Good grief

Gunman kills 2 in Oregon mall on Tuesday

Elementary school shooting on Friday with 26 dead.

Birmingham Alabama hospital shooting 2 injured gunman shot dead Sat.

Police had a busy day in Alabama as they shot and killed two other gunmen one of which had killed three more in a mobile home park earlier in the day. Sat.

Las Vegas  - Employee shot and killed gunman kills self  Sat. 

California mall - man fires 50 rounds before being captured no injuries Sat. 

So what does Michigan do? It passes a law to permit the carrying of guns in once restricted places like schools, churches, day cares and stadiums. Just what ya need at a day care right? After all those toddlers just might be packin heat ya never know. And let's see what an angry soccer mom has to say when she's looking down a barrel of a 45 automatic. Back to your seat lady. Unless of course she's packin too. Then it'll start to look like the shoot out at the O K corral.

Once you had to do the duck and cover drill for a possible atom bomb attack. Now it's a duck and cover for a deranged gunman. I think we know which has the better odds of happening. Forget the terrorists. We have seen the enemy and it's us. But it's really all about the attitude in this country. Somehow we've gotten it into our thick heads that brute force always wins the argument right or wrong. It's been drilled into our heads from TV and movies as well as our own politicians. A fist fight turns into a knife fight that turned into a gun fight that turns into a war with bigger and bigger weapons. It's gotten to the point that we're more adept at killing people than fixing any appliance or healing a sick person. Sorry but I'm not buying into a Klingon culture (you know the warrior race from Star Trek). We have not been taught negotiating skills and we're so lazy that we wouldn't bother to get up off the couch to change the channels anymore. Why would we think of the effort when the click of a remote button or a squeeze of a trigger is so much easier?

And as I said in the earlier post this isn't going to get better any time soon. There's a percentage of the population that's bordering on the edge and it's not looking like it's taking very much of a push to get things rolling. 

What's the solution? Well for starters the Brady bill being reinstated might do a bit of good. It ended the ownership of assault rifles at least for a time. It also required a background check at all gun outlets including shows. It's not the end all but it is a start. But over all the attitudes must change. We have after all the distinction of having the most gun deaths of any industrialized nation.

Guns and butter minus the butter

Economic theory aside the initial intention of the second amendment was to permit common folk to be able to hunt for food, protect themselves from wild animals and provide for an armed force when necessary. Deer hunters are few and far between these days. It's rare to see a wild animal in most cities or towns and our military has progressed way beyond muzzle loaders and will be more than willing to provide you with the latest hardware should you choose to join.  I'm sure our founding fathers could never have guessed the sheer increase of our population or how far we've come in our killing capabilities. Back then it took several minutes to properly load a weapon, enough time to consider the consequences maybe?

But guns really aren't the problem. It's the fact that no one will own up to the fact that some people shouldn't own a gun. We would never think of giving a toddler a gun yet even people with mental issues have that right. And arming everybody will not solve the problem. How do you know if the guy in the coffee shop with a 45 strapped to his belt really knows how to shoot it? And who'd want to attend a movie knowing that even half the audience was packing? So training is the first issue. There are no training requirements which is silly for something that can kill. We have stiffer requirements for some power actuated tools than for guns. It makes no sense.

With our population density I see no need what so ever to own an assault rifle. They may be fun play toys for the gun crowd but they'd be better off limited to some type of amusement park set up for that activity. No sport in taking down a deer with an AK-47 either.

And now for the bad news. With budget cuts the types of people committing these crimes are about to flood our streets. Mental hospitals are about to unleash a bunch of people along with those who were in drug treatment programs. I seriously doubt our emergency rooms will be able to handle the increase in both mental cases and the victims of their actions. A movie theater a mall and a school are just the beginnings. This will get worse. Responsibility, training, a good gun cabinet and some tightening of the laws might go a long way to preventing at least a few future tragedies.     

Friday pussy and the Christmas carol the fractured variety

UPDATE: Kitty had no idea what was about to transpire in Connecticut before she showed her ugly mug. She therefore takes back everything she said. A better wish might be some tasty fish heads.

Oh the weather outside is frightful.

Cyclone flattens homes in Samoa 3 dead

But the fire is so delightful

Delaware fire kills 1 injures 3

And since we've no place to go

Man killed in Concord homeless encampment

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Woman facing blizzard death records goodbye

It doesn't show signs of stopping

Dakota blizzard piling 3 foot high drifts

And I've bought some corn for popping

Corn futures sharply lower

The light are turned way down low

Glenn Dale Elementary closed due to power outage

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Blizzard warning issued for Mitchell area

Bank fails later...
One bank in MO failed this week.

Money grubbin slackers

The irony of it all. Mitt Romney was willing to make a bet of $10,000 during the primary. I can't recall off hand what it was about but by the very fact that he was willing to consider that amount of money trivial gives one pause to wonder. Why all the fuss over a paltry 2% increase for taxes for the most wealthy? On $250,000 that comes out to $5,000 or half what Romney was willing to bet. Even at $1 million dollars it would be $20,000 and that's only after the two hundred fifty thousand dollar threshold was reached. I recall some years back getting a notice from the city. They were going to install a sidewalk near my place and an assessment was about to be issued. I wondered and worried a bit about how much this was going to cost. I had visions of having to scrape together hundreds of dollars at a time I could ill afford it. When the bill came due it amounted to just $17. Imagine that. You couldn't install a sidewalk yourself even if it was only your percent of the job. But if the job is spread out amongst enough people with no shareholders to account to and no profits to worry about then things can be done cheaply and benefit the whole. So what the American people are asking them (the wealthy) to do will cost them no hardship. They probably drop as much at a casino and think nothing of it. And yet here we are facing not only economic losses by the lesser of society but a loss of trust by the rest of the world. Never in our history has our financial position been downgraded yet we've seen this happen for the first time last year. Canada's money is now more valuable than ours. And you think those at the top do their fair share of the work load. Think again. I once worked for an outfit and only saw the top guy once in three years I worked there. And their "main office" wasn't much bigger than a living room. He spent most of his time fishing on his boat somewhere and was too cheap to replace broken equipment. Yeah you can see my respect for the upper 1%.

Some holiday music to get you in the mood

All I want for Christmas is a job

Angels we have heard are high

Away in a cheap motel

Blue (balls) Christmas

Oh cum all ye faithful

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (was booked for public intoxication)

Silent Night (was broken with the sounds of gun fire)

What child is this? (ah don't you know the father? tramp!)

While shepherds watched their flocks (the boyz in the hood were boosting your stereo)

Holly Jolly Christmas (is when you mix ecstasy with your egg nog)

Ah Christmas that most unique time of year when people buy crap they wouldn't think twice about buying the rest of the year. I'm sure uncle Harry doesn't need an electric nose hair tweezers even though his nostrils could compete with the Smith Bros. beards. And for the life of me I see no point of a Chia pet. In a couple of months it'll sit on a window sill all brown and ugly collecting dust.

We reach a saturation point of materialism in which the only needs left are to replace some worn out underwear or a frayed winter coat. But the madness continues until extra storage comes into play. That's when you know there's a real problem. When you have so much junk that the closet won't take one more trinket it's time to seek help. Why did you save that hat from Jr. high? Thought it might be a cute item to give to the grand kids only you aren't going to be around to see them cause the kids moved back home.

My contention is that we could outfit an entire country and never miss a thing. I have for the most part furnished my place with the leftovers of people's forgotten lives. And good stuff too. Demolition work had its' perks. But at some point it all becomes a burden, a psychosis of the collection of things. My problem is that by the time I get finished with something like a piece of clothing it wouldn't even make a good dust rag. And no I'm not about to run all over town seeking out a fiber recycler. Too much effort there.

So let's all go wassailing and pervert a few more ditties before the cock crows. Even that sounds naughty. Hey baby want to wassail?

He's makin a list, checkin it twice

Okay kiddies what's it going to be this year the evil Krampus or the evil pedophile Nikolo?

Ooow forget the coal, more cat tails please. And so this is how little Johann grew a fondness for z S&M. He was a bad bad boy from there on out.

And if you thought this little tale of slackery was any good just wait for the Xmas special coming to a blogspot near you. Until then stay tuned for more exciting adventures from yesteryear in the never ending saga from casa Demeur. Thrills spills and chills and no bitter aftertaste. Well maybe a little.

Hey and what's Nikolo doing with his hand in his robe?

Fukushima revisited

Worker in what appears to be a decontamination room with fully encapsulating radiation suit.

I have to admit my knowledge of radioactive materials is limited. Yes it was covered briefly in my hazardous waste training but only the basics. The reason is simple. Workers who deal with the stuff must go through an additional 120 hours of training beyond the basic 80 hour Haz Mat course and even then I'd be certain they would be supervised closely by more experienced workers for a time. It takes about 3 years of field work to get good at most hazardous waste jobs so I can imagine the experience when dealing with radioactive materials.

But as I said we were taught the basics. Simply put a paper tyvec suit would protect you from alpha radiation. A metallic poly suit would protect from beta radiation and you'd better have a heavy lead suit when dealing with gamma radiation. Even then there are no guarantees with the latter. So my roll would be more of a support person in the event of a nuclear disaster like Fukushima. It would be a different story with a dirty bomb. But let me put your fears to rest on that front. The bulk of the contamination of a dirty bomb would be alpha radiation where a simple mask would protect most people. And the bulk of the damage would be more psychological than physical. I therefore might be called in to begin a lengthy process of vacuuming several city blocks with a HEPA vacuum. And I'm sure under the supervision of numerous government eyes and monitors. I recall the anthrax clean up and how it proceeded. Quite impressed with that operation as nothing like it had every been done before.

But now we have Fukushima that's been wiped from the headlines with more pressing things like an economic meltdown. Out of sight out of mind seems to be the order of the day. But the reality is that this catastrophe continues and governments and media are white washing the truth. Until recently everything looked as if it was going along nicely. A company had been commissioned and was working to contain the contaminants. "Clean up" as they call it. But there are some ugly facts now coming to the light of day. Truth has a way of seeping through the cracks of a cover up. In this case the primary company responsible for the clean up efforts has hired subcontractors or to put it more aptly borrowed workers from other lesser environmental companies in the country. While we might think nothing of that little fact in our country it's against the law in Japan. Their worker safety rules aren't up to our standards when it comes to who's responsible in the event a worker gets injured. But putting that issue aside the lesser workers were asked to cover their dose meters with lead strips in order to give lower radiation readings. That's something that would be considered criminal here in the U.S. and I'm sure in Japan as well. Charges have been brought but that's not the only issue here. It's who was responsible for the oversight of this project and what misinformation was presented to the general public as fact that's important.

Scientists from all over the world are there giving their expertise but the public is still being kept in the dark about the ongoing dangers present. One of our own university professors here has gone there many times studying the effects on insects and animals and comparing that to the Chernobyl disaster. His preliminary conclusions are that the public is being lied to with respect to radiation levels and their effects on wildlife. He has detected radiation levels far higher and as far away a Tokyo than what's being reported. Should we be surprised? But the real issue here is not only the higher levels but the effects of long term exposures to men and beast. There is a Chernobyl museum a sort of monument to the effects of the disaster in the Ukraine. In it they have a bear born with the deformities one might expect. Warning the next image you see might be disturbing but the truth can be ugly.

  

And this continues in Chernobyl to this day some 27 years later as animals and people migrate back into the contamination zone. Only four months after the disaster in Japan signs were put up not to warn residents to stay away from the beaches around Fukushima but to invite people to enjoy a good swim and the sun in an area that should have been banner taped off as an exclusion zone. With tides and currents it's certain that detection levels would be very hard to accurately be determined. And we know that much of the contamination went into the ocean. The long term effects will be felt for generations to come.
I will spare you the scientific details as only those who deal with the stuff on a daily basis know the exact safe radiation levels even if they were required to hide the facts. It is safe to say that the levels are much higher than reported and again that the effects will be felt for a long time to come.