All The Info

In the last week there have been millions of comments, stories and analysis of the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. Rather than post comments of my own, I want to offer a couple links to some interesting articles I personally agree with.

First is this posting that analyzes the role gun control plays in school shootings.

I have an acquaintance that holds a concealed weapon permit and he explained the process to me one day. He had to take a class prior to receiving his permit. In the class the students were instructed on the responsibility of having a concealed weapon permit. They were basically told that if they were going to carry, they should carry ALL THE TIME. There is no way to know when an event like what happened at Virginia Tech is going to happen, the only way to effectivly deal with a situation is to be prepared.

I used to think I would like to have a carry permit, but after the conversation I had with this person I changed my mind. It’s a lot of repsonsibility to shoulder and I applaud anyone that has strong enough convictions to go around the public armed with the knowledge that they may have to stop a deranged lunatic.

The second article discusses the warning signs that were ignored prior to the shooting.

The shooter had obvious mental problems and the problems were reported, but this individual did not get adequate help and disaster ensued.

One last comment. While I’m NOT an advocate of ANY legislation undermining our constiutional right to bear arms, this is clearly an incident where current gun control failed. Laws were followed, firearms were purchased legally, no one beside the shooter was armed in the gun free zone, yet tragedy struck. In many cases, like columbine, gun laws were circumvented, additional laws would not have made any difference. This time, it is possible that different laws may have impacted the outcome.

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My friend John found this today

Why Mommy is on welfare a Democrat

Too funny. Didn’t know the Democrats were actually Communists…

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There are probably thousands (maybe millions) of posts today complaining about this, but I’m going to say it anyway.

I HATE Daylight Savings Time. Actually, it’s not the DST that I hate as much as it is the TIME CHANGE. Not everyone has this problem, but I’m screwed up for at least a week after the spring change. Losing that hour out of my life is hard on my schedule.

My favorite thing about the whole time change is the idiocy of it all. We don’t get ‘an extra hour of daylight’. The amount of daylight is the same yesterday as it is today (except for the 30 seconds we gain going in to summer). The whole thing is just a nationwide gimmick used to trick us into going to bed an hour earlier and getting up an hour earlier. How dumb is that.

We save energy at the cost of thousands of hours of lost productivity due to sleep schedules being screwed up. Then in the fall, when we could really use the ‘extra hour of light’, they take it back. Why? ‘Because of the children’ who can’t go to school in the dark.

The whole thing is just ridiculous and makes me irritable. I’m going to keep complaining until somebody puts a stop to the nonsense!

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Yesterday, I received in my inbox an email from my friends over at the Libertarian Party discussing the Libertarian response to President Bush’s State of the Union speech.

I am not (yet) a member of the Libertarian party, and cannot endorse their comments without reservation, but I do think the piece made some interesting points, specifically:

…the President’s health care proposal to replace an unlimited employer health care expense deduction with standard deductions for individuals, while not perfect, is a large step in the badly needed direction of breaking the link between employment and health insurance in this nation. It would stop federal tax discrimination against people who are not covered by employer-provided insurance.

I think every self employed person I know would agree with this.

The President touched on another of his unpopular and failing big government solutions: No Child Left Behind. Not so very long ago, the Republican Platform called for the elimination of the federal Department of Education. Today, Republicans and Democrats compete over which big government programs and mandates can be forced on state and local governments. No Child Left Behind should not be reauthorized.

There is nearly universal agreement that the No Child Left Behind program is an underfunded, misguided intrusion by the Federal government on our local schools. It’s mind boggling to me that Bush even brought it up in his speech.

and finally

…the President is attempting to force new fuel economy standards on automobile manufacturers. Additionally, he is tampering with the free market in order to reach the probably unachievable goal of “energy independence.” If we want the lowest possible energy prices and alternative energy sources to develop, we need to get government out of the energy business and let the free market work.

This concept here is one of my ultimate pet peeves. The US government is subsidising the oil industry while forcing better mileage standards. They are spending money on both ends of the problem when a free market would likely balance everything out.

I encourage you to read the whole response. You may not agree, but it definitely makes you think…

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