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This state bill was to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill. It achieved a roadblock when the idea was broached that mentally ill people would not seek help if it meant the loss of their guns…
The bill was voted down on this fallacy.
If someone is mentally ill and has guns, there are four possibilities… Four….
Mentally ill with guns and bullets // Mentally ill without guns and bullets.
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Mentally healthy with guns and bullets // Mentally healthy without guns and bullets
Of those four possibilities stretching across the plateau of human existence, only one is dangerous to fellow human beings…
A mentally ill person who has guns and bullets….
Now that we have isolated the problem… Let us look at it more closely….. we again divide by the four possibilities…
Mentally ill will get help and use his arsenal // Mentally ill will get help and not use his arsenal
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Mentally ill will not get help and use his arsenal // Mentally ill will not get help and not use his arsenal.
Of those four possibilities we now have two that are dangerous to innocent human beings.
Mentally ill who will get help and still use his arsenal, and Mentally ill who do not get help and will still use their arsenal….
Therefore across the panel of humanity, all races, all genders, all classes, every non-accidental shooting death is caused by the hand of a mentally ill person owning a firearm, whether under treatment or not…
Most of the more famous murderers in history have had treatment for their psychosis. Most of those being treated still had access to their firearms, and for what ever reason, choose to use them….
As of this point in history,… as far as I can find on today’s search engines,… there has never been a gun-caused mass murder by someone who had no access to guns…
Again, people in psychiatric care have blown other people away; people without guns, have never done so…..
Only one conclusion from this logical exercise can be gleaned….
If you voted to allow the continence of mentally-ill people owning guns, no matter what flimsy reason you used to assuage your guilt, you cast a vote for an upcoming future mass-murder.
If you voted to disallow the continence of mentally-ill people from owning guns, you took the only step in the right direction that would do anything to stop its re-occurrence…..
People in treatment still kill when they have guns. Without guns, one rids oneself of the problem….
The bottom line: to allow a crazy person to have a full blown arsenal, is madness. To think that allowing him to have a full blown arsenal will make him more likely to seek treatment, is not thinking straight….
There is only one solution; redo HB 88….
In passing I acknowledge that this is an emotional issue for those on both sides. When we use emotions to think, none of us think straight. If ever the time should arise where we as a society make that choice to think straight, then keeping guns out of the hands of mentally ill goes a long way to preventing mass murderers from happening: …. Logically speaking of course.
Right click for full view.
In isolated argument the idea of school vouchers has appeal. If you can’t get the education you need, you go somewhere else to get it. The idea is that this forces those losing students to change in order to attract them back.
Everyone gets a better education.
There is a huge problem with that argument. I will use Hurricane Sandy to point it out.
Before Hurricane Sandy struck, everyone went shopping the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before. By Sunday night, there was no bread in New Castle County. In every store, the shelves were empty.
At first it was the cheap bread that went. The dollar loaves which are the first pick of most bread eaters. As those were gone, then the basic bread of private bakers went, the brand names. Soon all the white bread was gone, and the wheat began disappearing. After the wheat was gone, the gourmet breads began disappearing, the 5 grains, the 7 grains, the 12 grains, the hearty grains… Then went the ryes, the Jewish ryes, the pumpernickels. Many people who came for white bread, who’d never paid $4 dollars a short loaf before, were snapping it up. When all the bread was sold out, hamburger buns went, hot dog buns went, dinner rolls went, starting from cheap all the way up to Arnold’s and Pepperidge Farms… The last person coming in to pick up a loaf of bread, got gourmet pumpernickel hot dog buns with oatmeal sprinkled on top…
You walked in Sunday night, October 28th, 2012… the shelves were bare…. from one end to the other….
How does this correspond to vouchers?
If everyone has the option of taking a voucher to improve their child’s education, you’ve created a crises and a lack of supply.
The best schools are snapped up first, then the 2nd best, then the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, and at last the inner city schools being the last to go… So those shopping first get the good deal. Those say out of town, arriving late and picking out a school before the deadline, are stuck… And some, because of a shortage of schools, go without.
There was bread on the shelves the next day. But a school system that mis-allocates a student deals with that problem for a full year, seriously setting back the development of that child and possibly the room he is in….
The problem with school vouchers, is as a system, it doesn’t work. Oh it works for one individual. But it only helps the first in line. After that, it is all downhill.
For if you gave every bread shopper a number based on whether their purchase matched their expectation, those getting the store brand for a dollar would rate a +1, then if one settled for their second choice they’d get -1. Third choice would equal -2. Fourth choice a -3 and so on down the line. The total of the negative numbers would quickly balance the positive ones, making the total value of all zero, and then continue bringing the entire total further into the negative with every new purchase…. In the same way, school vouchers after the good schools were full, would increase the negatives to a point so big, they would soon swallow up any positive advantage the voucher program had every given…..
So as we approach the teaching crises. we must ask ourselves how we wish to be judged. Do we want to mandate that we will always have bread on our shelves, with plenty of choices for all? Or do we want to let anarchy or random chance decided who gets ahead, and who gets left behind?
So, why has no one looked at voucher’s impact on an entire school system before?
It is a simple vote…
Should we or should we not put this man in an administrative function.
Please vote yes…. or no…..
(It should be open cut because a majority have already said they would support Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Agency.) Just get it done…
But, it never goes to vote. In a motion to stop debate requiring 60 votes, 53 are found….
There is nothing more to debate. Vote yes or no… The argument has been on the table for months… But no… it cannot go forward because the Republican Party (all of it) had 45 members who voted against it…
The agency still has no one at the top to get it rolling. There is no one regulating Wall Street as we speak, simply because the entire block of Republicans, who voters put into minority receivership based on their previous track record, voted NOT to stop debate.
There will be no government until there are no Republicans.
There will be no Congress, until there are no Republicans.
There will be no Democracy. until there are no Republicans.
There will be no United States of America, until there are no Republicans.
(Sad thing this is not hyperbole. This is not campaign rhetoric. This is not hateful bantering. This is what is really happening. Makes a veteran want to cry)
Is this. They take money away from other schools…
The idea of charter schools is Republican at best. You take a school, make it excel, and parents will want to send their kids there. You then close other schools that fail…
The problem that was never addressed, was what then do we do with all those students who for whatever reason, can’t get into a charter school.
The answer provided by the Charter School Program, is that we consolidate them into even more problematic, even more underfunded, and even more unstructured environments where if they couldn’t learn before, they certainly can’t learn now….
There is a maxim in both business and the military. You are only as good as your weakest point. The same could be said for dykes around New Orleans. Having a real strong dyke on the wealthiest side of the city, does little when the water comes in from behind, because you forgot to account for a barrier on the poor side of the city.
That’s the problem with Charter Schools…..
Some Charter schools do well. But a lot do no better than public. Charter Schools get to pick their students. If Charter schools had to accept special needs students as do public schools, they would be forced to close…
What Charter Schools do provide, is a haven for parents to send kids so they will not be infested with ghetto values. Pencader School of Business was founded on these principles by Principal Dave Jones. There was no ghetto value along the shore of the Delaware River, overlooking New Jersey.
Some Charter Schools do well. Some Public Schools do well. What both have in common, is a principal who has autonomy to run his school… No DoE’s. No mandates by Dover. None of the normal bullshit that politics has laid at the feet of those just trying to help today’s youth make it in tomorrow’s world.
Another common factor, is that successful schools have community involvement. The community looks up to the schools with respect, and the schools look out to the community with respect. When the community and schools are in line and working off the same page, they are successful; whether private, charter, or public, makes little difference.
It is apparent after reviewing the literature covering both sides of the Charter issue, that the successes on both extremes, have these common values. Good leadership and community support.
It appears current society’s focus needs to re-establish those two cores. Good leadership and community support.
The Department of Education needs to bug out of student’s learning.
The answer to education is simple.
You need a great reward for graduating students to make learning worthwhile. My generation was motivated by the fact that we would one day be paid based on how well we achieved academically. That was a lie. Today’s children know it by 2nd grade.
Second, you need a great reward for educators and principals to achieve the impossible. People rise to the occasion presented. A simple $20,000 bonus if every child in your class, simply met objectives, with $1000 minus off for each of those that did not, would certainly fix education in one year.
Third, you need to give principals autonomy. Their bonus should be $200,000. Then, you rank each principal on the percentage of teachers he has, who received the full $20,000 bonuses…… IF his salary is dependent on how many of his teachers get their full bonuses, his primary goal, will be to work with every teacher for that endeavor. Not as is currently proscribed, working against them…
If every student, every teacher, every principal is working diligently for the same goal, you will not need a Department of Education. You will not need Governmental Interference.
You will need structure (prisons) for lost causes. You will need school transportation funding. You will need upkeep on buildings. You will need new technology. You will need investment in music, art, and drama. You will need investment in sports.
School defines who we are. Cutting down our options, diminishes our future potential.
Mankind can do extraordinary things. We have, when the needs have arisen, done so… Just this tiny bit of money, placed in the right investment category, can change the entire scenario of a failed school district, into a thriving one.
Right click to open full image… Pictograph Courtesy of Viral..
So, can someone tell me again, why we shouldn’t tax the rich, and instead, balance the budget on the backs of everyone else?…….
I seem to be missing that little detail where that all makes sense……
This headline would have cracked me up before November 2nd. But the results of that election raised some interesting questions.
1) Why does the election really say?
2) Who are the Tea Partiers, really?
3) Why was Delaware different?
To get the answer, one had to ignore the media (and those sycophants of causes who butter up to that media). To get the answer one has to go to the people who voted and find out exactly why they felt the frustration and voted the way they did.. The answer, if one takes the time to listen, is that they wanted change. Ironically, as some of you may remember, that was Obama’s message from the last election. 2 years ago we voted Obama in for a change. 2 weeks ago we voted tea partiers in… for a change..
The common denominator between both elections, is that the electorate is unhappy with the status quo.
The common denominator between both elections, is that the Republicans lost big.. first to the Democrats, then to the Tea Partiers.
The Republican Party is in crises. They may lose party leadership battles, adopt or absorb the Tea Party’s doctrine, but from what Tea Partiers are saying, they want nothing to do with Republicans. Here locally, Mike Castle’s and Tom Ross’s bashing proves it. Party activists on the ground floor, see the Republican party only lip syncs to their libertarian streak; then turns a blind eye, tending to keep things locked down in status quo.
Funny thing was, when Tea Partiers talked after the election, as I listened I was agreeing. I was saying to myself, ” Hey, that sounds like me 2007-2008… the exact same thing.’.. For one, Tea Partiers are infuriated that costs for small businesses are climbing, while multinational corporations are able to buy their congressmen to slip in a waver so they can import specialty chemicals duty free. Is that fair? NO. For two, Tea Partiers are infuriated that they had to scrape and scrimp to pay their tax obligations, and Exxon-Mobile was given a $23 Billion dollar tax break during a period when gas was $4.25 a gallon. Is that fair? NO. For three, Tea Partiers are infuriated that the Republican Party, diligently undercut, undermined, and underfunded their candidates, thereby pushing them to independent status. Only after smashing party endorsed candidates, did the Republican Party cold heartedly endorse who ever it was they had on the ballot… Is that fair? NO.
If one looks at the political landscape. .. .. The two parties out there, are the Tea Party and the Democrats. The Republicans are non existent, except in name and corporate donors… Only because of the financing laws as they are today is the Republican organization still a player. Were this the 1850’s, they would be as dead as the Whigs.
Secondly. The wave of Democrats elected to Congress in 2008, meant that some very Republican districts, dismayed with everything the Republicans had done under George W Bush, went blue with the Democrats.
Therefore, during this past session even though their representative was Democrat in name, they were answerable to their conservative electorate. It would he suicidal for those congresspersons to vote for any liberal causes. It appears the restraint of the Blue Dogs wasn’t enough; each of those went back Republican this time around.
Of course Republicans would be fools not to spin this as an indictment of Obama Healthcare and Economic Salvage. After all, they have nothing else going for them. We should expect they spin something positive out of their own collapse, and point out to all that is exactly what they are doing. Though they do so, not everyone out there agrees with them. After all, the electorate remembers the havoc Republicans did to our economy. After all, the electorate remember that Clinton actually helped all five quintiles of America grow richer over his tenure…
They don’t have faith in Republicans. Their faith is in America, ie, as in American values. What they saw over the past two years is that the Democrats were ineffective in making a dent against Republican stall techniques. And so, … they pushed back and made change happen within the party.
So what did the election really say? It says the GOP failing streak has continued. It says the population has no confidence in their leadership. Ironically, the old time Republican values are alive and well. They are in Tea Partiers instead. Those possessing them, are disillusioned that Michael Steele’s official Republican Party, as it stood Nov. 2nd, could deliver.
So who are the Tea Partiers? Most are new at politics. Most came to politics in 2009 as their incomes shrunk back, and tales of stimulus corruption spread rampant. Most are small business persons, either running a family business or a small corporation. From their viewpoint, they see a government still cut back from the Bush years, unable to deliver services while asking for more and more money. And they didn’t see results coming from Democrats.
And Tea Partiers were furious at corporate meddling in the election process. All of them had to plow through tremendous amounts for corporate money thrown against them. All had to overcome big bucks coming from just a few people. All of them are cynical as to how the election process works. I took some comfort, in how in almost every post election interview, the Tea Party candidate emphatically made a point to scold the Republican Party. The Republican party is corrupt. It is bought and owned by corporate interests. It only pretends to want to alleviate peoples pain and suffering, until it gets their votes. Then, it is about assuaging the large corporations who keep their campaigns afloat.
The Tea Partiers realized that money doesn’t vote. People do. And whether for a Tea Partier, or for a Democrat, overwhelmingly, people voted anti-Republican which loosely translated, means they voted anti corporate.
So this is the crystal. Americans are fed up with the corporate takeover of our government. Leave small businesses alone, both Tea Partiers and Democrats say. But stick it to the corporations. They are fed up that a conservative court can scuttle the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. They are fed up with robo calls, fed up with character smearing literature appearing daily in their mailbox, fed up with talk-show blathering ad nauseum, and they know,… they know.. that the only reason that stuff is getting spit out, is because someone with a lot of money is paying someone else to do so.
Money is ruining our politics.
On this Tea Partiers and Liberals agree. They were attacking the exact same problem: the corporate political takeover; just tackling it from two different directions.
Why didn’t Delaware follow this same trend?
Delaware is different. But in a certain way, it did follow the same trend as the nation. Delaware supported Christine O’Donnell while she was an outsider. But as soon as the Republicans stepped in …. she lost that support. Republicans told her not to speak to reporters. She did what they said and lost. Republicans told her not to talk to the media. She did what they said and lost. Had Christine done a full court press with the entire media immediately after her win, and personally engaged in all the attacks with which she was presented, the electorate would have been tired of all that witch stuff by election day and would have begun to listen to her message: that its the people who matter.. In the general election, the voters voted for the anti-Republican: which in this case was Coons.
Vance Phillips lashed out at the Republican leadership. He won. Winners don’t attack their own party unless something is seriously wrong. With Delaware’s Republican party, something is seriously wrong. Vance Phillips is not a corporate sponge. He’s a candidate in touch with his electorate.
Delawareans gave their vote to Coons because he is the better guy. Christine is great, but seeing her standing next to Coons it was obvious to all but her most ardent supporters, that he was simply a better fit for Delaware. Nothing against Christine. Had Tony DeLuca been the Democrat’s choice, she might be sitting in Congress right now..
Likewise, Delawareans gave Flowers the treasurer’s spot because they saw through what Bonini was. Everything bad about the Republican party… he exuded from foot to toe… and it stunk. Against two unknowns, they went for the one which smelled like flowers.
Korn just did not win. Wagner is not a Republican despite whatever political party is attached to his name. He is a good guy, and though very few people know the details of what he does, they do know that he hasn’t messed up anything so far, and therefore between two unknowns, the one currently doing ok appeared to be the safer choice. No doubt, Korn would have made the better auditor. He didn’t make his case out where it could be seen by most of the electorate.
But had Wagner come out like Bonini, spitting Republicanisms left and right.. … Korn would have won.
What’s different in Delaware is that with it’s small size, it has a rather active blogging community. A citizen’s news-rag so to speak, made up of many individuals that simply talk about what they know. In that environment it is hard to spread lies. “Obama is a Socialist”? I don’t think even Urquhart muttered as such. Yet such statements were commonly printed in red state’s editorials, where there is no independent source to discredit that slant. The News Journal tried to spin royally up through the primaries, but Christine O’Donnell flatly put them in their place with her win. They licked their wounds all the way past Nov. 2nd, afraid to get caught propagandizing again….
If you have an outlet for truth to be heard, it usually rises to the top. That is why totalitarian governments work so hard to suppress truth anywhere they find it. If you don’t kill it.. it kills you. In Delaware the electorate had a balanced opinion. They were able to listen to both educated citizens and corporate shills.
They chose wisely.
To succeed this next session. Tea Partiers and Liberals will need to kill corporate money influencing elections. After all, it goes against one of the values instilled by our founding fathers, that our nation would rise, or fall, upon the principal of one man… one vote. We desperately need campaign finance reform eliminating all corporate sponsors from donating to campaigns; so our elected officials can return to worry about what ‘We, the People’ think, and not the thoughts of just a handful of their campaign donors.
Am I the only one finding irony in the fact that Tipper and Al Gore are dissolving their marriage, …. and Hillary and Bill are still the happy couple?
Republican values of keeping a marriage together for the sake of keeping a marriage together,… don’t work, even among Democrats.
Love is the only thing that works to keep relationships together and it works equally well for Democrats as well as Republicans… America’s 3rd best president, was right on … again.
I could help thinking the above as I checked in on my retirement account…#$%#$% !!!
What if Gore had won in Florida eight years back in the year 2000?
Where would our IRA’s and 401 K’s be then?
Everything we pay out of pocket more than we did in 2000, is because the Republicans won that election….
Everyone out of their good job’s today, through no fault of their own, is that way because the Republicans won that election…
Everyone lining up to take out bankruptcy today, is that way because the Republicans won that election….
If Gore got more,
Then we’d have more,
More, more, more, more
Because of Gore….
Not by Dr Seuss
Message for both party’s presidential candidates:
Qualification for VP:
A), He/she must be able to run the entire country in the same direction as would you, in your absence.
B). He/she must be able to run the entire country in the same direction as would you,, while you are preoccupied handling the “crises of the day”..
Your entire campaign will be rated on how well your VP pick meets those two qualifications.
We have moved beyond the luxury of having a VP as a figurehead who politically offsets the main candidate’s weaknesses…….. They need to be aligned.
kavips 
