COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, December 14, 2012

"As a result of the sexual revolution promoted by the counterculture of the 1960s, the dominant culture today, 40 percent of all births in the United States are now to single moms. With no husband, these women look to government to help feed, house, educate, medicate and provide income support for themselves and their children. For sustenance and the survival of their families, they depend on that same Big Government that Republicans denounce at their rallies.” - Pat Buchanan



BUCHANAN: THE WINTER OF CONSERVATIVE DISCONTENT


By: Patrick J. Buchanan
12/11/2012 01:09 AM

As the white flag rises above Republican redoubts, offering a surrender on taxes, the mind goes back to what seemed a worse time for conservatives: December 1964.
Barry Goldwater had suffered a defeat not seen since Alf Landon. Republicans held less than one-third of the House and Senate and only 17 governorships. The Warren Court was remaking America.
In the arts, academic and entertainment communities, and national press corps, conservatives were rarely seen or heard. It was Liberalism’s Hour, with America awash in misty memories of Camelot and great expectations of the Great Society to come in 1965.
That year, however, saw escalation in Vietnam, campus protests, and civil disobedience against the war. That August, there exploded the worst race riot in memory in the Watts section of Los Angeles, with arson, looting, the beating of whites, and sniper attacks on cops and firemen.
A year after LBJ’s triumph, black militants and white radicals were savaging the Liberal Establishment from the left, while Gov. George Wallace had come north in 1964 to win a third of the vote in the major Democratic primaries with an assault from the populist right.
Below the surface, the Democratic Party was disintegrating on ethnic, cultural and political lines. Law and order and Vietnam were the issues. Richard Nixon would see the opening and seize the opportunity to dismantle FDR’s coalition and cobble together his New Majority.
Today, the GOP strength in the House, Senate and governorships is far greater than anything Republicans had in the 1960s. The difference is that, then, we could visualize a new majority of centrist Republicans, Goldwater conservatives, Northern Catholic ethnics and Southern Protestant Democrats.
And we could see the issues that might bring them into the tent: a new Supreme Court, law and order, peace with honor in Vietnam.
When the Liberal Establishment collapsed during the 1960s, unable to end the war in Vietnam or the war in the streets, national leadership passed to the party of Nixon and Ronald Reagan. From 1968 to 1988, the GOP won five of six presidential elections, two of them in 49-state landslides.
The crisis of the GOP today is demographic, cultural and political.
Demographically, people of color are nearing 40 percent of the U.S. population and 30 percent of the electorate. These folks — 85 to 90 percent of all immigrants, legal and illegal — are growing in number. And in 2012, people of color voted for Obama 4 to 1.
The GOP trump card — we are the party of Reagan, who led us to victory in the Cold War — ceased to work 20 years ago. Then, George H.W. Bush, a war hero who had presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet Empire, the victor of Desert Storm, won 38 percent of the vote against a draft-evader named Bill Clinton.
Culturally, the causes of the 1960s’ revolutions — no-fault divorce, legalized drugs, “reproductive rights,” teenage access to birth control, gay rights and gay marriage — have either been embraced or become acceptable to most of America’s young.
As a result of the sexual revolution promoted by the counterculture of the 1960s, the dominant culture today, 40 percent of all births in the United States are now to single moms.
With no husband, these women look to government to help feed, house, educate, medicate and provide income support for themselves and their children. For sustenance and the survival of their families, they depend on that same Big Government that Republicans denounce at their rallies.
As to the GOP’s strongest appeal — we are the party that will cut taxes — half the country does not pay income taxes, and the GOP is about to surrender to Obama even on the tax front.
Republicans stand for bringing entitlements under control. But the primary beneficiaries of the big entitlements, Social Security and Medicare, are seniors, the party’s most reliable voting bloc.
On foreign policy, the most visible Republican spokesmen are Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Both were unhappy with the withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan. Both want to intervene in Syria and Iran.
What does America want? To come home and do our nation-building here in the United States.
The bedrock values of Reagan — work, family, faith — still hold an appeal for tens of millions. But the faith of our fathers is dying, the family is crumbling, and work is less desirable when the social welfare state offers a cushioned existence for life.
Conservatives need to rediscover what they wish to conserve and how, in a climate every bit as hostile as 1964 — then await the moment when the country turns again to an alternative.
As it will. For our economic course is unsustainable. And our regnant elite are more arrogant than the establishment of the 1960s, though less able to satisfy the clamors of their bawling constituencies for more and more from a country that is approaching an end of its tolerance and an inevitable crash.

91 comments:

  1. Meanwhile, in the real world: More jobs (23 Million) were created under the draft-dodging Clinton than under the 20 years of Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II, combined.

    Whereas Median Family Income rose during Clinton, it plummetted under Bush, and while Clinton left a nice Budget Surplus, the last Republican left us with a Trillion Dollar Deficit, and a world financial crisis that had us teetering on the edge of Great Depression II.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, did I mention the failed conquest/occupation of Iraq, and the devastating attempt at "nation-building" in Afghanistan?

      Delete
    2. What a lot of horse shit, Rufus, but you might be interested in this -

      Fiscal year 2012 awards include:

      University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz., $36,000
      Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz., $350,000
      University of Georgia, Athens, Ga., $345,689
      University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $496,996
      University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $497,851
      Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, $493,210
      University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, $499,009
      University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, $350,000
      Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich., $349,695
      University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., $498,786
      University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., $349,996
      Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Miss., $273,120
      University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo., $499,447
      Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Mo., $94,258
      Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, N.J., $349,963
      Duke University, Durham, N.C., $349,084
      University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla., $466,534
      Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., $349,624
      Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., $149,977
      Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., $348,959
      Clemson University, Clemson, S.C., $50,000
      University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn., $350,000
      Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $255,972
      Texas AgriLife Extension, College Station, Texas, $499,619
      Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., $349,993
      West Virginia University, Morgantown, W.V., $349,952
      University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., $496,109
      University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., $345,327
      USDA Agricultural Research Service, Peoria, Ill., $500,000



      "USDA and President Obama are committed to producing clean energy right here at home, to not only break our dependence on foreign oil, but also boost rural economies," said Vilsack. "These projects will give us the scientific information needed to support biofuel production and create co-products that will enhance the overall value of a biobased economy. Today, with a strong and diversified U.S. agricultural sector, the American automobile industry has a greater incentive for expanding use of biobased products while supporting good-paying jobs here in the United States."

      USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded the grants through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). AFRI's sustainable bioenergy challenge area targets the development of regional systems for the sustainable production of bioenergy and biobased products that: contribute significantly to reducing dependence on foreign oil; have net positive social, environmental, and rural economic impacts; and are compatible with existing agricultural systems.

      The long-term goal for the research projects, which were selected through a highly competitive process, is to implement sustainable regional systems that materially deliver liquid transportation biofuels to help meet the Energy Independence and Security Act goal of 36 billion gallons per year of biofuels by 2022.


      Read closely you will see U of I at the top of the list money wise -

      University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, $499,009
      University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, $350,000

      And Boise State did well for itself also -

      Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, $493,210

      Leading the way to the RufusFuture!

      From an automated e-mail system done by the Ag Department about Ag news.

      Delete
    3. Nothing much, if anything at all, will ever come from this money of course. It is just good, since we can't compete in football, to see us doing well in the free money competitions.

      :)

      Delete
  2. What to Conserve ...

    Well at the EB that'd be...

    Federal management of 24% of the land in the US.
    Federal management of 45% of the HealthCare system in the US that's, if ObamaCare were repealed

    ReplyDelete
  3. Be careful, rufus....

    Using numbers and maps ...

    They invalidate the modern Conservatives' most important touchstone ...

    FEELINGS

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Republican party is going to make a lot of noise in the next 10 years, thanks to a fortuitous circumstance of catching a great white backlash in an off-year election in 2010, and the Massive Gerrymandering that that serendipitous occurrence allowed.

    However, in the long run, the Pubs are in a world of trouble. They not only have lost All of the non-white vote, they have, also, lost the vote of their white sons, and daughters (and, a fair amount of their wives.)

    It's getting harder, and harder to envision a National Victory for any Republican in any election in the foreseeable future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's too early in the morning, Ruf, it's not even eleven am yet, your time.

      Delete
    2. Meanwhile the war mongering Barky is at it again -




      REPORT: 3,000 US troops secretly return to Iraq...



      PEACE PRIZE: OBAMA SENDS U.S. TROOPS TO TURKEY


      Drudge headlines

      Delete
    3. Tough Titties. If I have to wake up, and look at Pat Buchanan (before! my first cup of coffee,) I Will get even. :)

      Delete
    4. We have troops in Israel, also. Wherever the Patriot Missiles go, our troops go.

      Delete
    5. What I don't get is the guys that "hate muzzies, and sharia," but vehemently oppose the very thing that reduces the wahhabi influence on our lives - a homegrown substitute for their oil.

      Doesn't that cause a severe "ringing in the ears," sometimes?

      Delete
    6. And, btw, if "Rufusworld" is a place where the Federal Government supports Universities in their studies on how to make life better for the American People in Medicine, Agriculture, Industry, Energy, . . . . . . etc,

      Then I'm proud to claim it.

      Delete
    7. For instance, just today, we have this from Iowa State University:

      A research project conducted by several Iowa State University (ISU) researchers is studying the feasibility of growing algae in poultry houses. Poultry manure generates ammonia, a health and safety concern for both animals and workers. Ammonia can burn the eyes, but if released into the atmosphere, could also cause acid rain. But if Honwei Xin, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at ISU he will turn a challenge into an opportunity.

      Juhyon Kang, graduate research assistant in food science and human nutrition is joining Xin in the research and are working together, according to an article in the Iowa State Daily, to design and develop a bioreactor that will filter ammonia out of the exhaust air. The gas will then be repurposed to grow algae in a controlled environment.

      “We want to improve the environmental stewardship of the poultry operation,” Xin said. “It would be a perfect match if we could remove ammonia from the exhaust air in poultry houses and use it to grow algae.”

      Algae can be used to create a myriad of products including biofuel, biojet fuel, biomaterials, biochemicals and animal feed. Algae thrives on gases that for humans, can negatively affect health such as carbon dioxide and ammonia.

      Biofuel from Stink

      Delete
    8. And, if you've ever raised chickens, you know there's plenty of "stink." :)

      Delete
    9. Intrestin' numbers, today;

      Inflation Down, and Manufacturing Up, nicely.

      Click on Friday

      Delete
  5. And, while the publicans are decrying the "out-of-wedlock" births, they are committed to making birth control harder to access. Please, 'splain That to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Rat is right. The modern publican party is all about "feelings," and mythology.

      Delete
    2. That "troops in Iraq" story is from Iran's Press TV.

      I might be tempted to take that with a grain of salt.

      Delete
    3. Jindal just said they (birth control pills, etc) ought to be available over the counter. Lacking any medical reason that might argue against that for some type of person with a particular problem, lots of Republicans support that. Most don't support heroin over the counter though.

      Delete
    4. That "troops in Iraq" story is from Iran's Press TV.

      I might be tempted to take that with a grain of salt.


      Didn't realize that. We would then be wise, as you say, to take that with a grain of salt.

      Delete
  6. I don' care What Camille says; I'm through wit it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Could the Republicans lose the Popular Vote by 4,000,000 and still win the Prsidency? You betcha. This is what could have the country in a virtual Civil War by 2016:


    In most states, presidential elections are fairly simple. Whichever candidate garners the most votes wins all of that state’s electoral votes. There are two tiny exceptions (Maine and Nebraska), but that’s typically how it works. President Obama won a majority of votes in Pennsylvania, so he got all 20 of its electoral votes.


    Will election maps soon start looking like this?
    Over the past year, however, a number of Republican lawmakers in blue states have been pushing an alternative system. The states would split their electoral votes between different candidates. As Dave Weigel points out, this was first floated by conservatives in Ohio and Pennsylvania before the 2012 election, only to get shot down. But now the idea’s steadily making a comeback. So let’s look at some of the different proposals here — as well as what effect they would have had on the 2012 presidential election.

    Pennsylvania I: Last year, Republican State Senate Leader Dominic Pileggi proposed a bill that would have allocated electoral votes depending on the number of congressional districts each candidate won. (Nebraska and Maine both do this.) The overall winner of the state then gets two extra electoral votes.

    This would have benefited Mitt Romney and the Republicans significantly. Pennsylvania is a blue state — a majority of voters cast ballots for both Obama and House Democrats in 2012. But because Republicans controlled the legislature and drew the district lines, they’ve managed to gerrymander things so that they now control 13 of 18 congressional districts. (This is a fairly common practice.)

    The end result? Under Pileggi’s initial plan, Romney would have won 13 electoral votes and Obama would have won seven — even though Obama carried the state. Needless to say, that idea was deeply divisive and ended up getting shelved.

    Pennsylvania II: But never fear, Pileggi’s back with a new proposal. This time around, he’s suggesting that Pennsylvania split its electoral votes based on the split in the popular vote. The popular-vote winner would then get two extra votes. That, Pileggi said, would “much more accurately reflect the will of the voters in our state.” Under this plan, in the 2012 election Obama would have received 12 electoral votes from Pennsylvania while Romney would have received 8.

    Ohio: After the 2012 election, Secretary of State Jon Husted also suggested while on a panel that divvying up Ohio’s electoral votes by congressional district might be one way to reform the process.* Again, because Republicans have employed gerrymandering to give themselves more seats in a blue state, this would likely benefit the GOP presidential candidate. Under Husted’s plan, Obama would have won the popular vote in Ohio, but Romney would have garnered 12 of the state’s electoral votes, while Obama would have received just six.

    Virginia: Ari Berman points to another recent proposal from Virginia State Sen. Charles Carrico Sr. This one goes much further than any of the above plans. Electoral votes get divided by congressional district. On top of that, another two electoral votes would go to the candidate who wins the most districts. So, in 2012, Obama won the popular vote in Virginia. But under Carrico’s plan, Romney would have received 9 electoral votes and Obama would have received just 4.

    One common argument for these plans is that it gives rural voters a greater voice; Dave Weigel dissects that strange logic here. But there’s also an undeniable partisan appeal. As Berman points out, if GOP-controlled legislatures in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and Pennsylvania had all adopted versions of this vote-splitting plan, then Romney would have won the White House with 270 electoral votes in 2012.

    I Think the Pubs Just Might Try This.

    ReplyDelete
  8. And, they would have a Lot of Law on their side.

    It IS up to the States as to how they choose their "Electors."

    ReplyDelete
  9. That huge Tea-Party Wave in 2010 might end up being a whole hell of a lot bigger deal than any of us recognized at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  10. DRR, from your "Yes, It Does Case":

    "In both cases the government would need someone to buy up the bonds to replace the bonds that were already sold. However, this is just a redistribution of the debt. The decision by the Social Security trust fund to sell its bonds no more increases the debt of the U.S. government than the decision by Peter Peterson to sell his bonds."

    This strikes me as simply wrong and this is why:

    If the Government decides to sell the special bonds it must sell new regular bonds to be able to redeem the special bonds that it owes itself. The US government holds both the asset and the liability and it would need to generate the money to back the bond it sells in order to pay itself otherwise it would be engaged in simple 'bond kiting' as opposed to 'check kiting'.

    If Peter Petersen sells his bonds it has no effect on the deficit because the US government need not generat new bonds to cover the transaction.

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    On this question of tax vs trust fund (or legal entitlement), it's both, depending on point of view - whether one looks at the collection side or the disbursement side.

    If you are talking 'legal entitlement' I'll take the opinion of SCOTUS rather than a point of view. They recognize that you earn the right to participate but they deny the program constitutes an entitlement or 'right' pointing out that what Congress can do it can undo.

    In the original act setting up SS Congress wrote, ""The right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of this Act is hereby reserved to the Congress."

    People can argue that they have a 'right' from a fairness or political angle but there is no contractual obligation on the part of Congress.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  12. or, look at the deficit and bond issue this way:

    The deficit is just the gap between revenues and expenditures.

    x Money comes into SS. SS loans the Fed Gov. x dollars. The Fed. Gov gives the SS a SB (special bond) worth x + yz (y being time to maturity and z the interest rate).

    SS decides to sell the SB for x+yz.
    The buyer then gets to redeem the bond at time y. The Fed. Gov is on the hook to SS to redeem the SB hence the addition to the deficit of x + yz when that SB is redeemed.

    as a side note - it doesn't necessarily add to the net debt because the revenues from SS should be entered on the income side when it is received but it will have the correpsonding liability (good ole double entry accounting).

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh man, my local rag is reporting 27 deaths in the elementary school shooting in Conn. I hope the report is wrong!

    sad!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mean wrong as in nowhere near 27 though they are saying at least 27.

      shit!

      Delete
    2. Knife-wielding man injures 22 children in China

      http://www.courant.com/sns-rt-us-china-stabbingsbre8bd065-20121213,0,5592318.story


      There have been a series of attacks on schools and schoolchildren around China in recent years, some by people who have lost their jobs or felt left out of the country's economic boom.

      Not making any particular argument here. Does show though that guns are more lethal than knives.

      Delete
  14. No, the money DOES NOT ' ... go into SS ...

    The money from the FICA taxes goes into the Treasury, the general fund and Congress disperses it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. and the gov issues a Special Bond to the SS trust fund in the amount that went into treasury does it not?

    ReplyDelete
  16. .

    SS decides to sell the SB for x+yz.

    Not that it makes a difference with what you are trying to say but SS can't sell the bonds they can merely redeem them, a paper transaction between the government and itself, just moving numbers from one pot to the other.

    ,

    ReplyDelete
  17. One of those articles posted by DRR suggested that come 2016 they may or will sell those bonds. It is conceivable that they could make such a decision to sell on the open market (with the FED bellying up to pick up any slack in the market ;) ) and sell a super duper special NEW special bond to the investing public.

    ReplyDelete

  18. DR & Ash (from my penultimate link):

    Since the assets in the Social Security trust funds consists of Treasury securities, this means that the taxes collected under the Social Security payroll tax are in effect being lent to the federal government to be expended for whatever present purposes the government requires. In this indirect sense, one could say that the Social Security trust funds are being spent for non-Social Security purposes. However, all this really means is that the trust funds hold their assets in the form of Treasury securities.

    These financing procedures have not changed in any fundamental way since payroll taxes were first collected in 1937. What has changed, however, is the accounting procedures used in federal budgeting when it comes to the Social Security Trust Funds.

    Point being, SS isn't a priority problem. (Even Quirk admits that much.) Which is a prelude to saying I have to agree with Rufus, again, about the Republican Party's caterwauling. Witness the welcome-back-to-the-club-attaboy given Karl Rove, and the split between neocons like Bill Kristol and big business interests as represented by WSJ; and in general the power of specific global industry sectors such as pharma, energy, and finance. It's not over. If John Kerry goes to State, his Senate seat is up. So while some fret over a reduced COLA allowance, the real game is longer and stealthier. (I know that word is unpopular.)

    Rufus: Given redistricting and vulnerability of electoral college, you're still not seeing a Long Game of Failure by Design?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nah, I still can't giv'em credit for being THAT smart. :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. The reciepts from the FICA taxes go to the general fund. Historically those revenue were allocated to the Trust Fund, which loaned the surplus back to the general fund.

    A large portion of the 16 trillion in Federal debt consists of those loans.

    Congress is not mandated to put the FICA revenue into the Trust Fund.
    The Congress cannot be forced to pay back the loans.

    Though if they did not raise the debt ceiling ...

    ReplyDelete
  21. If you have any real interest...

    Read Fleming v Nestor

    Q provided a link, or Google it.

    The Supremes lay it out.
    The politicos have been lying to rufus for over fifty years.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Look at all the things that had to transpire to get the Pubs in this situation.

    1. A Republican President had to completely annihilate the Economy, leading to

    2. The election of a very liberal, somewhat mysterious, Black Man to the Presidency, leading to

    3. A White, thinly disguised, racist backlash taking hold, all to come to a head, and give the Republicans huge majorities in Statehouses all around the country just in time to take advantage of the New Census Numbers, and the automatic redistricting that follows.

    I know it's dangerous to underestimate the opposition, but giving any group of humans credit for a plan like that is just too much to swallow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. DRR quoted:

    "all this really means is that the trust funds hold their assets in the form of Treasury securities."

    I thought they were Speical Bonds which are different in kind than the stuff that trade in the open market; US Treasuries and US Bonds. Which is it?

    ReplyDelete
  24. And, about that "deficit" deal:

    Remember how all the Republicans wailed, and gnashed their teeth about how Clinton's $240 Billion reduction in Defense Spending had "crippled" the military,

    and how when George Bush decided to go to war, Surprise, Surprise, he had a Hell of a Military to work with?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Three of the country’s most prolific installers of residential solar panels are under federal investigation to determine if they inflated the cost of their work to increase the payments they would receive from the government, according to government and industry officials familiar with the probe.

    SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work. The probe seeks to determine whether the companies accurately reported the market value of their costs when applying for federal reimbursement, which was calculated at one-third of the costs.

    The solar companies received money through the Treasury’s $13 billion program, known as the 1603 program, which used funds from President Obama’s stimulus initiative to offer cash grants to clean-energy developers. The goal was to spur the spread of wind farms, solar panels and other clean power sources nationwide.

    SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have been by far the largest recipients among companies installing solar panels on homes. Working heavily in the sunny states of California and Arizona, the three firms collected hundreds of millions of dollars in federal cash grants to pick up a share of their costs on thousands of home installations during the past three years.


    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/12/14/surprise-treasury-ig-probing-multi-million-dollar-fraud-in-green-energy-grants-tax-credits/

    There is a little (lots of?) larceny in everyone, as dad used to say.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Barky is on Fox now jerking a tear and making big political hay about the incident.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's pathetic, Bob. I can't imagine a human being, especially a father, not being emotional over 18 little kids being murdered.

      Delete
    2. My God, think what it would be like if it were your five year old.

      Delete
    3. I generally agree Rufus. But not in the case of Barky. He is unable even to show emotion over putting a child that has survived an abortion in a comfort room to die. Just cool as a cucumber about that. He couldn't care less that those four people died in Benghazi. He was just up there acting a tear jerk.

      Delete
    4. Bob, you are one heck of a piece of work. Not even worth calling you pitiful.

      Delete
    5. the transcript of what Obama said that boobie objects to:

      "This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families.

      We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.

      The majority of those who died today were children -- beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them -- birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

      So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.

      Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors, as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain.

      As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.

      This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories, but also in ours.

      May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds."

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/school-shooting-president-obamas-remarks-on-the-shooting-at-sandy-hook-elementary-school-in-newtown-conn-transcript/2012/12/14/49ef7d70-461d-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html?wprss=rss_politics

      Delete
  27. Lostmotherland
    Since you insist on troubling everyone with your presence here.

    Please explain why most of these tragedies have only occurred recently?

    Repeating firearms have existed for over 150 years – the Colt revolver for example.

    So please enlighten as to why those kind of massacres didn’t occur 150… 120.. 100 years ago?

    Finally, please explain why these tragedies didn’t occur back when select fire – fully automatic weaponry were easily available?

    Galt2009 on December 14, 2012 at 2:43 PM

    Hell why don’t you get the douchbag to explain to you why these recent mass killings are mainly happening in blue states, CO, OR and CT. Must just be a coincidence.

    bbinfl on December 14, 2012 at 2:57 PM

    Good point.

    Galt2009 on December 14, 2012 at 3:09 PM



    hmmm....

    Is there a connection between our changing 'culture' and these incidents?

    I seem to remember reading about a big shooting back in the 1920's or so that was really up there, so I am not sure what is the biggest shooting incident in our history.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I repeat:

      I generally agree Rufus. But not in the case of Barky. He is unable even to show emotion over putting a child that has survived an abortion in a comfort room to die. Just cool as a cucumber about that. He couldn't care less that those four people died in Benghazi. He was just up there acting a tear jerk.

      I feel sorry for you Ash and Rufus. You both are not even worth being called pitiful.

      Delete
    2. Sorry? Contempt would be more appropriate.

      Delete
    3. Go hang out with the racists over at HotAir, Am Thinker, and Ace o Spades for a day, Bob. Your presence here is truly distressing.

      Delete
    4. Barky is such an upstanding emotional man he refuses to tell us what really happened at Benghazi, where he left four, luckily just four, cause it could have been many more, whithout the acts of a couple of heros, to die, so as to protect his campaign narrative. Come morning, he was off to Vegas.

      The swine.

      Delete
    5. Hey boobie, why not tell us how you think an armed society is a polite society?

      Delete
    6. I don't read Ace of Spades, but there aren't any racist at the other two.

      OK Ash, I feel contempt for you both, if it suits you. You should go sailing full time, and Rufus to drinking full time.

      Delete
    7. OK Ash. I will. Go read the works of John Lott. What he says is the rate of crime goes down with more people being able to defend themselves.

      I don't know how you stop this kind of thing. I wish I knew how to do it.

      Delete
    8. an armed society is a polite society?

      Politer, overall. The statistics do seem to really show that. But, you don't seem interested in the statistics.

      I don't think Barky has a compassionate bone in his body. If he did, he wouldn't have been the only one to vote for that killing the survivors of abortion gratuitous cruelty. The only one.

      I see Harry Belafonte is urging Barky to jail all his critics. I may not be around much longer.

      Delete
  28. The only time I've seen Barky display any real emotion was when he cried after having won the last election.

    ReplyDelete
  29. If you cannot remember the sniper at that university in texas, thirty years ago., or so ... you have limited mental capacity.

    The Mormons wiping ot an entire wagon train of CA bound pioneers, well over a hundred years ago. One can understand the lack of personal recall.

    Mans inhumanity to man, not modern development.

    None of the victims in this incident were armed.
    Schools tend to be Zero Tolerance No Gun Zones.

    Guess the shooter didn't follow the rules.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yep - arm the teachers, better yet, get each kid his or her own personal piece because you never know what the heck is wrong with the teacher.

      Delete
    2. that's fooolishness, ash.

      Five year olds should not carry firearms, without parental supervision.

      Delete
    3. For once I agree with my friend from Arizona.

      That's foolishness, Ash.

      I've wondered about raising the age for gun ownership, maybe to 25 or something, but can't figure out how it would work.

      My wife and I were just talking about that Mormon incident yesterday. Can't recall how we got on that topic. As she recalls, the Mormons were dressed up as Native Americans.

      It is no excuse for the Mormons, but we think they were reacting to 'heathen' coming their way, having been recently basically run out of the east themselves. We think we remember that Brigham Young had some involvement in this incident, the Massacre of whatever it was called, but both our memories grow dim about it.

      Delete
    4. What the Mormons did was just flat murder. Another cult of "religious crazies."

      Delete
    5. Rat wrote:
      "Five year olds should not carry firearms, without parental supervision."

      But you've gotta guard against that pesky toddler ambling in armed without a parent in tow 'cause the bad kids just don't seem to follow the damn rules.

      Delete
  30. I don't know Ash. Presumably the answer is in Fleming v Nestor.

    Or how one defines "Treasury securities."

    Rufus: according to legend/fact (noted by you among others) the mother (and grandfather ??) of the "mysterious Black Man" worked for CIA. Small incestuous community and all.

    ReplyDelete


  31. The politicos have been lying to rufus for over fifty years.

    Maybe. But I'm thinking that might be quite an accomplishment.

    ReplyDelete
  32. By age 25 most people would have shown whether or not they can handle guns, and those with a record would be denied them. Just a thought. Obvious discrimination on the basis of age of course.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Shooter Son Of Teacher...
    *Both parents of gunman found dead at separate locations...
    REPORT: Shooter's girlfriend missing...

    Guess that rules out the broken home understanding of it.

    ...

    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/12/14/is-the-wind-industry-entering-panic-mode/

    We have seen recently a big wind energy project near Spokane. I don't know what it is doing there, as all the electricity here comes from the dams.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ryan Lanza, 24, brother of gunman Adam Lanza, 20, tells authorities that his younger brother is autistic, or has Asperger syndrome and a �personality disorder.� Neighbors described the younger man to ABC as �odd� and displaying characteristics associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder... MORE...

    Scan gun ownership for disorders, more than we do, perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Bipartisan bulshit, DR.

    That's how they get away with it.

    Just as the payroll tax is some how not a tax upon income.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Ah, hell, the kid down the road, and I, were hunting rabbits on our own when we were, I guess, 9, or 10 years old. Maybe, 10, or 11, I don't know.

    The thing is, we were of normal intelligence, and raised up around guns, and hunting. And, were well taught by our dads on gun safety, and how not to blow each other's brains out.

    I'm still strongly 2nd amendment, but something like this just makes you want to cry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The news Friday is horrific. A man shot and killed at least 27 people, including 20 children, in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on Friday morning.


      (Sarah Voisin/The Washington Post )
      Yet these sorts of headlines are also becoming gut-wrenchingly familiar. Of the 12 deadliest shootings in U.S. history, six have taken place since 2007. (The Newton school shooting will likely rank second on that list.) Around the world, mass killings appear to be on the upswing — even as other types of homicides and violent crimes are becoming less frequent.

      David Brooks highlighted this discrepancy back in July. For most of the 20th century there were, on average, one or two mass killings per decade (defined as murders with four or more victims over a short time period). That number spiked to nine in 1980. It hit 11 in 1990. And since 2000, there have been at least 27 spree killings, including today’s Newtown shooting. A large number of those mass murders have occurred in the United States, even though the nation’s violent crime and homicide rate has been plummeting.

      So what explains the rise in mass killings?

      One theory is that mass murders are somehow contagious. Back in 1999, four public health researchers published a famous study titled “Media and Mass Homicides” in the Archives of Suicide Research. They studied a series of mass murders in Australia, New Zealand, and Britain in the 1980s and 1990s and found that different incidents appeared to be influenced by each other in a number of ways, often spanning many years and across many continents.

      The idea that one spree killing might inspire another has given way to plenty of articles and papers about whether the press should be more conscientious in the way it reports on these events. Giving a murderer too much publicity might be a bad idea.

      A great deal of the research, however, suggests that behavioral scientists just don’t have a strong grasp on what drives mass killings, or why they’ve surged in recent decades. Here’s how a 2010 article in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology sums it up:

      Incidents of mass murder have gained considerable media attention, but are not well understood in behavioral sciences. Current definitions are weak, and may include politically or ideologically motivated phenomenon. Our current understanding of the phenomenon indicates these incidents are not peculiar to only western cultures, and appear to be increasing.

      And here’s a 2012 article from the Journal of Public Health, with a similar conclusion:

      To understand and prevent rampage violence, we need to acknowledge that current discipline-based violence research is not well suited to this specific challenge. There are numerous important, unanswered research questions that can inform policies designed to prevent rampage violence.

      And what about guns as a factor? Researchers have found a link between guns and homicide — more guns tend to lead to more murder. And guns will obviously make a mass attack far deadlier. Note that there was also an attack today on 22 students in a Chinese elementary school, but the man used a knife, and there were zero fatalities.

      Again, though, overall gun violence in the United States has been declining in recent decades while mass killings appear to have become more commonplace. It’s not entirely clear why that is. And it’s an increasingly crucial question.

      Unexplained

      Delete
    2. I would not underestimate idiotic violent video games.

      Delete
    3. I dunno. Me and my son play them all the time and we don't fight urges to grab a gun and go on a rampage. Heck, we don't even have a gun in the house.

      Hmmmm, but if we did....

      Delete
  37. :)

    Yeah, Doris, I did kinda catch onto them awhile back; but their problem isn't "Rufus." Their problemo is that "Other 300,000,000."

    ReplyDelete
  38. That "other" 300 Milyun might not be quite so laid back as a hillbilly from Mississip. :)

    ReplyDelete
  39. And, yeah, :)

    that See Eye Eh connection does flit across the old beaner from time to time.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I wish youall could see the mess I just made in my first bread-making attempt. :)

    Probly won't be competing with Panera in the near future. :)

    ReplyDelete
  41. I'll pass.


    You may have forgotten the yeast, and made unleavened bread....:)

    http://www.prosphora.org/page27.html

    ReplyDelete
  42. First Rule of Bread-making:

    When you get to "salt," don't mistake teaspoons (tsp) with tablespoons (tbsp.)

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  43. Great news on a sad news day -

    There are Einstein's lurking among us -

    Those figures come from a new book by Flynn from Cambridge University Press called “Are We Getting Smarter?” It’s an uplifting tale, a reminder that human capacity is on the upswing. The implication is that there are potential Einsteins now working as subsistence farmers in Congo or dropping out of high school in Mississippi who, with help, could become actual Einsteins.

    It’s a Smart, Smart, Smart World

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/opinion/kristof-its-a-smart-smart-smart-world.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1&


    And, getting smarter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Was NOT meaning to hit on Mississippi.

      There may be budding geniuses in Idaho, too.

      Delete
  44. December 14, 2012
    The Senate's sense of humor
    Ethel C. Fenig

    Despite her expertise and heritage, self identified Native American, Democratic Massachusetts Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren will not serve on the Senate Committee on Indian (sic) Affairs in the next Congress, insiders on Capitol Hill confirm.

    Instead a white women, Senator-elect Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), home to the Sioux and its subgroups of various Lakotas has been appointed to the committee.

    The multi millionaire Warren has been appointed to committees better suited to her true status.

    Warren has already been tapped to serve on the Senate Banking Committee, as well as the Aging and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

    It is unclear if she will work on legislation pertaining to Native American affairs in the next Congress.

    The authentic Native Americans must be relieved about that. Bankers? Not so much.


    ReplyDelete