When the stupids happen there is nothing to do but ride the wave of stupid. Let it wash over you because this is your country. Americana.

I would like to think our dear President is saying rational and thoughtful things like this to mess with the mouthbreathing folk. He is sitting back with his home brew beer watching FauxNews and saying, "...master class of stupid...bravo."

I FEEL your confusion, Lindsey.
Like I cannot tell the difference between a profoundly soulless and idiotic republican from a profoundly soulless and idiotic neo-puritan, bible-belted social conservative. Can you help me, Lindsey?

http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2...

They get into political bed with the racist knowing they are racist, and then are surprised when they are given "a gift" that keeps on giving. Having made their bed, sleep in it they must.

"the devil is a good writer"

I guess that is why right-wingnut protestors persist in butchering the English language. Godliness, I suppose.

One of my favorite scenes in literature was the confessional scene in Portrait. I became an honorary Catholic after taking a 5 unit James Joyce class in college.

We are a horrible, horrible people. Okay, *Awesomely* horrible. Way to go Team America!

Kittens, bring lots of kittens. No one shoots at kittens.

When I was ten years old I talked my parents into voting for Jimmy Carter. Now I cannot vouch for their political sophistication as they were listening to a ten year old, but what I gave them was that Ford pardoned the crook, Ford's lame WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons, and that Jimmy Carter is an honest man unlike some other presidents we knew.
I stand by that recommendation. He was the most moral and honest president we ever had.

When Reagan became president I had an epiphany that for all their starry eyed wishes for an honest president, the American people want someone to lie to them. Big stinking whoppers about being a city on the hill. They do not want to hear the truth. So when there was much bellyaching about Clinton lying about screwing around with Monica and people whining, "If only he didn't lie to us. We do not like when presidents lie to us." I called B*llsh*t. I still call B*llsh*t. Americans re-elected a president that lied to get us into two wars we had no business being in. No. Wait. They did not just lie, they introduced the high art of B*llSh*t, simply not caring about the truth or whether what they said were lies -- malicious magical thinking.
Every president before and after can thank Bush Jr. for adding luster to their legacies, because no matter what they had done wrong, it wasn't as jaw-droppingly horrific as the maladies Bush laid before us. So why not stand next to this disaster of a president for a little legacy bump?

In the late 1970s, at my middle school in Menlo Park, CA, we would often get bomb threats, but there was never a bomb but they had to sweep the school while we were on the lawn playing frisbee. It was someone trying to get out of a test or just someone who was bored. The worst thing that happened was that an escaping mental patient grabbed two of our classmates while they were home, held them hostage with a knife, requested food and milk shakes from the Dutch Goose, an requested TV media interview. The boys escaped when the guy was shaving for his teevee interview.

Even in the 80s we could have a movie like "Heathers" because back then what happened in that movie was safely in the realm of absolute fiction. Today, Heathers may not be able to be made as more and more atrocious things happen in schools that even screenwriters wouldn't dare to imagine.

Now as a mom and on the safety committee you have meetings about what to do with the kid who cannot make it to a classroom during a lockdown since we cannot let them in once the lockdown is started. It is as messed up as you can imagine.

Guns need to be regulated, not taken away. We need to know who has what. We need mandatory insurance which gets higher depending on how many guns and what type of guns (more is riskier) to cover the societal costs of gun ownership. We need mandatory and periodic training and testing like we do for cars. We also need research on gun ownership and gun violence. We need education and social stigma that we had for seat belts, smoking, DUI, and motorcycle helmets (all of which were rabidly opposed by people as government overreach and unpopular). These laws have saved lives over the years.

Gun owners should have to visit the families of gun victims and visit emergency rooms to see what guns really do. It is not like the movies.

With great power and rights comes great responsibility. Part of that responsibility is the willingness to really examine why you need a gun and is it really necessary. Are you really willing to execute someone to protect your stuff? Is your hobby more important than pubic safety?

We need to teach people that 88% of gun violence happens between people who know each other and not that faceless criminal. If you own a weapon you are more likely to become a victim of violence. In other words, guns are not the protectors people think they are. They are better off getting dogs, an alarm system, and joining a neighborhood watch program. People with guns imagine themselves being the hero with a gun vs. bad guys, when they are more likely to become part of the problem. Want to be a hero? Learn first aid, search and rescue, fire suppression, and other emergency response skills. Heroism is helping people escape from the scene, opening airways, stopping the bleeding, give blood, and help people in shock stay warm.

Then there are those who "need" weapons to fight government tyranny. Even if they have a Bushmaster with 30 round cartridges they will be neutralized pretty quickly by the most advanced and well trained military and police force. The only potent way of standing against tyranny and oppression is non-violent action. There is threat of life and limb whether you choose violence or not, but none-violence keeps you on a moral high ground and away from becoming what you are protesting against.

The NRA is a lobbying group for corporate arms dealers. Period. All they care about is arms sales. They want nothing to get in the way of that sale whether it is online, at a gun show, or at a gun dealer. Background checks get in the way of the sale. They really do not care who gets their weapons as long as the money is good. It doesn't matter how much carnage happens, because they can always turn tragedy into a mad dash to buy MORE guns.