Note to Rod Stewart:

"Blue Christmas" is supposed to be sad, not pathetic.

Law-Abiding Citizens Have Nothing to Fear from Reasonable Gun Control Regulations

A system of registration and insurance would protect everyone from effects of gun violence.

A risk of the current gun control squabble is that people with a history of mental illness will be scapegoated ("Guns don't kill people. People with mental illness kill people."). But as is demonstrated by comparing the nearly simultaneous knife attack on school children in China with Connecticut's tragedy, guns do kill people; other weapons less so.

Alas, a prohibition of assault weapons and bullets will probably work as well as any prohibition; in this case, as gun advocates warn, it is likely to mean that the only persons in possession of assault weapons will be criminals (and the police, but that's an argument for another day). How much better -- instead of creating special classes of citizens or another highly profitable traffic in contraband -- to make firearms themselves the target of reform. The licensing of automobiles provides a model (although in contrast gun control, since we're starting virtually from scratch, offers an opportunity to create a national system instead of relying on a hodgepodge of state regulations):

1) People who wish to shoot would be required to take a course in firearm care, handling and safety (similar to Drivers' Ed). They would need to show proof that they had fulfilled course requirements and to pass a test.
2) People with no record of violent crime who wish to own a gun, like those who seek to own a car, would be required to register the weapon and show proof that the weapon is insured: if the gun causes injury in the commission of a crime or through accident or negligence, the victims will be compensated, even if through theft or loss the registered owner no longer possesses or controls the weapon.
3) A national database would track firearms. If you buy a car, truck or motorcycle, that vehicle's record of involvement in accidents, recalls, etc., is easily available to you by a simple check of the VIN. Gun manufacturers would enter the serial numbers of new guns into the database and that number would be reported each time the weapon changed hands as it moved through distribution channels to owners. Gun manufacturers and distributors would carry insurance on weapons under their nominal control. Except for a small additional cost in fees and insurance spread across the industry and the entire 40% of the population that is armed, this system would be no more onerous than auto registration and insurance (the reason to insure weapons instead of users is to guarantee that no matter what the particular situation a victim of gun violence will be compensated). A portion of registration fees or insurance charges would need to be set aside for persons injured by non-registered firearms.

A system of this sort would go a considerable way toward making guns safer -- by separating the criminal population more clearly from the mass of lawful guns owners; by lessening the likelihood of accidents; and by reducing the impact of gun misuse on victims by the application of personal injury liability insurance to firearms -- without creating new populations of second-class citizens (for example, by using such squishy notions as a "history" of "mental illness").

Holiday or Holy Day

Although the Third Street business district is only a quasi-governmental organization, the space at Wilshire and Third is clearly public property. How does the daily lighting of a menorah during Hanukkah on public property not violate the Establishment Clause when the chicken-wire nativity jails that were finally barred from Ocean Park obviously do? Doesn't it trivialize Judaism to excuse the lighting of menorot by setting the tradition on a secular par with decorating Christmas trees? Dressing evergreens is a rite picked up from pre-Christian Central Europe and has no religious symbolism whatsoever. It's true that nativity scenes are a clearer First Amendment violation, having no existence independent of Christian mythology, whereas the menorah (or at least the graphic representation of a particular historical menorah) has been given a secular role by being adopted by Israel as a symbol of the Jewish people, but as Israel has evolved toward theocracy the identification of the menorah with the State of Israel raises questions of its own. Anyway, sticking to the question of separation of church and state, shouldn't the menorah be on private property every bit as much as the creche?

Whats' right is right

I never liked safety net.

And entitlement is worse. An entitlement, a concept in law, is a right granted by statute or contract. Of course, right wing polemicists can give a negative spin to any word -- look what they've done to liberal" and socialist -- but by sounding privileged, entitlement makes their job particularly easy.

A better word is sitting in front of us: Right.

Let's drop entitlement. From now on, it's right all the way.

Right to Medicare. Right to Social Security. Right to unemployment insurance. Because underneath the rhetoric, it is the deeper sense of right that is really being addressed. Right as opposed to wrong. The right to a dignified old age. The right to medical care. The right to a roof over your head and a sufficiency of food on the table.

So no more entitlements.

It's rights from now on.

Where is Horatio Alger when you need him?

The Economist ranks US 16th best place to be be born: above us on the list are nothing but socialist hellholes with confiscatory taxes.

This administration brought to you by...

"If Obama does give in to the money [to privatize the inauguration], he should have to take the oath of office in a suit and tie emblazoned – like a NASCAR driver – with the logos of his sponsoring corporations." -- Jim Hightower

A cup too far?

Over the weekend, Starbucks introduced the first $7.00 cup of coffee (a grande Costa Rica Finca Palmilera - $40 for an 8 oz bag).

Too much?

A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.


You can read Bernie Sanders' progressive deficit reduction plan here.

Worst. Socialist. Ever.

OMG:

Four more weeks of this!:
Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
Fill up the stocking
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window
Carols at the spinet
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry
So climb down the chimney
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen
Slice up the fruitcake
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough
For I've grown a little leaner
Grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder
Grown a little older
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder
Need a little Christmas now
 
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