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So tired.

Posted: Dec 17, 2012

I'm late to the gun debate on the boards, because I needed time to calm down after Friday's tragedy. I didn't want to come here all emotional and start swiping at people and coming up with totally unrealistic expectations of our country regarding gun control. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how completely saturated we are with guns.

I grew up with guns, in a house practically stuffed to the brim with them. My family are paranoid "survivalists." I don't know if this man's mother was really a survivalist or not, but the word has been tossed around a lot, and that is how I grew up. I was very comfortable with guns as a young girl, and I thought it was neat that my dad would take me shooting.

Later in life, guns started to interrupt my happiness. It started with my dad, locking himself in the bathroom with a gun. It continued in high school, when one of my friends fired on a crowd at his girlfriend's birthday party and eventually barricaded himself in her room and shot himself. Another friend tried to shoot himself, but ended up blowing off half his face and surviving. Another friend succeeded and has been dead for years. A family friend spent 20 years in prison after a revenge shooting.

Why can't we be like Japan? Why do we embrace a gun culture in America? I am not talking about rural areas, where people need guns for practical purposes. I'm talking about a paranoid culture that is so hell-bent on "protecting" ourselves that we are literally shooting ourselves in the foot.

;

tired - anon

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I know it's comforting to think that the gun issue would completely solve all of this, but it's just not the case. I understand that violence and gun control are not mutually exclusive, but again the core issue is being dwarfed by gun control. The mental health system in this country is completely substandard and extremely difficult to obtain. Psychiatrists are essentially walking prescription pads, writing out scripts in a 15-min session with a patient. Then the patient is sent to follow up with substandard therapists. Although medications will assist in care "take this pill" is not the complete solution. Therapist are unqualified to handle real mental healthcare. People this disturbed are not dealing with a momentary depressive episode in their life. Talk therapy is okay for some, but real hands-on therapy almost doesn't exist. Inpatient level of care requires either extremely good insurance, lots of money, or a record of being in trouble with the law, meaning they have done something to warrant inpatient level of care; thus, they have already harmed or come very close to harming themselves or someone else. Someone this mentally ill will find a way, be it a gun, a knife, a homemade pipe bomb, etc., to accomplish their goal. Mental healthcare in this country needs serious overhaul and a deep discussion to nip this kind of violence in the bud.

Yes, mental health is an issue too. - Here I am.

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And I WISH gun control could solve this problem, but it can't.

We've already put too many guns in place to do anything useful at this point.

Too many people are obstructing laws to ban those weapons that are totally unnecessary, because they're paranoid about their rights being taken away.

I don't know what we can do now. Maybe Obamacare will allow easier access to mental health treatment. But people want to fight that as well, because they don't want to help "moochers."

Background checks? A useful screening process, sure. But useless when the person has no record.

Maybe we need to put restrictions on the amount of ammo someone can buy in a certain time period.

Maybe we need to give everyone a free bullet-proof vest with their annual checkup.

Maybe we just screwed ourselves and it's too late to fix it.

Well, we can start by tossing Anon's phony argument that an action - must "completely solve" or be worthless.

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This is the real world we live in, and problems are almost always dealt with only by a combination of approaches and never done away with entirely. That doesn't mean we do nothing about them.

Some things that will each cut violence by their share and together create an even greater peace synergy than their total:

Strengthening background checks for all gun purchases, private too, will cut gun violence by a really significant percentage.

Outlawing assault weapons for most people will do the same.

Having less gun violence will lessen the overall culture of violence in our country; it might be a very small percentage initially, but we're talking saved lives here, every day, every year, as the civilizing effect builds.

At the same time we look at other ways to cut violence:
Self-editing routine extreme violence out of our entertainment.
Better mental health treatment.
Public education to identify trouble before it happens.
Refusal to tolerate violence around us, reporting to authorities as soon as we know about it.
Improving the economy and incomes across the lower to middle class spectrum. The connection between not just poverty but even drops in income and violence has been documented many times, many ways.

Do all this--and we really should be doing all this--and we will look back in amazement and disgust at what we made excuses for in this era.

People don't want to lose their freedoms - Here I am.

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It feels like every step we try to take to implement gun control laws are fought tooth and nail by people who are obsessed with not losing any of their freedoms. They're afraid that if they give an inch, they'll lose their guns. So, nothing useful is done. It's maddening.

The same with editing violence out of entertainment. You'd have to have a mutual agreement to do something like that, and I don't see it happening.

Better mental health tx...again...forget it. We can hardly get people to have insurance in this country without them ranting and raving about their freedoms.

You have to be willing to give up some freedoms for the better of the country, and not enough people are willing to make that compromise.

Oh, it's all hopeless? Come on! 89% of gun OWNERS - support background checks. We don't have

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better laws simply because our lawmakers are more afraid of opposition by the well-funded NRA LEADERSHIP than they are interested in doing their jobs.

BTW, once again, according to that pool of the NRA, 74% of the NRA MEMBERSHIP support background checks and most of them had no idea that 40% of all gun sales in the U.S. were without background checks.

Let's stop the passive victims stuff and be the change we need.

Background checks don't solve the problem. - Here I am.

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OBVIOUSLY.

Do you really need to call me a "passive victim?"

What's the action I missed, HereIAm? - Sounded totally defeatist to me so that

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any progress for the better must come from others. Did your post misrepresent you?

What should we be doing to help ourselves?

I'm just being realistic. - Here I am.

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And I'm feeling sad right now.

The country can't agree on a solution. I wish we could have better gun control, but people fight it.

What action am I supposed to be taking? I vote. That's how I take action.

Good. But there is no one solution, and people never - always agree. To be moving forward

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in spite of that is a great thing. This forum and others are places we can be the change society needs by sharing constructive thoughts toward a better world.

Above all, though, to fix this we need to act at home, particularly if we have children or grandchildren. Any Christmas gifts that need to be looked at with a newly clear eye and exchanged? Video games that need to be erased? Parents of the grandchildren who need talking to? Playmates our children should see less of, and only at our houses? Christmas parties we can pleasantly comment on our boycott of overly violent movies at? Assault weapons we need to take apart and store in a large safety deposit box, or just get rid of?

tired - anon

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If re-read my initial post, there was no "completely solve" anything statement in there. NOTHING alone will completely solve this. What I was stating was that mental healthcare in this country is extremely substandard, let alone practically unattainable. Glossing over the state of mind of anyone that would do such a thing is a huge mistake. Gun control may contribute to less violence of this kind, but even without access to a gun this kind of violence can be accomplished by use of homemade pipe bombs, etc. Only a severely mentally disturbed person would inflict this kind of violence. No one stable mentally would ever choose to do this, available guns or not.

Assault weapons ban was a wash. Otherwise, outstanding suggestions :-) - LeonaG

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I am much in favor of improvement in background checks, as I have reason to believe that they aren't working as well as they could.

It would be nice if the background check was required on ALL gun sales, somehow. I'm not sure that can be done because of privacy concerns, unless people sell their guns only through licensed dealers (which some people do now). Is there a lawyer in the house?

I'm also not sure that many bad guys get guns by buying them from law-abiding citizens, which would be useful info to have before passing laws that will cost money.

How to improve background checks? - Here I am.

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What else could be checked? A psychological assessment? References from friends and neighbors?

HereIAm, most states do a minimum that does NOT include - Database search for restraining orders! SM

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Can you imagine? The basic search is only through the FBI database for whatever felonies they have recorded. A wife can get a restraining order because her husband promised to kill her, and he can then go out and legally purchase the gun he's going to use.

Other things many states don't bother to check for are fugitive status and mental illness. They don't check to see if a purchaser is on the run from the police or tried to kill himself just last month and thinks his children would be better off dead too."

According to a study in Preventive Medicine, "...firearm homicide deaths are 13 percent lower when states have checks for restraining orders and 21 percent lower when fugitive status is checked."

So, one place to start. Beefing up background check requirements for all states. Have applicants pay for most of the additional cost.

I can't prove this with cites, but here goes. - LeonaG

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I've been told by a few people who use the background check system that some items don't always get reported timely, mainly to do with chemical dependency, domestic violence and mental health. If so, that needs to be fixed ASAP.

Requiring liability insurance on all gun owners might be workable. Then we'd just lay the problem on the insurance companies. They would probably refuse to insure anyone who'd been treated for drug addiction, alcoholism, people on certain medications, etc. It'd also likely not be very expensive insurance, since there's such a big pool of gun owners. It's an interesting idea. Some people's homeowner's policies may already cover this under the liability portion. Anyone know?

The assault weapons ban didn't make any difference the first time it was tried, as far as I can tell. If it didn't work then, it probably won't work now. We should spend that money on a program or tactic that seems more likely to bear fruit.

Leona, I like the liability approach. Only part I know about - is that it is illegal everywhere to insure

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a crime. (If it weren't, we could insure for lost wages while we were in prison for beating up our boss. :)

Thus, if an owner were implicated in any criminal way in a crime committed with a gun, the policy wouldn't have to pay off. For gun accidents, I forget how insurance applies.

BUT, having worked in liability insurance long ago, I can say the approach of having insurance companies turn some safety screws is a VERY effective one where it can be applied, and I suspect the industry might somehow be employed in shaving yet more percentage points off the homicide stats.

If Mrs. Lanza had been required to purchase specific gun-liability insurance to keep those weapons in her home legally... In this case it might have made a real difference. With a teenage son in the house, and the type of weapons involved, the premium might have dissuaded purchase or lead to an agreement to store them in a safer location off site.

Or in future to gun safeties that can only be released by an owner, such as fingerprint readers.

There are small safes with fingerprint readers, I think. - LeonaG

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We may never know what the mother knew, or if she was in denial, or if the son was able to hide the problems that led to him murdering, or if he had suddenly become much worse. He may have had Asperger's and then also developed schizophrenia.

It's become pretty common for single women to have a gun at home, and one they might want to get at quickly.

Should all guns be locked up all the time? I think not. I really don't want to devolve down into anecdote, but it does seem that there are more "hey look at this" accidental shootings by teens and children in big cities - where kids are more likely to be unfamiliar with guns. Thankfully, those accidents aren't common (though of course still tragic, no matter how rare).

Out here in the country, children go hunting with their parents and plink at targets and often have a familiarity and competence with guns. It isn't an exciting forbidden object. They learn a lot of safety, too. Hunter safety is taught in the schools here as an elective; it's required for a teen to get a hunting license. Bagging your first deer is a rite of passage. It is said that gun safety education saves lives. There are probably some studies on it. With the huge number of gun owners and guns, and I doubt most people keep them locked in safes all the time, there must be a reason there aren't MORE such accidents. Maybe it's education.

To bring up another point that hasn't been touched on, or not much, yet, the "gun nutters" cite a study that claims guns are legitimately used in self-defense, often without being fired, a million times a year. That number seems way too high to me, and the study methodology stinks, but guns do at times save lives, there's no debate. Some of those instances make the news. Thankfully, most people will never be faced with such a situation. But I wouldn't be comfortable laying down a blanket rule that anyone with a gun had to keep it locked up at all times, even if there were teens in the house. That has to be a judgment call by the adults, and sometimes they'll be wrong. Can't safety-proof the world and everything in it ;-/

Thank you for the civil discussion, if I haven't already.

We're on top of a hill surrounded by woods and have a - loaded shotgun under the bed. A lib. nm

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x

Many households in rural areas are armed. Rightly so. - n/t LeonaG

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..

too late to fix it - maybe

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It became too late to fix it the moment the "parents" had to be out of the home in order to make a living. Both parents have to work. The child is left to grow up by himself with his/her values being taught in schools that do not allow spiritual guidance, teachers that are overwhelmed with children and cannot concetrate as much energy as a child needs in his life for guidance. Teachers should not be the ones guiding our children. The parents should. It all went out the window for sure when a parent's right to "discipline" their children...not abuse, but discipline was also taken away. A child now has learned no respect for anything or anyone by the guidance that loving discipline can provide. The children now feel that nobody cares about them and they are left on their own to try to manage life in an angry and bitter world. All they really know is TV and video games, and no supervision by their parents. Raising a child is a full time job in itself. Back in my younger years they were called "latch key kids" with nobody home when they arrived from school. They were left to their own devices and we all know that children will do whatever they can get away with when out of supervisions eyes and nobody to tell them that it is wrong, (whatevery they are doing). The parents try to make up for "not being there" for their children by supplying them with everything under the sun, electronics, technology, everything but what they truly need. Love and guidance. What with all the single families these days, those things are left mostly to the mother, who has to work in order to support their children. A father is usually not in the child's life, and thus once again without a father's guidance. Parents these days have no option but to turn the care and guidance of their children over to a school to do their jobs for them. Schools themselves are nothing more than "social media" for children, where true learning is not a part of the "curriculum." Children are passed on from grade to grade without really having knowledge of whatever classes they were studying. Test standards have deteriorated to the point where most children who are now 16 or 17 are all but illiterate themselves, unable to read to any good degree except the texting abbreviations and facebook abbreviations. They have endured years and years of bullying from other kids, being made fun of for all the things kids find to make fun of someone for. Self-esteem is at an all time low due to that alone. A kid is forced to "grow up" way too soon these days because they have to take care of themselves. Teen sex is rampant what with 12 and 13 year old children having sex and producing children they do not want, and thinking that abortion is the answer when it becomes an "inconvenience" to one's own life. If you don't want it in your life, just kill it. It will go away. These are the "values" being taught to our children on a daily basis, and when one becomes so overloaded with life as that, bombarded with the vileness on TV and videogames, loses his own sense of himself or worth of himself to the point where all he feels is rage inside and does not even know what he is raging against, everybody is shocked when he reacts violently. We have not taught love and self-worth. We have taught "grow up", "make it on your own," "do it to someone else before they do it for you." These kids today do not stand a chance any longer for a structured, productive life. They are angry and have no idea why or where to direct their anger towards. I am sorry, but it is not guns that cause the massacres. It is the anger that many of us feel without direction or how to alleviate it. Too late to fix?....absolutely!

If you and yours haven't been murdered yet, how can it be too - late for you? Big-girl panties time. nm

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x

did you even read it?? - does not sound like it.

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nm

You began and ended with "can't fix," with one giant mudhole - of a paragraph to wade through in between. You

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know, I confess I didn't read most of it. Most people don't. There're good functional reasons we break paragraphs up into separate thoughts.

Your middle thought about parents, home, etc.--I really agree with that. It's an important factor, but what I was reacting to because of the way you structured your comment was the defeatism that bracketed it on both ends.

Defeatism and negativism are sounded so deplorably often here on so many topics. Forums like this make it so obvious that all progress is the achievement of small percentages of a people going to work, with everyone else dragged along behind like a giant inert weight.

This dreadful tragedy has galvanized people across the country into moving from passive acceptance to demands for action. Why not you? Join in and pull for some of the changes we need. Your focus was at base economic, so I imagine you already are. Just need to keep at it and maybe rev it up a bit while there's a movement to join?

I read every word. - While you did a good job

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in many ways of defining salient issues, I am at odds with the 20th century solution to a 21st century problem. Move forward is not just a trite, catchy campaign slogan. It is an imperative toward which we have really no alternatives. Evolution is not an option for human survival and, to the best of my knowledge, there is no single instance to be found in the scientific database where species have reversed course and devolved back to their earlier forms.

I just think moving women, or men for that matter, out of the workforce and back into a 50s home-bound gender role is completely unrealistic. Another thing that troubles me is the overtones suggesting a pigeonhole approach to who provides care and guidance for our children and where things "belong."

Sorry to invoke what may be perceived to be a divisive partisan slogan (which it is not), but I think a fresh look at the concept of "it takes a village" is in order. Though it's often attributed to having an African proverbial origin, it is actually a cross-cultural concept that dates back far beyond the advent of political co-optation. Revisiting such gems of wisdom of the ages couldn't hurt.

as much as that sounds - like a good idea...in some aspects

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the "village" raising everybody else's children is just not going to work, because not everybody in the village agrees on how that should be done. Just look at this board...nobody can agree on anything...it is all about "I am right and YOU are wrong," and nothing more. Children need to be raised by two "loving" parents, in their own homes, with morals, values, and respect being taught, and with more than just "grounding" and "time outs". Children need boundaries...that is how they grow. They have no boundaries as of now, because nobody is there to provide boundaries with, and when the parent/parents do arrive back home, they are too tired, too disinterested, and too focused on their own lives to care about what their offspring are doing. I don't see a "village" doing any better of a job raising everybody else's kids, any more than I see the school system having to do it, either.

So do you keep them under lock and key until age 18 or - do you

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at least acknowledge that the subenvironments within the home (TV, computers, social media, visitors) and those that lay beyond the front door threshhold play every bit as much of a role in shaping the content of their characters, the perceptions of their individual identities, and their relationships to their neighborhoods, communities, and broader social spheres.

No one I know attempts to take on this monumental responsibility without the help and involvement of extended family, friends/peers (theirs and ours), babysitters, day care and community centers, churches, healthcare facilities, and schools, just to name a few. From their time en utero, their brains are hard-wired to sponge up stimuli from the physical, sensory, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and spiritual realms. It does not seem well equipped with parental control mechanisms like our various electronic devices.

The "village" is not a literal reference, not in this day and age. It's a useful metaphor I think holds great potential as a blueprint when trying to figure out how to proceed to assess what lays before us within the context of securing a safe, civilized and more nurturing environment for our kids to be raised in. IMO, ignoring, minimizing or dismissing its significance does our children a great disservice.

yes...and I just saw a program - that actually spoke with

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some of these mass murders trying to get an idea of what was going through their heads as to why they did what they did. These were their reasonings:

Nobody listens to me (particularly the parents)

Bullying from classmates (can relate to a lot of that on this board...it is just as bad)

and:

Sexual abuse.

I suspect there is much more sexual abuse and bullying going on in these kids' lives than anyone even wants to admit to. It messes with the kids' minds more than one would think...people in trusting positions..priests, coaches, boy scout coaches, teachers....hmmm. I can see the anger.

It that works for you, no problem. Just think it makes for - ill-advised public policies. nm

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.

??? - when this is coming from

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the voices of those that kill?? Public policies? That's all you have on your mind? Public policies do nothing to change the feelings in the heart of those that kill and their reasons why. Lock up all the guns you want. I don't particularly care, as I do not own one and have been shot at in the past from someone that does, but regulating gun control laws does not change how these kids feel on the inside. If bullying is an excuse from them as to why, lock up all the guns you want, it won't change a doggone thing. Sexual abuse against a child by a trusted (supposedly) individual has nothing to do with gun control. The killer will find another way to express his rage. He does not need a gun to do that. Stop the real problems....bullying and sexual abuse.

For me, the public is not "them." - It's US.

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Not willing to pursue this beyond the rhetorical "That's all you have on your mind?" question and the narrow-minded scope such personalized reductionism implies, along with that of the "bullying and sexual abuse" magic bullet explanation. My comments do not apply to what you as a parent do with your own kids, but rather how ALL public policies from previously mentioned environmental institutions (that include, but certainly are not limited to, our body politic) approach these developments. Obsessing over those two aspects at the expense of all the rest of what is being discussed here is simplistic, non-productive, dead-end dialogue, and is not well grounded in reality.

reductionism.... - the word of the week

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nm.

So...these messed up kids shouldn't have guns. - Here I am.

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I'm one of those latch key kids, and I turned out okay, by the way.

Anyway, so we have a bunch of screwed up kids running around, and we don't do anything about gun laws? How is that helpful? It seems more important than ever now to tighten them up.

these "messed up kids" - do not need

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guns to accomplish the letting out of their rage. If there were no guns at all, they would still find a way. It is not the gun that kills, it is only a "method". It is the person that kills.

Yeah, like there's no difference - Here I am.

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Between someone going on a rampage with a knife and with a gun.

I didn't say that - whatever weapon is used

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is simply a "method" to kill. The act of killing comes from within and will be accomplished no matter what "weapon" is used. Some people use guns, others use knives, others use bombs, others use vehicles, others use their fists...killing will continue as long as the "will to do so" is there, it does not matter what "weapon" is used. The weapon is not the problem.

So why make it easy to commit mass murder? - Here I am.

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.

then you have to ban all methods... - of being able to kill

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guns are not the only thing making it easy to commit mass murder...bombs are pretty effective, as well.(Oklahoma City), planes run into buildings are very effective (9/11). Chemical warfare can take many lives...

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. - Here I am.

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I think everyone realizes there are other ways to kill people, guns just happen to be the most convenient.

why don't you want to address - the act of killing

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as being THE PROBLEM, not the weapon used to accomplish it? Killing is okay as long as you don't use a gun to do it?? Makes no sense to me at all.

They are both a problem. - Here I am.

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It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Because that approach has produced nothing but - confusion and inaction in the past

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and is patently irresponsible of the adults in this nation whose number one job is caring for and protection of our children, as the president pointed out last night. It is an extremely complex problem that is going to require courage, determination and persistence to resolve. This insistence upon explaining it away with a monolithic declaration of a single cause is the first barrier to progress that must be torn down. Though we will be using politics as one of our tools, nothing good will come from a refusal lay partisanship aside so we can come together in a common cause. It's been done before and can be done again.

that will not ever happen - as most people are

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too focused on who is right and who is wrong, or once again, the partisan aspect of everything. True, it has been done in the past, but people were more inclined to WANT things to change for the better. I do not see that anymore. As with the election...they don't want change...they want things to stay the same. Some people LIKE things the way they are...free rein to kill, and then gripe about the weapons of choice used to do so.

Sorry, I do not buy into that defeatism anymore. - Just because

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you do not see it does not mean it's not there. For the sake of our kids, we must try to renew our faith in ourselves and in one another. No one is suggesting it is possible to get perfect results, but an inclusive and COLLECTIVE effort must be made to tap into the common interests we share in the well-being of our children.

There is not just safety in numbers. There is power as well. I choose to believe that the American concept of individual initiative, wherein strength, determination and resolve lead to success, can be elaborated into grass roots bipartisan coalition building OUTSIDE DC, founded on trust and mutual respect.

This young man seemingly had an OK home. - RC

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Didn't he? His parents divorced, but not until he was older. His family was well off. I'm not entirely clear on his mom's situation, but from what I've read, she was once a part-time teacher who became a stay-at-home mom.

This particular case, yes. And she seems to have - been an involved, concerned mom. nm

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x

Please see message. - sm

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Thanks for your post. I thought it was good.

Regarding your sentence, "Test standards have deteriorated to the point where most children who are now 16 or 17 are all but illiterate themselves, unable to read to any good degree except the texting abbreviations and facebook abbreviations.

I notice that more and more people in this country who can't speak English, and I'm talking about those who have lived here all their lives.

In other words, there are a lot of uninformed, uneducated, illiterate people in this country, and if the children of these people are home schooled, well, it's like the blind leading the blind.

Chris Rock on gun control. - Warning: This is COMEDY...

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If you don't want a good laugh now or are offended by language, DON'T WATCH THIS! You have been warned! Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/FzGRQF_sETY

I think some of his ideas might actually help.

$5000 a bullet, there ya go! - Here I am.

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OMG. There were SO MANY GEMS in that short video!

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May 14, 2010
Tax the rich more....tax the poor less, etc. It is my opinion that if you tax the rich more, it won't help that much considering there are so many loopholes in the tax code that I'm sure the rich will find a way to get out of paying more taxes. Why don't we just do a flat tax. That will eliminate the loopholes. Simple and easy...probably why they won't do it though. They need something confusing so the crooks in the world can get out of paying ta ...

Nov 08, 2012
"Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a constant force, performing a timeless function in the development of a free society, and corresponding to a deep and permanent requirement of human nature itself." As an individual who practices conservatism, I am thankful that I continue to live in a country that allows me to speak my words, that allows me to go to the school of my choice, that allows me and affords me the opportunity to make my own choices, that allows me the opportu ...

Feb 20, 2016
Get you out of bed?? I mean seriously, deep down severe fatigue?? I am having a day like that today. I haven't felt like this in a long time. It used to happen more frequently, a few times a year. When my kids were younger I would lay in bed and think my kids would come home from school with me lying in bed and unable to get up. But eventually I would be able to rouse from my fatigue and walk to the kitchen and get a cold beverage. I think for me it is hormonal ...

Dec 03, 2009
I have long hair that usually takes about 3 boxes of dye. I usually only do it about 2-3 times a year and do the all over color each time because my color tends to fade. I think hair dye might be one of those things that you get what you pay for. I usually buy the Colorsilk ($2-$3 at Walmart) because it is cheaper and I am usually broke. This year I think I will splurge a little and buy a more expensive brand. In the past I have tried the Herbal ess. and Natrual Ins ...

Apr 11, 2011
on Medicare are on the "dole" EVERYONE gets Medicare when they are 65, and it is not free, and there are deductibles that need to be met. I pay monthly for Part B coverage, suppemental insurance and pharmacy insurance, about $250 total. I have worked all my life and payed payroll taxes toward Medicare and Social Security for a good many years. I do think that it is time to raise the ceiling on income that is subject to deductions. Any income avove $120,000 is n ...

May 20, 2011
I'm ready for a peaceful, happy weekend. I hope all of you have one too. ...

Sep 05, 2012
It's like an echo. Every single person who speaks or gave a speech, and every government mayor, governor, government worker who speaks or gave a speech, are saying the exact same thing. Don't they have thoughts of their own? Can't they think for themselves? It certainly doesn't look that way. I'm surprised the women are being bamboozled so badly. It's shocking. Oh, and I love the way Debbie Wasserman-Schultz got caught in another lie and then lied about it... ...

Feb 08, 2013
Hello, I am having some health issues with my gallbladder, or so it seems. I don't have health insurance as it is not offered through my job. I can't afford to have anything done. It's really depressing to know you work for everything you have and it can be taken away from high hospital bills. I am currently taking a medical coding class. I find my stressed, tired all the time, depressed, and not to mention the "horrible" gallbladder attacks. I have changed my diet, but feel I am ...

Feb 03, 2014
I've always had an average amount of energy but lately I literally feel as if I am wading through water. I actually feel weighted down. I never used to be able to sleep anywhere but in bed, but I notice I have been nodding off in my chair even though I sleep well at night. I don't snore or have apnea. (It's been really cold here, and I find the nodding off occurs in my recliner when I have a blanket on me.) My diet isn't that unhealthy, but it is pretty monotonous. I fi ...

Mar 10, 2015
Boy, I would sure love some real truth for a change. I am sick and tired of these excuses and lies that the Democrats give for everything and am sick of Mr. O saying he didn't know till he heard it on the news or it's someone else's fault. That is like my ex-husband blaming me for his wife's children renigging on a loan and him going bankrupt and other things like this he always accused me of. Nothing to do with me at all or our son. Anyway, I am more than ready for a ...

Mar 31, 2015
Before someone says way they were raised, both kids grown and difference between night and day. I just called my daughter to ask a simple question. She works with math, I am slow with it. She does a short form income tax each year, I itemize. My question was what was the standard deduction for a person on short form. I got so much talk back it was unreal from different places charge different, you have to know this and that and I said maybe I am not making myself clear and repeated, saying just ...

Feb 19, 2011
This board is a prime example of double standards from both sides, hypocrisy on both sides, and the blind following their choosen herd without trying to see for themselves. I'm just tired of it all. Thanks for the rant. I had to get that off of my chest. ...

Dec 22, 2009
Just got another call from a bill collector. This one asked if I can borrow the money from someone or get a PayDay loan... UUGGGHHH!!!! Just had to vent a little...back to pounding the keyboard for money now... ...

Jan 22, 2014
The world's 85 richest people own the same amount as about 3,500,000,000 people, or the same amount as the bottom half of the entire global population (3.5 billion). See link for more information. ****** Worldwide economic inequality is looking rather bleak these days, according to a new report by relief organization Oxfam. Oxfam's "Working For The Few" report looked at Credit Suisse's "Global Wealth Report 2013" and Forbes' list of the world's billionaires ...

Jun 11, 2014
By the end of my shift sometimes, my eyes just ache. I have gone back to wearing my glasses instead of my contacts to see if that helps. I enlarge the font and have good lighting but by the end of the day, they just ache ...

Mar 19, 2016
disturb the peace and break up lawful gatherings where people are enjoying their constitutional right to freedom of speech. These idiotic protests against Trump are not permitted, meaning no permits were gotten. If they feel so strongly, let them put their money where their mouths are and get a venue and gather there. Why subject common citizens going about their business to their ridiculous childish tantrums. The left is surely the most insane bunch of freaks I have ever seen. ...

May 08, 2015
a few videos of the Tea Party rallies getting out of hand, acting like the fascists they are called, rioting, killing, looting, any of that aberrant behavior, I'd be very happy. If you can't, please shut your pie holes. You know nothing about the Tea Party. Nothing. I'll wait for some proof. ...

Jun 07, 2010
Here's the thing, I think they spend too much time together and ever since school let out for summer, they have been getting into fights. And I don't mean arguments. I mean I hearing screaming and yelling and things breaking in the basement. So I go in there and what is happening is my son's girlfriend loses her temper and she hits my son. When I say hit, I mean she punches him in the face, backhands him in the mouth. My son has a really bad temper, b ...

Jul 29, 2016
You liberal women have had your fun dissing males and particularly white male, but it's all going to come home to roost in November. My DH and many other men I know are sick of you. ...

Oct 22, 2013
like my cell phone has universal government tax to pay for Obamaphones, my internet bill has hidden fees, and my gas/electric bill has $1 dollar added every month to pay for heat during the winter for "those who can't afford it." We pay for this stuff. All the while I'm lowering my lifestyle, growing my own food, walking instead of driving my 18-year-old car....infinity. There, done venting. ...

Jan 20, 2010
I am thinking that it may be that my chair is just worn out, no support, etc. After typing all day my spine feels "tired." I cannot really explain it any better, it does not really hurt or ache. Curious if anyone else experiences this. TIA ...

Dec 30, 2011
maybe they need their own board. ugh. ...

May 02, 2014
Why has John Kerry been subpoenaed? ...

Dec 28, 2009
by Robert A. HallI'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I& ...