GOP Nominee 2012 - Who Will It Be?, Pt. 4

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1) Where's that in the Constitution?

Answer: Are you kidding me?

2) Where does government get the money to pay for a "large-scale social infrastructure?"

Answer: It takes it from the private sector.

I'm not sure what you are getting at? Government should not provide large scale infrastructure? I don't see Apple offering up a couple of billion to build new roads or educate people in anyway other than how to increase profits?

I don't understand why people would want to offer up control of our lives from something we elect to unelected corporations, as where there would be a power vacuum at the top if government was severely limited, the corporations would an are gladly filling it.

Would you apply capitalist values to your family? Why the hell would you apply it to society at large? Unless it's tempered by more human, dare I say, socialist values it becomes a mess. Efficiency over humanity eh?
 
I don't understand why people would want to offer up control of our lives from something we elect to unelected corporations, as where there would be a power vacuum at the top if government was severely limited, the corporations would an are gladly filling it.

Very good point! I find this sails over the heads of conservatives all the time. For example "Death panels" run by the government=the end of the world. The current "death panels" we have run by private insurance companies=no problem.

They seem to be extremely aware of the potential abuse in overly-powerful government (and there is a legitimate case to be made for that. I've come to believe that any place where the government is the biggest employer and government jobs are the ones everybody wants, is a place that is destined for trouble. I saw that play out for 11 years on the island where I used to live). Yet they seem to be unable to consider the equal and considerable dangers of an overly powerful corporate sector as well.

In our governmental system the people are to limit the power of government, but who (if not the government) is to limit the power of big business?
 
Ugh that last line of mine is completely messed up grammatically but glad you understood my point!
 
I've come to believe that any place where the government is the biggest employer and government jobs are the ones everybody wants, is a place that is destined for trouble. I saw that play out for 11 years on the island where I used to live).

The Europe's like that and everything's fine here!
 
I'm not sure what you are getting at? Government should not provide large scale infrastructure? I don't see Apple offering up a couple of billion to build new roads or educate people in anyway other than how to increase profits?
The quote was "large scale social infrastructure" in the context of health care.

No one is arguing that the government shouldn't build roads or provide primary education. Many do argue, however, that the more "large scale social infrastructures," i.e. the government, replace the family infrastructure as the source of daily needs the worse off we are, individually and as a country.

I don't understand why people would want to offer up control of our lives from something we elect to unelected corporations, as where there would be a power vacuum at the top if government was severely limited, the corporations would an are gladly filling it.

Would you apply capitalist values to your family? Why the hell would you apply it to society at large? Unless it's tempered by more human, dare I say, socialist values it becomes a mess. Efficiency over humanity eh?

I agree, mom and dad simply can't be trusted to "spread the wealth around" in a family. A bureaucrat at every table I say.
 
Many do argue, however, that the more "large scale social infrastructures," i.e. the government, replace the family infrastructure as the source of daily needs the worse off we are, individually and as a country.



it's true. my mother really knows how to work the CAT scan we have in the basement and does a wonderful job administering chemo. and thank goodness we had everything my grandmother would have needed at a typical $400-a-day nursing home (that's what they cost, look at what we saved!) upstairs in the guest bedroom.
 
No one is also arguing that government should replace family structures or for a bureaucrat at every table, that's inane, but it can be a hell of an assistance.

Is it not government of the people by the people? I think one of the major problems here is that we have allowed the government to become divorced from us. Capitalism as I've already stated prices the bottom of society out of healthcare, it's not something that can be adequately provided by private companies who are looking to make money out of illness. I know it may be naive but shouldn't one of humanities aims be to take care of those people falling on hard times and try to solve some of our social problems? Surely that only be done best with the collective effort of all of us which should be best represented by 'our' government not one that is serving the interests of the corporations.

Pure capitalism seems to me to be the least freedom loving and inhuman system we could be using to ensure the wealth of the world.

And yes plenty of nations within Europe have fallen on hard times, but the Scandinavians and Germans are doing al right or at least as well as the US. What we are looking at in some of these states is just bad governance rather than the complete failure of some of the more socialist schemes in operation within these states.

Anyway if we want to hand control over to the private sector be my guest, just look at how the banks are doing with the Libor scandal and HSBC drug money laundering...better and more ethically sound than government?
 
I know it may be naive but shouldn't one of humanities aims be to take care of those people falling on hard times and try to solve some of our social problems?



no. this could in some way reduce the freedom and opportunity for Mitt Romney to make even more money.
 
There are some very narrow definitions freedom. Plus I'm on the roll with crappy spelling *humanity's.
 
The Batman Campaign? - The Rush Limbaugh Show

So, anyway, this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And there's now a discussion out there as to whether or not this is purposeful and whether or not it will influence voters. It's gonna have a lot of people. This movie, the audience is gonna be huge. A lot of people are gonna see the movie, and it's a lot of brain-dead people, entertainment, the pop culture crowd, and they're gonna hear Bane in the movie and they're gonna associate Bain. The thought is that when they start paying attention to the campaign later in the year, and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, Romney and Bain, that these people will think back to the Batman movie, "Oh, yeah, I know who that is." (laughing) There are some people who think it'll work. Others think you're really underestimating the American people to think that will work.

Rush despises fact checking and his audience doesn't bother, but Bane was introduced in the comics in the early 90's. So Obama's team has been working on this a looooong time.

Wait! But Obama voters are the brain dead folks, right?






THIS is your conservative think tank. It's so sad.
 
Guys, Bloomberg not only wants to slap the coke from your obese mouth he wants to pry the guns legally bought at Bass Pro Shop from your hands.
 
Bloomberg is right. No matter which side of the aisle you're on, I think we can all at least agree that we don't want to hear another story like this on the news again.

So presuming we're all on the same page on that aspect of it all, this time, when we sit here and say, "This needs to stop"/"We need to do something about this", let's actually, you know, DO something. For once. Put aside the partisan crap and let's work together. Please.
 
Bloomberg is right. No matter which side of the aisle you're on, I think we can all at least agree that we don't want to hear another story like this on the news again.

So presuming we're all on the same page on that aspect of it all, this time, when we sit here and say, "This needs to stop"/"We need to do something about this", let's actually, you know, DO something. For once. Put aside the partisan crap and let's work together. Please.

That will never happen as long as the NRA owns politicians.

Of course the question is, would it really prevent mass shootings and mass murders?

by James Alan Fox

Editor's note: James Alan Fox is the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University in Boston and co-author of "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder." He writes the Crime and Punishment blog for the Boston Globe.

(CNN) -- There are few criminal events as stunning and frightening as a mass shooting. The suddenness, randomness and unpredictability of episodes like Friday's early morning massacre at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater cause us all to wonder whether any place is safe.

In our search for some pattern or commonality to these tragedies that might help us make sense of what appears so senseless, we invariably seek answers to such questions as: "What would inspire someone to commit such a dreadful act, one that was clearly planned in terms of time and place?" and "Are there measures that would reduce the likelihood of such events or at least reduce the carnage associated with them when they do occur?

Because the shooting suspect was alive at the scene -- many mass killers commit suicide -- we might learn a lot more than usual about a motive for mass murder. Of course, that will do little to help us prevent future events. (The number of mass murders in the U.S. has remained fairly steady, averaging about two dozen cases a year since the mid-1970s.)


Even though there is a general profile that typifies these perpetrators, their exact identities become crystal clear only in the aftermath.

If one thing is predictable about mass shootings, however, is that they will spark arguments from gun control advocates and gun rights groups alike. Both sides of the gun issue will probably view this tragedy as one more example of why more or less gun control is the answer ... and both sides will be wrong.

Tighter restrictions on gun purchasing -- for example, eliminating multiple gun sales and closing the gun-show loophole -- may help reduce America's gun violence problem generally, but mass murder is unlike most other forms of violent conflict.

Mass killers are determined, deliberate and dead-set on murder. They plan methodically to execute their victims, finding the means no matter what laws or other impediments the state attempts to place in their way. To them, the will to kill cannot be denied.

Mass shootings have been exploited just as effectively by pro-gun groups to promote legislation allowing ordinary citizens to carry concealed weapons in public places. Concealed-carry proponents suggest that an armed citizenry would deter criminals or at least reduce the death toll.

While logical in theory, in the chaos of the moment, few gun owners would be prepared to mount an effective counterattack. And in a crowded setting, such as the movie theater clouded with tear gas and smoke, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish the bad guy with a gun from the good guys with their guns.

In the short term, there will probably be security specialists who will recommend ways in which our public spaces could be better protected. Sadly, mass shootings have occurred in shopping malls, schools, restaurants, health clubs, churches, courthouses, post offices, almost any place that people congregate. None of us would wish to turn our public spaces into tightly secured fortresses.

It is also unreasonable to expect that we would begin a campaign to round up all the guns or all the potentially dangerous people who might have access to guns. Mass murder is regrettably one of the painful consequences of the freedoms we enjoy.

Postscript: I do support wholeheartedly certain reasonable gun restrictions -- steps designed to reduce our nation's overall rate of firearms violence. Still, murder in its most extreme form, as in the Colorado shooting, is particularly difficult to prevent through gun regulations, or other strategies, for that matter. Of course, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try nonetheless.
 
I do, too. Ultimately the problem does go a LOT deeper with these rampage killers, and we can't begin to solve anything until we get to the root of the issue. I swear, if I start hearing mention of some weird moments in his past that always show up on those lists of "warning signs" we're told to look out for after events like this, but which people continue to somehow always seem to miss until it's too late, I'm going to scream.

Not only do we need to have a proper discussion about gun control, but we also desperately need to talk more about mental health care in this country and where it's failing. I don't think it's a stretch to presume that this guy was clearly mentally unbalanced in some way for some time before this, and if he did get help, where did it go wrong. If he didn't, why not?

Concealed-carry proponents suggest that an armed citizenry would deter criminals or at least reduce the death toll.

While logical in theory, in the chaos of the moment, few gun owners would be prepared to mount an effective counterattack. And in a crowded setting, such as the movie theater clouded with tear gas and smoke, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish the bad guy with a gun from the good guys with their guns.

Precisely.

I've made it clear in the past that I hate guns. I'd personally be fine with living in a world where they didn't exist.

But of course, I know that'll never happen, and I know there are people who are responsible with guns, and so if somebody wants to own one, okay. If I were making the laws, I'd say that I do think we should have limits on the number and type of guns people can own. A simple handgun (if you want to have some means of protection in your home) and/or a hunting rifle if you are a hunter should really be about all I'd think any civilian would need to own. The rest of the other types of guns out there should be reserved for military or law enforcement means, and even then, those should be for on the job use only and in extreme, out of the ordinary circumstances, and not for personal use.

And the idea of people being able to carry guns anywhere they want unnerves me, too.

Sadly, mass shootings have occurred in shopping malls, schools, restaurants, health clubs, churches, courthouses, post offices, almost any place that people congregate. None of us would wish to turn our public spaces into tightly secured fortresses.

Yeah, I was rather freaked out when going to work at the mall on Friday.

But he's right, though. I don't have a problem with security measures in and of themselves, I think some level of that in public places certainly makes sense.

However, from what I heard, this guy found ways to get past the security at the theater. It's like when schools were putting metal detectors in all over the place after some of the school shootings in the late '90s. I'd like to know how they think metal detectors would've worked in the situation in...Jonesboro, I believe it was, where the kids did not bring the weapons to school, but rather rang the fire alarm, got everyone to come outside, and started shooting at them from some nearby woods or hill or wherever it was they hid.
 
What about his mother telling the police "you've got the right guy"? I wonder what his parents knew, and for how long, about any mental health issues and what kind of help they sought- if any. I don't want to blame them, I just wonder. Of course sometimes people do all they can and they still can't stop this kind of thing.
 
Similar situation last month here in Seattle. Mentally unstable guy shot up a cafe (and then later the woman whose car he'd been attempting to steal). Heartbroken family immediately wondered if it was their son doing the shooting, and were sadly unsurprised to learn it was him.

He'd been dealing with mental illness issues for years. One's family and friends can only do so much when the person in question is an adult, unfortunately. There is no point in wondering what the family did or tried to do, especially if it was the case here where the shooter only recently exhibited signs of illness.

It sounds like, if I'm understanding correctly, even if you suspect they might be a danger to themselves or others, it's not easy for anything to be done about it.
 
The first thing I thought of when I heard his age is that it might be onset of schizophrenia or bipolar disease, which typically manifest themselves then.
 
Boston Globe

Mitt Romney, responding to the deadly shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo., asserted Wednesday that the United States does not need stricter gun laws, saying they could not have stopped the killing of a dozen people by a lone gunman at a movie theater.

“I don’t happen to believe that America needs new gun laws,” Romney said in an interview with NBC News, which was filmed in London on the first day of the candidate’s weeklong trip to Europe and Israel. “A lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening.

In 2004, when he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed a state ban on assault weapons -- such as the AR-15 allegedly used by accused shooter James Holmes -- shortly before a federal ban on the guns expired.

“These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense,” Romney said at the time. “They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.”

Asked by interviewer Brian Williams whether he stood by those words, Romney deflected.

Click to contact candidates or elected officials about this issue. “Well, I actually signed a piece of legislation, as you described, that banned assault weapons in our state. It was a continuation of prior legislation, and it was backed both by the Second Amendment advocates, like myself, and those that wanted to restrict gun rights because it was a compromise. Both sides got some things improved in the laws as they existed.”

“And I happen to think that with regards to the Aurora, Colo. disaster,” Romney continued, “we’re wise to continue the time of memorial and think of comforting the people affected, and the political implications, legal implications, are something which will be sorted out down the road.”

Romney joined the National Rifle Association in 2006 and has sought the organization’s support by casting himself as a better protector of the Second Amendment than President Obama.

Williams prodded Romney on another past statement: “I don’t line up with the NRA,” Romney said during an unsuccessful bid for the US Senate in 1994.

“Well, on every single issue, there are differences between myself and the NRA,” Romney said Wednesday. “On many issues we share a common commitment to the Second Amendment and the right of people to bear arms, but I’m sure from time to time there’ll be issues where they and I might part -- I don’t have one for you right now -- but their agenda is not entirely identical with my own.”
 
Mitt Romney would restore 'Anglo-Saxon' relations between Britain and America - Telegraph


As the Republican presidential challenger accused Barack Obama of appeasing America's enemies in his first foreign policy speech of the US general election campaign, advisers told The Daily Telegraph that he would abandon Mr Obama’s “Left-wing” coolness towards London.

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.
 
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