Madder Than a Baptist Finding His Favorite Liquor Store Closed
I really surprised myself as how quickly I went from wandering around REI Christmas shopping to madder than a Baptist finding his favorite liquor store closed.
The REI here is St. Louis is in one of the richest parts of town. The parking lot is full of Beamers, Mercedes and Teslas in addition to the expected Subabrus, Toyotas and Hondas. We were walking towards the front of the store to check out. Robin never noticed him, but there was a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, walking around with a 45 strapped to his waist. He was obviously not store security. He did not look like a plains clothes police office in his Australian outback hat. I had to turn around and walk towards the back of the store as my impulse was to walk up to him and say, “Unless you are carrying a badge, you are one stupid mother f***er.
I do not want to live in a society where people can walk around with lethal weapons strapped to their bodies. I consider concealed carry laws an atrocity beyond words. I have lived 63 years and I can think of only one situation where I might have wanted a gun. Instead I turned around and confronted the man verbally which was enough. It is insane to have to worry about accidentally triggering some mental case with a gun tucked away somewhere on their body. If I verbally abuse you, flip you off, or cut you off in traffic it is more insanity to have to worry about a weapon.
My personal opinion is that anyone that is willing to carry a weapon, openly or otherwise, in a situation where the need for it approaches an infinitesimal small percentage is not sane enough to carry a weapon.
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 1,394
yeah I know you did not ask!
What about next time Congress has some “must pass” legislation, instead of slipping a rider that benefits only the fats cats and decreases our democracy, we tact on riders to benefit all of us. Perhaps something to reform the student loan program, and make college affordable; perhaps something that will help bring good jobs back to America; perhaps legislation to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century; perhaps a realistic minimum wage; perhaps a tax code change to decrease the wealth gap; I could go on an on, but you get the idea.
These Are The Most Controversial Illustrations You Will See This Year
Follow the link below. Some of the pictures may offend some…so if you choose to click be nice to me.
These Are The Most Controversial Illustrations You Will See This Year
Elizabeth Warren’s Speech on Citibank
Red, Blue, Purple, Green… whatever the color of your political cloak this is a must watch speech by Elizabeth Warren
Conspiracy Theory — Not the Movie
I was recently taken to task for a previous blog posting, Opinion Bombs. The precise section that was objectionable to the commenter was:
“I feel like there is some unknown force driving wedges between the various factions of our country and of the world. I’m not a big believer in conspiracy theories, but it feels like the “powers that be” want to keep the little folk bickering among themselves. It is the magician’s sleight of the hand. Distract the masses with these wedges and the powers can go on with whatever it is they want to do.”
Specifically, the commenter found my use of “conspiracy theory” problematic. Perhaps I used the word incorrectly. Conspiracy is defined as – “a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.” A conspiracy theory is defined as – “a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event.” The operative difference is “belief”.
What I was referring to as conspiracy theories is no longer very covert, Continue reading “Conspiracy Theory — Not the Movie”
Opinion Bombs
I have friends of color. I have a couple black friends with ties to Ferguson. I have white friends. I have friends, who are conservatives and others that are liberals. When I say friends I mean real and/or Facebook. To
all of the above I could substitute the word friend with relatives. I mention this because in my Facebook feeds I get multiple opinions on the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. What has struck me most strongly is that there seems to be a strong dichotomy that is tending to break down along lines of color and position on the political spectrum. People are not so much discussing the situation as throwing opinion bombs at each other.
There was one posting on the Michael Brown case with a lot of reinforcing comments to the posters opinion of Michael Brown being a criminal. What struck me so vividly was the way the posters and commenters saw blacks. They were definitely “others”. They were a group separate from them, and something to be feared. Last time I looked we were all humans and we all bleed red.
I’m not the first to notice this phenomenon, that we do not discuss issues anymore. Continue reading “Opinion Bombs”
Food for Thought — Michelle Alexander’s Speech on Race and Violence
Please Don’t Vote – A Message From The Republican Party
ObamaCare for Dummies
This is a very NON-PARTISAN explanation of the Affordable Care Act aka ObamaCare. It strikes me that a large number of folks are opposed to ObamaCare and actually have little or no understanding of what it really is.
One issue I hear a lot is that folks are afraid that they will be taxed to subsidize freeloaders. IMHO this is happening already in two ways. The first would be excessive corporate profits. There is a reason insurance executives can be paid those huge salaries and bonuses. Secondly, when poor folks have no other health care option but to show up at an emergency room we are taxed for by the cost be shifted into other arenas of the hospital and passed on to paying patients.
Health resources are limited which means they need to be triaged. The question becomes do you want the government triaging your health care or a for profit corporation. Seniors seem to love the governments Medicare program. Native Americans seem to find Indian Health Care more than acceptable. My personal issue with ObamaCare is that is leaves too much in the private sector, but I realize it was probably the best that could be done at the time.
At least invest the 15 minutes or so in a very well done video before you absolutely decide one way or the other about ObamaCare. Far too many of us many political decisions along partisan lines without all the information. Far too many of our politicians do not speak to the issue, but work on our fears. Educating yourself is at least a start in the right direction.