- I can tell everyone in advance that there is one TV event that I don't plan on watching. It is the so-called "Royal Wedding" of the Queen of England's grandson and his girlfriend. No thanks! If expenses for royals were in the American national budget, that would certainly be the easiest item to cut. I give great thanks to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and all others who helped in breaking America's ties with royalty.
- I enjoyed recent trips to Springfield, Mo. (with nine college students for the MCMA convention) and to Chicago (with faculty members for the Higher Learning Commission conference).
- The current TV show that has the most references to Wyoming is probably "Supernatural" on the CW channel. One of the co-stars, Jim Beaver, was born in Laramie.
- A "bodhran" is an Irish framed drum. (The Ridge River String Band recently played one at the college. A dulcimer was also played.)
- The longest word in the Old Testament is 18 characters long. It is "Mahershalalhashbaz." In the New Testament, the longest word is 16 characters long and there are three of them (covenantbreakers, fellow-prisoners, and unprofitableness). That is according to a website about the King James Bible.
- I like Richard Hawley's song "Tonight the Streets Are Ours." I heard it first when watching the documentary about graffiti artists called "Exit Through the Gift Shop."
- Some recent movies that I liked: "My Boy Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son who goes off to war; "Howl" about the life, poetry, and poem censorship trial of poet Allen Ginsberg; "Get Low" starring Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; "Devil," a scary movie about people stuck in an elevator; and "Triage" starring Colin Farrell as a photojournalist.
- I predict that the awful pencil-headed dictator of Syria will be forced out by his people by the end of the year. Or hopefully sooner.
- I would like to attend one theater event where rude, inconsiderate young people, who hear the theater announcement to turn off cell phones but refuse to do so, don't sit near me. Is it possible?! How do they develop such obsessions that they can't disconnect from a piece of equipment for at least an hour or two?
- My quote: "Sometimes going through the motions gives me motion-sickness."
Friday, April 22, 2011
An April entry for a busy month...
I've been so busy that I thought I should post at least one entry in the blog for April. So, here are some random thoughts...
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Buy products made in the country if you want to help your community and neighbors...
Interesting information from ABC News shows and its recent series about "Made in America"...
- In the 1960s, nine out of 10 products in America were made here. Now 50 percent of products sold in America come from foreign countries.
- If every American spent $64 more per year for U.S. products specifically, 200,000 jobs could be created.
- The number of Americans working in manufacturing is at a 70-year low.
- There were 55,000 U.S. factories that closed during the Bush years. Jobs gone, tax-base also gone.
- In some Chinese factories, workers make $14 per day.
- Leo Gerard, president of the U.S. Steelworkers Union, noted that low-priced goods meant poison in children's toys, lead in steel, and other conditions that actually lead to high costs in other ways.
- There is only one lightbulb brand now made in America and its major obstacle is getting on the shelves of places like Wal-Mart.
- There is no American factory that makes wind turbines from start to finish. (My comment: That could be a great opening for a factory in a place like Medicine Bow, Wyo., which should also seek out an inventor of the prototype of a portable wind turbine/solar energy unit for rooftops, back-door steps and in "energy" gardens that hooks to portable heating and air conditioning units for individual homes, and manufacture those, too.)
- After 25 years of record trade deficits, America went from the top producer to the top creditor nation.
- The ABC News segment, with Diane Sawyer and David Muir, went to an average American family's home to find out how much within their home was actually American-made. After checking the entire livingroom, all that was left that was made in America was one flower vase (and the kitchen sink in the kitchen). Then the news show went about redecorating the house with American-made products only, finding just as many good bargains nationally. The new bedroom set cost was $1,699 as compared to the previous bedroom set cost of foreign-made products at $1,758.
- Senator John McCain was on ABC This Week on Sunday, still touting the unfair and unequal idea of "free trade." There is no such thing as equal free trade, because wages, product safety and standards, work conditions, economy are all different depending upon where a person lives and works. It comes down to where a consumer wants to invest or send their money. Some might want to help workers in foreign countries as a response of generosity and humanitarianism in hopes of lifting up the workers there. But if a person wants their own local and national economy to be good and sound, with fair wages to workers, the best way is to buy locally.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Cut this, cut that...How about keep this, if it works, and add this, as an improvement...
A quick post for a busy month...
I just watched ABC's This Week news program and, for what I think is the second week in a row, there was no "In Memoriam" segment. That segment usually provides a quick review of the famous people who died during the previous week. It is a way of memorializing a historical or cultural figure and informing the rest of us about their passing as well as their achievements.
As much as I appreciate the show's attempt to cover the democracy revolutions now occurring in the Middle East countries--certainly an important subject--I still liked the short "In Memoriam" segments that no other TV news had.
Instead, I had to endure an extra minute or two of Republican governors blabbering at a round-table about budget cuts. Budget cuts are a ridiculous subject ever since the Congress failed to cut the tax breaks for the very wealthy. Now politicians and news media want us to believe that there is serious intent for cutting budgets? Give me a break!
For the minute that I had to listen to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer say that government is "a necessary evil," I could have been learning something factual about the nation and world.
I would add that just as it is not likely that it is a wise idea for a football team to be headed by a coach who hates football or a farm to be run by a farmer who hates farming or a school to be managed by a principal who hates education, why in the hell do we have to put up with politicians who hate government but then want to run it? They will run it all right. And likely right into the ground.
Budget-cutting won't bring about good jobs. Good jobs--not Wal-Mart or McDonalds jobs, by the way--are the key to driving a healthy economy. When Gov. Walker of Wisconsin wants to eliminate collective bargaining and make unions in this nation weaker, that is not going to help the nation in the long-run.
The politicians can cut till the cows come home and probably will, but that won't create jobs, make for a better society, or improve the economy, any more than buying a car made in Japan will. Creating jobs and buying products made in the country and town where you live will impact and improve the nation's economy. Everything else is meringue and baloney. If they aren't careful, the budget-cutting will just lead to a recession or even a depression.
But if someone would be so wise as to put some regulations and limits on runaway corporations who have "socialized their losses" but "privatized their profits" as author Michael Lewis noted in his book "The Big Short," then that would also certainly be a step in the right direction.
I know I covered a lot of territory here. From the small to the large. But it's all about framing and ideas. Keep it, if it works or if it has been a promise to people, such as with pensions, and add it if it's an improvement. If "cutting" is the only part of the mentality, then spiraling down in quality, content, accomplishment, progress, and the future will be the outcome.
I just watched ABC's This Week news program and, for what I think is the second week in a row, there was no "In Memoriam" segment. That segment usually provides a quick review of the famous people who died during the previous week. It is a way of memorializing a historical or cultural figure and informing the rest of us about their passing as well as their achievements.
As much as I appreciate the show's attempt to cover the democracy revolutions now occurring in the Middle East countries--certainly an important subject--I still liked the short "In Memoriam" segments that no other TV news had.
Instead, I had to endure an extra minute or two of Republican governors blabbering at a round-table about budget cuts. Budget cuts are a ridiculous subject ever since the Congress failed to cut the tax breaks for the very wealthy. Now politicians and news media want us to believe that there is serious intent for cutting budgets? Give me a break!
For the minute that I had to listen to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer say that government is "a necessary evil," I could have been learning something factual about the nation and world.
I would add that just as it is not likely that it is a wise idea for a football team to be headed by a coach who hates football or a farm to be run by a farmer who hates farming or a school to be managed by a principal who hates education, why in the hell do we have to put up with politicians who hate government but then want to run it? They will run it all right. And likely right into the ground.
Budget-cutting won't bring about good jobs. Good jobs--not Wal-Mart or McDonalds jobs, by the way--are the key to driving a healthy economy. When Gov. Walker of Wisconsin wants to eliminate collective bargaining and make unions in this nation weaker, that is not going to help the nation in the long-run.
The politicians can cut till the cows come home and probably will, but that won't create jobs, make for a better society, or improve the economy, any more than buying a car made in Japan will. Creating jobs and buying products made in the country and town where you live will impact and improve the nation's economy. Everything else is meringue and baloney. If they aren't careful, the budget-cutting will just lead to a recession or even a depression.
But if someone would be so wise as to put some regulations and limits on runaway corporations who have "socialized their losses" but "privatized their profits" as author Michael Lewis noted in his book "The Big Short," then that would also certainly be a step in the right direction.
I know I covered a lot of territory here. From the small to the large. But it's all about framing and ideas. Keep it, if it works or if it has been a promise to people, such as with pensions, and add it if it's an improvement. If "cutting" is the only part of the mentality, then spiraling down in quality, content, accomplishment, progress, and the future will be the outcome.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Time for Mubarak to leave...
Hosni Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt, is also a thug. He needs to be removed from office and quickly if the democratic movement in Egypt is going to avoid further violence.
Anderson Cooper of CNN noted that with the anti-Mubarak protestors, the demonstrations were peaceful. When the pro-Mubarak people (or thugs and goon squads) showed up today, the violence began. It also included pro-Mubarak groups harassing and threatening western mediapeople, including Cooper and his crew which were attacked and hit.
It has always been hoped that a country in the Middle East would become the model for democracy. Before it's too late, before protestors are radicalized by the violence, this is the opportunity for democracy. But Mubarak has to go. If President Obama can't move the dictator to leave, then he should at least stop the foreign aid funding and say that it will start again only when a democratic government is in place. We should use whatever leverage we have to be on the side of freedom and rights.
In the meantime, the protestors for democracy and human rights need to avoid being slaughtered, like the scenes from Tiananmen Square in China. I can't imagine that Mubarak will ever be able to safely show his face in public again after playing the violence card in order to hold on as a tyrant. As all dictators, he's quite delusional that he has "served" his country in preventing freedom and rights, in censoring the media, in ruling with an iron fist. After this, if he continues to control the country when he really should be going to trial, he will be known as a thug. He was known as that before, by many of the Egyptian people. But now the world will know. That's a sorry legacy, but probably typical for autocrats.
Anderson Cooper of CNN noted that with the anti-Mubarak protestors, the demonstrations were peaceful. When the pro-Mubarak people (or thugs and goon squads) showed up today, the violence began. It also included pro-Mubarak groups harassing and threatening western mediapeople, including Cooper and his crew which were attacked and hit.
It has always been hoped that a country in the Middle East would become the model for democracy. Before it's too late, before protestors are radicalized by the violence, this is the opportunity for democracy. But Mubarak has to go. If President Obama can't move the dictator to leave, then he should at least stop the foreign aid funding and say that it will start again only when a democratic government is in place. We should use whatever leverage we have to be on the side of freedom and rights.
In the meantime, the protestors for democracy and human rights need to avoid being slaughtered, like the scenes from Tiananmen Square in China. I can't imagine that Mubarak will ever be able to safely show his face in public again after playing the violence card in order to hold on as a tyrant. As all dictators, he's quite delusional that he has "served" his country in preventing freedom and rights, in censoring the media, in ruling with an iron fist. After this, if he continues to control the country when he really should be going to trial, he will be known as a thug. He was known as that before, by many of the Egyptian people. But now the world will know. That's a sorry legacy, but probably typical for autocrats.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Let the dominoes continue to fall...
It has been interesting and exciting to see the spread of protests for democracy and human rights in Middle East countries. First with the revolt in Tunisia that sent the dictator fleeing to Saudi Arabia, the scatter of incidents of protest throughout the dictator-controlled countries of North Africa and the Middle East, and now with the mass demonstrations in Egypt.
My thoughts pretty much can be summed up in the sentence, "Good riddance to all dictators."
It also could be said that it is never wise for American leaders to hold hands with world dictators.
It is also interesting for dictators to realize that they can't control people or media technology forever. Technology can give an edge or at least even the playing field, as Martin Luther must have realized when he used the fairly-new technology from the mid-1400s called the printing press to get his message out and to rally support for what would become the Reformation of the early 1500s. In Tunisia, WikiLeaks provided information about governmental corruption and brutality and then cell phones and the Internet including Facebook and Twitter allowed people to communicate, network, and organize a resistance. The same technology and process can be used time and time again against the choke-hold of dictators and to free the masses.
Beyond that, it has been interesting to see many of the places in Cairo where I visited in 2002. Even then, I wondered why the millions of poor people there as well as the educated and intellectuals who were afraid to speak freely didn't throw Mubarak out. Mubarak lasted longer than I thought. He lasted way too long, as being iron-fistedly in control for 30 years.
Some Americans may look at leaders like Mubarak and others as being moderate and ones we can work with, so that apparently means it is okay for them to abuse their people. I don't think that way. I see nothing good about the rule of dictators. They are still dictators. They still use the authority and power of the state against others, often unfairly, often unjustly.
The pyschology of being a dictator must be an interesting study. Mubarak and others must actually think that they are doing the good of the people in holding their nations together, keeping them from slipping into chaos, keeping them out of the hands of religious zealots. Certainly, chaos and anarchy would be bad. Somalia is an example of that. Certainly, theocracies are bad where religious law rules over political law. Iran is an example of that. But why would an autocrat, a dictator who has jailed people for conducting sociology surveys or for speaking their minds, think that the people would love them? The people, who have to live under them, hate dictators. Mubarak and maybe even U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, seemingly slow to embrace a people's movement when it also means dislodging a leader ally, don't seem to get it that the people, after 30 years of torment, don't want Mubarak's conciliations now or any part of his ideas for suddenly moving into more democratic governing. They want him out of there. The right side of history is with the demonstrators and those who support democracy. Mubarak will be fortunate if he leaves before they put him on trial. But for now, Mubarak must be living in some great delusional myth that he, as a dictator, was the best thing for his nation.
As the flood tactics in Tiananmen Square in China worked only until the Communist leaders brutally ordered military force and civilian murder, the flood tactics in Tunisia and Egypt, so far not becoming the target of violence from the military, are working.
Let the dominoes continue to fall.
My thoughts pretty much can be summed up in the sentence, "Good riddance to all dictators."
It also could be said that it is never wise for American leaders to hold hands with world dictators.
It is also interesting for dictators to realize that they can't control people or media technology forever. Technology can give an edge or at least even the playing field, as Martin Luther must have realized when he used the fairly-new technology from the mid-1400s called the printing press to get his message out and to rally support for what would become the Reformation of the early 1500s. In Tunisia, WikiLeaks provided information about governmental corruption and brutality and then cell phones and the Internet including Facebook and Twitter allowed people to communicate, network, and organize a resistance. The same technology and process can be used time and time again against the choke-hold of dictators and to free the masses.
Beyond that, it has been interesting to see many of the places in Cairo where I visited in 2002. Even then, I wondered why the millions of poor people there as well as the educated and intellectuals who were afraid to speak freely didn't throw Mubarak out. Mubarak lasted longer than I thought. He lasted way too long, as being iron-fistedly in control for 30 years.
Some Americans may look at leaders like Mubarak and others as being moderate and ones we can work with, so that apparently means it is okay for them to abuse their people. I don't think that way. I see nothing good about the rule of dictators. They are still dictators. They still use the authority and power of the state against others, often unfairly, often unjustly.
The pyschology of being a dictator must be an interesting study. Mubarak and others must actually think that they are doing the good of the people in holding their nations together, keeping them from slipping into chaos, keeping them out of the hands of religious zealots. Certainly, chaos and anarchy would be bad. Somalia is an example of that. Certainly, theocracies are bad where religious law rules over political law. Iran is an example of that. But why would an autocrat, a dictator who has jailed people for conducting sociology surveys or for speaking their minds, think that the people would love them? The people, who have to live under them, hate dictators. Mubarak and maybe even U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, seemingly slow to embrace a people's movement when it also means dislodging a leader ally, don't seem to get it that the people, after 30 years of torment, don't want Mubarak's conciliations now or any part of his ideas for suddenly moving into more democratic governing. They want him out of there. The right side of history is with the demonstrators and those who support democracy. Mubarak will be fortunate if he leaves before they put him on trial. But for now, Mubarak must be living in some great delusional myth that he, as a dictator, was the best thing for his nation.
As the flood tactics in Tiananmen Square in China worked only until the Communist leaders brutally ordered military force and civilian murder, the flood tactics in Tunisia and Egypt, so far not becoming the target of violence from the military, are working.
Let the dominoes continue to fall.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
News at 10...
This just in...
There's an old theatrical saying about "break a leg," which is supposed to be a statement of good luck. But if you see any actors who actually have real broken legs, then they were probably in the Broadway play "Spiderman."
The art and conspiracy theory world was abuzz recently over the possible mystery of tiny letters painted in the eyes of "Mona Lisa." That's nothing. There is also a profane word in her nostril. Michelangelo was mad that day, after having gotten a bill for paint spilled on the Sistine Chapel's floor.
In a related Michelangelo story, scholars and nudists have determined that the guy who modeled for the "Statue of David" obviously had to pose in a very, very cold art studio.
The monthly weep index indicates that Speaker of the House John Boehner has only cried in public five times so far this month.
Facebook apparently doesn't have enough personal data about its millions of users. New profiles will include the question: Has anyone ever called you a "mammal"?
Chinese leader Hu visited the White House this week. Who? Hu. That's what I'm asking...Who? Hu. It is Hu. That's what I'm asking. Who is it? Hu. Who is what I and Abbott and Costello are asking?!!!!
Speaking of oppressive governments, dictators everywhere are complaining about WikiLeaks, Twitter, and YouTube. Said the former iron-fisted dictator of Tunisia who fled to Saudi Arabia, "Information sucks!"
Sarah Palin was back in the media spotlight, with homemade videos, making badly conceived and ignorant historical and word references. This time, it was for "Jim Crow," "dogma," and "fairy floss." Said a Palin spokesperson, "Sarah was referring to an Alaskan neighbor named Jim. She knows that there are papa dogs, too. And, of course, she knows that fairy floss refers to cotton candy. She has eaten cotton candy. She likes cotton candy."
Some guys love their guns so much that the NRA is now proposing guns with wider barrels. Well, at least a little bit wider. For the guys who not only love their guns but also want to have sex with them. !!!!
A woman who was texting and not looking where she was going fell into a water fountain at a mall. While under the water, she quickly wrote to a friend, "I M wet. 2 much H2O!"
One day last week, no students had to be told to put away their cell phones and text messaging devices. One more miracle and a Mass Communication professor may qualify for sainthood.
Joe Lieberman, Independent senator from Connecticut, announced he wouldn't run for re-election. But he would be willing to accept the vice presidential position if Senator John McCain or former Vice President Al Gore ever run for president again.
The editor of the Sage Street blog has come to the conclusion that gun laws should be stricter and that no crazy person should be able to get a gun. And for those people who think crazy people should have the right to guns or who believe in the ridiculousness of lenient gun laws, then those people are crazy, too, and they shouldn't have guns either.
Researchers say they will be able to clone a wooly mammoth in six years. In six years and one month, a wooly mammoth will be displayed in a Las Vegas casino. Tickets are now on sale.
Don't miss this week's episode of the TV show "Stars Chasing Squirrels." There is an amazing moment when radio commentator Rush Limbaugh climbs up three branches.
Three items, when mixed, that cause heartburn, irritation, and stupidity: Tea, baloney, and Rush Limburger cheese.
There's an old theatrical saying about "break a leg," which is supposed to be a statement of good luck. But if you see any actors who actually have real broken legs, then they were probably in the Broadway play "Spiderman."
The art and conspiracy theory world was abuzz recently over the possible mystery of tiny letters painted in the eyes of "Mona Lisa." That's nothing. There is also a profane word in her nostril. Michelangelo was mad that day, after having gotten a bill for paint spilled on the Sistine Chapel's floor.
In a related Michelangelo story, scholars and nudists have determined that the guy who modeled for the "Statue of David" obviously had to pose in a very, very cold art studio.
The monthly weep index indicates that Speaker of the House John Boehner has only cried in public five times so far this month.
Facebook apparently doesn't have enough personal data about its millions of users. New profiles will include the question: Has anyone ever called you a "mammal"?
Chinese leader Hu visited the White House this week. Who? Hu. That's what I'm asking...Who? Hu. It is Hu. That's what I'm asking. Who is it? Hu. Who is what I and Abbott and Costello are asking?!!!!
Speaking of oppressive governments, dictators everywhere are complaining about WikiLeaks, Twitter, and YouTube. Said the former iron-fisted dictator of Tunisia who fled to Saudi Arabia, "Information sucks!"
Sarah Palin was back in the media spotlight, with homemade videos, making badly conceived and ignorant historical and word references. This time, it was for "Jim Crow," "dogma," and "fairy floss." Said a Palin spokesperson, "Sarah was referring to an Alaskan neighbor named Jim. She knows that there are papa dogs, too. And, of course, she knows that fairy floss refers to cotton candy. She has eaten cotton candy. She likes cotton candy."
Some guys love their guns so much that the NRA is now proposing guns with wider barrels. Well, at least a little bit wider. For the guys who not only love their guns but also want to have sex with them. !!!!
A woman who was texting and not looking where she was going fell into a water fountain at a mall. While under the water, she quickly wrote to a friend, "I M wet. 2 much H2O!"
One day last week, no students had to be told to put away their cell phones and text messaging devices. One more miracle and a Mass Communication professor may qualify for sainthood.
Joe Lieberman, Independent senator from Connecticut, announced he wouldn't run for re-election. But he would be willing to accept the vice presidential position if Senator John McCain or former Vice President Al Gore ever run for president again.
The editor of the Sage Street blog has come to the conclusion that gun laws should be stricter and that no crazy person should be able to get a gun. And for those people who think crazy people should have the right to guns or who believe in the ridiculousness of lenient gun laws, then those people are crazy, too, and they shouldn't have guns either.
Researchers say they will be able to clone a wooly mammoth in six years. In six years and one month, a wooly mammoth will be displayed in a Las Vegas casino. Tickets are now on sale.
Don't miss this week's episode of the TV show "Stars Chasing Squirrels." There is an amazing moment when radio commentator Rush Limbaugh climbs up three branches.
Three items, when mixed, that cause heartburn, irritation, and stupidity: Tea, baloney, and Rush Limburger cheese.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thoughts about the Tucson tragedy...
It has been a week now since the terrible shootings in Tucson, Arizona, when a single shooter killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl, and wounded 14 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Here are a few observations...
One of the quotes about the young girl named Christina Taylor Green, who was starting to show an interest in politics and public service, from President Barack Obama's speech on Jan. 12 at a memorial service in Tucson following the tragedy: "We should do everything we can to make sure that this country lives up to the expectations of our children."
Sarah Palin provided a defensive and idiotic (again) moment when she talked about "blood libel" after being chastised for having a "crosshairs" map on her website, which included a "targeting" of Gabrielle Giffords' district in the past election. When Giffords had earlier criticized the "crosshairs" map, Palin flippantly shrugged it off and continued to speak in gun language as though she thought it was cute. After the tragedy, Palin's website removed the map. While Palin isn't to blame for the actual shooting, her map could have influenced crazy people with guns and it does point to Palin's lack of good sense, wisdom, and intelligence. She didn't have the vision to see that the vitriol of her map and rhetoric could be detrimental to American society and might come back to haunt her. I think that says a lot about the unworthiness of her leadership qualities.
The thinking of some gun owners is quite ridiculous. Some gun owners say that if other people, also with concealed guns, had been there, they could have shot the shooter before he fired 30 bullets in just seconds. Well, there was a man with a concealed gun who came out of the Safeway Store near the time of the shooting and he ran to the scene, but thought that one of the heroes who taken the shooter down was the culprit. He said that if he'd used his gun immediately, he might have shot the wrong person. !!!!
Americans shouldn't have to carry around a gun in order to be safe in this country. That would turn a good country into a chaotic one like Somalia or other Third World countries where every person is armed. Who wants to live like that or in a place like that?!
There is definitely a need for stricter gun laws. The Assault Weapons Ban should never have been allowed to expire by Congress. Yes, I know. Outlawing guns won't work as there are too many around and it is a right for good citizens to possess a gun. But if stricter laws and more procedural steps keep even one more tragedy from happening, then it is worth it and Americans should get reasonable and be glad that guns and violence are better controlled and reduced.
It has been interesting to see the Tucson locations in the recent news coverage. I went to the University of Arizona as a college student. I worked in the late evenings, sometimes from about 9 p.m. to midnight, in the library and copy center at the University of Arizona Medical Center, where Congresswoman Giffords was taken and has been receiving care. One time, for about 30 minutes, I got stranded in the library's elevator when it misfunctioned and stopped. I think I finally had to use an emergency phone in the elevator box to call for help. The only other student at the library's front desk wondered where I'd been after the elevator finally came back into service. Another time, in walking to my apartment several blocks away late one colder desert night from the Medical Center, I experienced a somewhat unnerving incident that people don't think about happening in a city. I was walking home--everyone else in homes along the streets were, of course, sleeping, for the most part--when this pack of loose dogs started following me. One of dogs even started to nip at my gloves. Eventually, the dogs went running away. But it was a bit unnerving. No, I didn't need a gun. But the presence of a loud whistle or a can of pepper spray might have made me feel a little better. Another time I was walking down a street and a little old lady called out to me for assistance. She was near her front door. She was very elderly and frail and she had stepped into a flowerbed and couldn't, without some support, lift her feet only about an inch to get back onto the sidewalk and back into her house. I helped her mainly by just holding onto her hand to steady her as she managed to gain her footing onto the sidewalk. It took a while, but neither of us were in a hurry. I will always remember the squeeze of her hand. Despite her obvious declining health, I could feel her spirit and life in that grasp. For the most part, I enjoyed being a college student in Tucson. I traveled all over town, feeling perfectly safe, in the bus system. It was a nice city and university. The people were nice as well.
I also remember visiting the McKale Center, where the recent memorial was held, when it first opened and on occasions. It was a big arena, mainly for sports though sometimes the class registration process, going from academic discipline table to table for classes, would also take place there, at the University of Arizona.
One of the quotes about the young girl named Christina Taylor Green, who was starting to show an interest in politics and public service, from President Barack Obama's speech on Jan. 12 at a memorial service in Tucson following the tragedy: "We should do everything we can to make sure that this country lives up to the expectations of our children."
Sarah Palin provided a defensive and idiotic (again) moment when she talked about "blood libel" after being chastised for having a "crosshairs" map on her website, which included a "targeting" of Gabrielle Giffords' district in the past election. When Giffords had earlier criticized the "crosshairs" map, Palin flippantly shrugged it off and continued to speak in gun language as though she thought it was cute. After the tragedy, Palin's website removed the map. While Palin isn't to blame for the actual shooting, her map could have influenced crazy people with guns and it does point to Palin's lack of good sense, wisdom, and intelligence. She didn't have the vision to see that the vitriol of her map and rhetoric could be detrimental to American society and might come back to haunt her. I think that says a lot about the unworthiness of her leadership qualities.
The thinking of some gun owners is quite ridiculous. Some gun owners say that if other people, also with concealed guns, had been there, they could have shot the shooter before he fired 30 bullets in just seconds. Well, there was a man with a concealed gun who came out of the Safeway Store near the time of the shooting and he ran to the scene, but thought that one of the heroes who taken the shooter down was the culprit. He said that if he'd used his gun immediately, he might have shot the wrong person. !!!!
Americans shouldn't have to carry around a gun in order to be safe in this country. That would turn a good country into a chaotic one like Somalia or other Third World countries where every person is armed. Who wants to live like that or in a place like that?!
There is definitely a need for stricter gun laws. The Assault Weapons Ban should never have been allowed to expire by Congress. Yes, I know. Outlawing guns won't work as there are too many around and it is a right for good citizens to possess a gun. But if stricter laws and more procedural steps keep even one more tragedy from happening, then it is worth it and Americans should get reasonable and be glad that guns and violence are better controlled and reduced.
It has been interesting to see the Tucson locations in the recent news coverage. I went to the University of Arizona as a college student. I worked in the late evenings, sometimes from about 9 p.m. to midnight, in the library and copy center at the University of Arizona Medical Center, where Congresswoman Giffords was taken and has been receiving care. One time, for about 30 minutes, I got stranded in the library's elevator when it misfunctioned and stopped. I think I finally had to use an emergency phone in the elevator box to call for help. The only other student at the library's front desk wondered where I'd been after the elevator finally came back into service. Another time, in walking to my apartment several blocks away late one colder desert night from the Medical Center, I experienced a somewhat unnerving incident that people don't think about happening in a city. I was walking home--everyone else in homes along the streets were, of course, sleeping, for the most part--when this pack of loose dogs started following me. One of dogs even started to nip at my gloves. Eventually, the dogs went running away. But it was a bit unnerving. No, I didn't need a gun. But the presence of a loud whistle or a can of pepper spray might have made me feel a little better. Another time I was walking down a street and a little old lady called out to me for assistance. She was near her front door. She was very elderly and frail and she had stepped into a flowerbed and couldn't, without some support, lift her feet only about an inch to get back onto the sidewalk and back into her house. I helped her mainly by just holding onto her hand to steady her as she managed to gain her footing onto the sidewalk. It took a while, but neither of us were in a hurry. I will always remember the squeeze of her hand. Despite her obvious declining health, I could feel her spirit and life in that grasp. For the most part, I enjoyed being a college student in Tucson. I traveled all over town, feeling perfectly safe, in the bus system. It was a nice city and university. The people were nice as well.
I also remember visiting the McKale Center, where the recent memorial was held, when it first opened and on occasions. It was a big arena, mainly for sports though sometimes the class registration process, going from academic discipline table to table for classes, would also take place there, at the University of Arizona.
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