caroljane

No. people who want to ban guns, or limit their accessibility, are not "types" and especially not the types you imagine. Calvin is right. The wish to live with the fewest guns available in society is a self-defensive wish. It is based among other things on statistical probabilities. you too Mikee, need to stop thinking like a collectivist about individuals who disagree with you.

Doc, I may not be so hot on the American Constitution but I do know Moldavians. This one is at least 70 per cent proof meshuggah.

Looks okay to me. You, on the other hand, evidently fell on your head one too many times as an infant. Not as many times as Orly Taitz did. I note she is a former real estate agent. I guess the tin foil houses did not catch on.

Alexander the Great was a mama's boy too. His mother Olympia was a scourge to him. He once said."She has charged me dearly for my nine months rent." Of course she outlived him.

Actually restraining orders against harassing parents are fairly unusual. These two contacted all her friends, accusing her of drug abuse etc, and tried to ruin her college life. I was an only child too. When I went away to university my parents immediately moved house. (I eventually tracked them down).Seriously, I was lucky and so were all of us who grew up when 18 was considered adulthood, however unready we were to be adults. Roosevelt was a mama's boy too, and of course Nero--

Your avatar is no oil painting either. jts's posts may sometimes be horrible, but in chimp terms his avatar would be considered kind of cute.

Thornton Wilder in The Eighth Day, about a family of geniuses, depicted them as lacking a sense of humour, which he said, was an impediment to the creative onrush of the superior mind. an unnecessary attribute. That may be true. i'm still glad that so many geniuses have had the gift of laughter however, I think it made their lives easier.

The Warsaw ghetto fought back, harder and more desperately than any army.

I wasn't referring to you, but to the general attitudes of the ban-the-guns crowd on radio, television and elsewhere on the internet. You've only been very mildly snobby in comparison. But you're way snobbier than I've ever been. J !!!!!!!!! What, never???

Not bloody likely, we Stuarts "in glory reing'd" before you bumptious Hanoverians usurped May you live to call me HRH Caroline I. Welcome! HRH Caroline I! --Brant didn't want the job anyway Arise Sir Brant, Baron Justdesert, Chancellor of the Exchequer//

Not bloody likely, we Stuarts "in glory reing'd" before you bumptious Hanoverians usurped May you live to call me HRH Caroline I. PS My IQ is not much compared with yours but my grandsons are really smart. Vivat rex!

I would rather the people (as a political body) did the reconstruction rather than a few overweight men in the Court. Ba'al Chatzaf Assuming "men" to denote "humankind" here Sir, I would have you know that in Court circles I am considered voluptuous. -Sonia S. The Latina has spoken... I guess, without a DNA test Kagen cannot be classified as man or woman. And certainly Ruth "Buzzie" Ginsberg is an alien, be she legal or undocumented... A... I'll let Sporty and Scary speak for themselves. SS

In listening to all of the discussions since the shooting, I think that people's having "not grown up with guns" is their primary reason for fearing and opposing them. Those who live in societies which are very strict about controlling access to guns seem to have become broken to the saddle, and so much so that they see their personal defenselessness and reliance on the state as virtuous, while seeing others' freedom and independence as shocking, threatening, and, more importantly, uncouth. More than anything, their mindset is a sort of programmed, snobby proselytism driven to spread submission as fashionable. I get the sense that if they had grown up needing permission from the state to speak, they'd be as disturbed at our freedom of speech as they are at our freedom of self defense. J In listening to all of the discussions since the shooting, I think that people's having "not grown up with guns" is their primary reason for fearing and opposing them. Those who live in societies which are very strict about controlling access to guns seem to have become broken to the saddle, and so much so that they see their personal defenselessness and reliance on the state as virtuous, while seeing others' freedom and independence as shocking, threatening, and, more importantly, uncouth. More than anything, their mindset is a sort of programmed, snobby proselytism driven to spread submission as fashionable. I get the sense that if they had grown up needing permission from the state to speak, they'd be as disturbed at our freedom of speech as they are at our freedom of self defense. J I think you presume too much here. I grew up with guns, not handguns admittedly, but all my family were hunters and most houses had a rifle somewhere. Nobody was murdered with one of them (that I know of...). I do not have a mindset of "programmed snobby proselytism". I may be programmed and proselytise sometimes, but I am no snobbier than you.

I would rather the people (as a political body) did the reconstruction rather than a few overweight men in the Court. Ba'al Chatzaf Assuming "men" to denote "humankind" here Sir, I would have you know that in Court circles I am considered voluptuous. -Sonia S.

Adam, thanks for the gorgeous sounds. I hope everybody had just the Christmas they wanted. M&K, thanks for OL, a gift that keeps on giving.

She liked some TV - Charlies Angels and Rat Patrol anyway.

I suppose that it depends upon what your definition of "primitive" is, but I would certainly question the description of the Mayan civilizations (there were at least four, each of which collapsed apparently having learned nothing to prevent their own demise from the previous civilization) as "as rational as they could be." Tell that to the thousands of victims sacrificed in Mayan religious ceremonies - many of which having the priests of their religion literally ripping the beating heart out of their victim. And then kicking the decapitated heads down the steps of their pyramids, followed by their bodies. Unlike the Aztecs (who also practiced human sacrifice on a larger scale), whose empire was conquered by the Spanish (with the considerable aid and support of surrounding native tribes who did not particularly enjoy being subjugated - and often ritually sacrificed -by the Aztecs, the Mayan city states had largely collapsed, followed by the abandonment of their cities prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Yes, the Mayans had considerable achievements in mathematics and astronomy. Using the word, "astronomy", is probably a misnomer. Astrology is a more accuate description, and was the primary motivation for their charting the stars. The quality and usefulness of the predictions achieved by this method can be ascertained by the fact that its use did not foretell and prevent the destruction of at least four entirely separate Mayan civilizations.. Politically, through most of their existence, the Mayan city-states were run by ridgid theocracies who tolerated no dissent (unless the protestors wished to be "guests" (i.e., victims) at the next religious ceremony. The city-states spent a lot of their energies warring with each and also with other native tribes. You are right of course Jerry, - I almost wrote "astrologers" instead of astronomers, but I suppose they thought of themselves as astronomers in their way. But I still think, considering the progress of different cultures, and the nature of the human sacrifices to religious feeling that have been made, that we cannot say they were primitive and we are not.

And if you donate to ARI it isn't tax deductible?

Do you really consider the Mayans to be one of the "primitive peoples"? The Doctor's cat sure didn't! It may be primitive of modern credulous types to believe, but it was no more primitive of the Mayan astronomers to predict, than it was of their contemporary Europeans to judge that the sun moved around the earth . They all used the evidence of their senses and were as rational as they could be.

Same here. I am starting to believe in Global Warming. There was little doubt of a warming trend (which has being going on since the end of the last Ice Age) The issue is what are the major drivers and causes? Ba'al Chatzaf The Christmas Snow Fairies are mad at me this year. I don't know about the rest of you.

“The movie’s central problem is one of casting. Child’s protagonist is a former army major and top military police investigator. He’s a scruffy six-foot-five and weighs 250 pounds, and these are key attributes of the character (he’s a formidable butt-kicker). I’m not a Tom Cruise hater, but I think we can agree that this is not a description of Tom Cruise.” http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/21/jack-reacher The movie is getting bad reviews here, apart from the height issue. The director is being blamed; maybe the reviewers don't want to diss Tom in case he sues them.

Like we need some New Zealand-er to tell us how form a more perfect union. We put up with Canadians doing this because they seem much more charming, would probably join in the bucket line if our fire gets too far oeut of control, and (in non-lockout years) provide us with great sports entertainment. Apparently the swamp dwellers do not agree with you. There is a drive on our fave GP site to revive his media career by getting the ARI to hire him as a Leading Objectivist Spokesperson, where he would do a better job than Brook because of his "authoritative" accent. Of course he would have to refrain from exhorting the Fox audience to shed their blood for Mario, or to hang the President, but such initial sacrifices would be well worth it, Soloists one and all agree (well, three and all and counting,). They seem to forget that Americans do not care much about rugby.

You too Bob. It can be a fun time. Mind you, if I spot a single snowflake it'll be a true Xmas miracle. Same here. I am starting to believe in Global Warming.

While we are at it we could ban hyperbole and logical extensio et reducio ad absurdam, Dr. Swift.