Winter is a rough time for animals. Not all will make it through. Buffalo in Yellowstone are no exception. These buffalo are in danger not only of cold and starvation but also of heat. The buffalo sometimes get too close to the geo-thermal activity which can also kill.
141 Thoughts to “Open Thread…………………………………Sunday, January 12”
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@Lyssa
There already are background checks on all commercially sold firearms.
When you say that you want more teeth, what do you mean?
How about those background checks on all private sales?
@Moon-howler
That would depend upon the procedure used.
How would you enforce it?
Anything requiring a registration is right out.
Mental health information in national system
Re-registration
Report missing weapons
More federal control (last resort but apparently needed because of the NRA)
Read what three states did last year to the delight of the NRA. I’ve always believed in states rights but I’m beginning to change my mind. I’d be very interested in your thoughts on these actions.
A Tennessee law reduces the number of years that a person finished with drug or alcohol rehabilitation must wait before becoming eligible for gun ownership. It used to be 10 years, but now the wait is three years, so long as the person voluntarily entered rehab. For those who entered involuntarily, the wait is still 10 years
On the last day in April, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law that prohibits local governments from destroying firearms submitted in voluntary buyback events. Instead, law enforcement must sell the guns to licensed vendors. Since the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., last July — and, really for the past three decades — cities across the country have held buybacks as a way to reduce the number of guns in a community without ramping up any regulations; although voluntary buybacks do not appear to affect the incidence of gun homicides, public health experts and government officials say they’re useful as a means of engaging the public around the issue of gun violence. Phoenix arranged for three buybacks in April, which local police say may be the last of their kind in the city.
Arkansas passed eight gun laws lauded by the NRA, including one aimed at discouraging undercover sting operations, such as a gun show investigations.
By all means, lets see if we can kill more people … 30,000 a year just isn’t enough. [sarcasm]
It’s only about 10,000 homicide by gun. And we’re much lower than other countries. Way below, El Salvador and Zimbabwe. Why would we want to compare the US to developed counties? We lose in math and science but we win with gun homicides!
@Lyssa
For 2012, FBI’s latest.
12765 total
8855 “gun murders”
Buybacks do nothing for violence. But it is a good place for collectors to show up with more money that the cops offer to save collectibles from them.
Mental health information in national system: The details would matter and you would have to weaken HiPAA. Any mental health adjudications should already be in the system.
Re-registration: RE? registration? We don’t have registration now. And registration does nothing except set up confiscation by the gov’t. It prevents no crimes.
Report missing weapons: That is common sense. If my guns are missing, I’m reporting the stolen.
More federal control (last resort but apparently needed because of the NRA): What kind of federal control? “Shall not be infringed” applies to the federal gov’t most of all. We already have gun control on the books from 1934, 1968, and 1986.
I would like to see some proof that registration leads to confiscation by the government. That is Henny-Penny the sky is falling.
Getting a small pox vaccination also leads government tracking. So does getting a social security number or enrolling in public school.
Some states require permits to possess guns and some require registration.
Tell me, Cargo, can you go out and purchase an gun with a nuclear warhead? Didn’t think so. How come you aren’t howling about infringement. The 2nd amendment does NOT say what kind of firearm. I would gladly vote to restrict some of the military type weapons for civilian use as would the majority of Americans. It will come to that. Mark my words.
“We” do have gun registration in some states. There is something pending now regarding more reporting regarding mental health reporting. From my perspective the constant rebuffing of all and any attempts toughening of guns laws is simply sad.
So you are okay with Tennessee reducing time for substance abusers? And you are okay outlawing sting operations at guns shows?
@Moon-howler
Registration leads to confiscation.
See England, Australia, New York, New Jersey, California, Chicago.
The nuclear arms argument is absurd. Furthermore, the definition of “arms” has been established.
The Heller decision, confirming the Miller decision, protects those arms suitable for a militia, in common lawful use.
Military weapons are already restricted by the NFA act and the gun control acts of 1968 and 1986.
@Lyssa
I am not familiar enough with the Tennessee bills to comment on their merits or why they were passed. Were those substance abusers convicted of a felony? If not..they should not have their rights infringed.
We have enough gun laws. In fact, in some states, way too many.
I am not aware of massive gun round ups in NJ, NY, California or any of the other places you have named. Want to go with some specifics? (preferably from a neutral source that just says what happened without playing the NRA national anthem?)
I think we should ban assault weapons and handguns. Let people keep rifles for hunting and home defense.
Too bad the Sheriff of F***ingham (Thanks, Corey) feels he now has to attack his political enemies by suggesting that the county CXO and Supervisors are playing “footsie” and other sexually suggestive insinuations.
That’s just dead wrong and a good way to get sued. If you can’t win with ideas, then make any female involved look trampy.
It could be that Candland needs to tone down his better mousetraps. His proposed resolutions were rather ho-hum. Adding 15 minutes to citizens’ time is rather foolish. More laws? Since when has citizens’ time ever been stopped at a half hour.
Republicans are supposed to want fewer regulations rather than more. Pete needs to learn, if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.
Maybe he should try to come up with new legislation that everyone would be on board with. Maybe he would also do better if he told his cheerleader, the Sheriff, to take a hike. 5 or 6 anonymouses are over writing the same old stuff. You can tell from the grammatical mistakes. That’s sure worth a wink and a nudge. It’s hard to get all worked up over a team of less than 10.
He should do some preliminary polling research if he seriously thinks he could beat Corey Stewart for chair. Corey will win with one hand tied behind his back, even on a bad day.
@Cargosquid
Assume they were not convicted of a felony. Here is the question – Can you support reducing the wait time after completing drug/alcohol treatment from 10 years to two if the individual entered treatment voluntarily?
Do you agree with outlawing undercover sting operations at gun shows?
I really support undercover sting operations at gun shows.
The laws I listed are ones that passed in these states in response to the outcry against the NRA’s “talk to the hand” approach after the Sandy Hook slaughter. It’s that kind of action that makes many support more gun legislation even though we have guns in the home. Maybe because we have guns we feel this way. Most of my husbands skeet pals do.
Of course the ironies here in the past few days – the party of creationists demand scientific proof of climate change and the party of fewer laws and almost unconditional support of gun ownership want fewer gun laws unless they are like the ones in Tennessee and Arizona.
Imagine, sponsoring and voting for that legislation in response to such a horrific tragedy. I’d be ashamed.
I’m back, Moon! Did a Carnival Cruise for a week, had a great time. Now back to regular life.
“Girls always just makes me uncomfortable because of the horrible social skills. It’s like an accident…you rubber-neck because you just can’t look away. ”
The show is literally about the narcissism and aimlessness of college-educated young people. The main character is particularly awkward. And her boyfriend, even more so. I do love it. I’m catching up on the start of the third season, watched the first two last night … I found the show if anything sharper than before.
The first scene of the season, when her boyfriend visits her in the coffee shop, the woman he “dated” recently is there, and she goes off on them about how horrible he is and gets insulting about sexual matters … it’s not about the supposed sex acts, it’s about Hannah having more cause to reflect on the potentially disgusting nature of the guy she’s hitching up to. But, she’s there with him, after a previous breakup, because of her own flaws and his acceptance of them. It’s strong weird meat, it comes from a female perspective that’s hard to find on TV, that helps me to see the world differently, and I love it.
What you love, I hate. I spend the entire time just being horribly embarrassed for these horrible misfits. I don’t know anyone socially who would act this way. The closest I got is some strange girl who lived next door in summer school at college who wrote love letters to her dog.
The dude Hannah is hitched up with isn’t a bit worse than she is. I hold her strangeness more against her because I just expect more from females. I didn’t watch last night. I am in to something else right now that is just putting me in a foul fowl mood. You would laugh if I told you.
As to “The Butler”, I abjectly hated it. I mean, I really hated it.
(Generally I think, Lee Daniels makes disgusting and disturbed movies. He does the subject material no favors)
On the face of it this is some type of emotionally manipulative Forrest Gump knockoff that is about the black experience. What made me gag so strongly is how clumsy and manipulative it is. It is very obviously the work of a mediocre hack screenwriter, who is white, trying to write a Spike Lee-type project. It is neither real, nor well-written. What quadruples the gagging on my part is that because Oprah produced this dud, that it is taken seriously as art.
I loved it. It was very Forest Gump which is probably what I liked about it.
My only criticism would be that I think Oprah overpowers the film, through no fault of her own. Its just because of who she is.
I thought it was very real because it reminded me of someone very near and dear to my heart….a gentleman of color named Thomas.
I also think perhaps it has to do with my age. People your age simply don’t have the same experiences as I do. Same thing can be said of The Help.
“The dude Hannah is hitched up with isn’t a bit worse than she is.”
Well, he’s pretty dysfunctional. His sexual weirdness stands out also. There were some scenes in the first season showing his sex talk that was way out there. When i saw it at first I thought, this is shock value TV and pointless. I came to appreciate though that she was writing with a certain brilliance and immersiveness about sex from a woman’s perspective. To get the intimacy that she wants she humors his demons and fetishes, which are inherently disturbing.
The actor that plays Adam, Adam Driver, is great I think.
yea, I had forgotten he was kinky. She too, is kinky though. You are going to make me say it, aren’t you….
I think a lot of young people are sexually weird anyway.
On Oprah – I bear her no ill will for producing movies. But what I don’t like is that she markets them in misleading ways. “Beloved” was an abstract art film – she marketed it as if it were socially important popular entertainment. “Precious” is about extremely horrific sexual abuse, and she marketed it as if it were about overcoming obesity. “The Butler” is a false story, marketed as if it were someone’s real story. In each case she stamps her name on it and there’s an intimation that this is an important statement about black America. She’s done movies a disservice. And sold a lot of tickets to mediocre films.
Don’t you think most films are mediocre? I have low expectations from movies and TV. Most of the time, I just want to be entertained.
The Butler, however, make me think. By the time you came of age, there were already a lot of answers out there. When I was coming along, not so much. I did a lot of compare, contrast, and what did I think then.
I thought a lot about Thomas and his life. I saw some pretty abusive things to him…not physically but just degrading things said to him.
You don’t forget that kind of crap. Decent decent man. He taught me a lot about life.
How about the Color Purple?
Speaking of Forrest Gump – did you know that the story is basically an American rewrite of Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot”? i watched an older film version of “The Idiot” and thought hey I’ve seen this before … simpleton celebreated for walking naively through landscape of cynical characters … wild crush on girl he grew up with …
What cheeses me off about this is that back in 1994 no one pointed it out to me. We all pretended that Winston groom had written an original work.
Don Quixote had similar elements. The Dostoyevsky view was that most of the world is chasing money regardless of who or how they get it – someone like these protagonists are nothing more than idiots because they’re not. Ayn Rand – Fyodor Dostoyevsky and egoism. I’ve read three Rand novels and didn’t like them.
I don’t like them either.
One of my art profs believed all art was derivative. I’d say that mediocre movies are even more so. And Americans are prone to making awful versions of relatively good films and books. The Vanishing comes to mind. It was easy to get sucked into the Danish version whereas the American one was predictably tied up with a pretty bow in the end.
I probably like mediocre movies. I especially don’t like movies I am told I am to like if I am an intellectual being. That’s the kiss of death for the film for me.
“Don’t you think most films are mediocre? I have low expectations from movies and TV. ”
I think most of what gets distributed in the world market now is pretty good. I expect a good movie more often than not. I think the tastemakers who decide which projects to greenlight and which scripts and directors to use have good taste, usually. Oprah doesn’t, though. And I think that her and Lee Daniels’ “Precious” was particularly bad. I haven’t actually read the book “Push” but from what i’ve heard about it I’m sure there’s a better and much less sick movie to be made out of it.
On “The Color Purple”, I liked it. (Oprah acted in that).
Never read Rand. Like many men my age I have a passing aquaintence with her work through listening to the band Rush.
“And Americans are prone to making awful versions of relatively good films and books.” It may be that a really good book can’t be shrunk down well into an effective screenplay. When you look at the size of a screenplay and reflect on how little content is in it, and then try to imagine fitting a larger work into that frame … it’s sometimes impossible.
But it sometimes can be done. Example – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Since we started talking about this … or at least I did … what are we to make of Oprah financing a movie about a girl being raped since infancy, and then advertising it as heartwarming (“Precious”)? I almost threw up after that movie. My objection is not that the movie was made, but that it was mislabeled. IMO someone should have filed a class action lawsuit against Oprah for misleading the public.
I didn’t see it. I don’t have an opinion. I think, from what I have read, there is more to it than being raped or sexually abused. Still, wasn’t my kind of movie.
@Rick Bentley
Do you think a major problem with “The Butler” was that it tried to explain too much through too few characters? IOW, each character had to represent too large a segment of Black society to ring true. I think Oprah was a very good actress in that film but too many of the other characters felt flat, as though they had to define a certain stereotype as well as their individual roles.
Once upon a time, I welcomed juxtaposition in film as novel, but now it’s almost become a cliche, a clever visual contrast. This film hammers you over the head with it.
Almost like an Oliver Stone movie, the KING of hammering you over the head with his point of view.
I really liked The Butler. I was entertained and I thought. I ask nothing more.
Rick is a film critic, however. I am not. Just entertain me. That’s all I ask.
Yeah I would agree with that, about the characters defining stereotypes rather than just illustrating singular behaviors. Hallmark of juvenile writing.
Oliver Stone doesn’t ALWAYS hammer you over the head. Just sometimes. I guess he’s just about the most heavy handed guy on the planet unless we count Michael Moore.
“Wolf of Wall Street” which I love has a lot of Stone’s style in it. Big, loud, messy, over the top.
What has he not hammered us over the head with?
Just when he just agreeing with him, he comes back around and hammers you and says agree with me more!!!
Just saw “Philomena” this morning. Judy Dench is amazing.
Daughter and I both liked to movie and will remember it for a while,
which to me is the sign of a good movie.
Went to se “Wolf of Wall Street” Saturday. It was horrible;
walked out before it ended. The “F” word was flung around the
whole time. Sexual orgies were shown. I saw no redeeming reason
for the movie. I consider it porn.
It sure doesn’t seem like my kind of movie either. (WoWS)
I do want to see Philomena.
The characters in “Wolf” engage in self-destructive behavior to cover up their unhappiness. You can see there’s no way this ends up well, but they do it anyway. The movie immerses you in it rather than preaching about whether it’s good or bad.
In between blasts of sex and drugs the characters say things like “If I couldn’t get high I’d kill myself”, and proceed headfirst into nothingness.
The movie illustrates what materialism is. It does it in a way that is exciting or palatable as entertainment to many, mainly because of humor. It’ll be talked about for many years. it’s a tough watch but rewarding for most.
I love it. I love “Philomena” too, a perfectly written and made movie.
“Wolf” is a lot like Goodfellas, which draws us in non-judgementally into a life of crime and violence. Or Raging Bull, whose protagonist in unpleasant to an extreme, beating up the poeple around him. It takes us deep and dark into human sadness, and doesn’t cut the experience with narrative bs about what’s good or bad. It tells the story and lets the viewer feel the experience. Honestly, it didn’t grab me at first, but on reflection and repeated viewing I think it’s a pretty great movie.
I’ll tell you what, it’s far and away the most vital and great movie a 71-year old man ever made. I think it has a lot to say, too. Like “fear and Loathing in Las vegas”, it is about men deliberately choosing to behave as animals, and it’s quite a spectacle.
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man” – Samuel Johnson, appears on placard before the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
OK, Rick
Guess I simply decided not to watch men choosing to behave as animals.
Has there ever been a movie where women do the same?
I remember an ancient movie “The Snake Pit” which might have come close.
Wasn’t The Snake Pit about mental illness?
Just occurred to me / Could women find male prostitutes as easily
as men find female? Is there something wrong with women?
Women sell their bodies, while men sell their soules (if they have any, i.e.)
Cargo, How much snow are you all supposed to get tomorrow?
I think we are on the 3-5 inches mark being in western Prince Billy Bob.
@Moon-howler
I’m on TV!
http://www.wric.com/story/24500720/gun-debate-continues-at-rally-at-capitol
My fame starts at about 15 seconds in.
Autographs are available.
The gun confiscation happens in response to many things. In CA, the state changed the definition of previously legal guns to “assault weapons” and demanded that they be turned in or to leave the state. New York is confiscating arms due to prescriptions that one might have on your medical record. Their permits are cancelled. And the new SAFE Act makes certain guns and magazines illegal. Since the guns are registered, if you do not get rid of them, you are a felon. Chicago uses the fact that they are behind in renewing the gun permits of their citizens to confiscate their guns because their permits expire while waiting for the renewal.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/05/nypd-targets-owners-multi-clip-shotguns-rifles/
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/permits/ny_safe_act_letter_re_lcafd_2013_05_v9.pdf
None of these laws stops a single crime. It only penalizes law abiding people.
@Moon-howler
Yes, you’re correct.
“Has there ever been a movie where women do the same?”
Not so much, I guess. Lots of movies about circles of women engaging in bitchy behavior, but not acting out wildly in the absence of men. “Spring Breakers” kind of fits the bill. The girls want to get money for spring break, so they rob a diner, and then get mixed up in drug dealing for kicks. It’s silly and sleazy, but wild and crazy enough that it’s fun.
Marginally related great film : “Antichrist”. Charlotte Gainsbourgh is great in it as an evil woman. We are all used to seeing male characters who become twisted and act out because of their messed up inner psyches. More often women are presented as victims. Here we get an evil female, and her son and husband suffer. She’s messed up in the head, to the point that she becomes evil. A deliberately provocative film, about the potential hell of marriage, that is fuill of great raw unpleasant emotion. Don’t watch it without being aware of which scenes to turn away from though …
Marginally related great film ” “City of Women” by Fellini – he imagines a world where the women dominate and objectify the men. Artsy, vulgar, unlike any other film.
“City of Women”! I love that film! I miss Fellini and Mastroianni.
My mother and her 92 year old friend went to Fairfax’s Cinema Arts yesterday to see “Philomena”. Half way there her friend started describing a wonderful movie she had just seen. My mother realized it was “Philomena” and knew they’d have to see something other than what they’d planned. They chose “American Hustle” and liked it.
I’m a big Fellini fan and a big “City of Women” fan.
I’m glad people are seeing and enjoying “Philomena”. That really is a well made movie.
“American Hustle” is a good one. It’s not the fast-paced movie that its Led Zeppelin-infused trailer made it out to be. It’s a reflective movie about a couple, with a backdrop of scams and mobsters and conspiracies. Adams and Bale and Renner are great in it. It’s apparently emerging as the Oscar favorite … I don’t think it’s THAT good, it’s just an homage to 70’s cinema … but it’s a fun movie. I’ve seen it three times actually. Twice because it’s such a good movie, and maybe the third time was to take in Amy Adams again.
Bale and Adams are my favorite actor and actress … great casting. I watched “The Fighter” again after watching AH 3 times; they’re each great in that one (i.e. 2 David Russell movies ago) also.
I am surprised that the election is still being held today
@Cargosquid
“None of these laws stops a single crime”.
Prove it. If you’re going to deal in absolutes….
McDonnell and wife indicted on 14 counts today.
McDonnell is the most dishonest man ever to hold the Virginia governor’s office.
As a dissafected moderate, I say let the law have its day as to McDonnell and his wife, but I’m not terribly worked up about it. I did prefer him as a Governor to his predecessor.
@ Starry: I think your sweeping statement would have to be backed by the kind of thorough historical research that is very hard to conduct. I blame the situation largely on a culture within the General Assembly (from which virtually all our gubernatorial candidates emerge, present company and Mark Warner excepted) in which they come to consider gratuities as being non-problematic. Governor McDonnell did a lot of good for the Commonwealth and governed, to a very large extent, pragmatically. If he sold state favours for money, explicitly or implicitly, then he has incurred a debt to society that has to be paid. But the problem is far deeper than this particular man, who did, for the most part, a conscientious job as our Governor.
I would agree in part. I will not abide the governor Ultra-Sound tactics but in other respects, I believe he made the attempt to represent all Virginians. I would give him between a 4 and a 5.
I blame the political climate in Virginia. There need to be some rules about gifts and professional ethics. Now is the time to fix it.
I realize you can’t accept money and gifts from companies you are doing business with on a federal level. However, This was Virginia. I don’t think he broke Virginia laws.
I don’t think it should be illegal to be unwise or make stupid mistakes.
Too bad for Bob. He failed to disclose his loans and gifts – and then tried to cover it up. Maureen did not do him any favors either. Why would a sitting governor solicit undocumented loans from any individual? People complained that Countrywide gave better loans to elected officials – but at least those loans had documentation behind them. I wonder how much interest J. Williams claimed on his taxes? His claim now to have done nothing wrong is making him sound like he is above the law……
I hope Jonnie is indicted also.
I love Virginia. Former governors and their wives get indicted for things that wouldn’t have made the news in Louisiana, when I was growing up.
Obviously there is a new sheriff in town in Virginia. I don’t know what laws the McDonnells have broken. They acted stupidly and she was very greedy. I don’t think that is illegal.
His wife did him in…..
@Starryflights
Why?
Hope you’ll be able to see Rachel Maddow’s take on this story.
Her program this evening is still going on, but the beginning was GREAT!