From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Add This to Today's Abbreviated Pundit Roundup:
There is more hooey spread about the Second Amendment. It says quite clearly that guns are for those who form part of a well-regulated militia, i.e., the armed forces including the National Guard. The reasons for keeping them away from everyone else get clearer by the day.
The comparison most often used is that of the automobile, another lethal object that is regularly used to wreak great carnage. Obviously, this society is full of people who haven't got enough common sense to use an automobile properly. But we haven't outlawed cars yet.
We do, however, license them and their owners, restrict their use to presumably sane and sober adults and keep track of who sells them to whom. At a minimum, we should do the same with guns.
In truth, there is no rational argument for guns in this society. This is no longer a frontier nation in which people hunt their own food. It is a crowded, overwhelmingly urban country in which letting people have access to guns is a continuing disaster. Those who want guns---whether for target shooting, hunting or potting rattlesnakes (get a hoe)---should be subject to the same restrictions placed on gun owners in England---a nation in which liberty has survived nicely without an armed populace.
The argument that "guns don't kill people" is patent nonsense. Anyone who has ever worked in a cop shop knows how many family arguments end in murder because there was a gun in the house. Did the gun kill someone? No. But if there had been no gun, no one would have died. At least not without a good footrace first. Guns do kill. Unlike cars, that is all they do. […]
For years, I used to enjoy taunting my gun-nut friends about their psycho-sexual hang-ups---always in a spirit of good cheer, you understand. But letting the noisy minority in the National Rifle Association force us to allow this carnage to continue is just plain insane.
---Molly Ivins. 1993. Twenty-two years later, the insanity continues.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, December 3, 2015
Note: I saw three ships come sailing in on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day. I saw three ships come sailing in On Christmas Day in the morning. So I told Ma to get my bazooka and they ain't sailing no more.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Grammy nominations: 4
Days 'til Sinterklaas Festival Day in Rhinebeck, New York: 2
President Obama's current Gallup approval rating: 46%
Current asking price for the South Dakota ghost town of Swett, down from $399k a year ago: $250,000
Number of haunted houses in Swett, according to AP: 1
Age of the albatross known as Wisdom, who just returned to the Midway Atoll NWR, possibly to lay her estimated 36th egg: 64
Estimated miles Wisdom has flown in her life, equal to six trips to the moon and back: 3 million (Source: The Washington Post)
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Bonus Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
I have been listening with great attention to the series of speeches Present Bush has lately given on his newly revealed "Plan for Victory."
Of course I was pleased to learn we have a plan for a victory, which consists, it turns out, of announcing: "We cannot and will not leave Iraq until victory is achieved. ... We will settle for nothing less than complete victory. ... We will never accept anything less than complete victory."
Unfortunately, the White House claims it produced this once supposedly secret plan in 2003, when it is actually a public-relations paper written less than six months ago, which is pretty much the way things go credibility-wise these days.
It has long been clear that this administration thinks it can spin reality to a blue-bellied fare-thee-well, but isn't it a little late for this kind of thing?
---December, 2005
Puppy Pic of the Day:
Guard duty
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CHEERS to laughing in the face of fear. Today around 5-6 o'clock, the president will lead America in hoisting a pine-scented middle finger to the bad people. Like the Whos in Whoville, Americans will gather in a circle and hold hands and sing as Barack Obama lights this baby up the darkness:
And we'll be happy and, yes, gay as we party down with Santa and rock around the Christmas tree. And nothing in the world can stop us from celebrating peace on earth and goodwill to all. You hear me, ISIS crazies and anti-abortion wackos? Nothing! Well...maybe traffic. But it’s freedom traffic, bub.
CHEERS to Dixie's new bleeding-heart liberal. I'm not really sure if anyone knew how Louisiana Governor-elect John Bel Edwards planned to treat the state's LGBT residents. He isn't keen on same-sex marriage (boo hiss), but thanks to the Supreme Court that issue is completely out of his control. But he could make life more difficult at the state level…a la Bobby Jindal’s open contempt for LGBTers. But it looks like this blue dog is gonna be people-friendly:
Edwards plans to issue an executive order to protect the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community from firing, discrimination and harassment as state employees and government contractors. [...] But executive orders don't necessarily bind parts of state government outside the governor's control, such as the judiciary. […]
In most parts of Louisiana, it is still legal to fire someone for being gay or in a same-sex relationship. Only in New Orleans and Shreveport---which have special local ordinances on the books---are people prohibited from firing a person for being a member of the LGBT community.
Send that man an honorary toaster oven.
JEERS to more fiddling while earth burns. In Paris, the climate summit is seeking a new multi-national agreement that calls for immediate action to politely ask the world's mega-polluter nations if they will kindly consider taking action at some point in the future. The latest:
Negotiators met in back rooms while an unprecedented 150 world leaders took to the stage to emphasise their commitment to tackling global warming.
In a sign of things to come, their initial meetings carried on late into the night, with some ending only at midnight.
By this Thursday, they are expected to come up with a draft text that will be further refined on Friday, then examined by the French team over the weekend.
I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but you know it's tough for the world to break free of Big Oil's influence when even the climate summit's draft has to be refined.
CHEERS to the Land Of Lincoln and Obama. Happy Birthday, Illinois---197 years old today! The name means "Tribe of superior men." Deadbeat dad and former crazy congressman Joe Walsh is from Illinois. So is Donald Rumsfeld. So is the Catholic bishop who conducted an exorcism a couple years back after the governor signed a marriage-equality bill into law. So is Rahm Emanuel. Oh well...every village has its idiots.
CHEERS to starry starry nights. The constellation Orion is now appearing in the sky after sundown, and for the next few months it'll be our celestial companion when we take the dog out to pee. I always thought it was just a handful of 100-watt light bulbs strung hither and yon that gave it its archer-thwoinking-his-bow shape. It turns out there's more to it than that, according to NASA. And they've gone---pardon the pun---above and beyond to make me look like a fool, thanks to 212 hours of fancy camera work involving 1,400 exposures:
Of the many interesting details that have become visible, one that particularly draws the eye is Barnard's Loop, the bright red circular filament arcing down from the middle.
The Rosette Nebula is not the giant red nebula near the top of the image---that is a larger but lesser known nebula known as Lambda Orionis. The Rosette Nebula is visible, though: it is the red and white nebula on the upper left. The bright orange star just above the frame center is Betelgeuse, while the bright blue star on the lower right is Rigel. Other famous nebulas visible include the Witch Head Nebula, the Flame Nebula, the Fox Fur Nebula, and, if you know just where to look, the comparatively small Horsehead Nebula. About those famous three stars that cross the belt of Orion the Hunter---in this busy frame they can be hard to locate, but a discerning eye will find them just below and to the right of the image center.
For a bigger pic that you can roll your cursor over to see the above details more easily, click here. Nice to be able to look up and observe such beauty. It seems to be getting scarce down here on Planet Wacko.
CHEERS to seeing stuff up close. And on a related note, on this date in 1621, Galileo perfected his new invention. He called it the telescope. The following day the lady next door perfected her new invention. She called it window blinds.
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Ten years ago in C&J: December 3, 2005
CHEERS to Adam and Steve in Johannesburg. The Constitutional Court in South Africa says gay marriage must be made legal by next year:
Judge Albie Sachs, who delivered Thursday's ruling, said the common law and Marriage Act definitions of marriage as a union between a man and a woman "are accordingly inconsistent with sections ... of the Constitution to the extent that they make no provision for same-sex couples to enjoy the status, entitlements and responsibilities they accord to heterosexual couples."
The court instructed Parliament to extend the definitions within a year, or else the words "or spouse" would automatically be added by the courts, The South African Press Association reported.
That makes 3 out of 7 continents with countries that have marriage equality. And if you can believe what you read in the penguin press, Antarctica's thiiiiiis close…
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And just one more……
CHEERS to The Onion. For as usual, satire that bumps up so close to reality that it's almost hard to tell the difference:
AMARILLO, TX---Expressing frustration with the lack of convenient locations in his area, deranged gunman and anti-abortion fanatic Jared Broussard reported Monday that he could not believe how far he would have to drive to find the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic. “You have to be kidding me; I figured I’d need to go 10, maybe 15 miles, tops, but the closest one is almost 250 miles away,” said a visibly exasperated Broussard, adding that he would have to scrap his plans for the entire day and leave right now if he wanted to reach the health care provider before it closed this evening. “God, the nearest one isn’t even in this state. It’s actually faster for me to drive across the border to Santa Fe, and even then it’s still a four-hour trip. That barely leaves me enough time to buy ammo.” Broussard added that, given the length of the drive, he was thankful that he would likely not have to make a round trip.
Although with gas under two bucks a gallon, domestic terrorism has never been so affordable.
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Anybody is better than Bill in Portland Maine."
---Jeb Bush
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