After that repulsive NRA press conference in which the press were not allowed to ask questions, you might want to take a look at my post on why the Americans among you must call Congress about gun control, including video from the President who apparently agrees with me!
Or you can just call them: 202-224-3121
And also… it’s yours!
Standard FYI clause: I generally wait about 2 hours after Ta-Nehisi would typically open a thread (roughly noon, EST, back when such a thing was typical…!), and if none is forthcoming, I put one up here.
Gonzai55
/ December 21, 2012Apparently, they missed the point of a press conference.
Then again, they *are* factually challenged…
emilylhauser
/ December 21, 2012Srsly.
Nora Munro
/ December 21, 2012They said the worst possible combination of things they could say. It’s like they did reverse focus group testing.
My husband and I own a couple of hunting rifles. We tend to be skeptical of most gun control campaigns because we really don’t see that they distinguish between hunters, responsible hobbyists, and people who live in rural areas on the one hand, and the real problem people on the other. But we got to the end of that presser, looked at each other, and said ‘no. Just no.’
Gonzai55
/ December 21, 2012Of course, accordingly to LaPierre, *I* am the problem. Because I have ‘American Psycho’ on the DVR. (Never seen it.) Probably shouldn’t mention that I also have ‘Godfather’ I & II on there as well. I’m the downfall of civilization.
Nora Munro
/ December 21, 2012Oh, I’m the problem too, because I play violent video games. never mind the guns on my wall, it’s my Xbox that’s the scary thing in my house.
efgoldman
/ December 21, 2012When XBoxes are banned, only criminals will have PS3s.
Or something.
caoil
/ December 21, 2012I’d better up my criminality, then.
Nora Munro
/ December 21, 2012Penny Arcade has a comic up about the video game angle: http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/12/21
Kate Cox (@KCoxDC)
/ December 21, 2012Penny Arcade is one of those “even a stopped clock…” venues. They have SO MANY problems with smugness, sexism, and fancying themselves collectively as the Moral Beacon of the Gaming World, and they get it wrong so often and so annoyingly, but when they’re right… well, they’re really right.
watson42
/ December 21, 2012I have some thoughts about gun control I’ve been trying to pull together into something coherent, with limited success. This started several months ago, actually, with a rather unsettling experience.
I know a few hunters, a forest ranger, and responsible hobbyists. Plus I’ve lived in some places where you couldn’t count on law enforcement to help you out in a life-or-death situation. So my opinions on gun control tended toward the laissez-faire. Also, everyone I know who owns any sort of weapon (guns, bows, knives) treats them with the respect they deserve. So silly me, I thought that was 99.999% of owners.
Then I met a friend of a friend, who had boxes (the big military-style metal ones) of serious ammunition stacked around his house. And he admitted he had loaded weapons secreted about the place. This is apparently normal behavior in his social circle. I was *seriously* freaked out. I always thought guns belonged unloaded in safes when not actively in use (i.e. at the range or while hunting), with ammo similarly stored. And I realized that my view of gun control needed some serious reworking, since there are many people who aren’t responsible owners and people like me were giving cover for them.
Then the Aurora CO and the Sikh temple shootings happened soon after, and now this…
koolaide
/ December 21, 2012They said the worst possible combination of things they could say.
Indeed. Registry for mentally ill is great and dandy but national registry for all gun owners and/or national background checks before purchase totally not ok.
taylor16
/ December 21, 2012A screenshot of the MSN home page today, just after the NRA presser:
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1323/gunsht.png
Yay, more guns!!! Keep ‘em coming!!
Captain_Button
/ December 21, 2012Metastasizing from the FB Tumen:
Double spacing after periods – Threat, or Menace?
Captain_Button
/ December 21, 2012Now there is a serial comma debate outbreak.
JHarper2
/ December 21, 2012Neither, it is required in a civilized world. The tyranny of the hipster fontists, must be resisted. It is not like there is a shortage of pixels.
Captain_Button
/ December 21, 2012“I’m not a glitch, I just have pixlexia, okay?”
watson42
/ December 21, 2012I am watson and I approve this message.
anibundel
/ December 21, 2012MENACE!
doginajacket
/ December 21, 2012Like. And a penguin.
koolaide
/ December 21, 2012Double spacing after periods is the right and proper thing to do.
stephen matlock
/ December 22, 2012So is pastrami on Wonder bread with mayo and a tomato slice.
As long as we’re talking crazy.
Captain_Button
/ December 21, 2012What does it mean when your preferred way to check the spelling of a word is to google it?
(Made at least 5 typos above.)
Gonzai55
/ December 21, 2012In olden days, they used to have a gadget called a dictionary.
emilylhauser
/ December 21, 2012I have enormous dictionary on a very nice, simple, & elegant stand, not five feet from where I type. And sometimes I have to remind myself to use it rather than the Google.
/hangs head
Gonzai55
/ December 21, 2012First app I put on the new Kindle: a dictionary/thesaurus. Second app? A Spanish dictionary.
doginajacket
/ December 21, 2012I think that means you’re a perfectly normal first world person.
JHarper2
/ December 21, 2012I am old school about that. Anything of any length or complex words, I write out first in word processing program so I can access spell check. Quicker than google, given the number of errors I make. And google just came up as misspelled. Presumably because I did not capitalize; but by now I treat google as generic for Google.
koolaide
/ December 21, 2012If I’m on the computer, I open word and type what I think the spelling is. If I’m not on the computer I do the old school write it out a couple of ways and see which “looks” right. Or I ask the person nearest me unless that’s my dad.
Kate Cox (@KCoxDC)
/ December 21, 2012I have to write words in order to spell them. If there’s no PC or paper handy, I’ll even “write” out a word on my palm with my finger. I was one of *those* kids in the class spelling bees 25 years ago…
anibundel
/ December 21, 2012So, yesterday in three year olds….
SIL and family are moving. New house in under contract. Old house is being generified for selling.
Have I mentioned SIL makes furniture? So her house was showcase, and everything has been personalized. From light fixtures to the knobs on her kitchen cabinets. It ALL has to be redone.
Rob does electrical work. So the point of yesterday was thus: Nieclings handed to me. SIL does home depot runs and gets work done with children out of hair. Rob changes out every light fixture in house.
Upon arrive I was told Niece A was recovering from something picked up at Preschool. Niece B should be fine. Niece A seemed fine and has lots of energy and ordered me around quite a bit and protested at my insistence that anything and everything should be a hat.
Niece B seemed a little…quiet. But it wasn’t until dinner that I realised that Niece B was coming down with whatever Niece A had. Dinner was noodles&, which is Niece Bs favorites thing ever. She barely touched her pasta & stared fretfully at the chicken bits. Meanwhile Niece A powered through once she was informed that the box the size of a small playhouse house was off limitsw until her plate was clean.
There was slow cajoling and much patient sitting with Niece B as she s l o w l y c h e w e d every piece and distracted with question from my earrings to my hair to why boys had penises and what do girls have and why couldn’t she see hers?
With two pieces of chicken left to go she suddenly said “I’m cold.”
I felt her forehead–warm…ish.
“Here,” I foolishly said “Have another piece of chicken and we’ll go lay down on the couch with a blanket when you’re done.
“I want water” she announced and started to frantically drink….
…cough cough cough..hack hack…… turned to heave heave….. turned to a huge wave of everything coming right back up all over the table. Niece A, it must be told, was *very* impressed. And then ran and got the paper towels as ordered, while I picked up sobbing vomit covered twin and took her to the bathroom to be washed. She then dragged up the box and hung out in it near the couch and sang us songs that made no sense while i bedded down with the other one, who I was praying held down the liquid baby Tylenol I gave her. Because lordy the girl was warm.
When her dad arrived home he took over couch duties while I cleaned up since the next stop was bowling with Rob’s company for xmas partying.
I am now waiting patiently to discover I have come down with whatever that was.
doginajacket
/ December 21, 2012I am so sorry about all the vomit.
caoil
/ December 21, 2012Fingers crossed that you do not come down with any variation of it.
JHarper2
/ December 21, 2012Projectile vomiting at 3, I hope the child is not possessed.
All sympathy with being the vomit catcher; I hope you did not catch the underlying cause.
anibundel
/ December 21, 2012I think it was due to the tremendous amount of water she had just downed.
wearyvoter
/ December 21, 2012You probably have a 7-day incubation period for whatever the disease is.
anibundel
/ December 21, 2012Fab. So I’ll be sick next weekend.
koolaide
/ December 21, 2012efgoldman
/ December 21, 2012Upon arrive I was told Niece A was recovering from something picked up at Preschool. Niece B should be fine.
Someone may have suggested that, in your OT yesterday.
anibundel
/ December 21, 2012Oh yeah. BVlog flogging!
http://anibundel.wordpress.com
watson42
/ December 21, 2012I have only bought ONE Christmas present thus far, still have several hours of work to do and I leave town tomorrow. Ack! My parents and siblings will understand, but I hate hate hate disappointing the kids.
scone
/ December 21, 2012I’m not in quite as bad shape, but I’ve got to get presents for my mom’s side of the family to her by tomorrow, which means presents for nine people. And that doesn’t count the other presents I need to get. Blargh. Thankfully, I work near an art museum and the White House and the Renwick Gallery, so I spent yesterday’s lunch break buying as many gift shop presents as I could. But I still have to go to the mall tonight. Ugh.
efgoldman
/ December 21, 2012Apparently you guys never heard of this moddren thing called “Internet shopping.”
And they make fun of me for being an old man who still has a phlip phone!
koolaide
/ December 21, 2012internet shopping requires a couple of things. not the least of which is ahead of time planning and shopping. if I was an ahead of time shopper, I wouldn’t still have Y # of things to purchase.
watson42
/ December 21, 2012yeah, that’s one of my problems. I prefer to give money to local business when I can, and resort to the internet for things I can’t buy locally (like,say, a forging hammer). So I always find myself running short of time for shipping when I haven’t planned sufficiently. But I think my biggest problem this year is a serious case of Bah Humbug.
scone
/ December 22, 2012I intended to do all my shopping online. But then I wasted too much time and had to do it in person!
Tenar Darell
/ December 21, 2012Something that usually works for me is Books. Order online, ship to the kids not parents, print out color pix of item put in card and gift that. Works okay with toys too. If that doesn’t work because kids wrong ages, Barnes & Noble carries toys and games too, and they’re usually open late the week before Christmas. Hope this is helpful.
anibundel
/ December 21, 2012I have everything…
…except the presents for two of the four people we’re having dinner with tonight.
koolaide
/ December 21, 2012I have a bit more time than you do but I have about 1 present, too. Apparently a lot of shopping in my future tomorrow…
Susan L Daniels
/ December 21, 2012already did–thanks for spreading the word.
emilylhauser
/ December 21, 2012Thank you!
doginajacket
/ December 21, 2012I just have to finish
readingchecking the age-appropriateness of the graphic novel we got for nephew, get it wrapped, and then we’re done.doginajacket
/ December 21, 2012This was supposed to be a reply to Watson42.
caoil
/ December 21, 2012I would like to leave work now and go home & change into my pajamas & snuggle into a chair with a book. Actually I’d like to just spend the next almost-a-week in my jammies, but I suspect this is not going to happen.
efgoldman
/ December 21, 2012Come hang out at our house. We certainly won’t care.
caoil
/ December 21, 2012Yay for casual households!
efgoldman
/ December 21, 2012Its about 6pm here on the East coast. mrs efgoldman has been jammied since about 430.
Nora Munro
/ December 21, 2012OMG you guys I finished the blue hat!
I was starting to think I was trapped in some kind of Groundhog Day-like time loop, where it was always going to be the week before Christmas, and I would always be knitting the blue hat for my nephew. But it’s Friday and the hat is done. Maybe Christmas is coming after all.
Captain Button
/ December 21, 2012Regarding:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/21/shas-warns-against-assimiliation-in-israel.html
Torah classes were a long time ago, but haven’t I heard this before again and again? Jews start getting too slack and chummy with the Cannanites or somebody so God sends someone to whack them upside the head.
emilylhauser
/ December 21, 2012Yup. But now they have tax monies to enforce it all….
PaulW
/ December 21, 2012New Blog flog to promote, in honor of the 800000 Mayans who actually did not predict the end of the world and are hugely mad at the rest of us for assuming they did: http://reformamendment.blogspot.com/2012/12/apocalypse-why.html
CitizenE
/ December 22, 2012Remembering this is the season of new light, miraculous light, light in the desert, light between the pillars or through a dawning window: Ballake Sissoko from Mali, Vincent Segal from France: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MjcNkh4zws
And even if for only this moment, peace in the spaces between the lights of an endless horizon to you all.