohibited from buying another one for one full year. 

Oh, you want to by another gun? Cool, bring in and show your last five purchases to the local sheriff, first, and get a certificate of "Responsible Gun Owner and Retainer." Now you can buy another.

Stolen guns should make no difference, you should still be responsible for any criminal acts. That way you'll go to the expense of making very secure safes in your vehicles as well as your residences and businesses. Oh, they got the drop on you, and your CCW weapon became part of their spoils? T.S. You still lose the cash because of your incompetence. Next time hire professional body guards. Maybe you just aren't cut out to be the 007 of CCW-dom.

"But I'm a good person and have never screwed up!  Why should I have to pay ?"  Well, why should you have to buy liability insurance and uninsured motorist insurance to drive a car legally in California? The same principle is in play here, After five years with responsible ownership, you pay nothing. Try that with car insurance. 80% second year, 60% third year, 40% fourth year, 20% fifth year, 0% sixth year.  In the meantime, the state has a resource for helping victims and their families, when bullets cause collateral damage to totally innocent bystanders who were minding their own business.

You should view it as a small sacrifice to make sure that those scamming the system and causing carnage go out of business, because they can no longer play games at gun shows and on street corners.  Responsible gun owners need to take responsibility for the current terrorism our NRA supported gun law system has created.  Who do you love more?  The NRA, or the kids in your neighborhood school yard?

No Way to Keep Guns Away from Mentally Unstable?

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This is a myth, perpetrated by the NRA.

Most guns wind up in the wrong hands via the process of straw-man purchases.  In these cases, two people each visit a gun store, probably at separate times, one person selects his choice of weapon, the second pays for it.  The one paying for it can pass gun ownership laws.  He later picks it up, and then the first person, ineligible for gun ownership, or wanting a non traceable gun, pays the legitimate buyer for the gun and all necessary extras, plus a nice fee for doing the buying for him.

This is a common practice, and Walmart may be serving up the very guns used to rob Walmart.  http://www.democraticunderground.com/117287171

So, what to do?

When you buy a gun you have to post a bond, which could be done on a sliding scale, from say $100 per gun to $10,000 per gun, depending one your previous year's tax return.

Once a year, you drop by the sheriff's office with your last five guns, simply to prove that you still have them.  If you are missing one, and can't show paperwork from the dealer you sold them to, you forfeit your bond to the victims' fund.  And you are not allowed to buy any additional guns for one full year.  And the amount you have to post as a bond doubles for the next gun.

This would result in a very dramatic decrease in straw-man sales.

This would also result you making darn sure your guns are safe from stranger theft or household "borrowing."  This appears to be what happened in the Sandy Hook case.

The argument for repelling foreign invaders is comical.  If the USA armed forces can't stop them with their fire power, what chance will you have?

Fighting against a home grown tyrant are you?  If he controls the armed forces and they are doing his bidding, you are screwed.  If he doesn't, the armed forces will take him out and you just really are not needed in that scenario.

Self protection while in your home?  Dogs and pop-on lights give you plenty of advanced warning during which you can get your gun.  If you were really worried, you'd buy those first, as well as an alarm system.  All three have serious deterrent effects, and give you the time to get your gun out of the safe.  Finger-impression reading safes are near instantaneous for access.

Self protection away from home?  If someone gets the drop on you, then your gun becomes part of the booty they collect from you, and you may have unwittingly helped kill an innocent person in the future.  Did you think muggers announced their intentions before striking?   Pay attention and don't go places where this is likely to happen.

A side note here: If musicians could only do one pluck, drumbeat, voice note, trumpet blast, etc per second, music would be pretty boring. Still, using just one pull of the trigger per second, you can kill sixty people in just one minute. End the myth that semi auto is safe and auto is dangerous.

Another side note:  You can teach, or you can watch for ambush. You sure as hell can't do both at the same time! If teachers are known to be armed, who will the killer take out first? When a plane crashes and we can't explain it. we ground the rest of that type, until the situation is at least ameliorated. Ban the sale of all Glocks and SIG's until new restrictions are in place to at least reduce the l;ikelihood of the event recurring.

Ban the ammo too to get all of the NRA's attention focused properly. Buy a gun, leave the government with a $1000 bond. If, a year later you cannot produce the gun for your local sheriff, you forfeit the $1000 into the victims' fund. Make you think twice about locking it up. Laws can be constructed to make such tragic events less likely. Use your imagination. You can think of any? Use your imagination to imagine YOUR kid or grand-kid killed this way, maybe it will kick in after all. Those who feel as I do outnumber the NRA.

Another side note, my first FB post after learning of the situation:  "Time to take action: A total moratorium on all gun sales until new rules are in place. Let the NRA know they are outnumbered. I had to learn of this from a student in a class I was teaching. Her mom had texted and called her in total panic. FTS!"

And yet another side note from a friend: 

River Wolf ~ I am an American living in another country, Vietnam. I would also tell you that I am a US Marine veteran and have been tested with just about every assault weapon, hand gun and more. I will report to you the way it is here and you can draw your own conclusions. There are no guns allowed here in Vietnam, not even for the police. This is a country of 85 million people and there are never any bank robberies, armed robberies and virtually no murders here other than a husband or a wife taking a knife to their spouse. There has never been anything at the these schools, absolutely none, like what frequently happens in America of what seems like every time we turn on the television. The police never kill anyone either.

 

Ethical Photography...NOT!

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Several things very disturbing here. The camera was obviously a professional's. That means that the lens and all of the exposure data, including the distance to the point of sharp focus, are embedded in the file that contains the image. To prove he "couldn't do anything fast enough, he could produce that info. Two, if he really wanted the drivers attention, he would have moved towards the roadbed and shot silhouetting the guy to the driver. This would have resulted in camera flash reflections in the cab windows, washing out the image somewhat. But no, instead he shoots from the best camera angle for a good picture, carefully framing out people he claims were closer. Three, he should have documented everyone at the scene after the guy was run over immediately. To have a full rig out and visible in a place where normally you hide it as best you can tells me he was well aware of the tension at the scene, well before the push. Four, the authorities with the surveillance tape know damn well how much time elapsed between when Han was pushed and when the train ran over him. Five, my sense of the image is that he was within 50 feet of the victim, based on the flash and the lack of telephoto effects in the image, and maybe even closer. Strobes do not reach too far, especially if you are going for low ASA numbers (higher quality of image). I would say he went for the gold, and I hope the family sues him for every penny of it and all his gear too.

New York Post's Subway Death Photo: Was It Ethical Photojournalism? - Forbes

www.forbes.com

When a news photographer witnesses a tragedy in the making, is his obligation to intervene or to document it?

The GrannyPod

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"The MedCottage, designed by a Blacksburg, Va., company with help from Virginia Tech, is essentially a portable hospital room. Virginia state law, which recognized the dwellings a few years ago, classifies them as "temporary family health-care structures." But many simply know them as "granny pods," and they have arrived on the market as the nation prepares for a wave of graying baby boomers to retire."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-granny-pod-hightech-dwelling-could-change-elder-care-8351706.html

The Hobbit, Torture Machines, Beard Hairs, and Microsoft's Upgrade Screwups

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Microsoft did another phantom upgrade, blew away my ATT internet connection's link to the Domain Name server, and also messed with my sound, but it is all fixed, after numerous reboots, and a driver download.  Here the latest on the Hobbit movie, great little intor to modern film production:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vqyzHwnEiY&feature=g-logo

The Hive, for People Down on Their Economy.

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 Those on the bottom bottom get locked up altogether in prisons.  The next tier above that would be a sleeping cocoon, warm and dry, in a stack of 30 or so other such cocoons.  You enter one at a time, get "celled" for the night, and can use the common potty when your door opens and it is your turn.  Pathway from potty is an instant shower/then blow dryer, whether you like it or not, regardless of garments, which should have been tossed already.  You get a new set each day, and a food debit card, that anaylses your diet and only allows stuff in your cart that the state says you need. You get a 2 foot cube to store your shopping cart contents, and a cart that is yours, and is designed with safety in mind. Each hive has buyback spots for recyclables.

The cocoon contains full internet access, and phone capabilities.  And you are issued a bioID card, recognized at instantellers across the land, so you can stash and retrieve cash.  On top of that, a very nice calendar and list of phone and address would print each day, and bus schedules as needed for appointment.

Oh, you got a job, using the above basic bottom?

Or, you've been taking online courses and passing tests?

Guess what?  Now you get a larger cocoon, and its common facilities are shared with fewer others, and you get to pick out a worker bee costume matched to your employer's desired fashion statement.  For a slight fee, the state will allow you to add ornaments.  And, you can purchase some junk food, on your food card. And a permanent 4 x 4 storage cube.

This structure can continue right on up, incentivising at every level, until finally the citizen has saved enough to go rent a regular apartment, etc.

Even in my supposed liberal paradise, equal isn't equal, unless you make an effort.  Will there be folks who stay in the bottom cocoons forever?  Maybe so.  Did I mention piped in birth control gases, in all the lower level cocoons?

Sci-fi in the making, will be coming soon, to a reality near you.

Silly Season: Cops in the Classrooms

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Occupy Wall St.

Like This Page · 15 minutes ago

Police state madness - more and more children being arrested for trivial things - things we all got up to as kids:

#1 At one public school down in Texas, a 12-year-old girl named Sarah Bustamantes was recently arrested for spraying herself with perfume.

#2 A 13-year-old student at a school in Albuquerque, New Mexico was recently arrested by police for burping in class.

#3 Another student down in Albuquerque was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched because he had $200 in his pocket. The student was never formally charged with doing anything wrong.

#4 A security guard at one school in California broke the arm of a 16-year-old girl because she left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning up some cake that she had spilled.

#5 One teenage couple down in Houston poured milk on each other during a squabble while they were breaking up. Instead of being sent to see the principal, they were arrested and sent to court.

#6 In early 2010, a 12-year-old girl at a school in Forest Hills, New York was arrested by police and marched out of her school in handcuffs just because she doodled on her desk. "I love my friends Abby and Faith" was what she reportedly scribbled on her desk.

#7 A 6-year-old girl down in Florida was handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.

#8 One student down in Texas was reportedly arrested by police for throwing paper airplanes in class.

#9 A 17-year-old honor student in North Carolina named Ashley Smithwick accidentally took her father's lunch with her to school. It contained a small paring knife which he would use to slice up apples. So what happened to this standout student when the school discovered this? The school suspended her for the rest of the year and the police charged her with a misdemeanor.

#10 In Allentown, Pennsylvania a 14-year-old girl was tasered in the groin area by a school security officer even though she had put up her hands in the air to surrender.

#11 Down in Florida, an 11-year-old student was arrested, thrown in jail and charged with a third-degree felony for bringing a plastic butter knife to school.

#12 Back in 2009, an 8-year-old boy in Massachusetts was sent home from school and was forced to undergo a psychological evaluation because he drew a picture of Jesus on the cross.

#13 A police officer in San Mateo, California blasted a 7-year-old special education student in the face with pepper spray because he would not quit climbing on the furniture.

#14 In America today, even 5-year-old children are treated brutally by police. The following is from a recent article that described what happened to one very young student in Stockton, California a while back....

"Earlier this year, a Stockton student was handcuffed with zip ties on his hands and feet, forced to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with battery on a police officer. That student was 5 years old".

#15 At one school in Connecticut, a 17-year-old boy was thrown to the floor and tasered five times because he was yelling at a cafeteria worker.

#16 A teenager in suburban Dallas was forced to take on a part-time job after being ticketed for using foul language in one high school classroom. The original ticket was for $340, but additional fees have raised the total bill to $637.

#17 A few months ago, police were called out when a little girl kissed a little boy during a physical education class at an elementary school down in Florida.

#18 A 6-year-old boy was recently charged with sexual battery for some "inappropriate touching" during a game of tag at one elementary school in the San Francisco area.

#19 In Massachusetts, police were recently sent out to collect an overdue library book from a 5-year-old girl.

HERE ARE THE LINKS FOR THOSE WHO FEEL THIS PAGE MADE ALL THIS UP: (thanks Kara)

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/texas-student-sarah-bustamantes-12-arrested-for-spraying-perfume/13250/

http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=15077292

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/wk2b_twCCdw

http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2012/jan/09/texas-police-schools?cat=world&type=article

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/18/new.york.doodle.arrest/index.html?hpt=C1

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/feb/11/port-st-lucie-schools-confines-6-year-old-with/

http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2012/jan/09/texas-police-schools?cat=world&type=article

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/29/nc-high-school-senior-suspended-charged-possesion-small-knife-lunchbox/#

http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2009/june09/zero-tolerance-states.html

http://m.tauntongazette.com/wkdTGazette/pm_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Mateo-pays-family-of-boy-pepper-sprayed-by-cop-2384518.php

http://django.medianewsgroup.com/mobile/interstitial/?r=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.middletownpress.com%2Farticles%2F2011%2F06%2F14%2Fnews%2Fdoc4df7b12331ec9768149316.txt%3Fmobredir%3Dfalse&d=iphone

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/cops-called-for-school-kiss-657831

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/27/hercules-family-battles-playground-sex-assault-claim-against-6-year-old/

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/02/charlton-library-sends-police-to-collect-overdue-books-from-5-year-old/

How to Get Fancy

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Excellent printable guide to all the ALT key characters:

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html

A Limerick or Two, from a Local Blog

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There once was a fellow named Walt,
Who did commence a weakish assault,
When he ran out of ammo,
He suddenly went clammo,
And claimed he was never at fault.

There are two more that I will have to recreate, when I am more awake.

A man named wirth squirt worth logged in

and 

candy striped tin viper slow speed wiper
 

Nasty SuperPac Ads from the Right Arrive, Right on Schedule

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The gloves are off for the SuperPacs. With too little time to refute any of it, now comes the Goebbling's of the Far Right Big Money, and damn the Asian American vote, Full Speed Ahead!
http://www.defeatingthedebt.com/

Why the dumbest ill informed voter in Ohio should have more weight in this election than every Nobel Laureate in California is beyond me.  End the Electoral College NOW, or at least have state by state proportional by Congressional District Electoral College voting.  That way more third parties would have a chance, and the election discussions could move to a higher level.

"Hope We Don't Get Fooled Again..."

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If you don't think the parties can play funny games with the elections, then consider how many of us trusted Lance Armstrong for how long?

"Hope we don 't get fooled again..."

The Electoral College allows for cheap negative advertising to the stupids in just a few states to determine how the President of the United States is elected, and the two big parties like it that way.

End the Electoral College NOW!

How to Improve Drone Strikes.

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How to improve drone strikes.
Have moma drone be accompanied by nannie drone equipped with many. many, baby drones, cheap and expendable. Sent babies in for much closer look, the see what their reaction is to being watched. If they whip out AK47's, then launch momma drone's fire power.  If not, follow and see in detail who they are. Quit killing civilians.

Is anyone doing anything about this already? If not, somebody needs to.

Have a Really Meaningful Debate/Exchange, 21st Century Style

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The candidates should be required to spend two hours a day on FB in a public conversation, where the speed and quality of the responses can be noted, with dual live  feed showing exactly what websites or advisers they consult with before responding, as well as facial reactions, etc.  Two or more computers in a house is quickly becoming the norm, so many would get a real intimate look at the candidates under pressure.

I've been told Reddit might better better suited for this.

Fiscal Cliff Paranoia

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Ohhh! Halloween is coming, let's scare everybody with the "FISCAL CLIFF!" Good opportunity to drive the market down, make for lots of bargains in the markets as the little guys flee, and then when Obama DOES get elected, BINGO, up it all goes, including the hiring, except for a few holdouts who have gotten lazy and really didn't want to play anymore, and have gotten used to golf 3 afternoons a week. Hi Mikey!

I mean, really, you're going to sit out another four years?  No fire in your belly, move over for someone younger who has a longer future to prepare for.

Fixing Lawyers, Doctors, & Corporations, So They Work for the Common Man

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Many malpractice   & class action cases wind up paying pennies to the consumer, or a paltry sum to the planitiff, and it looks like lawyers are being just as abusive as the defendants.  My solution would be to pass a law that limits the lawyers gross from any such suit (if successful) to no more than 50% total amount awarded by the court.  You could play around with that 50% figure, to get it to the point where lawyers would look positively greedy to fight the law.  Try sticking in 90% to see what that sounds like.

Empty Promises and a Weasel for VP.

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One thing is for sure: Romney has no magic wand to bring back the middle class, nor does he expect to build one, either publicly or privately. I think the preferred mode is to put on a good show, lose to Obama, just barely, and then spend four more years making things worse and worse in Congress, and all the while, making money overseas, and affording themselves a very comfortable lifestyle, as the freeways unclog and only the few can afford most of what we would consider a middle class lifestyle or better.
Basically the goal is to wear down the American majority to the point where poverty is the normal order of the day. I wonder if at some point the workers of America will unionize as a whole, and refuse to work at any job for the rich unless it pays $40/hour or better? Not likely, but some will try, and scabs working for less will do so at their own risk. Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut outlined this situation very well and 70 years in advance.
By 2016 things may be so bad with the obstructionist Congress that the American public will take the bait, vote Republican, and be grateful for the trickles coming from the loo. Or, by 2014 they will be so pissed off at Congress that they will throw every Tea Apartheid idiot off of the bus, and settle down to a serious energy policy using those in the armed forces abroad here at home to build a full solar infrastructure, and growing their own food everywhere.
In any event it will be an interesting next 40 years, by which time I will be 107.
Or maybe underground, in a spot like this:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/see-the-luxury-doomsday-prepper-shelters-being-built-into-an-abandoned-ks-missile-silo/

Celebrating Obama's Nomination, a Picture Show.

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Celebrating Obama's Nomination in Nevada County, California: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keachie/sets/72157631453370476/detail/

The Brain in Spain on the Table Leaves a Stain.

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Lawyers lasso another live one:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/29/us-neuroscience-crime-idUSBRE87S07020120829

Arctic Icepack Fails, All Hands Lost on Board SS Maunder Minimum

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We seems to be wandering away from the Maunder Minimum:
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1 br="br"> 2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
Update 18 Aug 2012

I wonder if it is cheaper for the Chinese to ships goods via rail across the Eurasian land mass, or go by sea?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/17/us-china-environment-idUSBRE87G0P820120817

The wandering Chinese pulled into port in Iceland, across the Arctic Circle route, as the Maunder Minimum Mongers have experienced a complete meltdown..

Romney , Ryan, and Arithmetic MegaFail!

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Ryan's message to the elderly:

"Romney's choice of Ryan as his running mate has put a spotlight on the Wisconsin congressman's best-known achievement - a budget plan that would slash Medicare's projected costs by converting it to a program that provides limited subsidies to buy coverage.


But on the campaign trail, Ryan has moved away from his plan to emphasize less contentious proposals by Romney.

Talk of shrinking the health program for the elderly could lose votes in the November 6 election in the hotly contested state of Florida, home to the highest concentration of retirees in the country.

"Their plan would put Medicare on track to be ended as we know it," President Barack Obama said to a crowd of about 2,300 at a campaign event on Saturday in Windham, New Hampshire.
"You'd think they'd avoid talking about Medicare given the fact that both of them have proposed to voucherize the Medicare system. I guess they figure the best defense is to try to go on offense," Obama said.

MEDICARE CUTS

Polls show Romney and Obama running neck-and-neck in Florida, where the cliffhanger 2000 presidential election was decided.

Republicans accuse Obama of cutting $716 billion from Medicare to pay for the healthcare overhaul law that the Democratic president signed in 2010.

But Ryan's plan also would cut that money from Medicare, even as he proposes repealing the broader healthcare law. Romney says he would keep those funds for Medicare.

Ryan talked on Saturday about his grandmother who had Alzheimer's disease and moved in with him and his mother when he was in high school.

"Medicare was there for our family, for my grandma when we needed it then. And Medicare is there for my mom, when she needs it now. And we have to keep that guarantee," he said.

"But in order to make sure that we can guarantee that promise for my mom's generation, for those baby boomers who are retiring every day, we must reform it for my generation.""

Reuters 8/18/2012

Response to Gregory Goodknight

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That would be B.A. plus 90 units, 18 of which were in computer science for educator classes, plus four years experience selling hardware and software, and experience with computing dating back to 1965, look up Keachie and Goines, but remember who really figured out the application Goines miss-remembers as his own. I figured out how it would be useful,and explained it to him and the rest to get the manpower to enter the data.
Poor GoodNuggets. If it doesn't come stamped with an official degree, it can't possibly work. The Wright Brothers never attended an aeronautical school, so of course they couldn't fly. Trust me L.W., if politicALLY CORRECT SFUSD could have found anyone one other than a white male who even had the slightest clue as to how to connect and operate computers, they would have. Essentially, I was both the pick of the litter, and the only one applying, and in fact was invited to apply by my first principal, when he found out what I knew. If you had ANY real concerns about public education, YOU could have gone and gotten a credential and brought a lot to the classroom. Was the pay scale too low for you? Was the work too degrading for a Harvey Mudd graduate? Why didn't you step up to the plate then, instead of being such an _______ now?
As for what I taught, it was initially BASIC and Pascal, and a couple of computer literacy courses, using MS Works, and some early multimedia items I was able to get donated. I also wrote grants and got some Fischer Technics robotic kits donated, which the kids loved. In time BASIC was replaced by C++. Of course times have changed, and now the curriculum looks like: http://lhs-sfusd-ca.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1275747746574 and I believe a teacher has continued the robotics side of things, and has sent a team or two out into the national competitions.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/education/2012/05/robotics-spark-youths-math-science-interests
In reading this article it warms the cockles of my heart to see that an idea I proposed over 20 years ago has finally come to fruition. They've established a school on Treasure Island for the ghetto kids to have a chance to completely leave the "hood" and feel free to experience a brand new lifestyle. I originally suggested ferries to get them there, but buses are fine.
Way back when, before events derailed the train, I would have gone on to finish the MA in anthro and then gone on for a doctorate, specializing in ethnographic film making, and in a way, I'm doing that today, just locally. I am proud of the students I gave a good start to, and the countless hours I spent learning on the job, over and beyond the full time job of teaching, in order to advance our kids. When it comes time up at the Pearly Gates, I have no qualms about whether or not my life was well spent. He who spends his time constantly belittling others, may not be so confident. A public apology from HUWLW Greg Gregory Goodknight is still in order (and he insists on adding to the list daily), or those nuggets will roll after him forever.

Higher Ed in California, a History, California Photo Achives

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], CSU Public Affairs Photo Collection, Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. University Library. California State University, Dominguez Hills.

History

"Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course--because, as with freedom and democracy, many people you'll never know...have broken their hearts to give it to you."

-Dorothy Donahoe

In the 1959 session of the California legislature, twenty-three bills, three resolutions, and two constitutional amendments were introduced calling for changes in the structure of public higher education. The public document embodying this structure was called the California Master Plan.

California Assemblywoman Dorothy Donahoe, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, passed away on April 4, 1960 after sponsoring the resolution (ACR 88) calling for the creation of the Master Plan and lobbying tirelessly for its adoption. The California Legislature honored her memory by renaming the Master Plan legislation the Donahoe Higher Education Act. With this act, the California State college system--which would later evolve into the California State University (CSU) system--was established on July 1, 1961 under an independent Board of Trustees.

The Donahoe Higher Education Act clearly defined the roles and functions among the three segments of California's public higher education: the University of California, the state colleges, and the community colleges. A Coordinating Council for Higher Education as a voluntary organizing body composed of segmental and public representatives to advise the governor, legislature and segments was created. The functions of the California state colleges were defined to include undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences and applied fields and professions leading to baccalaureate and master's degrees and to joint doctoral degrees with the University of California. The selection of students for the California state colleges was redefined to set eligibility for freshmen at the top third of secondary school graduates and lower division enrollment to 40% of undergraduate enrollment (the University of California accepting the top eighth), thus diverting substantial number of lower division students to community colleges.

The implementation of the act was not simple. The history of state colleges in California at that point went back over one hundred years beginning with the founding of the first State Normal School founded in 1857. Like other state colleges at that time, California's first state college began with a mandate as a teacher training institution. This campus was originally located in San Francisco then transferred to the city of San Jose in 1870. Over the next 70 years, population growth in California brought the need for various branches of the school to open throughout the state: Los Angeles, in 1882 (transferred to the UC system in 1919); Chico in 1889; San Diego in 1897; San Francisco (re-established) in 1899; the California State Polytechnic Institute at San Luis Obispo, in 1903; Santa Barbara in 1909 (transferred to the UC system in 1944); Fresno in 1911; and Humboldt in 1913. As these institutions were created, administrative reorganization was taking place at the state government level.

In 1921, the legislature reorganized policymaking structures for education. A system of dual or shared authority between the State Department of Education and the State Board of Education was created to administer the state schools whose role was redefined as constituting the first two years of college or university instruction. By 1935 the state teachers colleges enrolled more than 7,000 students and were gradually independently evolving into serving the diverse needs of their regional districts as well as responding to local labor needs and desires of Californians for post secondary education. At this time, the legislature again changed both names (each was named for its location) and functions (offering undergraduate liberal arts majors in major teaching fields for secondary schools) of these institutions.

After World War II, enrollment expansion continued in California, many new students being veterans paying tuition using the GI Bill. In 1946, the programs leading to a liberal arts degree, without reference to teacher education were authorized by the legislature. In 1947, a master of art degree in teaching was authorized and by 1955 the master of sciences degrees in vocational fields. New campuses were established between 1947-1949 in Sacramento, (re-established) in Los Angeles, and Long Beach. By the late 1950s, the state colleges had experienced substantial uncoordinated growth and expected explosive expansion in the 1960s because of the coming tidal wave of students; their programs were developing in a way that officials at the University of California found threatening. This was the background for the Donahoe Education Act. Under this act, new institutions of higher learning in California would be systematically planned and then opened.

Between 1957-60 new Cal State campuses were planned at Fullerton, Hayward, Stanislaus, San Fernando Valley (later "Northridge"), Sonoma, San Bernardino and Dominguez Hills, and it was decided that these new schools would be subject to the Master Plan and the newly formed CSU System. Other CSU campuses later opened in Bakersfield in 1967, San Marcos in 1989, and Monterey Bay in 1995. A Board of Trustees took the responsibility for the newly created California State System in 1961, and their first task was to create a chancellor's office and staff. The board located the first office in the Los Angeles.

In the mid-1970s, a new CSU headquarters would be erected in Long Beach. Buell Gallagher, formerly president of City College of New York, was selected by the trustees to be the first chancellor. Attacked by right-wing critics as being "soft" on communism, and urged by family members unhappy in California, Gallagher returned to his old job after only serving eight months. The Trustees then turned to Glen Dumke, who had been Gallagher's vice chancellor for academic affairs and, before that, president of San Francisco State. Dumke was an published historian before becoming an administrator, and had been part of the joint team that drafted the original Master Plan. During his 20-year tenure, the chancellor survived campus riots, budget cuts that followed Ronald Reagan's election as governor in 1966 and at least one attempt by board members to oust him. However, during the Dumke years, the CSU system grew, both in size and academic reputation.

In 1971, Dumke won an important political victory in Sacramento, when Governor Reagan signed a bill changing the system's name to the California State University and Colleges. (Later, "colleges" was dropped.) Dumke and the Board of Trustees thought this was important because the term "university" officially recognized that state faculty members were capable of doing research and teaching advanced graduate students.

As the civil rights movement of the 1960s evolved into the Vietnam War protests of the early 1970s, civil unrest erupted nationwide. On Cal State campuses, administrative offices were burned at CSU, Northridge, computer facilities were destroyed at Fresno State, and at San Francisco State, minority student protests led to violent clashes with the San Francisco police. Dumke's 20-year run as chancellor was astonishing, coming at a time when campus presidents and system heads all over the country were resigning, or being asked to resign, after five years or less. Even Dumke's harshest opponents among the faculty marveled at his tenacity. Dumke eventually stepped down and was replaced in 1982 by Wynetka Ann Reynolds, the former provost at Ohio State University--characterized as an brilliant, dynamic, enterprising woman with an fiery temper and a manner that many people found abrasive.

Reynolds' appointment was narrowly confirmed after a tumultuous selection process, a disheartening beginning, some of her supporters believe, she never quite overcame. Nevertheless, the new chancellor had vision for the Cal State system and made considerable progress during her eight years in office. CSU admissions standards were raised. Teacher preparation was improved in a system that produces about 60 percent of the California's primary and secondary teachers. "Magnet" high schools were opened on Cal State campuses, in collaboration with the Los Angeles public schools--performing arts at Cal State Los Angeles, science and mathematics at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Reynolds encouraged minority recruiting efforts and provided strong system-wide support for both fine arts and performing arts, areas that had been neglected on many Cal State campuses. She pushed for higher salaries for campus presidents while, at the same time, started a formal process of evaluating the performance of the campus chiefs. However, her accomplishments were overshadowed by a personal style that many on her staff and on the campuses found boldly offensive. Some think Reynolds' problems with others were caused by her inability to grasp that the Cal State System was federation. Key trustees were convinced that Reynolds was trying to concentrate power in the central office and that too much of the board's business was being conducted in secret. In her defense, others stated that Reynolds problems with others were due to sexism. "A woman can do the same things a man can do but she will be seen differently," said Trustee Blanche C. Bersch of Reynolds in a 1996 interview, recalling the Reynolds chancellorship. * By 1987, general trustee opinion was shifting against Reynolds and she left three years later.

In April 1990, Ellis McCune left the presidency of Cal State Hayward to be interim chancellor until the arrival of Barry Munitz in August 1991. McCune, who was reluctant to keep the job permanently, nevertheless provided a calming influence on the CSU system by smoothing relations with most CSU trustees contrasting to their relationship with his predecessor. He also shortened the amount of reporting from individual campuses to the central office, a burden that McCune and other presidents had been complaining about for some time. Munitz brought a varied background to his new post. He had been chancellor of the University of Houston's main campus from 1977 to 1982, but then resigned to became vice chairman of Maxxam Inc., a large Houston-based conglomerate before returning to academic leadership at CSU. The chancellor's corporate past was the target of protests by environmental groups because of Maxxam's takeover of Pacific Lumber Co. in Humboldt County, and the clear cutting of old growth redwood trees that followed. However, Munitz defended himself by stating that his former job largely involved dealing with governmental agencies and other external relations and that he had little to do with making company policy. The trustee committee recruiting the chancellor found nothing to persuade them against hiring a chancellor with both higher education and corporate experience.

As chancellor, Munitz immediately set about rebuilding Cal State's reputation Sacramento. He established good relations with Governor Pete Wilson and he managed to stay on reasonably good terms with both parties in the Legislature. His dedication to decentralizing the 22-campuses and promoting "charter campuses" that would be free from many system-wide regulations deliberations was popular; although his introduction of "merit pay" for the Cal State's faculty salary was not popular with the faculty union. During his chancellorship, the opening the new Cal State Monterey Bay campus, the acquiring of the California Maritime Academy, and the planning a 23rd campus in Ventura County occurred. In 1988 he resigned to head the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Dr. Charles B. Reed, former chancellor of the State University System in Florida, took over in 1988 and is the current Chancellor for the California State University System. He heads a system that has grown to be the largest university system in the nation and has over 40,000 faculty and staff and almost 360,000 students on 23 campuses and five off-campus centers. The CSU annual budget is approximately $5.5 billion; it administers approximately 1,000 bachelor's degree programs, 600 master's programs, and 16 joint doctoral programs in 240 areas. Each of the colleges has a separate history, operates more independently than the branches of its counterpart in the University of California system, and considers itself part of a greater federation.

The CSU system produces more college graduates in California than all other universities and colleges in the state combined, and its endurance is a testament to foresighted, higher education planning embodied in Donahoe Act and the strength and will of key individuals that created the system and maintained it.

Note

*Background information on the four chancellors was complied from this source: Trombley, William. "CAL STATE TRUSTEES: A new "corporate" style" in The California Higher Education Policy Center Newsletter, 1996.

Scope and Content

The CSU Public Affairs Photo Collection (1.5 linear ft.) encompasses photographic material from the late 1800s to the early 1990s. The bulk of the photos contained here date from the 1960s-to the 1980s. The photos in this collection were created or gathered by the CSU Public Affairs Office, which provides consultation and advice to the Trustees, Chancellor, and other staff. The Public Affairs Offices oversees publications and reproduction Centers, responds to press and other media inquiries as well as to information requests by the general public, and works cooperatively with campus public affairs offices on areas of mutual interest. Many of the photos here were previously published as part of informative brochures, fact sheets, and other publications relevant to the public about the CSU. Unprocessed, this collection was approximately 3 liner feet. However, due to the limited space in the CSU Archives and professional archival judgment based on standard appraisal procedures, duplicate photos, non-photographic material, and items not relevant to the mission of the CSU archive's mission--that is, having no CSU system-wide significance--were removed. (Please see further comments in the individual series descriptions.) The collection is divided into two series correlating to the CSU system as a whole and to individual campuses.

Fracking Doesn't Cause Earthquakes, Disposal of Fracking Waste Goo Does, Tortured Logic Revealed.

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If you love fracking, I suppose you like the tortured logic here:

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/more-on-the-link-between-earthquakes-and-fracking/

where we don't blame fracking , but claim that pumping the waste slurry into deep wells afterwards, or the increased extraction of gas, is responsible instead???

Hello?

"Love and Marriage. Love and Marriage,
Go together like a horse and carriage.
You can't have one,
You can't have one,
Without the other."

Ditto fracking and disposal of waste lube goo produced in the process.

Ditto earthquakes and taking out large quantities of gas.

Thinking in iso-logic* tight compartments leads to environmental and structural disasters.

*short for isolated logic, not "same."

Here's another group of idiots who try to comparmentalize the disposal of fracking fluids from the fracking process itself:

http://m.bhpioneer.com/mobile/local_news/article_98a28112-9bb7-11e1-804e-0019bb2963f4.html

So I guess we should say, "Fine, go frack all you want, but find some other way of disposing of all the frackwater, other than lubing up Mother Earth for another go-round of earthquakes."

A case of bending over backwards to protect the industry can be found here:

http://www.okgeosurvey1.gov/media/research/OGSPositionInducedSeismicity.pdf

Rebane's Blog Goes Silent...

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Rebane's blog's right wing regulars go strangely silent when it is revealed the company they keep:

"Authorities said they were treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism. American Sikhs said they have often been singled out for harassment, and occasionally violent attack, since the September 11, 2001, attacks because of their colorful turbans and beards.

U.S. military sources said Page had been discharged from the Army in 1998 for "patterns of misconduct" and had been cited for being drunk on duty.
Page had served in the military for six years but was never posted overseas. He was a psychological operations specialist and missile repairman who was last stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the sources said.

In June 1998 he was disciplined for being drunk on duty and had his rank reduced to specialist from sergeant. He was not eligible to re-enlist.

Page had been a member of the racist skinhead band End Apathy, based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2010, said Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama.

Page also tried to buy goods from the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, in 2000, she said. The SPLC describes the National Alliance on its website as "perhaps the most dangerous and best organized neo-Nazi formation in America."

In a 2010 online interview with End Apathy's record label Label56, Page said he had founded the band in 2005 because "I realized ... that if we could figure out how to end people's apathetic ways it would be the start towards moving forward.""

Even Paid Scientist Defects in Light of Reality

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The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hundreds of other climatologists around the world came to such conclusions years ago, but the difference now is the source: Muller is a long-standing, colorful critic of prevailing climate science, and the Berkeley project was heavily funded by the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation, which, along with its libertarian petrochemical billionaire founder Charles G. Koch, has a considerable history of backing groups that deny climate change.
In an opinion piece in Saturday's New York Times titled "The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic," Muller writes:
"Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause."
The Berkeley project's research has shown, Muller says, "that the average temperature of the earth's land has risen by 21/2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, including an increase of 11/2 degrees over the most recent 50 years. Moreover, it appears likely that essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/29/4672565/prominent-climate-change-denier.html#storylink=cpy

Yet More Notes, Addended Monday Morning

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" Never mind that not even a deranged mass murderer can use more than a miniscule fraction of such a stockpile for the most meticulously planned dastardly deed."

If it wasn't for the jamming of the drum, and remarkably close placement of the PD, the Colorado killer might have gone onto using way more of his stockpile.

The man we have to thank the most was the range owner who had the sense to feel the hair on the back of his neck rise when the killer tried to make use of the range. An experiment with the drum might have let him know that he had a problem, and he would have made sure he had at least one good drum of 100, and possibly more before proceeding. For all of his careful planning, ignoring the location of the gendarmes was one heckova an oversight.

Tonite, coming home to NSJ, I was treated to more on coming traffic than I've ever seen on the road, folks coming back from the North Columbia School House Storytelling Festival, a good 30 minutes from the Rood Center, even if you are going like a bat out of hell. One of the problems with these nut case events is that the next one always learns something from the previous one. Just as we have improved underwear bombers (and we do) so we have an armored to the nines dude this time. It has been done before, I recall in an LA shootout some years back, one of the first times the cops plaintively noted that they were outgunned by armored tormentors.

My schemes detailed before and now also at farstars.blogspot.com do not restrict the guns at all, and if you are a good citizen, enabke you to stockpile ever increasing amounts over time, but slowly, over time.

My bounty scheme for bounties for gun store employees goes right along with Greg's suggestion that we be more on the watch for such crazies.

Yes people can always resort to other means, but usually they are much more complicated than simply buying weaponry and ammo. On the day of the shooting, the saddest sack was the FBI dude wanting to know where this kid had learned all about bomb making, who taught him, must be coconspirators, the FBI dude obviously having never taken any of the chemistry required for premed or neurosciences. Heck, I nearly blew out my bedroom windows in 8 th grade, paying with oxidizers, etc.

Now as to: " Never mind that not even a deranged mass murderer can use more than a miniscule fraction of such a stockpile for the most meticulously planned dastardly deed." are you so sure?
And as for being able to take on the USA military, without mass defections, I really don't think so. 300 million handguns and rifles and shotgun, really are not going to last too long, against USA military firepower. You have to remember, other than military communications, the first thing a rogue government would do would be to secure all means of communication, by whatever means necessary, including blasting it to pieces. Line up all 300,000,000 on a beach and have them shoot at an aircraft carrier, two miles out. Now wait for the response. You see George, it's a great Heinlein fantasy, I loved them all as a kid, but it just doesn't work in real life.
And it sure as hell is piss poor excuse for not at least getting the ammo under control.

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The deranged person who wants to murder fellow humans will use the weapon available. It has to do with the brain not the cold piece of steel propelling lead shards through space. The most prolific serial murderer in the 20th century was a Russian. He killed over one hundred over many years. He used knives and strangulation. The result was the same as if he murdered all at once.
The gun is a tool and if a person has no ill intent they will not use it in a way to kill as the Aurora killer did. The 2nd Amendment protects the rest.

Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 29 July 2012 at 07:23 AM

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A gun is the most efficient killing tool on the planet, for individual use. Moving one's finger less than 3/4 of an inch can end at least one other persons' life instantly. It is also quite selective, and involves the least harm to the operator. Staging head-on collisions and making up explosives are fraught with far more dangers, as are strangulation and knife use, if the other party gains the upper hand in the struggle. Yes, a gun is a tool of many purposes, but it's prime purpose is to take the life of another, be it a duck, a bear, or over 13,000 humans every year in the USA alone. Anyone hunting game knows the advantages of the rifle or shotgun for that purpose. The handgun primary purpose is for use against another human, and how many of them do we have? And what will it take for you to appreciate the need for a few roadblocks like preventive over time restrictions on ammo purchases for you to understand that, a death in your own family? That's called "learning the hard way." I wouldn't wish it on anyone, which is why I have taken such a pro-active approach, note the editorial in Saturday's The Union newspaper.
And for the nitwits who think I have no experiences with fire arms, I own three, kept in a secure 600 lb safe, in a residence with gates, fences, sensors, dogs, pop-on lights, and plenty of space to allow plenty of time and warning to get to them, and enough deterrent effects in place to probably reduce the odds of having to go for them to near zero, despite being thoroughly rural. To keep mind, eye, and hand steady, beyond using my camera constantly, I am an archer, which is far more soothing to the peace of the neighborhood, than going bangity bang bang bang every day or two. It's cheaper too, and doesn't give away your location in the dark.

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The debate on the original intent of the Second Amendment quickly goes into its predictable groove. The liberals’ position can always be summarized as ‘Government is good, resistance is futile.’ They inevitably paint the ludicrous picture of civilians with hunting rifles and shotguns holed up against the advance of massive mechanized divisions supported by a sky filled with unimaginable air power, all arrayed by the government to put down any opposition to its methods and means.
What is missed in such arguments (e.g. TomK’s 1203am) is that a tyrannical government does not rise through the co-opting of its military and turning it against its own people. Autocracies begin with bureaucratic thugs from NGOs and government agencies which are subverted one by one. These are usually security, intelligence, and regulatory enforcement agencies whose minions arrive surreptitiously at your door in the middle of the night to either execute you on the spot for ‘resisting’, or simply make you vanish. By the time the military is turned, those kinds of revolutions are over.
However, the small arms against tanks scenarios are common with people with little or no military experience. As an Army officer in a combat unit facing the Red Army, we often talked of the role of the militaries in maintaining the power of tyrannical regimes. Sooner or later the question would always come up, ‘Can it happen in America?’ And in my experience and the broader experience of others in such conversations, the answer was always no. None of us could conceive of any lawful order that would have us assault American civilians, even if they were firing at us, it was unthinkable. Such orders simply would not be followed. Dealing with civilian unrest was a political problem to be solved by our political leadership and their internal organs of power.
It is against the rogue political elements and the armed thugs that armed citizens can muster par force as the determining factor. It is then when par force (including just its presence) can make the unequivocal statement that the country will not fall to subterfuge in the dark of night; that whatever differences brought us to that point of contention, they will not be resolved with a one-sided use of firepower, but will be forcefully brought back into the light of day for a negotiated solution according to the mandates of our Constitution.

Posted by: George Rebane | 29 July 2012 at 09:29 AM

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Further notes on taking out a rogue government: In the early 1800's, the weapons the government could muster, were not really that much more advanced than what the private citizen had, and back then a band of private citizens stood a chance, when the government was a 6 week sail across the pond, or even local, with horseback riders for communication.
These day there is no way in heck citizens can compete with the half trillion a year they've been arming the government with for the last 60 years. Do the math. Add up the value of the citizens' net worth in arms, ammo, and armor. Now do the same with the government. The only thing the citizens have going for them is numbers, but only if ALL rose up. The NRA has all of what, 4 million members. The USA armed forces are all of .5 million. The 4 million outnumber the .5 five million, but the .5 million are a very, very, heavily armed, armoured, and communicating group. Good luck with that. As I pointed out before, a rogue government would start by taking over all communications channels, and silencing any remaining ham or cb units out there. You need to review, "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming." The rogue government would not announce a takeover in advance, sorry about that.
Or maybe you really do consider the Obama administration to be such a "rogue government?" Are you going to have a coordinated attack if he is re-elected? Just how is that going to work? Maybe you should try listening to your fellow countrymen, who support a great deal of what he proposes and is doing. The last thing I want to see is a repeat of the Civil War, even if your side would lose so quickly it would be all over in six weeks, and much more likely, in six days.

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"It is against the rogue political elements and the armed thugs that armed citizens can muster par force as the determining factor. It is then when par force (including just its presence) can make the unequivocal statement that the country will not fall to subterfuge in the dark of night; that whatever differences brought us to that point of contention, they will not be resolved with a one-sided use of firepower, but will be forcefully brought back into the light of day for a negotiated solution according to the mandates of our Constitution."
This only works if 80 to 90 % of the citizenry agree with you, and you have a sudden precipitating event. The scenario you are faced with is the warming to boiling of the frog, and at no point does the frog become galvanized to respond, especially with our current majority culture. The bureaucratic and corporate takeover is a slow but inevitable process, and the dumbing down of our schools, especially by the denigrating of science by certain religious power groups, and the concentration on the bottom line quarter by quarter for maximum near time profits will be what doomed this country, if she goes down. Unregulated capitalism is too stupid for its own long term health, and the purchasing of Congress and the Presidency are the obvious signs of this inherent cancer. "Make it safe for me and my money, screw the rest of the citizenry," is no way to run a country that will endure.

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"the answer was always no. None of us could conceive of any lawful order that would have us assault American civilians, even if they were firing at us, it was unthinkable. Such orders simply would not be followed."
Which is why no protestors have ever been hurt of killed, even those who are not armed and are not shooting. What exactly do you think would have happened if OWS was an armed and shooting crowd?
NEXT!

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2nd amendment
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The first half of the second amendment always seems to be left out. The purpose behind the well regulated militia was to prevent the need of standing armies in times of peace. Standing armies were feared to create mischief and were the oppressive enforcers of the rulers. An example of this is the disgusting Christian slaughterer Oliver Cromwell.
We are conservators to an elderly gentleman from Galway, Ireland. He says there is folk lore in many Irish towns about Ned of the Hills. Here is one of my favorite bands "The Pogues" who wrote a song about the Cromwell and the deeds he did to those who didn't believe in his version of the bible.
"Young Ned of the Hills"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-y2ox2HPnc&feature=related
This statement is very good "The deranged person who wants to murder fellow humans will use the weapon available." This is why automatic, semiautomatic weapons with 100 round magazine's should not be available to ordinary citizens. I am a supporter of the second amendment, I learned before the age of 10 to handle, shoot, maintain, and store a gun properly. Military grade weapons should not be at the finger tips of any citizen who can fill out an online form properly, which seems to be the case for the latest mentally disturbed mass murderer in Aurora.

Posted by: Ben Emery | 29 July 2012 at 10:48 AM

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George,
Here is where you tragically do not understand American history or choose to ignore big chunks of American history. We are supposed to be the government so our future revolutions will be fought at the polling places not the battlefields. That's why it was a radical idea. The revolution wasn't fought for the US to have no government it was fought so that the US would have representative government of the governed. Government through the consent of the people. This is where I don't get your conservatarian thought process. It seems you want a small few people controlling the government, which I think in your logic means small government. That might be so but small government doesn't mean benign government but in many cases the exact opposite. Little services for those outside of the elites but massive oppression to prevent common people having leisure time to philosophize and act upon the rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.

Posted by: Ben Emery | 29 July 2012 at 11:10 AM

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It appears that the discussion has settled in its traditional groove with the erection of straw men, their attribution to the opposition, then concluding with their summary dispatch while the 'Government is good, resistance is futile' banner is rehoisted.
Meanwhile, a more careful attendance to the debate of the day will produce examples like this morning's NPR piece on the historical red/blue division of the country in which no correspondent could envision any pre-election compromise in Congress, and very little afterward. The pundits' wisdom appears to be that whichever side wins will make life hell for the losing side.
The Founders anticipated such contingencies and provided for their peaceful consideration and resolution. It is when such peaceful means are rejected that violent alternatives rise to the forefront.

Posted by: George Rebane | 29 July 2012 at 11:42 AM

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George
In you're interpretation of the Second Amendment do I have the right to possess chemical and biological weapons consistent with those possess by the US military? If not what limitations do you place on the citizenry?

Posted by: Paul Emery | 29 July 2012 at 12:42 PM

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PaulE 1242pm - Right on time Paul. You clearly did not read my par force paper, so the straw man you have erected is delightfully extravagant. The 'par' in par force is with that of the local constabulary. And it's purpose is not to defeat, but to delay until the grievances get broad enough of a hearing to either develop broad support, or let the resistors swing in the wind.

Posted by: George Rebane | 29 July 2012 at 12:55 PM

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" It is when such peaceful means are rejected that violent alternatives rise to the forefront."
How will this state of affairs be determined and by whom?
Possibly simply by those with the most guns? NRA for President?

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I get a laugh every time this issue comes p and the left tosses a "tank" or a "nuke" into the mix to make their point against the pistol and long guns. The SCOTUS finally said the 2nd means what it says and the individual is part of the mix. I see BenE left out the comma as all the liberals do. I find it more honorable for a American to defens all the Amendments rather than pick and choose as the Emery's seem to do all the time.

Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 29 July 2012 at 01:47 PM

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So Todd, my question stands and it was for George but you can take a crack at it. What limits if any do you support

Posted by: Paul Emery | 29 July 2012 at 01:56 PM

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"The universal possession of force on par with local state authorities should be sufficient to prevent such perverted authority from quickly snuffing out or ‘containing’ the griev-ance."

Gee George,
So far the sheriff hasn't ever tried to shut me up, as much as L.W. would like him to. I don't see your point at all with this. Between blogging, letters to the editor, and speaking out in public when appropriate, I've had no trouble getting my grievances across. The only time I'd like to use "par force" is when I'm on talk radio and the host does use a volume slider to shut me up just as I am making salient points and blowing his arguments out of the water. That why I seldom go there anymore.
You make the sheriff sound as though he comes from Nottingham.

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TomK 135pm - I do believe that you really don't know. Welcome to the Constitution, Article 5, and the 'inalienable right of secession' articulated in our Declaration of Independence.
http://mises.org/daily/3427

Posted by: George Rebane | 29 July 2012 at 02:04 PM

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I'm trying to picture this. I don't like the new green dumpsters, and I say so on Facebook. The sheriff comes to the gate and says, "shut up about that." He points a gun at me, just as I drop down my secret hatch hole to my radio transmitter, and I get all my buddies to drive over and start shooting at the sheriff from his rear so that I can get my message out even further, and so more folks will come, and back up the first group.
This is just plain weird!

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And yet this is what you use to justify blind allegiance to the 2nd Amendment?

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TomK 159pm 205pm - It appears that as with the Great Divide, a reasoned discussion of the Second Amendment is also not accessible to you. I think the last pair of your straw men just escorted you out of this discussion.

Posted by: George Rebane | 29 July 2012 at 02:11 PM

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Secession is the plan? Well, first you have to get enough like minded people to all move to one state and become the majority in that state, and then go from there. Good Luck, please leave CO UT WY and ID alone. I like the skiing there.

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Well Spoken Tom. Timothy McVey , a militia movement sympathizer, sought revenge against the federal government for its handling of the Waco Siege, as well as for the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992. Was he exercising his 2nd Amendment option? Does any individual or group have the right to make that judgement and what about the rights of those that don't subscribe to the remedy?
Let's also include the question about the secession of Southern States leading to the Civil War.

Posted by: Paul Emery | 29 July 2012 at 02:20 PM

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So if I have this correct, the two most recent mass movements with grievances, the Tea Party and OWS, only got to ove forward because the local sheriffs and their allied CHP, etc alliances, were afraid that if they told folks to shut up, they be met by armed protestors, who might beat them in a shootout? In the middle of a ghetto riot, one or two LE might be out gunned, but ultimately, the local gov keeps on calling up more and more force until the USA military IS in the fray, and guess who loses, 2nd amendment or no.

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So what is the threshold for the use of these arms in the defense of liberty and who calls the shots so to speak? Would it be some kind of IRA Irish cell organization or, at the given moment armed opposition would sandbag their houses and wait for the tanks to roll. Talk is cheap but the price of action is colossal. One groups revolution or resistance may not be anothers so what happens to the uninvolved bystanders? Under what set of circumstances would a Second Amendment solution be justified and who would lead it? There are so many questions.
Reasonable firearm possession by trained owners for self defense against criminal activity doesn't require military assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Posted by: Paul Emery | 29 July 2012 at 10:13 PM

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Lots of interpretations here: http://www.guncite.com/gc2ndmea.html

Some related gun control proposed legislation:
" Identical to a separate bill introduced by amendment sponsor Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), the senators’ amendment to the Cybersecurity Act would ban the sale or transfer of large capacity feeders like magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.
The amendment was introduced amid growing outcry from police and gun control advocates who want Washington to take a stand on gun control. New York City Mayor Bloomberg prominently demanded action hours after the Aurora theater shooting. The White House pledged to strengthen existing gun rules but has since clarified that the administration will not promote new legislation.
24-year-old James Holmes, the prime suspect in the Aurora shooting, purchased a 100 round drum magazine. Jared Loughner, who shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) in 2011 along with 18 others, used an extended magazine that held 33 bullets, and police found two more 15-round magazines in his pockets. Under the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, these two killers could not have legally purchased these large capacity ammunition feeding devices. On the state level, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York all prohibit the sale of high capacity magazines."

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One of the reasons we have the ban in California, was the 1979 shooting of a bunch of SE Asian children in a schoolyard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_School_massacre

Now some ice water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16K6m3Ua2nw

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A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Posted by: billy T | 30 July 2012 at 12:51 AM

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Yes it is BillyT. I wonder when H. U. W. GoodNugget the III will figure that out. So far no crank calls from the letter published in The Union Saturday, that's a good thing. I guess the Scoggins have moved on to greener pastures. I wonder how many millions each nutcase shooting requires the Republicans to raise to counteract the effects? Two or three more between now and 100 days from now, and even Rove's $1,000,000,000 war chest for his Superpac will not be enough to stop an Obama landslide. I also note that even Sarah Palin is feeling the effects of the drought, and admits that there is indeed global warming, a cosmic mentalquake for her, but I doubt she even notices it, business as usual. When will the NRA call for the right to use depleted uranium bullets? And nobody has tackled that sticky problem of local law enforcement calling in for re-enforcements, all the way up to the full military might of the USA, thus voiding out, "par force," and leaving it a gedanken experiment with no basis in reality?