Posse Incitatus

Congratulations, Spartans

Michigan State wrapped up a difficult and disappointing 2012 football season with a hard-fought 17-16 victory over Texas Christian University Saturday night in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. MSU finishes the season 7-6, including 5 losses by a total of 13 points.

The game was something of a microcosm of the Spartans' season: Close and down-to-the-wire, with the Spartans having to scrap and claw their way back after falling behind due to idiotic penalties, poor execution on offense and some crucial first-half breakdowns on defense despite an overall stellar performance by the "D". The major difference: This time the Spartans WON a nailbiter instead of losing by 1 point, in overtime, or on the last play of the game.

Michigan State struggled mightily on offense in the first half, gaining only 72 yards of total offense and 3 first downs. In the second half, however, more creative play calling and the play of backup quarterback Connor Cook helped get the Spartan offense untracked. Star running back LeVeon Bell, a junior, gained 145 yards rushing, caught a couple of passes and even threw a pass to fullback Tyquan Hammock on a trick play.

Spartans punter Mike Sadler kicked many a booming punt that helped out in the field position battle. Late in the game, his 55-yard punt caused TCU return man Skye Dawson to backpeddle and fumble the return. The Spartans recovered on the 4-yard-line and punched the ball in for a crucial touchdown.

With one minute left in the game, Spartan placekicker Dan Conroy was called on to kick the potential go-ahead field goal from 47 yards out. It had to be nerve-rattling for Conroy, as he's had a disappointing senior season including costing the Spartans at least two games with missed late game field goals. But Conroy drilled it "right down Broadway," as the announcers love to say, and the Spartan "D" shut down TCU in the final minute of play for the emotional victory.

For those of us Spartan fans who have agonized at this season's seemingly sadistic string of gut-wrenching, heartbreaking losses, last night's (or should I say "THIS MORNING'S") victory was joyous.

Spartan quarterback Andrew Maxwell, who will be a senior in 2013, has been put on notice: Connor Cook will give him some stiff competition for the starting job in 2013. Running back Bell might decide to enter the NFL draft; ditto for defensive end William Gholston, who played a great game; and junior tight end Dion Sims.

But there's plenty of talent in the pipeline to replace these guys if they leave. Methinks that with a less brutal schedule, more experienced receivers and a more confident Maxwell behind center (being pushed by Cook), the Spartans should enjoy a hugely successful season in 2013.

But in the meantime, I would just like to credit the players and coaches for the team's effort and resilience this season. They fought hard all the way, and never got blown out. GO GREEN! GO WHITE! VICTORY FOR MSU!

Our Clownish Government

It's the same-old/same-old in our nation's capital: squabbling lawmakers pointing fingers at each other and waiting until the last minute to attempt to work out a tax and spending agreement.

In December 2010 and again in July 2011, lawmakers and President Obama engaged in budgetary brinksmanship until the 11th hour, finally compromising on those bugaboo issues: tax cuts, spending and the debt ceiling. The 2010 agreement also included a 2 percentage point reduction in the social security payroll withholding tax.

Now, after months of fretting about the 12-31-12 "fiscal cliff" in which the Bush tax cuts and payroll tax cut expire, and the debt ceiling must be raised for the umpteenth time, our fearless leaders are meeting over a holiday weekend to hash things out.

The House is being called into session on a SUNDAY NIGHT of all times, and lawmakers have been told to expect session to continue through New Year's Day and possibly for the rest of the week. This is idiotic, to say the least.

But even more idiotic is how the brain-dead press portrays this whole thing: The stubborn Republicans are protecting tax cuts for the rich fat-cats and in the process sticking it to the common man... We're at risk of defaulting and having our credit rating lowered again.... Obama has been flexible; why can't those GOP bastards meet him "half-way"????

No one in the woeful mainstream press seems to be reporting the obvious: Scary Harry Reid and his Democrat Senate have not passed a budget in nearly four years. That, and Obama's unprecedented profligate spending, are at the root of this chaos.

Imagine if you set off on a long road trip in a motorhome. You have numerous cities and tourist destinations you wish to visit. But you don't take any maps nor use GPS. You just drive aimlessly and are not even aware that you are headed in the wrong direction and will end up hundreds of miles from where you first wanted to go. You wanted to visit Mt. Rushmore but instead find yourself somewhere up around Winnipeg. That would be a Harry Reid style escapade.

Conservatives have GOT to do a better job of educating/informing the public, because Lord knows our schools, universities and the mainstream media have failed miserably to do so.

Some may be content to let people rot with the likes of "American Idol," "Jersey Shore," legal pot and dumbed down college courses. But I am not, and I hope others who care about the fate of our country will do their part to roust our citizens from their dangerous apathy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is the calm before the storm. A slight rise in interest rates will turn already serious deficits into a conflagration of red ink. We will see a combination of maladies trying to cope with this fiscal "Red Sea": higher taxes, worsening unmployment, hyperinflation, high interest rates and ultimately, cold turkey on the entitlements, unrest in the streets, death, injuries, broken windows, overturned cars, fires and a breakdown, a la Greece.

No, I am not being an alarmist. I am simply stating what history proves is the truth. It may take a little longer to arrive here than it did in Europe, but it will come if we don't change course. And at the rate we are going, with the ineptitude in Washington, D.C., it might not take long at all.

The Obamacare Cliff

Yes, taxes will go up in 2013. But not just because we will go over the fiscal cliff, with income tax rates reverting to what they were 10 years ago before the George Bush administration cut taxes.

Taxes from Obamacare will begin kicking in, too.

The Individual Mandate Tax, and a new cap on Flexible Spending Accounts will harm the middle class. So will an excise tax on comprehensive health insurance plans and a doubling of the tax — from 10 to 20 percent — on non-medical withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts.

However, all is not lost. The good news is many lawsuits are pending against Obamacare, and the courts may disassemble this abominable legislation and render it ineffective like they have done with the ill-advised and nearly equally repugnant McCain-Feingold campaign finance "reform" bill.

In addition to the American Spectator article linked to above, J.T. Hatter of AmericanThinker.com wrote a piece earlier this month about the many ways to trip up implementation of Obamacare.

He discusses pending lawsuits, congressional oversight (i.e., the ability to withhold funding), and states refusing to cooperate with phases of the leviathan legislation, such as the health care exchanges. The only thing I didn't like about Mr. Hatter's column is he concludes it with pessimism: "Can we stop Obamacare? Not likely." 

I beg to differ. I think this ill-conceived legislation is chock-full of weaknesses that we can attack from many different directions, and so many people adamantly oppose Obamacare, there's a pretty good chance it will be picked apart like roadkill by vultures. We can only hope.

too. 

Christmas 2012

My co-blogger has already extended Christmas greetings to our readers and I have little to add, save to note that one of the greatest blessings in life is to surround oneself with loved ones.

I have family in town this week and fully intend to avoid any and all mention of current events - our news intake will be entirely sports-based.  This is as it should be.

Tomorrow the news cycle will start cranking again and people will once more take to the stores and airwaves to argue this policy or that, but today it is far better to listen to the old carols and focus on faith friends and family.

Merry Christmas to All

For the past few days, I have been contemplating with a troubled heart the serious problems facing our nation, and considering posting a Posse blog about one or more of them.

The searing horror of Newtown, Connecticut continues to haunt me, and I pray daily for the parents and other family members who lost loved ones in that devastating incident.

The arrogance of the Obama administration in its fiscal cliff negotiations and implementation of Obamacare sometimes gets me angry and on edge. I am frustrated and perturbed that so many tens of millions of Americans are apathetic and devoid of outrage at our lawless government and our careening, reckless fiscal policy that's steering us toward a crackup.

Have the bread-n-circuses and SSRI prescription drugs dulled our senses? Quite possibly.

I can see our national economy cratering; I can sense the hopelessness and cynicism among the masses; I feel for those who suffer with long-term unemployment, foreclosure, credit card debt, alcohol and substance abuse problems and estranged family relationships.

In my part of the world, this is the time of year when the days are shortest, when darkness stubbornly yields well after the beginning of the workday and overwhelms the cold, gray skies before dinner time.

Yet, it is also a special time of year when we are called to promote good will toward our fellow humans and do our part, however small, to promote peace on earth. The colorful decorations and beautiful Christmas music counteract the gloomy weather. It is the time of year when Christians are buoyed by the celebration of the birth of Jesus — the ultimate gift from God, which inspired the gift-giving tradition of the holiday.

Ultimately, God is in control. Those of us who get jaded and exasperated, or discouraged and depressed, must never forget the real meaning of this holiday. I don't read scripture as often as I ought to (unfortunately, the same can be said for other good habits -- eating healthy foods, exercising, saving money), but one verse stands out in my mind, especially this time of year. From the book of Romans Chapter 8, verses 38 and 39: 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is powerful stuff. Admittedly, my spirituality sometimes gets flabby. I am as guilty of spiritual sloth as anyone. But by the grace of God, I have not lost it entirely. And this time of year, a stirring deep inside me wants to revive my faith.

My wife and I agreed many years ago that we would only buy each other one modest Christmas present each year, and we try to limit our gifts to relatives to modest items. Much better to give some extra money to Toys for Tots or the Salvation Army than to traipse around town buying gifts for people who already have so much.

The past year has been difficult for me on many levels, including two devastating setbacks on a national level I did not see coming: The Supreme Court's upholding of Obamacare, which I consider perhaps the worst piece of legislation ever enacted in the history of our nation, and the re-election of a misguided president whom I believe is wrecking our nation.

My job has been a bear at times; my long commutes and financial pressures have been tough to deal with. But at least I have a job. And I and my family members are in good health, and get enough to eat every day.

Indeed, when I see all of the suffering going on in the world, and when I think about the hardships our forefathers endured (that brutal first winter for the pilgrims; the Revolutionary and Civil wars; no electricity, automobiles, phones, hot showers, TV or modern medicine, to name a few things), I realize we've got it easy and we are so blessed.

Despite the very serious and deep-seated problems our nation suffers, I would like to repeat once again one of the best lines I've ever heard (ironically, from a Bill Clinton speech): "There is nothing wrong in America that can't be fixed with what is right in America."

Substitute your name or the name of a loved one for "America," and the same principle applies. This is the time of year when that realization, it is hoped, will sink in.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Posse. Oh, and, "Merry Christmas" applies to EVERYONE -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, atheists, deists and everything else under the sun. 

Memories of Christmases Past

Of course I treasure precious memories of Christmases past, especially those of my youth, when I was with brothers, sisters and my Mom and Dad. Friends, relatives, in-laws, friends of siblings, neighbors... They all hold a special place in my heart.

But the other night I spent the better part of an hour Googling favorite toys of my youth, checking out pictures, learning about what's become of past toy manufacturers (many merged with or were swallowed up by larger competitors), and reading postings of other baby boomers' memories.

I thought it might be enjoyable to reflect on some of the toys of my youth -- toys I still recall with fondness, and probably would still enjoy playing with, even at age 53!

First let me say that the two toys I got most excited about and spent the most time with were electric slot car racing sets and model trains. But under those broad categories, there are many variations.

Those included independent battery-powered vehicles such as the "Motorific" cars built by Ideal, and slot cars powered by electricity filtered through transformers. I received Ideal's "Motorific Torture Track" for Christmas in first grade. BOY, was that exciting! I can still recall the yellow, plastic car. It was some kind of Le Mans style body -- perhaps a Lola or Chaparral. 

Something similar, although not in the slot-car genre, were Hot Wheels Sizzlers by Mattel, which featured electric motors. These came along after the "Supercharger," what looked like a one-story service garage but had spinning wheels inside that would spit out the car going through and propel it around the track until it could return for another jolt. Both of those followed the original Hot Wheels, which relied upon good old-fashioned gravity to pick up speed (hopefully sufficient speed to make it around the "loop" without falling to the floor).

But back to the slot cars...

In my day, the two big companies for HO-scale race cars were Tyco and Aurora. Later iterations were TycoPro and AFX. AFX at least, and possibly TycoPro, too, had magnets underneath them to stick to the track. This meant you could frequently go full speed around non-banked curves without wiping out. That was quite a breakthrough! I always wanted one of those Tyco train/racing sets with the railroad crossing so I could smash into a car with the train. But unfortunately, I never got one.

However, my friends and I found a way to be destructive with our surplus snap-on "bodies." We invariably ended up with more "bodies" than "chassis" (either the motor would burn out, the axles would get bent out of shape, or the electrical contact brushes would get worn out). So, we'd take the ugliest bodies — the ones we didn't care about destroying — snap them onto a working motor/chassis, and stick a firecracker inside the windshield. We'd light the fuse and begin racing the car around the track and KABOOM! Well, to a teenager it seemed cool.

Then there were the larger race cars (1/32 scale), a field dominated by Revell. Years ago there were businesses that offered use of large, elaborate 1/32 scale speedways for a fee. You could bring your own car, chip in your share of track rental, and race in six lanes against others. In this video age, I am not sure if these places still exist.

The model car kits were another great gift. They required the purchase of plastic cement, tiny jars of paint and fine paint brushes. I wonder if the EPA still lets kids work with that noxious plastic cement? I can still recall its chemical smell.

Switching over to trains, I always wanted an HO-scale train, but for some reason my parents kept buying me the larger, three-rail ".027 gauge" train sets. Lionel LInes was the most popular brand of the era. 

Three other significant toys stand out in my mind; two were great, the third was a major disappointment.

One of the fun ones was table hockey — especially when you had a set with the overhead scoreboard through which you would drop the puck for the opening faceoff. Coleco was the big brand back in the 1970s.

The second super fun toy was the plastic girder and panel  construction sets by now-defunct Kenner Products (merged into Hasbro), which were great for constructing buildings and bridges. The vertical posts were plugged into a wooden peg-board, and horizontal "I-beams" attached to the vertical posts. I once had an erector set, but didn't think it compared with the girder-and-panel sets for sheer enjoyment.

And now, to wrap things up (no guarantee I won't revisit this subject in a couple of days when more toys pop into my mind), here's what proved to be perhaps the most underwhelming, disappointing toy of all time: Electric football.

A metal, vibrating "field" was designed to move players around on opposing teams in some coordinated fashion resembling a running or passing play. The tiny plastic players had prongs underneath that you were supposed to be able to bend one way or another to affect the direction each player would go.

So you could try blocking the defensive linemen one way and having your running back run through a "hole" carrying the felt or foam "ball," but what invariably happened when you turned on the vibrator to activate the play is the players scattered haphazardly in every direction. Coleco and Tudor were the big names of the era. 

Gotta admit, the field and fake "stands" full of fans (actually a cardboard cutout) looked kind of neat, and the players were colorful. But it's a game that just never lived up to its hype or alleged potential. I understand they still make and sell these things these days, which to me is as astounding as if there still were a market for 8-track tape players. Really?

This concludes today's trip down memory lane. My memories of family, friends and relatives, wonderful Christmas music, the smell of a real Christmas tree, the turkey dinner, candy canes, the bright and colorful lights that excited childhood senses -- all of these special things remain important pieces of my Christmas experience. But the toys and the fun we had playing with them... these are the memories I recall most vividly. Sometimes if I can't get to sleep at night, I steer my mind away from the worries and stresses of the present day, and drift back 40-plus years to shiny, colorful toys and a naive, giddy excitement that, alas, will never return.

 

President Fast 'n' Furious pushes gun control

I think the biggest thing that has me upset about this new push for gun control is that it is being done by the same administration responsible for Operation Fast and Furious.

Questions for the president:  Did the shooter in Connecticut use a weapon like the 2,000 your Justice Dept. sold to Mexican drug gangs? 

If "assault weapons" are too dangerous for the American public, why did your administration give them to the narco-terrorists?

Did they sell-high-capacity magazines as well?

How did that make us safer?

If one of those guns is used in a massacre, who is criminally liable?

Two years have passed since this scandal came to light and the same people hyping gun control over the death of two dozen people in Connecticut seems utterly uninterested about the U.S. government's complicity in the death of hundreds of innocent Mexican men, women and children.

One of the old arguments against gun control is that the government is no longer interested in enforcing the laws we have, so why add more?  That argument just got a lot stronger.

How can he stand up there at the podium, how can his spokespeople stand up and say with a straight face that we need to look at gun laws when not one person has even been prosecuted for such a large-scale, blatant violation of the law?

Hell, we don't even know who authorized the program!  It just sort of happened!  Ask the Justice Dept. and they will tell you they are looking into it.

So why would anyone believe that if they were given more authority they would not abuse it?  If I were paranoid, I might suggest that they would take a ban on high-capacity magazines and use it to selectively target some people for prosecution while leaving others alone - but they already beat me to the punch.  It already happened.

It's all well and good to wish we could wave a magic wand and make evil go away.  I for one would love to buy the world a Coke and teach it to sing in perfect harmony, but it isn't going to happen.

Good intentions are not enough to make a policy succeed and based on their actions, there is no reason to trust Eric Holder's Justice Dept.

SNYDER FOLDS:  Well, that was not much a surprise.  Gov. Rick Snyder's veto of updates to Michigan's still-inadequate concealed carry law will spare him some additional grief, but as a policy matter, it was a mistake. 

We need to examine what works.  Declaring certain areas "gun-free" without armed check points only invites mayhem.  All the public attention to the matter coupled with the press once again turning a killer into a posthumus celebrity virtually guarantees another atrocity - regardless of what gun laws we pass.

THE REAL ISSUE:  The problem is MENTAL HEALTH.  These people are not sane and need treatment.  Trying to take away guns will not work - they can get them on the street or they will use gasoline to burn the building down.  These unfortunate people are the true lethal weapons and unless we do something about it, we will find them using new and inventive ways to express their psychological problems.

Deinstitutionalization has taken its toll

It has become fashionable for self-righteous politicians, pundits and commentators to accuse someone (particularly conservatives) of "politicizing" an issue if that person expresses a strong opinion on a sensitive matter such as Friday's Connecticut school massacre. 

Never mind if the opinion is backed by substantive perspective on legislative or judicial actions, or strong historical evidence. If a conservatve mocks a long-held liberal canard or condemns the Obama administration's actions in the Benghazi fiasco, he is "politicizing" it. But it was quite all right for liberals to bash George W. Bush for years about Iraq and his failure to capture Osama bin Laden. Remember when dissent was the highest form of patriotism? So do the leftist kooks at MSNBC!

So, if any liberal happens to stumble across this blog and thinks I am politicizing the Connecticut school shooting deaths, tough luck. What are you waiting for? Head to moveon.org IMMEDIATELY!

The fact is, we now have several decades behind us of the ACLU-favored policy of "deinstitutionalization" — no one should be locked up in a mental institution against their will. This policy stems from the John F. Kennedy administration's Community Mental Health Act of 1963.

The thinking was it's better to have those diagnosed with mental disorders or developmental disabilities assimilate in the communities and access neighborhood mental health clinics, halfway houses and counseling services, rather than be committed to large psychiatric hospitals.

A significant number of homeless and panhandlers who wander around our urban streets are often people with mental illness, frequently in conjunction with alcoholism and/or drug abuse. These are exactly the type of people who in the past would have been institutionalized.

It seems obvious to me that a good number of the mass murderers of recent years who have opened fire in schools, shopping malls, churches and other public places, ought to have been institutionalized. Sometimes, just trying to kill one person can get you committed to a psychiatric hospital. For example, John Lennon's assassin Mark David Chapman, and Ronald Reagan's attempted assassin, John Hinkley.

Over the past few days  I have soaked up some of the commentary on network TV, in blogs and letters to the editor. For the most part, the debate has been centered around the Second Amendment, allowing concealed weapons in schools, and banning "assault rifles" (I know, it's a broad and misleading term).

But commentators have not devoted enough attention to or emphasis on the mental health issues. Laws pertaining to treatment and rights of the mentally ill vary from state to state, and with everything else going on in our troubled nation, I doubt this will attain a high priority on the "to-do" list of politicians, the clergy and health care professionals.

But let me speak as a Christian — not as a conservative, a man, a white guy or anything else. Let me just remind readers (including atheists and those of other faiths) that a little love and respect can go a long way.

Call me a sucker, but I have opened up my wallet and given $1 or $2 to panhandlers on the streets of downtown Detroit numerous times. I have indulged rambling, incoherent drunks, and been patient with oddballs on the bus or on the street corner.

Not trying to play "holier than thou," mind you. Just recalling, during this special time of year, Jesus' words that "whatsoever you do to the least of my brethern, that you do unto me."

I don't know whether people showing more love, respect and concern for Adam Lanza would have prevented Friday's horrible events. If I made that claim, you could take it further and attempt to apply the same assumption to butchers like Adolph Hitler, Idi Amin and Josef Stalin. I certainly wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot pole.

So admittedly, I am on a slippery slope here. Mental illness, and the fact so many people who suffer from it are wandering the streets and neighborhoods, is a befuddling, frightening thing. There's not much most of us can do about it, but surprisingly, sometimes it's the little things that can make a big difference.

 

Stepping Back for Reflection

My sincerest prayers and thoughts go out to the devastated victims and their families in Newtown, Connecticut. 

For many years, I have feared something like what happened Friday — a slaughter of innocent young school children. But I suspected it would be perpetrated by an extremist Islamic group. Schools, as well as many other institutions and businesses in our free and open society, are vulnerable and much easier to attack than setting a bomb off in a jet airliner or in Times Square.

Turns out, Friday's massacre of 26 people, many of them young children, was committed by an apparently mentally ill, isolated 20-year-old from a middle class background. It's the same story as what's happened too often in the past — at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater; in a Clackamas, Oregon shopping mall; at Virginia Tech in 2007; at Columbine High School in 1999...

Predictably, the leftists are calling for more gun control, stubbornly and unwittingly unaware of the absurdity of their position: Every time something like this happens, the perpetrator violated laws already on the books. Will additional laws and restrictions on top of the thousands we already have really do any good? How naive and simple-minded can you get?

Others blame violent video games, forgetting that millions of people play them without ever shooting their fellow humans. Just as misguided is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's assessment that taking God out of the schools is what's led to these shootings. More likely, it is families' neglect of God in the way they raise their children, combined with factors like mental illness and drug use, but that's an entirely separate topic.

What we are dealing with here, and what seems to be the common thread in most of these horrible killings, is mental illness or duress, brought on by or reinforced by isolation, anger, frustration, and possibly the exacerbating effects of powerful psychotropic prescription drugs.

A bad economy and the stresses of everyday life -- unemployment, debt, mounting bills, foreclosure, and workplace disagreements can and do play a role in some shootings.

There are endless deadly combinations of the aforementioned maladies, but all seem to have that common denominator of psychological and mental anguish and turmoil.

Depression has been a problem in my own family, so I know first-hand of the living hell some people endure. In recent years, strong scientific evidence points to chemical imbalances in the brain as causing mood disorders.

Of course, in the age-old "nature-vs.-nurture" argument about whether genetics or upbringing has a bigger influence on the way a person turns out, both play key roles. But in a sense, both are intertwined, because a dysfunctional parent may well be suffering from serotonin deficiency or some other skewed brain chemistry that typically leads to poor child rearing and parents being lousy role models.

One of the worst incidents of terrorism in our nation's history happened about 8 miles from my home, in Bath Township, Michigan. On May 18, 1927, an angry and disgruntled school board treasurer set off bombs that killed 38 school children and 45 people in total. There are plenty of ways besides guns to kill people by the dozen, including setting a fire, blowing up a car bomb or driving a vehicle through a crowded street market.

The vast majority of gun owners are law abiding, responsible people. Thankfully, the Michigan Legislature just passed legislation allowing those with concealed carry licenses to carry their weapons in churches, schools and other formerly off-limits buildings. 

Yes, there is a slight chance one of these people might go off his rocker and start shooting innocents. But there is a much greater chance one of them will stop a cold-blooded killer dead in his tracks when the killer starts mowing down innocent people.

But I have gone a bit off track. My main message in this blog is that we must work harder to study and diagnose the various types of mental illnesses, the effects of multiple drugs on emotions and brain activity, and the corrosive irritants of violent video games, rap music and other forms of entertainment in this toxic stew.

The experts say there are telltale signs when someone is preparing to commit suicide, such as giving away prized possessions, suddenly appearing upbeat and happy after months of walking around in a funk, and perhaps making cryptic statements like, "It's been nice knowing you."

I believe there are also signs we need to watch out for when it comes to mentally ill people who might become mass murderers. Sometimes they post deranged things on their Facebook page. Or they may isolate themselves on the margins, and act bizarrely at school and in their homes. Even someone who has not given off signals of possible violent or deranged behavior, but has "issues" should be watched carefully, and it goes without saying that if a guardian owns weapons, these should be kept locked up. The mother of Connecticut killer Adam Lanza owned several guns that her 20-year-old son stole and used at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Bottom line: The random acts of violence cannot be attributed to one factor, and it is asinine to imply that legislation will solve the problem. We truly need to be our brother's keeper, and I would strongly support more money being devoted to research into the human brain — mental, emotional and psychological functions — and the effects of pharmaceutical products on these functions.

We may think we're pretty smart in this age of iPhones, laser surgery, the Internet, GPS and the unraveling of the human genome. But we still have a lot to learn about each other and what goes on inside that mysterious gray matter between the ears.

 

 

 

In which the Posse defends guns while sounding like a hippy

Horrible news from Connecticut, and what can one do but pray and hold loved ones close?

Well, one could try to capitalize on it for political gain, but that would be stating the obvious.

Whenever a story like this comes out, one can predict with absolutely certitude two things:

1.  Gun control will be brought up as a solution, and

2.  The shooter will have turned out to have left a string of blindingly obvious hints as to his intentions.

What gun control does is absolve us from individual responsibility to take care of people who have serious mental or emotional problems.  People who are in pain and suffering can be left to their agonies so long as no one else is impacted.

Gun control is therefore the opposite of true compassion.  It outsources caring to a bureaucratic machine - the same bureaucratic machine that failed to help the perpetrator in the first place, incidentally.

The illness we speak of manifests itself all over the world, and gun control has no effect on it.  Even in heavily regulated jurisdictions like Great Britain and Germany, these people commit their heinous crimes.

In Japan and China, they use blades and their victims are just as dead.

For people wishing to take action in the wake of this horrific event, I suggest you take a close look at the people around you.  Are they pain?  Are they in need?  Instead of shrugging off someone's death-obsessed facebook posting (and then recalling it afterward to a sympathetic reporter), engage them NOW, before the vile deed is done.

I oppose gun control because it doesn't work, and it pains me to no end the callous politicians who make jokes about prison rape and cavalierly drive off in their limosines while their constituents struggle in crime-ridden streets claim moral superiority by virtue of their position on this issue.

Saying that we can cut crime by banning guns is like saying we can reduce rape by banning short skirts.

It is not a compassionate position, it is a lazy one.

Let's face it:  it is easier to blame an object than hold our mental health system accountable.