do_it_for_the_children dafremen Time to get back to the agenda we left when 9/11 came along: Making sure the people register and or relinquish their firearms as poverty and discontent rise. I believe it was Pearl, Paduka and Columbine and the year was 98 or 99. They were railroading arms control legislation through when something better came along (as far as neutering the public and increasing the power of those IN power: 9/11.) Soon 99.99% of our people hobbled because of the senseless acts of a mere fraction of a percent of our population. Shall we play chicken little, spread the terror by word-of-mouth til they get what they want and hobble us? Their game is the same game as a cowboy with the herd: Spook us from the right direction, so we run in the direction they want us to. Til we're corralled and ready to walk up the chute to the slaughter house..get fleeced at the shearing shed..get milked in the dairy barn.. Pick a metaphor you can live with. see also: drunk_driving_is_not_a_crime 121214 ... no reason http://www.theonion.com/articles/right-to-own-handheld-device-that-shoots-deadly-me,30742/ just for the record, i completely agree with this article, and if i said anything that implied i didn't think there should be more gun control, it wasn't what i meant. pardon the understatement... the news today has had me near tears since it broke. 121214 ... epitome of incomprehensibility I read the drunk driving page – most of it – and thought that some of the commenters were missing daf's point. And that he was missing their points at times. Odds are that I'm missing EVERYONE's point, but here goes: I agree that safety, physical safety at least, shouldn't be considered some kind of absolute – you can't guarantee you'll be safe all the time, so why legislate/regulate everything. Yes. True enough. But, along the same lines, I'm not sure freedom can be set up as an absolute either – you can't guarantee an ideal level of freedom simply through a lack of legislation, regulation, et cetera. Let's say human beings exist in groups, and cooperation comes with some degree of compromise? Second, even if freedom is a goal, people/groups/nations will inevitably disagree on how to try acheiving it. Example: Canada, stricter gun control laws than the States. Less free? I, for one, think Canada's laws are better on this point. I'm not just hyping Canada because that's where I happen to live - I also think American schools teach history better than Canadian ones, and that some of us tend to be more apathetic (often guilty myself). Anyway, any nationalism pushed to extremes seems a little silly. So what am I trying to say here? Maybe that what works for one group won't work for another? Then again, how do we address the fact that the more privileged are screwing over the less privileged? which if I'm not mistaken was one of daf's points. Or that some of those in power don't seem to care for others' freedoms at all? But also (and here's where I'll stop) isn't it a form of power to own a weapon, and should this be subject to observation and possible criticism (not “regulation” necessarily) just as concerned citizens observe and critique their government? 121214 ... dafremen But, unfortunately, they aren't. Folks will let the government slap them across the face with it's Johnson for lack of balls to do anything about it..but watch them grow a pair when it's one of their own fellow citizens. 121215 ... unhinged really? arguing the perceived vague over reach of government behind the senseless death of 20 children is what makes people think you are an asshole daf. the cold fact is that most people need to be told what to do in order to do the right thing. there is no reason on this fucking planet why most people in america need to have guns. i think that is clearly evident after what happened yesterday. i am so sick of the conservative argument that the constitution gives us the right...ok right. that guy had the right to go into that school and kill almost 30 people. i'm sure all those families would agree 121215 ... e_o_i Backtracking a little: the fear seems to be that if regular citizens weren't allowed to own guns and the police and military were, that would create an imbalance and open the doors to a military-police state. Also, politicians (both on the "left" and "right") are exploiting a tragedy for political ends. This much I get. But the police and military are already more powerful, aren't they? They already have access to more firepower. Would not having a gun, or having a registered gun, make that much difference? Perhaps the power that people need isn't firearms, but communication and solidarity (or whatnot. I sound cheesy. I wish I had more ideas, but the whole thing saddens me.) It's time to start thinking up non-violent revolutions. Daf, you've had ideas about those before - better ideas than I could have. I won't call you an asshole, but I think you could be more creative here. Over and out. 121215 ... dafs feelin sassy I can't help but see this: 1. Highly publicized tragedy. 2. Appropriate emotional outrage followed by.. 3. Inappropriate "knee-jerk" reactionary legislation. And the same assholes that like to flip the word asshole around here are some the first on the bandwagon to start fucking with law-abiding strangers' lives in the name of stopping criminals. Freedom loving my ass. You gotta care about PEOPLE first..but you don't. You just claim to and you cry over corpses and hand over the simple and sometimes necessary freedoms of complete strangers as though you KNOW what is right, when you don't know anything but one of a number of shades of gray. THe more secluded your experience..the more simplistic your picture. The more CULTURED (by other humans likewise cultured), the less leeway for reality to creep past your preconceived notions of how the world works. It doesn't..not hardly..and hardly ever. Perhaps this will make my position absolutely clear on the issue of gun control: I could give a fuck if they were taking our TOASTERS away because people were killing other people with them. I'd say the same. Fuck you...you fucked up the people..fix the people..stop using the fucked up ACTIONS of the fucked up PEOPLE that YOUR Stupid social engineering experiment created as an excuse to take my fucking toaster. Do we understand each other yet or do we have to have keep repeating these blather nonversations where I get patronized BY folks for not talking down to you and ezplaining every step of my thought process? To summarize: Greedy power hungry people fucking up their own race to take their things and gain absolute power. It's what greedy, power hungry people do. Want to stop these obscene wastes of human life? Fix the people. Address the people problem. Figure out why people want to kill babies in schools these days. (Maybe they hated school? Maybe?! Maybe their mom spent more time with their classroom than her own children? Figure it out if this really bothers you. Just hands off of my fucking toaster!) Fix that broken part of society be it childhood related, work-related stress, violence in media..whatever. Find it..spend the money spent on creating new law enforcement technology on figuring out what's fucking up these little babies. (Hint: Maybe 6-8 hours in an institution from the age of 5 on? I dunno? Maybe? Hey, at least we can compete with the Chinese.) No one wants to hear that its their dear "civilization" turning innocent little babies into mean spirited animals. No wonder the lines have gotten homicidal. Just "NORMAL" folks think insult comedy is the only thing that's funny anymore. Abnormal folks maybe think insult bullets are funnier? The best use of the average human mind is to put down, "put in place" or otherwise act like a snide, jaded dick. Now kindly fuck off, fix the REAL problem or stop pretending to care and stay the fuck away from my toaster. Thank you. --love 130411 ... dafremen I would however, like to reiterate that leaving law enforcement and the military as the only people authorized to carry firearms is a great idea..what with the cops and the politicians that control the military having such a great track record resisting abuse of power in this country (and around the world) and all. 130412 ... e_o_i Your footnote seems a response to something I said (though it probably wasn't). What I meant was that the military and police would have more power anyway whether everybody else had guns or not. I'm not in favour of outright banning guns for everybody else. To me, the democratic thing to do would be to have a referendum on the gun control laws, simply worded, that could consist of questions like: "are you for against x?" "are you for or against y?" and then go from there. But I don't know if the American political system could do that, even if you could find the will. Still, I'd trade Stephen Harper for Obama if I could. Lesser of two evils and all :) 130412 ... dafremen Long as he stays away from my fucking toaster. 130412 ... baby satan i can't believe no one's paused to comment on the fact that daf doesn't censor his swear words anymore. my mind, she is blown. 130412 ... dafremen The time's they are a changin. I'm surprised you don't piss German beer anymore. But there's a liquor store for me and the Moral Majority for you, in case we get sentimental. 130413 ... peyton I'm glad you never change, Daffy. Seriously. 130420 ... dafremen Pump full of sexual urges to flood labor market with an endless stream of fresh-faced, eager teen and twenty something workers who are more willing to believe that being a wage slave makes one "responsible", "productive" and "mature." CHECK. Saturate media with examples of self indulgent egotistical tools gratifying their every whim or having the over-21 version of a tempter tantrum (talking shit, manipulating events, throwing down, being a tease-whore) until they get what they want..teaching generation after generation of children to be self-indulgent, egotistical tools filled with irresistible wants..the perfect consumers. CHECK. Take children from their parents at an early age so as to fill them with artificial values whose foundation is based on working, consuming and ostracizing those who don't do both. In the end, forcing the public to pay for pre-training industry's workers, retail's consumers, and law enforcement's "peer pressure" helpers who help keep the herd in line. Sell out and eliminate jobs, leaving people with few job choices so that they'll slowly become obedient, subservient, grovelling peons who will put up with anything to keep their employment. CHECK. Pump up fear of "strangers", ie. fellow citizens, because loneliness increases profits and securing frightened people is a multi-billion dollar business..besides frightened, helpless people are easier to control. CHECK. Watch as self-indulgent, helpless, isolated, frightened people with irresistible wants, out of control judgmental habits and no jobs in a glutted, sold-out labor market turn to rape to feel less helpless, theft to quench their irresistible wants, guns to feel less frightened, turn their backs on the hungry, the homeless because the poor are scum, insult each other because intellect is a club to be swung..to feel powerful, to get what you want now, to have friends and be somebody. CHECK..er WTF? 130426 ... dafremen Apparently riots have started over someone in a "gun-free" country brandishing a machete and being shot by police. The Swedes are now rioting in the streets, burning houses, cars, shops, throwing rocks..pummeling anyone that cares to get in their way. (No guns though.) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/22/us-sweden-riots-idUSBRE94L0CH20130522 Time for a ban on rocks and matches as well as a call to amputate or otherwise lock down people's hands so they can't beat people to death with them. Because fuck fixing the fucked up people. It's not a profitable venture. In other news.. Meanwhile, in the gun-free zone of London, England, a man is hacked to death in broad daylight before multiple stunned (and likely nauseated) witnesses with (get this) a meat cleaver..yes..a meat cleaver (and a kitchen knife.) Before we all lose our minds and go WTF!? there's this: the killers ALSO had an illegally obtained firearm on them..even though they are BANNED THROUGHOUT THE U.K. except by special permit. Apparently criminals are either oblivious of the law, or they just don't give a fuck because they are..well..CRIMINALS! (I think this is especially true of the sort of criminals that going around hacking people to death in broad daylight with..surprise fucking surprise..a bloody meat cleaver! Bullet holes anyone? Or being hacked to death with a machete, meat cleaver or kitchen knife?) http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/22/world/europe/uk-london-attack/index.html We could try to fixed the fucked up people but..eh..let's just take away the knifes instead. And the video cameras too so people don't have to watch this shit. That'll fix everything. 130523 ... blather_spell_check laughs_at_your_incompetence -knifes +knives 130523 what's it to you? who go blather from