Ramblings

I know guns exist, but I've never thought they were close to me. This past week I've read more about guns than I care to. From the news it's seems obvious to me that Jared Loughner was mentally disturbed. I don't consider that unusual. What is maddening is that he had access to a semi-automatic Glock with a 30 bullet clip and was legally permitted to carry it. After the events of last weekend, I would think that people would acknowledge that we can work to tone down our political rhetoric, but what we can realistically limit is the easy access to firearms/the kinds of arms sold. I would expect our Congress to at least be able to put together a bill - not a bill to limit firearms within 1000 feet of just THEM (good one Rep Peter King!)- but a bill that protects everyone. Why is this so hard?? Especially important since new reports out show gun sales increasing nationwide with particular increases for the gun and magazine that Loughner used. The NY Times has an article out today to basically kill all expectations of that - New Gun Control Limits are Improbable Lawmakers Say. The NRA is too powerful, having more guns make people safer, people are scared of losing their 2nd amendment rights, etc ETC. Am I taking crazy pills? Hunting rifles are one thing, easy access to semi-automatic weapons whose sole purpose is to kill and injure people quickly are another. In an Op-Ed on Sunday, Gail Collins posed this question regarding gun control, "The difference is not about the Second Amendment. It’s about a technology the founding fathers could never have imagined." Very true! Did James Madison predict semi-automatic weapons? I doubt it. I didn't even imagine Khloe Kardashian marrying Lamar Odom! I feel legit scared thinking about weapon-laden citizens that have been overloading on partisan political rhetoric walking around the grocery store with me. This quote from the director of Gun Owners in America also stood out, "Having lots of ammunition is critical, especially if the police are not around and you need to be able to defend yourself against mobs." Mobs? What mobs do we come across on a daily basis? The mob at Target for the latest Twilight dvd??

I don't believe the argument that if the criminals are going to have guns, then we should be armed to protect ourselves too. If criminals are going to do something bad they are going to find a way around any law. I feel like that's my inherent definition of criminal. Does that mean I should be armed just because someone might do something bad in my vicinity? Doesn't it make more sense to take away the danger of excessive weapons so that a citizen doesn't do something reactionary that could have life and death consequences?

A co-worker came in on Monday and said that his laptop had been stolen. He called the police, but he felt like they didn't do a thorough job of investigating his neighbors. He had a hunch that the thief was a neighbor and that he might come back for something else. As a precaution - he slept with his gun under his pillow and told his friends not to come over because he was going to shoot at the slightest sound in the event the thief came back. Again - am I taking crazy pills? This was literally a story related to me on Monday as if the events of last Saturday never happened. I am uneasy around this co-worker now. Maybe I've been naive, but the thought that everyone has a gun in my immediate circle of acquaintances never occurred to me. It truly scares me. Not enough to arm myself though. I think that even though we're all a bit crazy at times, for the most part our rational sides prevail. Maybe I'm the one that's crazy???

Summer Reading Roundup: Far North

This is the cover of Wolf Whistle by Lewis Nordan, one of my favorite books, and what I tried to draw your attention to via highlighting or some kind of very simple text-boxing (but couldn't, because apparently this computer doesn't have a thing that will do that) is the review in the middle: "Six words of advice: Read him. Read him. Read him."

I always laughed at that review, but it's the best I can come up with right now for Marcel Theroux's Far North. I blew through this one in like two days, and I wish it would go on f

orever or that the author would write 100 sequels. Read it, read it, read it!

Again without going too much into detail, Far North's protagonist is the sheriff of an abandoned town in Siberia settled by Quaker Americans during what seems like our lifetime. Then, later in our lifetimes, the earth heats up until there's famine and disease everywhere except the Arctic Circle, so the peaceful Quaker towns they'd settled are overrun with basically everyone in the world who can make it north to look for food. Nuts!

Don't read the NYT review of this book, by the way: it's favorable enough but the reviewer gives away some exciting twists in the plot and gets a few details wrong. Which is a bad combo! I had the luxury of reading this without having heard or read anything about it before--so everything was a surprise, and I liked it that way. I should also say that this was impressive because/despite I'd never read the other big apocalyptic-dystopia books (The Road, The Stand, etc.) and this was all fresh.

Sooooooo, Far North gets an A and might be the best book I've read all summer??????????

The Stupidest Cabin

This must be the most ridiculous "On Location" the NYT has ever done.

"It may not have a bathroom or a kitchen, but it is a dream of Victoriana: stacks of Limoges china with tiny rosebud patterns; chandeliers dripping crystal; billows of tissue-paper garlands."

Yep, sounds pretty reasonable to me!

2012

BP's Gulf Coast oil rig exploding last week

Not to be depressing on a Friday (hasn't this been a long week??), but this oil spill is just crazy. Not crazy like "how did this happen?", but so crazy that I can't wrap my head around how much oil spilled. Sometimes it seems like we are leaving in the most depressing age ever. Reports say that it is larger than the Exxon Valdez spill, and the pictures of that spill made my heart hurt. All the animals that they were trying to save by cleaning off the oil was totally heart wrenching. I can't imagine it on a bigger scale.

oil slick moving toward New Orleans today

It's funny because I was thinking about oil spills and animals the other day at the grocery store. Dawn has animals on their basic dish soap with a note that says every $1 from each bottle sale goes toward helping Dawn's Animal Rescue Fund. HOWEVER, you have to go online to activate your donation by entering in your bottle code. What the heck? I want to think they're good and will help, but then I remember they are owned by Procter & Gamble.

duck from Exxon Valdez spill