The Good Banter Thread

[CountryEscape]

This morning I heard a Congress woman give a short "speech" if you want to call it that. She was involved in a shooting about 20 years ago in the subway there in New York (I think that's where it was) and lost friends in that shooting, so she knows first hand what people are feeling. She didn't say get rid of guns, it's the 2nd Amendment, people do have the right to bear arms, but we all need to come together to help keep people safe. Good for her! We all know that guns don't take lives, PEOPLE take lives. And, taking away guns will NEVER take them away from criminals or crazy people if they want to have them to do something so tragic as this shooting in a school filled with young people and teachers. There is no sense of it, but yet crazy people will do crazy things. To be more aware is the answer.
Glad you have your Christmas shopping done, Lou! I actually wrapped the few presents I bought yesterday, and realized I'm "done"! My kids are getting a cruise from me for Christmas, so I have very few presents under the tree, and it feels strange. Every year since they were maybe 1 and 2, I have bought them a "big" ornament (more expensive) and "little" ornament for their miniature tree. It is tradition. That way, when they moved out, they would have an ornament collection for their first big tree, and their miniature tree is full of mini ornaments. So, I did continue with that tradition.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I think the gunmen prey on schools cause they are vunerable and defenseless. Perhaps if the caretakers could be undercover licenced security men with hidden guns, this may not happen as often or to this extent. The teachers should also have undercover guns with them and have regular updated gun training. If the schools were like the banks the children would be safer from crazy people.

 

[callingcolleen1]

CE that's nice that you are giving the kids a cruise, are you going with them too?

 

[capewind]

The thing is the family of the guy said he was not well and should have stepped in and now will have to suffer through the pain and humiliation of what there loved one did .

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this comment, and similar ones made elsewhere, and havent said anything about it, but do want to ask... has it been released as to WHAT TYPE of emotional issues he suffered from? Maybe there was more that the family could have done, and maybe there wasnt. I am just thinking based on the little we know, or the lot we do not, this a very unfair statement to make. He was living with mom, so to me, says someone was at least trying to do something. Remember, we are talking about a 20 year old MAN. Being that he was legally an adult, his family may not have had many options available to them. We also do not know what outside forces the family may have been up against.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I had just heard in the news that the mother of the shooter was preparing for some "what if" the society collapsed and she was the owner of the guns. Maybe she had prepared for the "end of the world" and "freaked out" the son too much or something like that. Who know for sure, we may never know what the story was. Mental illness must have played some role for sure. The family may be completely innocent and it just may have been one mentally unstable individual with no known prior history of volience.

 

[capewind]

Wow... if the news was accurate, mom may have been a bit off herself...

 

[Sheetmetalman]

I read something on facebook today that made some sense on the tragedy in Conn. as well as other mass killings--It ask people, if after the fact did we know the names of any of the victums or their familly or JUST the names of the KILLER and/or his familly. What I believe he was trying to get at was INSTEAD of emphasing the human tragedy and terrible sadness of the victims familly all the national news does is sensationalize the Killer and his actions (if it bleeds it leads) and in so doing they focus so much attention on these LOSERS and NUTS that every other LOSER and NUT who might think of taking their own cowardly inconsequential life, contemplates on the one hand, going out with a whimper as a footnote of his own local area, or going out with a BANG as a national news story with his name plastered everywhere NATIONALLY. Giving this Loser a kind of Immortality and setting up the next LOSER to copycat his actions, and so on, and so on. This makes a twisted kind of sense when this is the land of the Reality Show and the 24 hour news cycle, which takes an Idea or a Storyline and runs it into the ground. Its time for America to stand up and tell the News Media enough is enough, FOCUS on what these MONSTERS do from the Victims point of View-the fact that theres a bed at home that will never be slept in again--presents under a Christmas Tree that will be left unopened, Parents that are litterly DESTROYED EMOTIONALLY because of this. THE TIME to GLORIFY THESE COWARDS and MONSTERS on T.V. is OVER. One other thing needs said in my opinion--the News Media and Politicians also hype these Tragedys up for their own Agenda's. This one is of course; GUN CONTROL--more laws would NOT have kept this NUT from getting a gun--He reportedly tried 3 days earlier to Buy one and was turned away, so he KILLED his own mother and took hers--how would a LAW have stopped that, it would'nt! I've heard there are over 7000 gun laws on the books--who believes another 10 laws 100 laws or 1000 more would make a difference. I have heard a dozen times on the news the following statement " these poor kids where defenceless" whats that mean? Just what it says, but I'm sure not what the news shows meant, Defenceless-no way to defend themselvess or be defended by others--that school was on lockdown-locked doors thru-out the school so he simply shot his way thru the locked door. They were not protected by a DOOR--they needed a GOOD man with a gun to stop a BAD man with a gun --you have to meet force with appropriate force (rembember the old saying "You don't bring a knife to a gunfight". An armed on-site police officer or a Gun Trained Princepal or School teacher, if an on-site Police Officer wasnt available. People need to wake up, 95% of the time sadly, the police show up AFTER a crime has been commited they take down the name of the victims, collect evidence and hopefully catch the bad guy before he can do it again--but he's not there to protect or save anybody--only the people THERE can do that, and throwing rocks or pencils at an armed man will not STOP HIM--only a good man with a GUN can hopefully do that. One last thing and I will climb down off my soapbox, ask yourselves how many times these COWARDS rush into a police station or a gun range and do this--THATS RIGHT they don't, the're cowards, they go to so called GUN FREE ZONES--places your individual states in their infinite wisdom have decided are places that are banned for law abiding citizens to carry their lawfully owned guns, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, MALLS RESTURANTS. The places where the COWARDS know they can kill and kill with NO ONE to oppose them with a gun of their own. There is a quarter of a billon people in this country and a guarter billion guns here too--every day 99.99999% of those guns are NOT used in a crime-why penalize those people and their guns for the .000001% that are used. If cars don't kill people, drunks do and matches dont burn down houses, arsons do then logically guns don't kill people, bad people do. Lets all Pray for the familly's and for the copy cats cycle to be broken

 

[sissy]

the sign in front of the school sign says it all visitors welcome ,I think not .Reports come in everyday of places that have never seen any crimes or violence but society has changed and no place or no one is truly safe from it .To many good people gone and too many bad people out there that they think the world owes them .A lot of it I hate to say comes from young people having babies and thinking they are a paycheck from the government and food and housing and they can raise themselves as long as they get there money for there next party or next drug purchase .Be a leader not a follower ,you will prevail .Maybe all over the internet they should post that as it seems they see the internet as much as they party . :sad: sad to say .

 

[callingcolleen1]

I have read about sociteties and how they go through periods ascension and dissension. Did you know more people were better educated (as a whole) and better dressed and behaved at the last turn of the century, 100 years ago, then we are today. Back then we were "accending" to be better, and more people back then were "self sufficient" and relied very little on others. More people fed themselves, with a garden, couple hens and goats, etc. Family's sat together at every meal, small communities supported each other, and even though we had less, we had a better life.

Today we are going through a period of "dissension". Less people can read and write today than during the turn of the last century, 100 years ago. We no longer "aspire" to be better, we dress much more poorly, we are less educated, and more people are on hard core drugs than ever! Much like the Romans, before they fell, they had reached their "pinicale" of success and then it was all party, sex, orgies, blood and murder, much like it is today.

 

[capewind]

Aside from a few brief debates on FB (mainly about how banning guns makes no sense), I am steering away from things that specifically address the killer, and even the overall tragedy (aka drama news reports). I know some wont understand, but I am sharing photos of the victims. Some feel that it is tasteless to plaster their pictures all over the internet, but I am taking the view that I want to remember the individual victims as beautiful children, or caring teachers and staff, with a FACE and or a NAME, and NOT as someone (no name, no face, as if they didnt matter) killed by the infamous Mr Lanza. These people DID matter, they WILL be missed, and they are NOT just a notch in some assholes belt/death wish blaze of glory. So while the victims photos are difficult to view, just throwing this out there, so you know WHY some are sharing their pictures.

 

[koiguy1969]

...

 

[mogsie]

@sheetmetalman, that is a very good point you make there, now regarding the media's role in cases like this i have learned that you have to be carefull what you read and accept as the truth in the media, i followed in depth the ander beiring brievic case , so much that i got minute by minute live transcript direct from the court case, so i knew every word that was spoken, but when reading the summary from the days events in court the media often potrayed a twisted truth about what was concluded in the court room, the prosicution was trying to find anders insane ( anders brievik was pleading sanity), so the media would potray the story to make him sound insane in order to pass that belief on to the general public,

on a lighter note i have now finished wrapping up all the christmas presents ! mirka says she done the most but she didnt !!!

 

[sissy]

sure mogsie we know you wrapped all of them :razz:

 

[callingcolleen1]

I am totally obsessed with wrapping gifts, I like to wrap them all just perfect, with nice equally folded corners and bows.

 

[j.w]

The party I went to yesterday, the lady there had wrapped a present for another friend of hers. The thing was a tall card board box w/ a ripped up bunch of pieces of wrapping paper taped to on the top w/ a crappy bow attached. They do this each year to each other. They put the same windchimes in this box and regift it to each other each year. One gets it one year and the other the next. Usually she wraps it better but this year the other lady called her a fat cow! They call each other fat names just for fun! I had a good time