11:40: President Obama delivers remarks on gun control at the White House – he will stand with mothers who want Congress to take action on common-sense measures to protect children from gun violence. Law enforcement officials and victims of gun violence will also attend.
2:10: Meets with the leaders of Sierra Leone, Senegal, Malawi and Cape Verde
****
President Obama checks Jane Hamsher’s accounts:
****
Jane Hamsher owes me $51,000 for my work on her Black Reeducation Bus Tour.
Not Only is Bill Hammer Geographically wrong, the term unAmerican is exclusively a term associated with those in USA, especially those Americans behaving a certain way. More like a demeaning term.
Nena, I was thinking maybe there was ‘a’ Cyprus in America, much like there is a Georgia, and he got a wee bit confused in the heat of the moment. ๐
It’s possible that there may be a town, county seat, etc., in america named Cyprus. After all we have Cairo, Ill, Memphis TN and Lebanon somewhere. In the 1800, the county seat of Southampton, Virginia, was named Jerusalem. I am not sure if it still has the same name.
Hey JO’B, after all my years in the Village I’ve finally discovered the ‘like’ button. I saw your face there and decided to investigate further, then i clicked to see what would happen. Really, I’m the most unobservant of my surroundings unless something in particular catches my eye. Tonight it was your face. ๐
Oh, to me it was ‘your’ face. It’s like Chips will have a hard time convincing me she is Chips when we meet, if she doesn’t have her smiling face on. ๐ ๐
LL – I’ll offer this one up … my son was 5 or 6 (mid-70s) and I caught him resting on his bed staring up at the ceiling singing this song at the top of his lungs! Sang his little heart out! My friend once told me, “My kid is singing Freddie Flintstone songs and yours knows The Top Ten.” Ha!
That’s an exceedingly wacky trip down memory lane: my older sister was in love with Mungo Jerry, and even though ‘WTF?’ wasn’t invented then, I said to her: ‘WTF?” The hairiness was just too much.
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue, clouds of white
Bright blessed days, dark sacred nights
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, sayin’ how do you do
They’re really sayin’ ~ I love you.
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself … what a wonderful world!
I see a bankruptcy judge
Lookin’ over Jane’s books
The judge shows no mercy
To those firebaggin’ crooks
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world!
It does seem like she was full-steam ahead until last week when the Clintons showed up to give their opinion. They are very close friends with Grimes’ parents.
>
> Subject: Nag, Nag, Nag.
>
>
> An attorney arrived home late, after a very tough day trying to get a stay of execution. His last minute plea for clemency to the governor had failed and he was feeling worn out and depressed.
>
> As soon as he walked through the door at home, his wife started on him about, ‘What time of night to be getting home is this? Where have you been? Dinner is cold and I’m not reheating it’. And on and on and on.
>
> Too shattered to play his usual role in this familiar ritual, he poured himself a shot of whiskey and headed off for a long hot soak in the bathtub, pursued by the predictable sarcastic remarks as he dragged himself up the stairs.
>
> While he was in the bath, the phone rang. The wife answered and was told that her husband’s client, James Wright, had been granted a stay of execution after all. Wright would not be hanged tonight.
>
> Finally realizing what a terrible day he must have had, she decided to go up stairs and give him the good news.
>
> As she opened the bathroom door, she was greeted by the sight of her husband, bent over naked, drying his legs and feet.
>
> ‘They’re not hanging Wright tonight,’ she said.
>
> He whirled around and screamed, ‘FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WOMAN, DON’T YOU EVER STOP?!’
An unmarried woman could inherit money and property after she reached the age of 21, but once married, all control would revert to her husband. A woman could not have a will for her own personal possessions; since the control was in her husbandโs power, he could distribute her property in any way he likes, even to his illegitimate children (if he has any).
Women married because they had a lack of options; they were not formerly educated, and were only instructed in domestic duties. They needed someone to support them, and were encouraged to marry and have children (“The Rules of Marriage”).
The Courtship
Marriage was a carefully contemplated subject for a woman; since she would lose control over any possessions once married, it was not something entered into lightly, and a woman was not required to accept her first proposal.
I love it! Clinton’s jumping on the bandwagon when it’s obvious that the tide has turned really irked me. He created this mess, and then he had the audacity to allow himself to be called the “President of the World” by Chris Matthews, and to even write a book telling the world how he would do President Obama’s job better than President Obama. He created the messes that President Obama is now having to clean up! How many lives have been damaged by his cowardice? And the fact that he had Dick Morris as a top adviser says volumes about his judgement.
The one thing about William Jefferson Clinton that I am truly grateful is that he is smart enough to know no matter how hard he tries history is going to be very unkind to him.
This is just one example that no matter how hard he will try he will never be able to erase how much damage he did to America.
And that, every day, he has had to watch President Obama be a far greater leader all the while PBO humbly and kindly restores America from the damage that he, Bill Clinton, and, not just GWB, did.
#TrustBarack … He’s in it for the very, very long-term
Not just that. President Obama pulled Clinton back into the limelight, and was confident enough to leverage the media’s attempts to pit Clinton against him. And they all conveniently forgot that President Obama defeated the Clinton machinery.
Bravo Bobfr! You are absolutely right. President Obama has been trying to clean the mess he inherited from both Bill Clinton and G.W. Bush. DADT and DOMA all happened on his watch. Obviously he had to deal with the political reality that existed at the time.
Excellent point, Bob. Thank you. If it were not for Clinton’s lack of self control, we would not have had the travesty of a GWB presidency. He had a chance to leave a lasting legacy, was blessed with a thriving economy and he let his appetites get in the way. There would have been no question about a decisive Al Gore victory if Clinton had ended strongly and supported Gore.
I remember the fight for opeess in the military. Clinton wanted gays in the military to be able to serve openly, but he couldn’t win that fight. Right issue, bad timing. DOMA, as stupid as it was, was an act of political ‘necessity’. Not doing it might have cost the Dems many seats.
Political expediency is most always frustrating, but sometimes, you have to live to fight another day. I have many problems with the Clinton administration, but political acts of courage can be very costly.
Iโm convinced (and Iโm hardly alone) that until a major โ yes capitalist โ enterprise has big $$$ to gain, the weapons industry and itโs sycophants (NRA-controlled Legislators and Gov Executives) will be much harder to thwart.
The beauty of eliciting strong support from the Insurance enterprise is that they know how to make money on RISK, by mitigating that risk, i.e., not only will background checks, mental health exams, and all kinds of other provisions be required (e.g., training, licensing, etc.), but much of the pressure to make those requirements will no longer be without the one and only incentive that motivates some folk โ making $$$.
Yes, itโs calculated and it may seem a harsh assessment, but Iโm a pragmatist driven by facts, and as impassioned I am about many issues, the reality of the #GunViolence issue happens to be we need to counter a very lucrative business with one that is at least as lucrative and that can actually force control parameters onto the making, selling and using of guns and ammo (just as they have done on numerous other major enterprises, e.g., autos, ships, airplanes).
Thus, the Insurance enterprise is the logical partner, but it will take you and VP Biden and your many powerful colleagues and friends to shift the focus in a much more grounded and measurable form of โpersonal responsibilityโ– meaning that each maker, seller and user of guns and ammunition are held liable, and have properly insured that liability, every time they sell or use a gun and ammunition.
Can’t believe judge amends bail for Oscar Pistorius and returns his passport and so he is free to travel anywhere/everywhere to compete in track events—–just like he didn’t kill his girlfriend after all. Unbelievable. Different justice for S. Africa’s sports hero.
The bullet exploded like a fragment from the past, piercing his present and laying waste to the future he envisioned. It tore through Jerome Grahamโs back, wrecked his spleen, damaged his pancreas and kidney, and left him paralyzed from the waist down.
And while the direct medical consequences of that gunshot fired a year ago in East Baltimore end there, the full force of its destruction has reverberated more broadly, encompassing Grahamโs friends, his family, his community. It has carried into the American health care system, while confronting American taxpayers with costs reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Before he was shot last year, Graham, 33, supported his wife and three children by working as an electrician. Barring a medical miracle, he will never walk again, greatly complicating his ability to earn a paycheck. Since the shot went through his body, he and his family have come to rely on government programs like Medicaid, Social Security and subsidized housing.
In the American conversation, discussion of gun-related violence generally centers on the tragic loss of life or permanent injuries that result. But beneath these headline-grabbing, life-shattering facts are costs measured in vast numbers of dollars. Firearms-related deaths cost the U.S. health care system and economy $37 billion in 2005, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attempted an estimate. The cost of those who survive gun violence came to another $3.7 billion that year, according to the CDC.
A 22-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday night for illegally transferring a handgun used by a white supremacist parolee linked to the shooting death of Colorado’s prison chief, authorities said.
Stevie Marie Vigil of Commerce City, Colorado, was arrested by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation on suspicion that she legally bought the gun and transferred the handgun to , a convicted felon who was not allowed to legally own firearms, bureau spokeswoman Susan Medina said in a statement.
Indeed, the evidence suggests the very act of being armed changes one’s perception of others to a decidedly more paranoid one. Other studies have shown an element of racial priming too, where a black subject is more likely to be assumed to be carrying a weapon. Guns have a curious psychological effect beyond this: a 2006 study by Dr Jennifer Klinesmith and colleagues showed men exposed to firearms before an experiment had much higher testosterone levels and were three times more likely to engage in aggressive behaviour relative to the subjects not primed with a weapon.
LaPierre’s proclamation bears the hallmarks of a litany of misconceptions. Gun aficionados often frame the debate in terms of protection, but it is vital to realise that the vast majority of rape and murder victims are not harmed by nefarious strangers, but by people they know, and often love โ friends, family members, lovers. Far from protecting people and keeping families safe, the sad truth is that firearms are often used in episodes of domestic violence. The John Hopkins centre for gun policy research has some sobering facts on this; women living in a home with one or more guns were three times more likely to be murdered; for women who had been abused by their partner, their risk of being murdered rose fivefold if the partner owned a gun.
Nor did guns make the women safer; women who purchased guns were 50% more likely to be killed by an intimate partner. So LaPierre’s “good woman with a gun” is actually, it seems, putting herself in danger.
Viewed in this light, the NRA’s insistence that rapes can be prevented with firearms or that teachers should be armed appear even more stupid than they already seemed. It is worth remembering that just as America leads the world in gun ownership, so too does it lead the world in gun homicide, with 11,000 to 12,000 murders committed by firearms each year. The tired old rationalisation that guns protect people is frankly contradicted by the evidence.
From -0.01 to +0.01 to Final count report ate +0.04% for Q4 of 2012. Yeah :!:. I will indeed take the latter. 13 consecutive qtrs of positive growth in GDP.
Imagine if everyone were working together, House, Senate, White House. If there were jobs bill pass to put people back to work. Just imagine how stronger our economy would be if the House and Senate were working with the White House. Instead all the Republicans are doing is trying to destroy the economy.
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Presidentโs Trip to Mexico and Costa Rica
// President Obama will travel to Mexico and Costa Rica May 2-4. This trip is an important opportunity to reinforce the deep cultural, familial, and economic ties that so many Americans share with Mexico and Central America.
In Mexico, the President looks forward to meeting with President Peรฑa Nieto, with whom he spoke by telephone today. The President welcomes the opportunity to discuss ways to deepen our economic and commercial partnership and further our engagement on the broad array of bilateral, regional, and global issues that connect our two countries. In Costa Rica, the President looks forward to the opportunity to meet with President Chinchilla as well as heads of state of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, whom President Chinchilla has graciously offered to host. The trip will be an important chance to discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development in Central America and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security. //
Hall of Fame basketball player Earvin โMagicโ Johnson spoke out on behalf of President Obamaโs healthcare law on Monday.
โObamaCare is working. I talk to a lot of CEOs of hospitals. It is working,โ he said on MSNBC.
Howdy
AGAIN?!?!? What did you do to VC & cookemom?
Congratulations! ๐ ๐
Poor Betsy was right behind me… VC, she has a bad head day and Cookemom is probably with my yoga kitty learning yoga. ๐
Thank you Hopefruit.
Hello!
Busy day ahead!
Hello PFI, is it day where you are, or are you anticipating tomorrow?
Wait for me, you rat!
close but no cigar
My geography, particularly my American geo, is pitifully weak. Is Cyprus in America?
Not Only is Bill Hammer Geographically wrong, the term unAmerican is exclusively a term associated with those in USA, especially those Americans behaving a certain way. More like a demeaning term.
What an ignorant man?
Nena, I was thinking maybe there was ‘a’ Cyprus in America, much like there is a Georgia, and he got a wee bit confused in the heat of the moment. ๐
๐ Bill Hammer is just not too bright……..just a rightwing teleprompter presenter……a total air-head ๐
There was a Cyprus Garden in Florida. ๐
Not really. It’s a few thousand miles away in the Mediterranean Sea.
Sounds as though you’ve been there, Sailor. ๐
Yup. It doesn’t have much to recommend it though.
Sounds like lots of secreted away money is the big draw!
Yes, but since these pundits are smarter than me, I had to make sure I didn’t have my facts wrong, OR was overlooking something. ๐
Then you must be able to see Alaska from your house, eh? ๐
It’s possible that there may be a town, county seat, etc., in america named Cyprus. After all we have Cairo, Ill, Memphis TN and Lebanon somewhere. In the 1800, the county seat of Southampton, Virginia, was named Jerusalem. I am not sure if it still has the same name.
O.M.G.
Yep. My reaction too.
Why is it that these CNN people leave CNN and go to Fox?
Revolving-media-whore-door. (Sorry – couldn’t resist!)
It is a wonderful world, despite all the not-so-wonderful stuff, isn’t it? It’s been a while since I’ve heard that; nice memories Ms Chips.
Hey JO’B, after all my years in the Village I’ve finally discovered the ‘like’ button. I saw your face there and decided to investigate further, then i clicked to see what would happen. Really, I’m the most unobservant of my surroundings unless something in particular catches my eye. Tonight it was your face. ๐
My face or Joey’s? ๐
Oh, to me it was ‘your’ face. It’s like Chips will have a hard time convincing me she is Chips when we meet, if she doesn’t have her smiling face on. ๐ ๐
I know what you mean. Amazing how many have such a striking resemblance to POTUS or FLOTUS, too. ๐
Indeed! ๐ Sometimes I wonder if the O’s don’t get tired of seeing themselves every where they look.
If anybody can handle it, they can!
Or Joe Biden, JOB.
Huh? ( ๐ )
Because nothing says “Rock God” like Norman Greenbaum:
OMG I love that song!
LL – I’ll offer this one up … my son was 5 or 6 (mid-70s) and I caught him resting on his bed staring up at the ceiling singing this song at the top of his lungs! Sang his little heart out! My friend once told me, “My kid is singing Freddie Flintstone songs and yours knows The Top Ten.” Ha!
Just before I walked down the aisle with my father to marry my hubby, a friend sang this song. Not the same way, but, you get the idea…..
Beautiful!
๐
Tessa, a Little dog and her inspirational story. I am bringing it from the last thread.
It is a heartwarming doggie video.
I’ve seen her on my FB! ๐
Thanks, Nena.
I envy his mutton chops:
That’s an exceedingly wacky trip down memory lane: my older sister was in love with Mungo Jerry, and even though ‘WTF?’ wasn’t invented then, I said to her: ‘WTF?” The hairiness was just too much.
It is pretty frightening! No wonder drugs were prevalent in the 70’s – between the hair and the fashion…
You had prescience, like the Guild Navigators in “Dune”.
The parts of the Bible they skip in Sunday school:
What a wonderful (Obama) world
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue, clouds of white
Bright blessed days, dark sacred nights
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, sayin’ how do you do
They’re really sayin’ ~ I love you.
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself … what a wonderful world!
I see a bankruptcy judge
Lookin’ over Jane’s books
The judge shows no mercy
To those firebaggin’ crooks
And I think to myself … what a wonderful world!
You’re inspired today, JOB.
Ha – thanks. Last night, anyway. Too “early” for me to be inspired yet today! I’m still wondering Where Am I?
Magnificent last verse Jacqueline!!!!! ๐ ๐
Just for you, Chips. Ha!
Well, well, well, ain’t this some shit?
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/local-airport-closures-cause-gopers-sequestration-anxiety.php?m=1
I am disappointed about Ashley Judd. It seems like she was testing the Waters but once the Big Dog came out agaist her, she had enough.
Sadly!
It does seem like she was full-steam ahead until last week when the Clintons showed up to give their opinion. They are very close friends with Grimes’ parents.
Someone probably talk to Ashley and told her that if the Clintons are not backing her it would be better not to run.
Brilliant.
Ok, this evening has been a blast, but we have a day of outlet mall shopping in store for tomorrow. Night all!
>
> Subject: Nag, Nag, Nag.
>
>
> An attorney arrived home late, after a very tough day trying to get a stay of execution. His last minute plea for clemency to the governor had failed and he was feeling worn out and depressed.
>
> As soon as he walked through the door at home, his wife started on him about, ‘What time of night to be getting home is this? Where have you been? Dinner is cold and I’m not reheating it’. And on and on and on.
>
> Too shattered to play his usual role in this familiar ritual, he poured himself a shot of whiskey and headed off for a long hot soak in the bathtub, pursued by the predictable sarcastic remarks as he dragged himself up the stairs.
>
> While he was in the bath, the phone rang. The wife answered and was told that her husband’s client, James Wright, had been granted a stay of execution after all. Wright would not be hanged tonight.
>
> Finally realizing what a terrible day he must have had, she decided to go up stairs and give him the good news.
>
> As she opened the bathroom door, she was greeted by the sight of her husband, bent over naked, drying his legs and feet.
>
> ‘They’re not hanging Wright tonight,’ she said.
>
> He whirled around and screamed, ‘FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WOMAN, DON’T YOU EVER STOP?!’
O.M.G..love it..
BWHAAAAA!!!!!
Roflmao!
Just sayin’
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/agunn/teaching/enl3251/vf/pres/ziegenfuss.htm
Marriage in the Victorian Era
An unmarried woman could inherit money and property after she reached the age of 21, but once married, all control would revert to her husband. A woman could not have a will for her own personal possessions; since the control was in her husbandโs power, he could distribute her property in any way he likes, even to his illegitimate children (if he has any).
Women married because they had a lack of options; they were not formerly educated, and were only instructed in domestic duties. They needed someone to support them, and were encouraged to marry and have children (“The Rules of Marriage”).
The Courtship
Marriage was a carefully contemplated subject for a woman; since she would lose control over any possessions once married, it was not something entered into lightly, and a woman was not required to accept her first proposal.
“We’ve come a long way, baby”!
Bob Shrum’s takin’ no prisoners:
I love it! Clinton’s jumping on the bandwagon when it’s obvious that the tide has turned really irked me. He created this mess, and then he had the audacity to allow himself to be called the “President of the World” by Chris Matthews, and to even write a book telling the world how he would do President Obama’s job better than President Obama. He created the messes that President Obama is now having to clean up! How many lives have been damaged by his cowardice? And the fact that he had Dick Morris as a top adviser says volumes about his judgement.
The one thing about William Jefferson Clinton that I am truly grateful is that he is smart enough to know no matter how hard he tries history is going to be very unkind to him.
This is just one example that no matter how hard he will try he will never be able to erase how much damage he did to America.
And that, every day, he has had to watch President Obama be a far greater leader all the while PBO humbly and kindly restores America from the damage that he, Bill Clinton, and, not just GWB, did.
#TrustBarack … He’s in it for the very, very long-term
Not just that. President Obama pulled Clinton back into the limelight, and was confident enough to leverage the media’s attempts to pit Clinton against him. And they all conveniently forgot that President Obama defeated the Clinton machinery.
Bravo Bobfr! You are absolutely right. President Obama has been trying to clean the mess he inherited from both Bill Clinton and G.W. Bush. DADT and DOMA all happened on his watch. Obviously he had to deal with the political reality that existed at the time.
Excellent point, Bob. Thank you. If it were not for Clinton’s lack of self control, we would not have had the travesty of a GWB presidency. He had a chance to leave a lasting legacy, was blessed with a thriving economy and he let his appetites get in the way. There would have been no question about a decisive Al Gore victory if Clinton had ended strongly and supported Gore.
He’s never going to escape Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, DOMA and, very importantly, repeal of Glass Steagall (by signing Gramm-Leach-Bliley). NEVER.
and not to forget “welfare reforms”.
I remember the fight for opeess in the military. Clinton wanted gays in the military to be able to serve openly, but he couldn’t win that fight. Right issue, bad timing. DOMA, as stupid as it was, was an act of political ‘necessity’. Not doing it might have cost the Dems many seats.
Political expediency is most always frustrating, but sometimes, you have to live to fight another day. I have many problems with the Clinton administration, but political acts of courage can be very costly.
I’m taking myself out of here early to give my head a good rest – I hope – tonight. Have a good night, everyone!
Hope it’s better tomorrow…
Now, that is something to talk about ๐
I live it ๐
๐
POTUS will probably do this if the Background checks fail in congress, which is highly likely/
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/pending-regs/290553-obama-administration-moving-on-gun-violence-regulation-
This is what I request the President and VP do …
25 March 2013
Dear Mr President (and VP Biden),
Iโm convinced (and Iโm hardly alone) that until a major โ yes capitalist โ enterprise has big $$$ to gain, the weapons industry and itโs sycophants (NRA-controlled Legislators and Gov Executives) will be much harder to thwart.
The beauty of eliciting strong support from the Insurance enterprise is that they know how to make money on RISK, by mitigating that risk, i.e., not only will background checks, mental health exams, and all kinds of other provisions be required (e.g., training, licensing, etc.), but much of the pressure to make those requirements will no longer be without the one and only incentive that motivates some folk โ making $$$.
Yes, itโs calculated and it may seem a harsh assessment, but Iโm a pragmatist driven by facts, and as impassioned I am about many issues, the reality of the #GunViolence issue happens to be we need to counter a very lucrative business with one that is at least as lucrative and that can actually force control parameters onto the making, selling and using of guns and ammo (just as they have done on numerous other major enterprises, e.g., autos, ships, airplanes).
Thus, the Insurance enterprise is the logical partner, but it will take you and VP Biden and your many powerful colleagues and friends to shift the focus in a much more grounded and measurable form of โpersonal responsibilityโ– meaning that each maker, seller and user of guns and ammunition are held liable, and have properly insured that liability, every time they sell or use a gun and ammunition.
Thank you,
Bob
Great letter. I hope it is one of the ten he reads each night.
You should write to him, maybe he will read this?
Jovie, that letter was sent to the President and VP Biden on 25 March 2013 ๐
Thank you, Bob.
I think this is an excellent approach.
Thank you Betsy and Bill and hope you have a good day.
#FORWARD
The Boston Bruins just traded for Ingila, first black Captain in the NHL. ๐
Here is some of the new face of Ohio politics – both staunch supporters of PBO. Ohio is on the move – leftward
BTW, for those who are not aware, Vet Andrew Hounshel (on right) is the person running against cry-baby Orangeman Boehner.
State Senator Nina Turner is a person to watch
I really like seeing State Senator Nina Turner when she is on Rev. Al or Ed show. She speaks her mind and does it well.
I agree, and – as an aside – she looks lovely in that photo! Love her dress.
Can’t believe judge amends bail for Oscar Pistorius and returns his passport and so he is free to travel anywhere/everywhere to compete in track events—–just like he didn’t kill his girlfriend after all. Unbelievable. Different justice for S. Africa’s sports hero.
That is a surprise. So he can go anywhere he want to and decide not to come back to S.Africa.
Mornin’ Everybody! Have a Great Day!
You are awesome…..on Fire this Sun Shine Morning, ;)…..from the advantage of my neck of the woods, that is ๐
Morning Dudette and the TODers of the world.
Thanks Nena! ๐
Good day TOD!!!
For all the music lovers …
Very long day today … likely not back until late or sometime tomorrow.
#FORWARD
Have a great day, Bob! We’ll keep the light on for you ๐
Hello df – that comment brings back memories of times past – good memories ๐
Morning, 99! So glad that I sparked some good memories for you this morning! How’s things down under this morning??
It’s 11.40pm – so not quite morning yet ๐ – heading into a 4 day weekend with no rain in sight – lots to be thankful about.
My Mom used to “put the front light on” for me when I was out as a teenager. Lived in a small town – no-one even locked the doors!
Good stuff! Thanks Bob! See ya later!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014437330 Gun Violence Costs U.S. Health Care System, Taxpayers Billions Each Year
The bullet exploded like a fragment from the past, piercing his present and laying waste to the future he envisioned. It tore through Jerome Grahamโs back, wrecked his spleen, damaged his pancreas and kidney, and left him paralyzed from the waist down.
And while the direct medical consequences of that gunshot fired a year ago in East Baltimore end there, the full force of its destruction has reverberated more broadly, encompassing Grahamโs friends, his family, his community. It has carried into the American health care system, while confronting American taxpayers with costs reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Before he was shot last year, Graham, 33, supported his wife and three children by working as an electrician. Barring a medical miracle, he will never walk again, greatly complicating his ability to earn a paycheck. Since the shot went through his body, he and his family have come to rely on government programs like Medicaid, Social Security and subsidized housing.
In the American conversation, discussion of gun-related violence generally centers on the tragic loss of life or permanent injuries that result. But beneath these headline-grabbing, life-shattering facts are costs measured in vast numbers of dollars. Firearms-related deaths cost the U.S. health care system and economy $37 billion in 2005, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attempted an estimate. The cost of those who survive gun violence came to another $3.7 billion that year, according to the CDC.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/uk-usa-gun-colorado-idUKBRE92R03T20130328?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401
A 22-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday night for illegally transferring a handgun used by a white supremacist parolee linked to the shooting death of Colorado’s prison chief, authorities said.
Stevie Marie Vigil of Commerce City, Colorado, was arrested by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation on suspicion that she legally bought the gun and transferred the handgun to , a convicted felon who was not allowed to legally own firearms, bureau spokeswoman Susan Medina said in a statement.
BACKGROUND CHECKS. BACKGROUND CHECKS. BACKGROUND CHECKS!
Better yet…liability insurance, liability insurance, liability insurance!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/mar/25/guns-protection-national-rifle-association
Guns don’t offer protection โ whatever the National Rifle Association says
The insistence that guns protect people from rape and violence is not rooted in scientific reality
Indeed, the evidence suggests the very act of being armed changes one’s perception of others to a decidedly more paranoid one. Other studies have shown an element of racial priming too, where a black subject is more likely to be assumed to be carrying a weapon. Guns have a curious psychological effect beyond this: a 2006 study by Dr Jennifer Klinesmith and colleagues showed men exposed to firearms before an experiment had much higher testosterone levels and were three times more likely to engage in aggressive behaviour relative to the subjects not primed with a weapon.
LaPierre’s proclamation bears the hallmarks of a litany of misconceptions. Gun aficionados often frame the debate in terms of protection, but it is vital to realise that the vast majority of rape and murder victims are not harmed by nefarious strangers, but by people they know, and often love โ friends, family members, lovers. Far from protecting people and keeping families safe, the sad truth is that firearms are often used in episodes of domestic violence. The John Hopkins centre for gun policy research has some sobering facts on this; women living in a home with one or more guns were three times more likely to be murdered; for women who had been abused by their partner, their risk of being murdered rose fivefold if the partner owned a gun.
Nor did guns make the women safer; women who purchased guns were 50% more likely to be killed by an intimate partner. So LaPierre’s “good woman with a gun” is actually, it seems, putting herself in danger.
Viewed in this light, the NRA’s insistence that rapes can be prevented with firearms or that teachers should be armed appear even more stupid than they already seemed. It is worth remembering that just as America leads the world in gun ownership, so too does it lead the world in gun homicide, with 11,000 to 12,000 murders committed by firearms each year. The tired old rationalisation that guns protect people is frankly contradicted by the evidence.
Obama’s fault
From -0.01 to +0.01 to Final count report ate +0.04% for Q4 of 2012. Yeah :!:. I will indeed take the latter. 13 consecutive qtrs of positive growth in GDP.
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Imagine if everyone were working together, House, Senate, White House. If there were jobs bill pass to put people back to work. Just imagine how stronger our economy would be if the House and Senate were working with the White House. Instead all the Republicans are doing is trying to destroy the economy.
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Presidentโs Trip to Mexico and Costa Rica
// President Obama will travel to Mexico and Costa Rica May 2-4. This trip is an important opportunity to reinforce the deep cultural, familial, and economic ties that so many Americans share with Mexico and Central America.
In Mexico, the President looks forward to meeting with President Peรฑa Nieto, with whom he spoke by telephone today. The President welcomes the opportunity to discuss ways to deepen our economic and commercial partnership and further our engagement on the broad array of bilateral, regional, and global issues that connect our two countries. In Costa Rica, the President looks forward to the opportunity to meet with President Chinchilla as well as heads of state of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, whom President Chinchilla has graciously offered to host. The trip will be an important chance to discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development in Central America and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security. //
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/27/statement-press-secretary-president-s-trip-mexico-and-costa-rica
As they should.. ๐
I hear that Song ๐ Finally, twirling inside my Head โ
Hall of Fame basketball player Earvin โMagicโ Johnson spoke out on behalf of President Obamaโs healthcare law on Monday.
โObamaCare is working. I talk to a lot of CEOs of hospitals. It is working,โ he said on MSNBC.
Read more: http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/290143-magic-johnson-obamcare-is-working#ixzz2Oq3bmYhD
Morning!
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/03/28/rise-and-shine-467/