Jim

So - Boner could't even get his own Plan B passed in the House - so what could possibly be palatable to the teabaggers? Congress will likely come up with some minor agreement and then set another cliff deadline in 4 months, or we'll have a similar self-imposed debate around the debt limit. What a way to run a country - thanks Republicans and Teabaggers.

I'm glad the NRA is working on a brilliant new solution. Tough times demand creative thinking. We Need More Guns

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cIcqUokPiTw

While I'd prefer to do more, this seems like a reasonable start - in addition to required background checks/waiting periods/registrations for gun shows and a tighter leash on sellers at shows.

What a bunch of crap. If that skinny-assed punk got into the school w/o a gun it would have taken about 3 of those kids to crawl all over him and take out the maggot. Yea, well Jackie Chan could have killed as many - brilliant argument. Bottom line - these shooters are cowards. A gun gives them perceived power that they can then take out whatever false retribution their tweaked minds have concocted. Guns are just way to available in our society.

While the overall homicide rate in the US is trending downward, it is still way above other countries with a similar living standard (really, don't throw Mexico and Columbia into the statistics), but mass killings are on an upward trend. Studies show a strong correlation between the availability of handguns and the homicide rate AND that there are less gun deaths in states with stricter gun control. Awash in Guns I grew up around hunting buddies, did the deer/turkey thing; as a wildlife ecologist spent quite a bit of time in hunter camps getting samples (deer heads, body parts for genetics/parasite studies) and under stand how some folks love of the outdoors translates into hunting. What I don't get is the fear factor that drives a lot of gun ownership; either of the government or just the general boogie man. Why are folks such chickenlittles that they feel the need to have a gun in the house that is more likely to end up killing a family member than an intruder. Don't get it.

. I want to know what this mother was like, and if she should have owned the guns she did or not. Considering how it turned out, I'd say she should not have owned them. Exactly. It always something like this - oh he got them from his grandfather/parent/brother/friend's house. The short of it is that if we were not a society awash in guns this troubled person would not have even got into the school. The current model of free-market guns is not working. Among 1st world countries we are an outlier in gun violence.

Legally, illegally - either way I'd say it is not working. Tell one of the parents you think more guns is the answer.

There's no reason to repeat the numerous mass school shootings in the U.S. You can Google that well enough. It's sad. Very sad. To say that the easy access to firearms plays no issue in this is intellectually dishonest, naive, or just a plain lie. We are drowning in availability of guns. How to solve it? I don't know at this point.

It's a pretty good assumption that we have comparable percentage of crazy people compared to other countries. One difference. Ours have gun access.

Hmmm. No reason to waste money and legal time - seems like a common sense decision.

Was in the vicinity also - but I've yet to go up Arrowhead. Looks like fun!

We could mark this day on the calendar for next year and carry on with a mellow conversation at the first annual pub-smoke, with munchies of course.

The guy made a mistake - or several. Glad he stopped and called for assistance when he knew he was at his limit. My advice: check the friggin' weather report. The facebook thing. FB is weird enough. The need for 15 minutes of fame, or less, seems to be a continued preoccupation for some.

I agree that map/compass work is a fading skill. Maybe because of GPS use folks are more comfortable following the blips on their screen. And having worked on some big landscapes owned by the military, some of those guys were among the best at map work I've ever come across. Plus, they could land a 'copter on a postage stamp to get us in and out of remote places. Knowledge of your terrain, use of map, compass, and altimeter can get you out of almost any sticky situation. That said - on the volcanoes I can see a GPS being very useful.

Don't think about this stuff while driving. Death by Vaccine

Stranger things have happened. I think the Seals did in OBL with the MMR vaccine.

I'd strongly suggest you read the online article rather than an obvious proponent's opinion piece of vaccine wacko theory. The study include a whopping 25 patients - one (1!!) of which had some ASD issues who had a recent vaccine and: No shit! Friggin' A. This is what the vaccine wackos are banging on the door about? 1) There is no evidence of a relationship between vaccines and autisim (period. 0. nada). 2) for some small, yet undefined group with ASD, there is a relationship with mitochondria disease, and 3) one person with in the study group of 25 had mitochondria disease and also had a recent vaccine! Wow. That settles it for me. Now on to the chem trail discussion.

yup, nothing to see here. right, jim? Do you know what you are reading?? It says that ASD may be associated with ICS - so what?? then goes on to comment on the "no difference in ICS and childhood diseases - all prefaced by the comment that there is NO EVIDENCE relating all this to vaccines. WTF?

Yea. Funny in a ha-ha sort of way: From your link: Translation: There is no evidence here by to pacify the wackos we'll look at clinical data - that has no significance because of extremely small datasets of organic-granola eating-don't vaccine my kid wackos so we can try and get them to STFU. Love that term "democratization of science" like it's up for a vote. Shit - now all we need to do is put evolution up for a vote and be done with it.

I noticed you failed to post this salient point in the article: And later in the article it points out that the only reason they are going to look at data is because of "some public interest". What a waste of money. They should spend time looking into this more: Autism

Hey, that's a tayra! Some Dutch chick saw three on the trail just before me in the Amazon - she was nonplussed - I was like where, where?

Like I said - it was a report I heard on KUOW about Washington banks, not a nationwide report. They did not outright state "no MJ medical businesses can get a bank account" - thus I only passed on what I heard - which seems the honest thing to do, eh? But - from their reporting one would infer that you cannot go into a WA bank and say - "Hey - I have a MJ business and I'd like to open a commercial account". Well you can, and you will be refused. Can you point to a MJ business that operates a commercial account with bank in full knowledge of their business? Given that they interviewed a range of banks, including small community banks the interviewer thought would defer to state law - the banks interviewed (3 I think of different sizes) all said the same thing. As an institution with federal links (all banks have this unless you are the mafia) they believe it's too much risk to touch MJ businesses. Also - the Seattle Times article I linked to said the same thing. So it's not speculation. And I'm not disagreeing with the big picture - I think this all will end up in court. Where it goes after that - I don't know. Found the NPR transcript - so you can make your own interpretation Pot in WA

Well, on the drive up from Olympia I was listening to a segment on KUOW this afternoon. They interviewed big banks (BOA) and small one and credit unions. All of them said they would not touch MJ businesses, including medical, because of the threat of the feds. There was no upside to it from their perspective - the risk far outweighed the minor benefit of another small customer. Then they interviewed medical MJ businesses and they told their saga of having to deal in cash and money orders - because no bank in WA will touch them. Finally - they ended with a MJ medical dispenser who said he just did not say what his business was because when he did that he was refused an account. So, while I admit I don't know the business transactions details - this report seemed to indicate that no MJ business in WA was admitting to a bank what exactly their business was. Tried but failed to find the KUOW podcast - but is was on about 11:30 or so today. Did find this: MJ Banks

Interesting. I'm assuming that this will be settle in court, somewhere. Maybe regarding commerce, since no commercial bank will touch an MJ grower, distributor, or merchant because of federal guarantees. Right now if you want a commercial account as a medical distributor in WA you have one option. Lie to the bank about your business.