Grassley & Harkin 2 of 8 to vote against fiscal cliff bill

That's right!!!

Mr. Grassley voted against it because there was virtually no spending cut in the bill.

Mr. Harkin reportedly voted against it because there were not enough taxes on "the rich".  CBS TV morning news reported that Harkin was one of the "super liberal" Democrats who did not want the tax increase threshhold set at $400,000 rather than at $250,000.

I am with Chuck!

Harry Reid, the dictator of the Senate, chose not to even allow spending cut proposals to be introduced or discussed.  

Oh yes.  Today the Obamacare taxes start.  OneTRILLION dollars in taxes over the next ten years.

And this is just the beginning of "four more years."






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Newtown Aftermath

There is already a great discussion mounting about "what we should do" in the wake of the Newton slaying.

Saying that we should turn the other way will solve nothing.  But saying we need tighter gun control, or we need this government service or that regulation, or whatever, really does nothing either.

Oh yes, it puts a "Band Aid" on the problem, but does not solve the fundamental problem.  Furthermore, are murders fundamentally different than they were say 50 or 100 years ago?  We still have disturbed people committing atrocious crimes, just as we have for years and years.  Yes, the scale may be larger and certainly the publicity is greater, but scale and publicity are caused by our society and technology, perhaps not by any fundamental change.

John Wayne Gacy killed at least 33 boys in the early 1970's.  Richard Speck killed 8 nursing students in one night in the 1960's.  (Neither of them used guns.)  There are many more examples, both with and without guns.  

Yet there may be fundamental changes at work.  Have we not continually "depersonalized" our interaction and our society through the use of technology?  You need not look far to see many people using Facebook, Twitter and texting to replace genuine face to face (or at least voice to voice via telephone) interaction. 

People are screaming for attention, so their crime becomes "bigger and badder" than the last one as a way of gaining notoriety.  Note: our communications technology and media hype seem to inflate the magnitude and spread the knowledge of all such crimes against others with increasing "efficiency."

Perhaps we should tell our media and "news" (entertainment) organizations that they cannot report such crimes.  Or maybe each such organization should be given an allotment of time, say 60 or 120 minutes that they can use for any one such crime.  Newspapers could be given a "column inch" allotment.  After all, all of the media contribute to the problem, but only a few gun owners ever use their guns for radically irresponsible reasons.

And to what extent have we taken personal responsibility out of our individual "equation" for living.  Is this the cause of such activity?  "I am not responsible for what I do to others."

The one time "safety net" protects us from all evils now, even those of our own making.  If someone chooses not to work, they need not worry, there are plenty of government programs (funded by those who do work) to provide for them.  To some extent, our global society has become one of "It is not my job."  Can we replace that with a new mantra:"I am responsible for myself and my family.  It is my job to provide for us.  I am responsible for my own actions."




RB:

RB has reminded me that “no one needs an assault rifle” for any legitimate purpose.  And there are “other forms of gun control that could be implemented without infringing on freedom.  But we still need to solve the fundamental problem, not just bandage it up.”  He is right.

MG:

My personal opinion is – if it isn’t a gun, it will be a knife, bomb or rope.  It is not the weapons that kill – it is the people who kill.  Mental illness causing people to be ticking time bombs themselves?  Why have we closed so many facilities to help families with unstable loved ones?  Why are we seeing so many more mental issues in children?  ADHD?  AUTISM in many different forms?  Other personality DISORDERS? Mental issues, (Autism, in particular) is growing rapidly – look it up!

Get to the bottom of those things, and try to come up with a solution for early detection and treatment before these young people ‘explode.’  4 Shooting sprees in the US in the last few years all have one thing in common – committed by fellas in their twenties with MENTAL ISSUES/PERSONALITY DISORDERS.  (same with the young fella who killed the Coach locally.)

In my humble opinion, focusing on gun control is just a sideshow to take our focus off and prevent us from fixing the real issue – mental illness…

DB:
We can address all of the effects, but unless we address the cause (true cause), we are like using a sheet of plastic as a blanket.  Yes we are covered, but are still cold.  Mental illness is the cause.  The effects are mentally ill wanting to hurt people, buying guns, and destroying lives.  Lets take away the guns and we still have mentally ill wanting to destroy lives.  Hmmm.  If I am mentally ill and want to hurt people and can't find a gun, do I discontinue wanting to hurt others or find another way????

Entitlement Programs

I heard it on the CBS Morning News this morning:

"60% of the Federal budget spending goes to entitlement programs."

Are you getting your fair share?  Did you or are you paying your fair share????

BTW --- In my opinion, CBS at least tries to be a news program, whereas NBC Today Show is mostly entertainment, entertainment related, or Matt Lauer and Company trying to show us all what tough interviewers they are -- regardless of whether they are learning any truth.

Here is what makes me angry now!

I keep reading these "factual editorials" that say something to the effect that "The Republicans now have to wake up and realize that they lost the election, which is a clear indication that they are wrong and have to make fundamental changes and get in tune with the country.  They have to accept that we the liberals are right."   and on and on!!!

Hold on!!!  Republicans still control the House and if you look at a county by county presidential election results map, you will see that by far the geographic majority of the country voted Republican red.

I don't know where I got this, except "on the web."
Therefore, I cannot provide attribution.


The densely populated areas voted Democrat blue.  So who lives there??

Food for thought for you from the chair.