Saturday, January 31, 2015

Mitt, we hardly knew ye

Mitt Romney tested the waters and found them too cold for his liking, so he announced that he is not running for President.

According to the front page article in today’s Times, Republican leaders are in an “impatient” mood.  “They are eager to turn to a new face they believe can defeat what they anticipate will be a strong, well-funded Democratic opponent....”  

Guess who is one of the new faces mentioned?

Jeb Bush.  


I am NOT making this up.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Bats in the Courthouse

Last night I posted an item about how the Carbon County Commissioners were working together to oppose the PennEast pipeline.

Another portion of the Commissioners’ meeting also gave me hope.  In the public comment period, Gene Nalesnik of Jim Thorpe brought up the issue of the bats that are living in the Courthouse.  A program is underway to shut the bats out.  As someone who once had bats in the attic and still has them in the shed, I know what a mess they can make, and I understand the desire to move them out.

Mr. Nalesnik was afraid that the bats, especially nursing maternal bats, would be killed.  Each of the three Commissioners assured Mr. Nalesnik that the bats would be excluded, but the program would not harm any bats or baby bats.


Think back to about 25 years ago.  Few people would have given any thought to killing bats.  They would have been regarded as pests to be exterminated.  We are making progress.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Carbon County Commissioners pass resolution opposing PennEast Pipeline

This morning I attended a meeting of the Carbon County Commissioners.  The Commissioners include two Republicans (Nothstein and Gerhard) and one Democrat (O’Gurek), but the resolution opposing the PennEast pipeline passed unanimously to the applause of the audience.  That’s so refreshing--Republicans and Democrats working together on a common issue.

Not only did the Commissioners oppose the tracking gas pipeline as bad for Carbon County, but they also agreed to attend the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meeting to be held at Penn’s Peak on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m.  They plan to present the case to FERC on why the pipeline is bad for Carbon County.


While I don’t agree with everything the Commissioners do, I thought this was a brave act to go against the wishes of a multi-billion dollar company.  I’m proud of our Commissioners and their stand.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Jim Zbick, again

Elderhostel is an educational program for seniors who want to learn while on vacation.  I taught a number of Elderhostel classes in the San Francisco Bay Area; the “students” are often retired professionals, and the classes were always fun.

One of the subjects I taught was U.S. Environmental Policy.  The first night I asked students to list the most important environmental problem facing the U.S..  The majority listed litter.  I explained to them that while litter is an unsightly problem which does have serious ramifications, it doesn’t reach the level of climate change, desertification, overpopulation, or air and water pollution.

Which brings me to my favorite whipping boy, Jim Zbick, an “opinion” columnist for the Times News, who on almost any topic can be counted on to miss the main point.

Today he attacked the Economic Conference in Davos for wasting airplane fuel, and then went on to attack the climate march in New York last September for the amount of litter participants created.  He also managed to slam Al Gore and, believe it or not, Earth Day.


It’s an old tactic in debates.  Bring up something completely irrelevant to the issue at hand.  Surely the Times News can do better than Zbick.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Stop the Fracking Pipeline

Approximately 45 people met in the former Flow Restaurant in Jim Thorpe to hear talks by Maya VanRossum, the Executive Director of Delaware Riverkeepers, and Sam Koplinka-Loehr, the Shale Gas Organizer of the Clean Air Council.

The overwhelming majority of the people in the audience were opposed to the PennEast pipeline, which, if the present route is approved, will slice through Kidder, Penn Forest, Towamensing, and Lower Towamensing Townships, ripping through three state parks--Hickory Run, Lehigh Gorge, and Beltzville.

The pipeline project, bringing fracking gas to the coast, where it can be shipped overseas, will cost about a billion dollars.  The 45 people in the room can’t match that.  Neither can the ospreys, the bog turtles, and the Indiana bats whose habitats will be impacted.  It is David vs. Goliath again.  


If you don’t remember your Bible, David won.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Pigging out

I thought you might be interested in what visitors to the Pennsylvania Farm
Show consume in a week.  14.000 gallons of milk are needed to make the milkshakes visitors drink.  They also consume 17,500 pounds of donut mix, 6000 pounds of shortening, 480 pounds of prime rib, 975 pounds of chip steak, 10,000 pounds of pulled pork, 6000 pounds of bacon (that’s 3 tons of bacon), 450 gallons of maple syrup, two tons of honey, and 600 gallons of honey ice cream.

Wow!


This information is from the Jan./Feb. issue of “Rural Perspectives,” published by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Chinese environmentalists

In some ways that is almost an oxymoron.  I’m reading a book by Peter Hessler entitled River Town that details his life in the remote city of Fuling on the Yangtze River during the time when the Three Gorges Dam was being built.  Even though part of Fuling would be flooded along with thousands of historic buildings and villages, in addition to the probable extinction of Chinese river dolphins (which has since happened), Hessler never heard a single complaint about the dam.

Why are elephants being slaughtered in Africa?  For the ivory shipped to China.  Why is the tiger population in Myanmar probably fewer than 70?  So Chinese guys can eat the tiger parts in a mistaken belief that it will cure “erectile dysfunction.”  

On the other hand, China’s one-child-per-couple policy is a major reason the world’s population increase is leveling off.  China’s agreement with the Obama administration to reduce emissions should help to slow global warming.  (Unless the Republicans in Congress manage to overturn it.)  Chinese people are obviously capable of learning from mistakes.


It’s almost a race.  Will the Chinese people embrace environmental values before it’s too late?  Incidentally, the same thing can be said about Americans.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

At the O'Gurek Fundraiser

Just one week ago I attended a fundraiser for Bill O’Gurek, candidate for the Democratic nomination for Carbon County Commissioner.  I’ve written in the past about how Republicans always seem so angry, while a gathering of Democrats is full of happy laughter.  There we were, in the Summit Hill Community Center, enjoying each other’s company.

Two judicial candidates were also in attendance and gave short speeches.  Although I plan to vote for both of them, I find the whole process by which we elect judges in Pennsylvania so...injudicious.  


Very seldom do you hear of a federal judge up on charges of corruption.  At the state level it is quite common, and it has something to do with the fact that approximately 90% of state judges are elected.  In the wake of the Citizens United decision (speaking of corrupt judges), money is playing a larger and larger role in state judicial campaigns.  While judges can recuse themselves in cases involving campaign contributors, they seldom do.  It’s just one more American institution badly in need of reform.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Roadside memorials

An accident in Lower Towamensing Township before Christmas took the lives of four teenagers.  Friends and relatives put up a roadside memorial at the accident scene.  One mourner placed a necklace at the memorial, and the necklace was stolen.  The perpetrator then tried to sell the necklace on the Internet, was caught, and tried to blame the theft on a mentally-challenged person.  

I have a number of thoughts about this whole episode.

First, roadside memorials, no matter how noble the intent, are a poor way to remember accident victims.  The flowers fade, the snow and rain and frost do their work, and in a few weeks you have an unsightly mess rather than a meaningful memorial.

Secondly, if you put a valuable necklace along a public roadway, you should not be surprised if it is stolen.  The world is full of miscreants and charlatans.  Putting such a temptation in their way is not a good idea.

Thirdly, what kind of mean person would take an item from a roadside memorial and then compound the crime by trying to blame it on a mentally challenged person?


Nobody comes out of this looking good.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Kissing the Koch Brothers' asses

They actually line up to do it.  Rand Paul, in Kansas to campaign for Sam Brownback last fall, requested a private meeting with Charles Koch in his Wichita office.

Sen. Ted Cruz stopped by to tell Mr. Koch that he was the best conservative to reflect the interests of the Kochs.

Gov. Christie stopped by David Koch’s office in Manhattan.  He brought his wife along to socialize with Mr. and Mrs. David Koch.

Soon a group of 2016 Republican hopefuls will be traveling to a resort near Palm Springs for a Koch Brothers seminar.  Cruz, Paul, and Marco Rubio were all invited.  So was Scott Walker and Jeb Bush, although Bush said he has a scheduling conflict.

We should be grateful to Ashley Parker of the New York Times, who wrote about this ass-kissing in the Jan. 21 issue, although the term “ass-kissing” is mine, not hers.


While their names were not mentioned in the article, I don’t think Clinton or Warren or Sanders were invited to the Palm Springs seminar.  

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Eva-Maria Greene

My mother had 14 brothers and sisters.  All but one lived to adulthood.  That meant I had a pile of aunts and uncles when I was growing up.  Tomorrow we are holding a funeral service for the last of that generation, Eva-Maria Greene.  Eva was what referred to as a “war bride.”  My Uncle Clarence, who fought in North Africa, France, and Germany, married her after the war.

Eva saw terrible things during World War II.  Her hometown of Kassel was bombed into ruins.  She saw dead bodies rotting in the street and spent nights huddled in air raid shelters.  After the war came near starvation. 

Soon after she arrived in America, Eva obtained her American citizenship and immediately registered to vote.  She told me how she loved being able to vote.  When you grew up as a teenager in Nazi Germany, you appreciated just how wonderful the right to vote really is.

She registered as a Democrat and served as a Democratic Committeewoman for Towamensing Township.  We often discussed politics and usually agreed.  I remember how happy she was when Obama won.  


After she could no longer drive, her main concern was that she couldn’t get to the Palmerton library, and she loved it when I was able to drop her off there for an hour or two of browsing.  Her last few years were difficult, but she never lost her interest in current events or politics.  We should have more citizens like her.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

State of the Union

I didn’t watch the President’s speech, but I will tell you what happened.  President Obama proposed reasonable programs and a rational foreign policy.  Democrats cheered.  Republicans sat on their hands, looking angry and determined to thwart everything the President proposed.


Right?

Monday, January 19, 2015

Handy rooting guide

Let say Ohio State is playing Alabama, and you don’t feel any loyalty or affection for either one, but the game would be more fun if you had a team to root for.  When I was a grad student at Penn State, Bernie Hennessy, the Pol. Sci. Dept. Chair, had a rooting system that I want to share.

Summarized, it went like this.  Root for Eastern teams over Western teams, Northern teams over Southern teams, secular teams over religious teams, and public schools over private schools.  

Sometimes you have to weigh more than one factor.  Say, for example, Notre Dame is playing UCLA.  Notre Dame is religious, eastern, private.  The north-south dichotomy doesn’t really fit west coast teams.  So, you’d root for UCLA because it has two out of the remaining three--public and secular.


For pro teams, the system breaks down because the private-public and secular-religious dichotomies don’t apply, and the north-south and east-west pairs don’t really mean that much.  So, on Superbowl Sunday, just root for Seattle because you are tired of hearing about how great the Patriots are.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Ann Romney knows God's wishes

A recent news item discussed Ann Romney’s willingness to have Mitt run again for President.  The article, in Saturday’s Times, mentioned that an old Romney friend, Dennis King, asked Mrs. Romney why Mitt would subject himself to the indignities of a presidential campaign.

Mr. King said she answered, “That’s what God wanted him to do.”  


But God liked Obama more.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

When you boil a live lobster, does it feel any pain?

Did you know that 2014 was the warmest year on earth since records have been kept?

Did you know that Pennsylvania Senators Toomey and Casey want the EPA to relax air quality standards on coal-fired plants?


Did you know that the Carbon County 9/12 group is bringing in a speaker to talk about the “War on Coal?”

Friday, January 16, 2015

"Ocean life faces mass extinction, broad study says"

That was the headline in the upper right corner of today’s Times.  The rest of the front page was devoted to Boko Haram militants in Nigeria, Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, Rick Perry’s leaving office, and computer hackers.

Here we are.  The dominant species.  Huge brains.  Ability to reach the moon.  Unfortunately, in our care of our planet we still have the mentality of Neanderthals.  


I take that back.  Neanderthals, I believe, lived more in harmony with nature than we do.  As humans, we are regressing.  We are like a cancer on this planet, and we are destroying the body we inhabit.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Merkel removed

You know that dramatic picture of various world leaders marching in Paris in support of freedom of the press.  Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was in the front row next to the French president.

The Israeli newspaper, HaMevaser, photoshopped Merkel out of the lineup.  The paper also removed the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the Simonetta Sommaruga, the president of Switzerland.  

Evidently ultra Orthodox Jews will lose “the purity of eyes” if they look at a photo of a women, even Angela Merkel.  


So, a front page article about a march to protest religious zealotry ends up as an example of religious zealotry.  I just don’t get religion.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Korean peasants, early 19th century

I’m listening to a 48-lecture Teaching Company course on the Foundations of Eastern Civilization.  It is a great course; the subject of today’s lecture was Korean history.  The professor noted that in the early 19th century Korean peasants had a heavy burden of taxation, occasionally leading to peasant revolts.

I later read in the Times that the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy looked at the local tax burden in every state.  “According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.”  (“Study Finds Local Taxes Hit Lower Wage Earners Harder: by Patricia Cohen, p. B-1.)


What’s the major difference between Korean peasants of 1800 and the poorest fifth in America today?  Korean peasants couldn’t vote. Americans can vote, but they either do not or they don’t know their own interests.  In the upcoming election this fall, we will be lucky to get a 20% turnout.  

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Sen. Jerry Knowles, drug free

In 1964 Murray Edelman published an influential book entitled The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Edelman noted that much of what legislators do is of little or no importance, but it seems like they are actually doing something.  These symbolic actions often impress their constituents, which is the whole idea.

A perfect example is the bill introduced by John Lawrence, a Republican legislator from Chester County, that would screen candidates for governor, the state legislature, and row offices for drugs.  I assume they’d have to pee into a cup and send the sample off to a lab, although I haven’t read the bill.

Rep. Jerry Knowles is quoted in the Times News saying “I am a co-sponsor and support Rep. Lawrence’s bill.”  


Note that this bill addresses a non-existent problem.  It is completely symbolic.  It is the kind of activity at which our legislators excel.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Letter to Sen. Toomey


Senator Patrick Toomey
248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Toomey:

At a recent rally in Philadelphia you were quoted as saying those who protested police misconduct in recent months “don’t speak for America.”  

I would point out that the New York police used an illegal choke hold on Mr. Garner.  In addition, Mr. Garner was not dead when he was on the ground, yet no police officer offered first aid or CPR.

When 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot in Ohio, an “open carry state,” for holding an air rifle, police reacted in approximately two seconds and again did not give first aid to the bleeding boy.    Instead they handcuffed his 14-year-old sister who had come to his aid and put her in the back of a police car.

If you don’t see a problem here, if you think the police don’t need more training, if you don’t understand why people are angry, then you are being either willfully obtuse or trying to rile up your base.  Either way, you are not helping to solve the problem.  You are making it worse.

Sincerely,
Roy Christman


Sunday, January 11, 2015

Party of the Rich

The Morning Call today listed the votes of five area legislators on eight items before the House this week.  Four of the legislators were Republican.  

One item called for ”dynamic scoring,” which will make tax cuts for the rich easier (passed), one would have raised workers’ pay in certain instances (rejected), one increased from 30 to 40 the minimum number of hours workers would need to qualify for the Affordable Care Act’s definition of full-time employeesb(passed), and another would have guarded against gender or veterans bias as a result of the 40 hour minimum (rejected).

HR 37 would have weakened Dodd-Frank (did not get the 2/3rds needed, but came close).  HR3 will bypass environmental laws on the Keystone XL pipeline.  Another vote limited liability for oil spills from the pipeline.

One item renewed terrorism risk insurance; on that one only five House members voted no.

On the seven items that affected business interests, the four Republicans voted pro-business on every single one.  Those votes in the aggregate were anti-worker, anti-health care, anti-environment, anti-veteran, and anti-woman.


Don’t blame me.  I didn’t vote for a single one of these rich people’s lap dogs.  I did vote for Matt Cartwright, who was on side of the common people on every one of those votes.  

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Chutzpa

My Yiddish dictionary defines chutzpa as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, presumption-plus-arrogance.”


Here’s an example of chutzpa.  Mitch McConnell said the Republicans are responsible for the uptick in the U.S. economy because Americans were anticipating a Republican victory in Congress.  He really said that.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Mitch McConnell's sex life

I have learned that the title of my post can draw readers.  For example, when I post the title “Mitch McConnell’s sex life,” I’ll get a pile of readers, but this post is really about international trade agreements, a far more important subject.  I mean, do you really care about Mitch McConnell’s sex life?

The president wants Congress to give him the power to negotiate international trade agreements and fast-track them.  The latest effort is the “Trans-Pacific Partnership.”  

Jim Hightower has pointed out that a clear majority of Americans want their meat labeled.  We want to know the country of origin, be it the U.S., Mexico, or Argentina.  That labeling is now under attack because it “restrains trade” under existing trade agreements.  

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is bad for labor, bad for the environment, bad for consumers.  It is one area where President Obama thinks he can work with Republican legislators.  When is the last time you heard that Republican legislators are doing something that benefits someone besides corporate interests?

Most liberals in Congress think the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad idea.  Elizabeth Warren thinks it is a bad idea.  Jim Hightower thinks it’s a bad idea.  I think it’s a bad idea.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Oakland police

I worked full time in an auto parts warehouse in West Oakland from 1970-1973 and then part-time for another 20 years.  For those of you old enough to remember, West Oakland was Huey Newton and Black Panther territory.  When I went to work, I was afraid of one group--the cops--and I’m a white guy.

I remember one night going home from work after the Loma Prieta earthquake, when traffic pattens were messed up from the freeway collapse, and getting viciously cursed at for not moving fast enough by one of the cops directing traffic.  I was praying that I wouldn’t get arrested and smacked around.

Between1993 and 2003 Oakland averaged 13 police shootings a year.  Between 2004 and 2008, 16 of 24 people killed in police shootings were black, none were white.  (Oakland is about 30% African-American.)

Here’s the good news.  In the past 18 months no one has been shot by the Oakland police.  A federal judge in 2012 ordered reforms and monitored compliance.  A board reviews cases where officers used force.  A computer programs tracks citizen complaints.  Some cops were fired.  The combination of threats and greater supervision seems to have transformed the Oakland police department.  

From what I have read about the New York police department, it could take a lesson from Oakland.


The statistics above are from Dan Levine in a Reuters news service report.  

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Republicans move fast to aid the rich

Boy, that didn’t take long.  

The House of Representatives just approved an arcane-sounding but important rule change requiring the economic effects of legislation to be included in the bill’s official cost to the Treasury.  

That by itself sounds reasonable, but the change involves “dynamic scoring,” which calculates the economic value of tax cuts.  For years Republicans have been arguing that tax cuts increase revenue by stimulating business activity.  We have a great example in Kansas, where Republican-sponsored tax cuts are bankrupting the state.  

The Congressional Budget Office has been a source of objective information since its first director, Alice Rivlin, was appointed in 1975.  The CBO was noted for its even-handed analysis, whether the Democrats or Republicans were in power.  That’s about to change.  

The Republicans plan to appoint a sympathizer of “dynamic scoring” to head the CBO.  Tax cuts for the rich will be seen as cutting the deficit.  


This is how politics works in America.  The rich get richer and the poor don’t vote.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

The Republican Majority

Now that the Republicans are in power in Washington, they need an agenda.  Based on past performance and stated goals, here’s a ten-point program for Rep. Barletta, Sen. Toomey, and all those other stalwarts of rectitude and probity.

1. Slash the minimum wage.  Why would people work hard if they don’t have to?  Starvation, as Republicans know, is a great motivator.  Also, slashing the minimum wage would increase the gap between rich and poor, a long-standing Republican goal.

2. Investigate Benghazi.  The previous eight investigations might have missed something.

3. Repeal the Affordable Care Act.  Then repeal it again.  And again.  42 times was not enough.

4. Return to the old Cuban policy.  After all, it worked well for over 50 years.

5. Give banks more financial leeway.  (Oh wait, they already did that last fall.)

6. Mandate the Keystone pipeline. It will aid contributors from the oil and gas companies, including the Koch Brothers, who deserve gratitude for all they have done for the GOP.

7. Put boots on the ground in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, and Bekibekibekistan.  With the all-volunteer army, no congress member’s son or daughter will be serving there anyway.

8. Outlaw masturbation.  Sex without procreation is always wrong.  It says so somewhere in the Bible.

9. Impeach Obama. And Michelle.  


10. Repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Pepper competitors celebrate?

This morning I received an email from one of my many Belgium readers referring to yesterday’s post about the illegality of seed swapping.  Here’s what she wrote:

I guess you know that if you accept seeds from another grower, you may be tried as an accomplice! This will be good news to other top pepper growers, as you will be in the slammer when the county fair gives out prizes. Just so you know, I’ve never accepted seeds from anyone, so never attempt to implicate me in this scheme!


Since I don’t think the Belgians would know a jalapeño from a habanero, I won’t be accepting any seeds from Belgium anyway.  On the other hand, if someone from Indonesia would like to send me some Bhut Jolokia seeds, I won’t throw them away.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Cracking down on seed libraries

Last summer a state inspector notified librarians in Mechanicsburg, PA, that a seed exchange in their local library was violating state law.  Some libraries, in response to a growing interest in locally grown food and a movement to preserve heritage varieties, have set up seed exchanges.  Farmers have been exchanging seeds for hundreds of years, but now it appears that many states have made this kind of seed swaps illegal.

I did not realize when my neighbor George gave me some hot pepper seeds last year that he might be violating state law. 

According to the article in Lancaster Farming (Scott McFetridgte, “Crackdowns on Seed Libraries Spread Across U.S.,” Jan. 3, 2015, p. A26), a group in Oakland, CA, will provide info on state laws on seed libraries.  Go online and look for “Seed Law Tool Shed.”


The article did not say why states passed such repressive (and ridiculous) laws, but I’m guessing it was because of requests from companies like Monsanto who are developing GMO seeds and want to preserve their monopolies.  

Saturday, January 3, 2015

If you like it so much, why don't you move back?

God, I miss California.  Here are two completely unrelated reasons why:

1.  Egg prices are going up because of a California law that went into effect on January 1 mandating that egg farmers give their chickens more room in their cages.  Starbucks, Burger King and Whole Foods already do not buy eggs from caged chickens.  Now all eggs that are sold in California, including eggs from other states, must be from chickens either free range or in ample cages.  Paying a few more cents a dozen is a small price to pay to end the cruel practice of confining chickens to tiny cages.


2.  I was forwarded a photo of the new Speaker of the California Assembly receiving a congratulatory kiss from her spouse.  You can see it at <http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article4885797.html>.

Friday, January 2, 2015

"Unbroken"

Admitting that your nation did evil things in the past is difficult.  In the U.S. we seem to do better than most countries.  I believe that most American students learn about the incarceration of the Japanese in World War II, and most history courses discuss the evils of slavery, the Trail of Tears, and the Red Scare of the Fifties.  

We do seem to have some trouble accepting responsibility for the C.I.A. torture tactics, but I’m hoping that a consensus will emerge that condemns those actions, in spite of what former Vice President Cheney might say.

On the other hand, some nations are reluctant to admit to past crimes.  Turkey still will not admit to the massacre of Armenians, nor are Ukrainians eager to acknowledge responsibility for the murder of Jews during World War II.  

One country that has great difficulty with its past crimes is Japan.  Rightists in Japan are still denying the use of Korean “comfort women,” and they still dispute the “rape of Nanking.”  Nine out of ten American prisoners who died in World War II did so at the hands of the Japanese, but many Japanese refuse to acknowledge the mistreatment.

Japanese rightists have called “Unbroken” a fabrication.  The film might not even be released in Japan.  It should be.  


American attitudes toward the Japanese during WWII weren’t much better.  The Congressman from my district, Francis E. Walters, sent President Roosevelt an arm bone from a Japanese soldier to use as a letter opener.  President Roosevelt was disgusted and ordered the bone be buried.  We named an Army Corps of Engineers dam project for Congressman Walters.  

Two-year-old kills mom

Ok, it happened last year, but let’s look at this.  A woman in Idaho had a loaded gun in her purse, and her two-year-old son unzipped the purse, pulled out the gun, and shot the mom through the head.

The grandfather of the kid is angry because anti-gun people will use this as an argument against firearms.  

I have two thoughts on this.  Why shouldn’t we use this as an argument against carrying weaponry?  It seems to me a perfect example of what is wrong with the N.R.A. and the gun nuts.  


Secondly, what kind of society do we live in where a woman feels the necessity to carry a loaded handgun into a Wal-Mart?  Are we so afraid?  Of what?