Things in the News

[helwen]

Bad news everywhere these days.... birds and fish and crabs dying in large numbers all over the world, crude oil still messing up LA's marshes, and plenty of other things besides. Then there's the latest, that shooting of several people including a congresswoman (still alive and responsive), but also a number of deaths including, sadly, a 9yo child -- the shooting happened outside a grocery store, so folks from all walks of life were there. No doubt some folks are calling for banning guns or something. Do I think they should be banned? No, I don't, although I don't own any guns myself. Would it really stop crazy people from doing crazy things? Should knives be banned too? How about fertilizer or household cleaners?

Times are tough all over, political parties are polarized, and unfortunately the way a lot of folks deal with these stresses is bad for other folks.

Tolerance and moderation are in short supply. Those of us who can still be so, need to do our best, but be aware that the veneer of civilization is increasingly thin for some of the people we meet as we go about our lives.

Comments

And I am no longer sorry to say it...

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

But I am writing off those who refuse to go beyond the D vs R paradigm.

On the plus side, on the news blather this afternoon I heard a lot of people in various offices (both Ds and Rs) who stated that they had an obligation as leaders to show people how to behave civilly, and that the current debates in politics were anything but.

Re: And I am no longer sorry to say it...

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear some Ds and Rs are talking about being good exemplars. Hope they follow up on that.

I'm in neither party, myself. Although I'm probably more liberal than conservative, quite often my thoughts on some subjects are for something that is "none of the above".

[the1butterfly.livejournal.com]

I'd be all for banning household cleaners! I just use baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice. I did create an ant-death mix from borax mixed with honey (worked really well- I felt slightly bad about it, but we had a colony that was all over our sink and got on me when I did the dishes- ants in the pants is only fun as a game). I'd definitely like more gun control. I remember someone in my high school creative writing class saying that his family had a gun, but they kept it in a locked box, and that all guns should be similarly stored to protect people from accidental shootings. That makes sense to me.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Well, that's true, most household cleaners are bad for the environment, but I was thinking about their use in explosives when I wrote this post.

On gun laws, MA at least has a lot of regulations, including that guns should be stored properly. But no amount of rules and regulations will keep criminals and crazy people from getting their hands on weapons of many types, including guns. The kind of laws some people would like to pass would mean almost nobody could have them, _except_ police and criminals.

In Sweden, everyone must take a class in gun safety. Not everyone owns a gun, but they have a very very low violent crime rate, from what I understand.