Arms or weapons' primary and ultimate motive is to destroy. Anything after that is tragically obvious.
Arms or weapons' primary and ultimate motive is to destroy. Anything after that is tragically obvious.
Last edited by cacian; 01-09-2013 at 03:15 AM.
it may never try
but when it does it sigh
it is just that
good
it fly
A weapon doesn't have a 'motive'. Different weapons have different purposes (although they are in general all ultimately used to kill something or another).
Interesting book I'm reading at the moment: 'The Better Angels of Our Nature' by Steven Pinker. It's not primarily to do with gun law, it's about the decline of violence throughout history (I would recommend you all to read it, it's a good book).
One of the points it raises is that violence and crime will generally rise when people - criminals and the innocent - no longer trust and believe in the law and order of their government/state.
Anybody else here a hopeless insomniac? Well anyway, last night at around 2am I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, mightily trying to get back to sleep, but I finally gave up and flipped on the TV. And there was Piers Morgan "debating" gun control with Alex Jones, a right-wing radio shouter. What fun.
First a little background: Piers is a British dude who has a talk show on CNN. He took over Larry King's slot a few years ago when Larry retired. He was formerly an editor for The Daily Mirror, and in my opinion he's pretty good, but his relative pommyness grates on certain element of the society here. Anyway, ever since the shooting at Sandy Hook, Piers has been on a gun-control rant, and more power to him as far as I'm concerned, but the last thing a bunch of dumb, gun-toting rednecks want to hear is a Nuevo Redcoat trying to take their guns away. So Alex Jones circulates a petition to have Piers Morgan deported - and he gets a bunch of siggies, (probably the same signatures that were on the petitions to secede from the union after the last election).
So, Piers invited Alex onto his show. And that's where El Sancho got involved, with his insomnia and his TV remote.
For the first thirty seconds or so everything was fairly civil. But then Jones went totally ape - a veins popping, eyes bugging, spittle flying, red-in-the-face rant. What a crackup. Piers, for his part, maintained his cool. He kept a stiff upper lip (but I swear I saw his chin quiver a couple of times).
So anyway, CNN went to commercial and during the break they got rid of the crazy man and replaced him with Alan Dershowitz, who among other things is a Harvard Law Professor.
Dershowitz said something like this: In the legal profession, we don't call someone like that a witness. We call him an exhibit.
Morgan came back with something like this: That's exactly the kind of guy I don't want to have guns.
[Sorry about paraphrases, I'm too lazy to look up the actual transcript.]
Anyway, it was entertaining - kinda like a train wreck is entertaining.
Uhhhh...
Originally Posted by Sancho
I hope that little lullaby sent you back to snoozeland!
Seriously, do they think that someone is going to come around in a big truck and confiscate all their precious guns? I'm sure there will be plenty to go around once everything is said and done.
My own son and I had a little tete a tete about the subject of gun control. Maybe they were discussing it at his job, I don't know, but he suddenly started in on Obama-"I wish I'd never voted for him," etc. and didn't he have more important things to do like balancing the budget and global warming?
And I responded, ahem, somewhat sarcastically, but also with an eye to getting him to see reason, i.e., they are not going to take away all the guns-and I said "Don't worry. This is America, where the right to own guns will always trump the lives of little children." Needless to say, it did not seem like a convincing argument to him. I really don't have a problem with acknowledging how he feels, but why exactly are he and other gun proponents so bug-eyed about this? I don't get it. My son doesn't even own a gun. He would like one, though.
But I also think that what I said is true.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka
Omg Sancho I watched that clip on Youtube and have to say if I was American, I would not want him to be my spokesperson on ANY issue whatsoever! His ability to engage in debate is non-existent and his body language is ludicrous. What an embarrassment.
Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb
Couldn't sleep, up at 4.30am to pour some Chicken liqueur into a chicken and apricot stand pie I made last night. It smells goood.
Alex Jones has been entertaining us for a couple of days now, he is the best spokesman for gun control I've ever seen. Anyway, whatever happens we DON'T want Piers back.
Last edited by prendrelemick; 01-09-2013 at 01:19 AM.
ay up
Why not? I don't know much about him other than he was a judge on American Idol, which I don't watch, but he seems OK. He's thinking of returning, anyway. He's taken some heat on this issue, although I haven't really been following it.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka
^ Haha. Oh great, Mick, you guys run him out of town, so he comes over here and gets the hillbillies all riled up. And they're a prickly bunch already.
Anyhoo, I agree with Delta, and I'll take Piers any day over Alex. At points during the interview he offered to take Piers shooting, then he challenged him to a boxing match, then he put on an awful English accent, and finally (I s**t you not) he called him a Redcoat.
I never did get back to sleep, Qimi. After the show I wandered out to the garage and rearranged my toolbox. I seem to missing a 5/16 inch box-end wrench. The horror.
Uhhhh...
Personally I think Piers should stick with the X Factor. He hasn't got any gumption but he can at least contain himself and yes with folk like Alex Jones, the need for gun control is only strengthened. Out of interest what is O'Reilly's position on the issue? My brother thinks he is God.
Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb
Here's a bit more of the Piers Morgan legend.
Piers Morgan: I was disappointed you didn't sing the National Anthem when you received your Olympic Gold Medal.
Bradley Wiggins: I was disappointed you weren't arrested and jailed for hacking phones at The Daily Mirror, but there you go.
ay up
I don't much care for Piers Morgan, but I'll give him credit: "Why do you want to deport me?" is as good an opening question to an interview as I've ever heard.
__________________
"If it is honorable for you to disturb the dead, I shall consider it an honor and will make it my ambition to disturb your living." - Captain Miles Hazzard
Basil, you're back! Good to hear from you.
Speaking of cycling, Mick, I hear Lance is going to talk to Oprah today. I don't know what he's going to say, but I'll bet he doesn't dig himself out of that hole he's gotten himself into. Reminds me of a joke bullet statement from a military performance report:
"This officer has reached bottom, and has begun to dig."
I honestly don't watch much TV news. I prefer print media or NPR. But then Piers and O'Reilly don't really do the news; they do opinion. I don't know what "Papa Bear's" opinion is on gun control, but I can probably make a guess that'll fall within the standard deviation. That said, I've never watched The O'Reilly Factor, but when I hear him speak elsewhere he sounds like a reasonable man. I don't usually agree with him, but at least he sounds reasonable, unlike the shouters - Rush Limbaugh et al. I'll give him this much - he's got brass - he'll show up on The Daily Show from time to time, and he maintains his cool and holds his own against Jon Stewart.
But then "reasonable" is relative. The other night, shortly after Alex Jones left, Piers had Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio on. At the time, even Sheriff Joe seemed reasonable. He said to Piers, "Hey, don't lump me in with that last guy."
Uhhhh...
Just watched Jon Stewart doing guns. We could do with a show like that over here.
ay up
I watched the video, or most of it anyway. oh. my. god. That guy is insane! And hilarious.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka
Just watched the Piers Morgan/Alex Jones 'debate' (a very one-sided debate...). Now I'm gonna admit, Alex Jones does seem mentally unstable. You really don't come across in a good light if you spend your entire time ranting without letting the opponent get a word in, especially when you mock them as well.
However despite that, Alex Jones was still right in most of what he said in regards to gun control. The problem is he sounds crazy and he acts crazy, so all the little debate did was make gun owners seem like nuts.
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