If I may be so bold, a common sense (I hope) thread on some issues

[The Straight Story]

I might be covering several issues, but there is something common I hope within them that we can hopefully agree on.

1. My dad, uncle, and aunt have all owned and been around guns since they were tots. Dad is 74 now and still owns several. No one in my family has ever used a gun to harm another person, though they have killed some deer.

If you claim that 'guns don't kill people, people do' is an NRA talking point you are simply dodging the truth because it does not fit your view. For most people who own guns (of which there are millions in the US alone) they are just a tool or something fun to use on weekends.

2. When I was a deputy I was coming home for work one day and there were a lot of cops in my apartment complex. I flashed my badge and got onto the crime scene. Some guy had killed himself by inhaling the fumes from his tail pipe. yeah, that shit can kill you. Never saw anyone kick over in a bar after a night of folks smoking in it. Your car exhaust has a health affect on people. Using your car as directed kills or at the minimum harms others.

3. Breastfeeding, homeschooling, abortion - it is none of your business what parents choose in that regards. If a woman wants to breastfeed her child and homeschool them, not my damn business. If she wants to have an abortion, not my business either.

4. Religion, etc - If you have a belief and want to live it, fine by me. Problem we have is when others want to use their beliefs to set policy or preach to us the 'one' way. And I find that happens less now with religious people but more with others who want to legislate my choices based on what they think is best. They don't use a bible, they just use whatever they want and do essentially the same thing.


Overall what I have seen time and again is people wanting the freedom to live their own lives and being upset when others tell them they are wrong and we should eliminate their choices because it is best for the rest of society (or the church, whatever).

I can map just about anything you do back to me and how it affects me in a negative matter (reading this thread alone is adding to pollution, takes electricity to host the server, to read the thread, etc). But come on, how granular do we really want to get? How much control over others do we think will save us from...well, what is it that we are wanting to be saved from anyway? Terrorists, death, sickness?

We can spend all day finding ways we are a threat to one another. But I think we need to spend more time on how we can help one another via pooling our resources for better roads, healthcare, fighting poverty, etc.

you might spend time doing things I don't like and I think are bad, but I will put up with it so that I have the freedom to use my one life here being me and living my life as I see fit. That is not to say we can't have some common sense stuff to make it better for us (like limiting pollution) but let's not get carried away and spend all our time finding devils in details.

Hopefully we won't spend too much effort on being afraid of each other. because I feel that most of us are really decent folk who do the right thing. Problem is, the bad people get all the press and make us afraid of each other.

[ixion]

1. k&r

well said. :applause:

[havocmom]

2. make that a two-fer

:thumbsup:

[frebrd]

3. K&R!

[monmouth]

4. How about a three-fer...Hmmmm...n/t

[BR_Parkway]

5. Off to the Greatest with you!

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pleah]

7. K&R

:)

[dysfunctional press]

8. in regard to homeschooling...

first off- i don't have kids, so it's not my issue.
i don't as a general rule have a problem with people who choose homeschooling
but- i do think that the government has a responsibility to see to it that it's done properly, and that the children are getting the education that they're entitled to.

[The Straight Story]

9. my view on that

Set standards and let people reach them however they desire (which I would guess is pretty much the same view you have).

It is just a pet peeve of mine. When I ran the data centers at chase other data center managers in various parts of the country were all in a fuss over what work flow tool to use. We had our own we wrote and was great. But they were sure we needed the same tool at all places. I pointed out that as long as the data base back-end had all the info there that was required the front-end did not matter (since we would be reporting off that data to upper management). But some folks wanted to 'shine' and pushed for a tool. After I left they finally got one, and the guys back there I still talk to say it sucks and everyone at the other centers are having issues with it (and in the testing of various tools the one we had met 95% of requirements, the one adopted 72% - stupid stupid stupid....)

Set standards and allow people find their own way to meet them. Choice is a good thing :)