November 27, 2006
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GIGANTIC BUG UP MY BUTT…Fly away bug…be free.
When did we start thinking that we need someone to make laws to tell us how to behave? When did we stop taking responsibility for ourselves?
A while ago when we were having a rash of school shootings, again. Around the time where the wacko killed the Amish girls, I made a comment about gun control…I had people randomly cruising by my site for a week after that one. I’m sure they’ll all search GUN CONTROL and be back now but oh well. Alright back on the subject. the comment I made was something to the effect of I thought we need a uniform gun control law on the sale of fire arms with a mandatory waiting period in all fifty states…
Alright here’s where I, the fence sitter, actually picks a side. I WAS WRONG… I was speaking from emotion and not careful consideration. I think that each state should regulate their gun control and sales. Smaller government is better and I’m thinking fewer laws are better too. In the same post I said I think helmet laws and seat belt laws are stupid…
I did not! I repeat DID NOT say I thought wearing a helmet or a seat belt is stupid…I don’t…I think the fact that people need laws to tell them to do it is STUPID… I mean if you want to smear your brains on the pavement that is your business.When we were in Kansas I was informed that they had just passed a law saying that every child in a car under the age of eight has to have a booster seat. SAY WHAT! You try fitting three kids in an automobile, under the age of eight, into a car capable of only transporting five people. Why isn’t a seat belt enough? Because someone came out with a study saying the belts fit differently on children and could I repeat COULD hurt them in an accident.
Here’s another thing, Why have we allowed ourselves to become a society that lives in fear? That is motivated by FEAR?
We are trying to compensate by passing laws and thinking that they will keep us safe instead of raising our children with values and spending time with our families…eating dinner at the table, all at the same time, without a television blaring or a media item on. Spending time with each other. Teaching things instead of just saying it’s the law DO IT.
We’re afraid of guns. But Guns don’t kill people…it’s the person pulling the trigger that kills someone. Why not teach healthy respect and understanding of firearms. Telling your child to not touch something or to be scared of it is not going to keep them from touching it or being curious and possibly hurting themselves or others with it. They need to know what things are and how to handle them or not to and that an adult should be present…Because I don’t care what anyone says. I have children and they will pick up a stick and pretend it’s a gun or a sword. I don’t ever want them to hide the fact that they might have found a gun and they think Mommy would freak if they told her so they’ll just play with it without telling her. I know I hope that nothing like that ever happens but ugh…Now I’m just babbling.
Alright, really this isn’t all about guns although that is an obvious issue that is in constant media and on most peoples minds. It’s about STUPID LAWS and why we think we need them. People use common sense. I know there are a few people who don’t have the benefit of common sense but I don’t want to think about them.
Michigan has a law about not swearing in front of woman and children. For heavens sake people…why would you swear in front of a child…why would you swear in public?
Here’s a fun site on what I think are called Bathtub laws they just call them stupid laws… In Traverse City we have a law on the books that no one can take a bath on Sunday. This law stems from the fact that the fire department didn’t work on Sundays back in the day and so if you bumped your head or fell…no one would be there to fix you. Go figure.
Alright. So where does all this righteous (or so I like to think) indignation stem from. Why am I all worked up over laws and peoples stupidity and lack of responsibility?
So I watched An Inconvenient Truth. NO I AM NOT A DEMOCRATE…I vote people not parties…I am a tree hugger though. And why not they smell good and look pretty. The point isn’t that this is an AL Gore thing. This is a global issue. At first I was like oh yeah one more thing to try and make me feel afraid, to motivate me by fear… And yup it’s in there.All of it is, but at the same time there is also the message that what we have done is not un-fixable…not un-reversable. That there is technology today that exists to help eliminate the problem or at least not contribute to it. We can all be doing things to help and why aren’t we? Why do we need a clean air act to tell us to clean our air? Why do we need emission standards to tell us that our cars should run more fuel efficiently. Why are these things not made available to us because they are there?
This wasn’t mentioned in the video but I was listening to NPR…Yes, NPR, the other day about Texas building power plants or rather making plans to build, and the technology is available to make them almost completely clean…but because of the cost they aren’t going to use the technology. Why isn’t the Government (YES I know that means us) funding the difference? Why should anyone tell the people building the plants that they should be built efficiently. OKAY blah blah blah…
I’m even confusing myself now. I don’t know why I’m addressing these things I’ve been thinking about today, when I’ve just come from dealing with Brownies, not the chocolate kind, and I’m battling hormone surges… I just have a bug up my butt lately and I needed to let it out. For crying out loud I get annoyed when I go to the Boy Scout meeting lately and their using styrofoam cups…what are they stupid?! See maybe I’m just a bit sensitive.
Okay, I didn’t want to offend anyone, but I know you all, and if I did, I know you’ll tell me. Really feel free I won’t have my feelings hurt if you disagree. Let me have it people…If I cry, tears are only salt water.. lol
Oh one thing that did bug me about the video is that it didn’t address any of the fixes… but if you have questions about what you can do here’s the Global Warming forum.
I know…I’m a tree hugger. I never used to be, but hey, the trees need someone too.
Comments (30)
ohhh… Wonderful, thought inspiring post, Ang! I agree with you on many of your points! My input on laws and the lawmakers.. It’s about wanting to be IN CONTROL of all situations and IN CONTROL of fear. Make sense?
GRRR… I see I screwed up my links. lol I’m too frustrated to fix it now. lol maybe later… I’m still regrouping from bug release. lol
I’m kinda with ya, except for the child safety seat thing, but I can see where you are coming from, smaller government and more sense/personal responsibility. But there is always people that will blame you and I for not making them aware that Mcdonalds coffee is surface of the sun hot, the same person that complains when it’s not that hot, is gonna sue your butt when it spills on them because they are holding it between their legs, stoooopid, our society is edging towards the lowest common denominator, hence the stooopid laws.
Yeah, its amazing what runs though the court systems these days. Makes you wonder how far we have really come from the “Joan of Ark” days. But really I’m glad to hear you have released the bug from your but! Ha-ha.
wow, I couldn’t agree more with you.
absolutely!
You’re fantastic. Just thought you oughta know.
RYC: I Think child saftey seats are a good thing. Mine that need them have them. But…if my son is 80-90lbs and 4 1/2 feet tall…he doesn’t need a booster seat even if he is only seven… and if my daughter were… 50-60 lbs and only 3 1/2 feet tall she would need one,even if she were 7… I know some a girl who is and believe me, she has a booster and is not often happy about it. The point is that it isn’t an issue that can be determined by AGE…it has to be common sense on a parents part.
Al Gore has some very powerful ideas for making change. There are many people out there with this sense of how to make it better. I agree, why preach the negatives without any solution (and, yes, this is a society very based on fear). i am glad you are out for the trees. we are all connected in this whole thing. thanx for your comment- made me LOL too!
The reason power plants aren’t built to produce cleaner energy is because it will cost more, and people don’t want to pay. The reason government doesn’t fund the difference is because people don’t want to pay more taxes for it. The reason people don’t recycle is because it’s inconvenient (in most places). The reason it’s inconvenient is because most recycling costs more money than it saves. Etc. If you can figure out a way to make tree-hugging save people money (in the short run because that’s as far as people look), people will be willing to do it.
^^^ exactly and that sucks so bad!!! We are so short sighted that we don’t do things to save the future because it will cost us a buck…or a little space now. What a sad commentary on our society and us as a human race… The other thing that people need to start thinking about is that in the long run it will cost us more money just to make our planet inhabitable if we don’t fix things now… ANG
Right on in my book, we are [lawed to death].
Glad you let the bug out, Good job.
Shack
It’s a catch 22, we don’t want the “fear” to rule us, that’s just not practical.
But the basic need to protect the people we care about, sometimes over ourselves throws a curve ball. So we look to our government to take action for long term help, and at the same time emotionally people are set up to want immediate action, but with no cost.
We need to take some of the money being poured into expansion for example highways being expanded to 4 lanes and trickle some of that into the issues that concern the blue collars and they are the biggest sect.
It is very easy for people to pass judgment on self proclaimed fence sitters and at the same time do nothing.
RYC: I did not mean to give that impression. The What the was in reference to the picture of the ART O MATIC. It was suppose to be funny like what the hell is that? kind of joke. I just never seen anything like that before and I thought it was not for real. I never meant to offend. If I did please accept my apology.
I thought that movie was powerful. And I agree about the making of laws to control behavior. I’m not in to life control.
That great big bug gets up my butt occasionally, too! My original fix to the problem was to kill all the stupid people, but then I got to thinking that if all of the stupid people were gone, the intellectual bar would be raised and I might wind up being one of the stupid people. We have the booster seat law for children under 8 years old or less than a certain number of inches in height and pounds in weight. It is only a few years old, but people seem to be complying with it.
I disagree with the powerofshoes as to where the money needs to come from, I think we need to cut back some foreign aid to the countries that say they don’t want our interference, then we should give them what they want, no interference, use that money to bolster our own infrastructre, feed our own people, give some back to the middle class in the form of tax breaks, but her basic penise is right on, we need to take care of our own, not ignoring the world but surely looking to our own first
Ryc Don’t be sorry hell everybody picks on Kansas, we love it
Amen sista!!!!! Happy Tuesday!! Love ya!!
Alright time to step off your soup box!
soap box I mean not soup Duh
i want a soup box.
no, but really, i embrace all your tree-hugger ways. it’s fun to make fun of hippies, but i really fall in line with liberal ideas.
It’s people’s different opinions that make us who we are. People may not agree with you, but who cares? I don’t know if I would want a bunch of clones to be friends with me. LOL
I still think you are awesome.
ryc: of course no problem
Back in the day in Canada, my Father had two shot-guns (one for his wife), and a rifle. They all scared me, all of them are long guns. I joked,with the shot gun and my manual typewriter, we can defend the property. The guns are gone, and we’re all the better. Your ‘right to bare arms’ needs to be re-writen, as a responsibility into the ’every man’, gender neutral, instead of the right people’. Who they are are beyond me.
‘Hyde Park’ in London, is where they shout on soap boxes. I like your venue, and wish you peace.
RYC: Thanks for your thoughts! I will have lots of people thinking and praying for me tomorrow, so my surgery should be a breeze. Well, I am hoping anyway, lol!
Wheeeeew, you stirred up a hornets nest, everybody loves to comment on our goverment’s crap.
Al Gore has no friends, says South Park and I think it may be true
Congratulations for speaking your mind ~ I just couldnt imagine you a fence sitter
Ang,
Living as I do now, in a LAWLESS place… people live in COMPLETE FEAR! (see my latest post!) I see the laws as ways to make ramifications for wrongdoing… here, there are no ramifications for your actions and in places outside the reach of the Afghan National Police or the ANA, the bad guys get away with MURDER (literally… and pun intended) and nothing happens to them. In the U.S. we do not live in fear… if you are a “law abiding citizen” then you have absolutely nothing to worry about! Having now lived in another country and dealt with the idiosyncracies therein… I have come to appreciate what it is that we have in America!! BIG TIME!!!!!
Brian
LOL at your rant. I missed this one with all I had going on; but you can bet I have an opinion or two to share.
1. Gun Control–Sorry, honey, but yes, we do need some minimum amount of this. Why? Because you can’t count on people to be educated about guns, to behave responsibly, or to not go around killing each other. Look around, honey! You’ve seen stupid people. They’re EVERYWHERE. And, yes, some of them will use guns even IF there’s a law against it; but many more will hesitate to have a gun if there are sensible and enforced gun control laws on the books.
2. Global warming is not a democratic or republican issue. It’s a “we’re humans using this Earth” issue. It’s also a Christian issue, if you happen to be one, because God gave us this wonderful resource and expects us to use it wisely and not destroy it. I haven’t seen “An Inconvenient Truth” yet; but from what I’ve heard, it’s aptly named. We, and mostly WE as Americans (but also many other humans on this planet, particularly the Chinese) have decided that it’s not our problem, or it’s too expensive, or it’s too HARRRRDDDD (insert appropriate whine here) to make the small changes necessary to limit our negative impact on the planet.
3. Politics. I’m a registered Independent; and I vote that way. My ballot was both blue AND red earlier this month; and it pretty much always is. If you’re an INFORMED voter who does the research about the candidates and where they stand (and I don’t mean watching their freakin’ endless commercials the week before!), I think Independent is the way to go. In my opinion, only lazy people vote a straight party line–because there are vast differences between candidates; and you can’t possibly expect to agree with every one simply because they’re in a particular party.
Okay, I think that’s it. For now.