Guns don't kill people, stupid adults kill people

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Those in power, regardless of ideology, have propensity for looking out for No. 1 AND have advantages, deserved or earned or not, that most of do not. It's been like that for centuries.

With one exception that I'm aware of: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Its really sad that I can only think up one exception...

BTW... we missed it, Happy Gandhi Jayanti! Everybody sing:

रघुपित राघव राजाराम , पतित पावन सीताराम

सीताराम सीताराम, भज प्यारे तू सीताराम

ईश्वर अल्लाह तेरो नाम, सब को सन्मित दे भगवान

Yes, Ghandi was truly the pauper leader of his country. Interesting to note that no extremist--fascist or communist--qualifies.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

George, freak or not, certain kinds of accidents carry criminal penalties. There's nothing new or lefty about that. It was part of English Common Law before our independence.

I find that unfortunate. The people involved will have to live with the consequences of this accident for the rest of their lives. They have lost a son. the instructor will be traumatized. Just the thought of it makes me weep. If it's about justice, it has already been doled out. It's funny Bob, but I bet there will be a call for someone to be prosecuted. When an accident like this happens, people of the left want further punishment, yet when it comes to murders and other violence where the crime is deliberate, the left wants understanding for the perp. I don't get it. Excuse Bill Ayers, but punish the grieving parents.

Well, that's where our views cross. There might be a call for prosecution, but I don't consider it funny. All involved have suffered and will suffer plenty for years to come; no penalty will bring this kid back to life. Better than even money says someone is going to sue someone else, another exercise in futility. As always, you have to drag out an assumed stereotype, in this case it's the idea that I think violent criminals deserve some sort of break. They don't.

Bill Ayres? Let me tell you what I know about the man and his wife. They started out as part the non-violent, anti-Vietnam movement in Chicago. Somewhere along the way, for whatever reasons--maybe Dohrn figured that if Irish Catholics in Belfast were bombing British Army checkpoints they should take up those tactics--they decided they were going to become "real revolutionaries." When they did that, the grassroots anti-war folks, that would be the ones who aren't famous, were never on TV and didn't get book deals out of protesting, dismissed them as crackpots. They adopted a holier than thou attitude about Israel, but that backfired for a while after the '72 Olympics massacre. The closer the Middle East came to a meaningful peace accord, via Carter, Reagan, the Swedes, the more radical they became. That put them on the outs with any reasonable activist who wanted an accord. So, my cynical assessment is that they did what they thought would keep them in the media spotlight. If they went back to being part of the mainstream, nobody would pay any attention to them.

Further, I only make the point that certain kinds of accidents carry criminal penalties because it has been a staple of law for centuries. It's not an advocacy statement, it's a statement of fact. While it's often wrongly implemented by ambitious prosecutors, it is there.

Finally, the idea of "further punishment" isn't something I attribute to the left and nor can you. It's part and parcel of the "law and order" movement of the late '60s and early '70s. Not necessarily in cases of child endangerment, but in plenty of other legal issues of that time and since. The big push for "law and order" came from Nixon, Hoover and a whole cadre of conservatives looking for anyway to punish those in the Civil Rights or Anti-war movements. The call for stricter, mandatory penalties carried forward into the Reagan years and many laws, federal and state, dealing with violent criminals were made a lot tougher. The prison population California shot up in the past 20 years. More prisons were built and more corrections officers were hired. The CO union is now the most powerful labor group in the state, possibly the most powerful lobby in the state. Unintended consequence? I think so; that sword cuts both ways.

So there we have it, George. Once again, you take a statement of fact that I make and turn it in to an exercise in labeling me in a stereotypical way.

[Simon Lu]

Wait, wait, isn't the Correction Officer's Union in California now try to sue Arnold? So, what's up with this Republican. He does what he say he would and Dem still don't like him? How about Paloci's pork barrel spendings? How come no one here mention that? Nice to see Speaker of the House gets a multi-million dollar program to face lift the San Fran ocean front but forget to mention that her husband owns a few "BUILDINGS" in the area. By the way, there are few talks among Dem parties about bringing more gun control in place... I guess it's time to stock up...

Oh Bob, I hope you are register to vote in OC. You should be voting for John Campbell for one good reason. NO EARMARKS. That's right, he have yet to request any earmarks. Now point me a single Dem that did not request any earmark.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Wait, wait, isn't the Correction Officer's Union in California now try to sue Arnold? So, what's up with this Republican. He does what he say he would and Dem still don't like him? How about Paloci's pork barrel spendings? How come no one here mention that? Nice to see Speaker of the House gets a multi-million dollar program to face lift the San Fran ocean front but forget to mention that her husband owns a few "BUILDINGS" in the area. By the way, there are few talks among Dem parties about bringing more gun control in place... I guess it's time to stock up...

Oh Bob, I hope you are register to vote in OC. You should be voting for John Campbell for one good reason. NO EARMARKS. That's right, he have yet to request any earmarks. Now point me a single Dem that did not request any earmark.

Riverside County.

Yeah, Arnold said he would stand up to them. Result is they're suing. They don't have much of a sense of humor, but look at the work they do. Not sure what you mean by Democrats still not liking him. Most the California Republican Party isn't too happy with him. California becomes more like Italy year by year: impossible to govern.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Say what you will about Arnold, the poor guy seems to me like he's bent over backwards to stop the partisan bickering and build consensus. The dems don't like him any better and now the Republicans don't like him either.

The California state Legislature is really gone insane. We are the world's largest Marxist economy.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Say what you will about Arnold, the poor guy seems to me like he's bent over backwards to stop the partisan bickering and build consensus. The dems don't like him any better and now the Republicans don't like him either.

The California state Legislature is really gone insane. We are the world's largest Marxist economy.

Kahlifornyah?

[Mako Koiwai]

Jumping from Page 1 to Page 4 ... one of the ranges that I use to compete at didn't allow kids under 18 to shoot pistols. They had a Jr. Shooting program, but only with single shot .22 target rifles. We had some USA Shooting (the organization that represents the US's Olympic shooting interests) Jr. Pistol shooters, but they were not allowed to shoot at this particular range even though they were on the US Development Team. One had even represented the US overseas already. The reason being was that it was too easy for a youngster to accidentally aim a loaded pistol somewhere other then downrange. The long guns were ostensibly more difficult to move from the relatively narrow shooting booths and down range to either side of the shooting line.