When Is Congress Going To Do What They Are Paid To Do?

The “talking points” scandal is ridiculous! The problem is too many trying to put in their own two cents or take it out! The dumbest part is that these emails would normally not be put out there for anyone to see like other presidents in the past never allowed them out! More is being made out of it then there is!
Then we have the whole AP scandal about phone records which was part of an investigation that congress wanted done and since it was they want to act like it was such a terrible thing! Gee make up your minds idiots!
Then we have the IRS scandal which if you actually look into this the actual problem started decades ago with how the rules are written. A one word change can make a lot of difference in how something is understood! I do not believe that any organization that is politically driven should get tax exempt status EVER!
The other scandal right now that is a definite problem is with the military and the sex crimes against women by me who were supposed to help keep this from happening! There is a major problem in the military with this problem and that it is not handled properly! The so called court system in the military is more like the “good ole boy” system than actual legal system!
When is congress going to get back to work about the budget, immigration reform and the other things that need to get done?
The tired old rhetoric from the house with wasting time voting for the 39th time to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act that was upheld by the Supreme Court and is law! The House has been acting like little kids and if they do not grow up then they should be removed from office!

Our government need to worry more about what is happening right here at home first and foremost before sending anything to other countries! To me they are beginning to make our country look very stupid since we cannot seem to take care of business here at home! Make things right here at home before you try to tell someone else how to act! If our government was doing their jobs properly and not acting like little spoiled brats then maybe other countries would have a better opinion of us and maybe diplomacy would be easier! You can’t have the attitude of do as I say not as I do and expect people to listen to you! I am so tired of the same old crap and whining coming out of Congress that I am about ready to quit listening to any of it!

Gun Control Fight!

The gun control fight seems to be getting out of hand with a lot of name calling and yelling but no listening! I see points on both sides and it is frustrating! I will probably make a lot of enemies by what I say here but this is the way I feel about it!
I do believe completely in the 2nd Amendment and I also believe in the laws we have for the most part for gun control. My heart goes out to all who have lost family and/or friends to gun violence. I have lost some friends this way so I do understand that feeling of loss!
Unfortunately the universal background checks would not hve stopped some of the mass shootings including the one at Sandy Hook because the main weapon he used was legally purchased by his mother and not him. It seems his family knew he had problems yet this info would not have stopped her legal purchase! The biggest issue with the current background checks is that they are not followed as well as they should be.
I do not believe that anything more than a 10 round clip is necessary for any civilian but again my personal opinion! This does not mean that a person who is very versed in weaponry could not change out a clip and shoot as fast as someone with a banana clip because there are those that could. My husband and I grew up with weapons and there are several in our gun cabinet now from simple 22′s to 9mm’s and 380′s, rifles,shotguns, etc. My husband hunts and likes that there is something around for my protection from wild animals and snakes to human predators! We live outside of town on over 5 acres and there are racoons, skunks, prairie rattlers, coyotes, etc. and with most neighbors at work during the day I do not have someone close by to help an I am in a wheelchair to getting away quickly is tough!
We are very close to a HWY and with all the oil traffic and drifters hitchhiking for work and it is not always ones with good intentions! It could take up to 20minutes or more to get law enforcement here so I need to protect myself and will!
We live in a very rural state and guns are something most North Dakotans have grown up around and we are taught at a very young age how dangerous guns can be if not handled properly! Most kids go through hunter safety by the age of 12 and go hunting with family! My husband an I went to the last gun show here in our area in February and I can tell you that the ones that happen around here are definitely not like what I hear when they are talked about in the debates about gun laws! He purchased a gun from one guy who took his info from hi ID and made a call and had my husband fill out a form then yes we left with the purchase anddid not have a 7 day wait but he did have the info! There was another spot my husband purchased a shogun and this was definitely not a dealer of any kind and he also took down my husbands name and license number and phone number! They all seemed to be looking at ID’s that day! This has been or experience at all the midwest shows we have gone to! I am not sure what shows some people are going to and buying without showing any ID but that seems to be the show promoters issue!
Massechusetts has very strict gun laws yet the two that bombed the Boston Marathon had guns! Where did they get them? You don’t hear much about that because of the bombs though!
Chicago has tough gun laws on the books yet they have a high rate of gun violence! There are many places that have strict gun laws yet they still have a high rate of gun violence, why is that? The laws are not being followed like they should be and infomation that should be updated in data banks about felons is just not kept up but then again most people who are going to commit a crime are not going t by a gun legally! The gun traffickers are a large part of this problem yet the ATF is not cracking down on them as they should!
I was surprised when a supposed poll showed that 94% of ND was in favor of universal background checks! Heidi Heitkamp was ripped by many as being disloyal to her constituents but I can tell you that she wasn’t! She knows how our state is and that most are gun owners and she did what she knew most of the state wanted! I got a call about that particular poll and if called the number of elderly we have here and put the question to them the way it was to me at first you might get a high number! But the question was not posed the way the poll came out! Polls and stats are able to be skewed to any direction you want! They are only as good as the questions asked and how they are asked! You can ask ” Do you believe in expanded background checks?” or ” Do you want our government to have more control of your lives” or ” If a stricter background check would save just one small child would you vote for it?” or “Hi are you a parent or grandparent? Yes? Well we would like to know that if it would save your childs (grandchilds) life would you want stronger background checks?” Each of these questions has been used for the polls in the gun debate!
Obviously Congress cannot get it together to agree on anything except when it comes to something that directly affects them! Look at the air traffic control! So maybe each state should have control of the gun laws and not the federal government! You can only purchase according to the laws of your own state! You have to show an ID and must be a resident for at least a year before you can puchase under any state law! If you are going to an out of state gun show you can ony purchase according to your home state laws!
I get the issues of gun violence in other areas of the country because I have lived from one coast to the other. I lived in CA near Los Angeles and TX and Indianapolis, also I lived in North Carolina near bases close to the coast and I have lived in Georgia and Wisconsin! I have seen what happens with gun violence and from domestic violence and I know it is out there!I live in a state that has alw crime rate and a high gun ownership and to make it more difficult for legal gun owners seems to be overdoing it! So those that live in higher crime area have stricter laws to compensate if that is what you think will help! I personally do not believe that tougher laws will help because some of these high crime areas had tougher laws and still have a growing problem! Criminals will get a gun if they want one and it won’t be from a shop or show it will be out on the street from another criminal! Besides how would they be able to know if someone has mental issues? The government created the HIPPA laws so that nobody could use your health (physical or mental) against you! I have tried to get an answer about that and still have not!
Mental health is something that we should all be aware of and it should be handled better! Maybe if that was focused on more instead of trying to hide the problem we would not have the violence in this country that we do!

What Has Happened To Us????

I cannot believe the differences from when I grew up to how my children grew up and how theirs will grow up when they have them! Things have changed too much and I think we need to go back in some ways intead of forward!
I went to school in the 70′s ad 80′s and we spent our summers hanging out with our friends outside and all over the place! Our parents knew who we were with and even though they did not know exactly where we were they did no worry. Atari came out when I was a child and not alot of people had them. If you were able to have one the you had alot of friends at your house to play it but not every day and not for hours on end! In school we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning and we went to church every sunday (whether we wanted to or not! We respected adults and authority because that was what we were taught by our parents! Computers started to come out but were not the norm so typewriters and word processors were the thing and cell phones were not around! We talked to our friends on the phone and in person, actually had whole conversations with each other! In high school mostly farm kids always had a rifle or shotgun in the back window of their truck all the time and during hunting season you were hard pressed to find a vehicle around the school without a gun yet we did not worry about it! We did not worry about someone bringing it into the school and opening fire for no reason! Bullying happened but compared to todays bullying it was nothing! Our parents did not hand us everything or buy us everything we wanted! If we wanted something, we earned the money to buy it ourselves! We did not drive brand new cars that mommy and daddy bought for us! We did chores around the house and did not get paid for it!
What happened to us? There are too many people that think they are owed something! The ME ME ME generation is absolutely ridiculous! Technology has made things worse not better! The bullying doesn’t stop at the moment it happens it continues on FB, Twitter, My Space, emails, etc. and even through youtube when someone videos the bullying and then uploads it thinking it was funny! It i forever out there and the bullied cannot get away from it, usually they end up with more harassment from people they do not know!
People do not talk to each other anymore they email, FB, tweet, and text!There is no conversation and that is an art that will be lost if the trend keeps up! I watch teens sitting at a restaurant texting each other NOT TALKING but actually texting the ones they are sitting with! Another table had a family of 4 who were all on either a phone or a tablet while eating! Mind you the children were about 5yrs and 9-10 yrs old! Families sitting down to a meal but not talking to each other drives me NUTS! My kids had to earn the money for extras including use of a USED vehicle for anything other than school or church functions! They had to pay for their on insurance and gas and when the old family car finally died they either took the bus or they had to buy a vehicle themselves! They did not have a bunch of video games, in fact there was one xbox that they had to share that they got for christmas when they were teens and they had limited time they were allowed on it! They had chores too and trust me they were not happy about it but I told them, that’s life! The first (and last) time my oldest said “my friends don’t have chores and their parents bought them a car and a new cellphone and their parents don’t ask them where they are going and they get an allowance every week! You are just MEAN!” I had to set them all down and explain that obviously they have some very lazy friends and I question whether they are telling you the truth! I love you kids and I want to make sure you can handle life but I also need to know where you are and with who because I want to make sure you are safe because I love you!
Granted they did not believe me until they got a little older! They are now 24, 23 and 21 and they all have jobs and their own places and vehicles and can cook their own meals and do their own laundry! They pay their bills and do not ask for money because they did not budget! Many of their friends who got the free ride and college paid by mom and dad are now living at home using one of mom and dads cars and working a minimum wage job because they didn’t finish or do well at college or have gotten into trouble with the law!
I look back and realize that we did not worry about gun violence and now the government wants to vote on what type of gun laws we should have!I know that here in ND there are not really any difference in the number of guns now in the state than when I was growing up and probably pretty true in many more states so what has changed so much that the gun violence has increased? We have become so politically correct and we want everyone to get a trophy in anything whether they deserve it or not, we have allowed the technology to take over our lives so much that we do not talk to each other anymore, we do not discipline our children hold them accountable for their actions! Instant gratification is all anyone seems to want and be damned anything or anyone else!
Nobody has conversations anymore they don’t really argue points the slam the other side instead and there is no compromising at all! Our Congress is the prfect example of that!
I miss those days before the total deluge of technology that has made us a very indifferent people!

AMAZING THAT THEY DON’T START WITH THIS!

http://news.yahoo.com/taxpayer-shell-nearly-3-7m-ex-presidents-071613430–politics.html

Why is it that with the budget issues congress doesn’t start with ending this? It is amazing to me that not only do they get the pension they do but on top of that all the other monies spent on them! Also doesn’t it just figure that the public (the taxpayers) are not allowed to know how much is spent for the secret service protection! Maybe because the cost is even more than what they already get times 2 or 3? We the taxpayers pay for this so why are we not allowed to know? I believe that once they are out of office there is really no need to have the secret service on them, the are “former” presidents and families not current! With the amount of money they make for books and speaking tours and everything else they do after office thy should not need the taxpayers money!
I know why the bill failed in congress, they don’t want to lose their own easy street after office! Any time we have a congressman who has a really good idea by the taxpayers standards it is shot down by the other greedy idiots in congress!
Obviously there is money to be saved right there in congress and many government offices but the first place they want to cut is Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid! The one that kills me is when they say military cuts but honestly they could cut some but for the most part they should rebudget how the that money is paid out! Too many are paid too much for doing very little compared to those that ACTUALLY defend our country! Why should the military be paying outside contractors that stay right here in the US more than they pay the actual military personnel? Why should we be paying congress more than the military and most of the country? It is ridiculous to me that those that do little to nothing make more than most of the actual working class in our country and they want to take from our elderly to make sure they can pay themelves and their pensions!
Congress has become a joke (a BAD one) because they only seem to want what they want and not what we the taxpayers need and want! They fight and do nothing to compromise in a way that will make any sense!
It is becoming increasingly clear that those that gripe that the President isn’t doing his job have no clue how government works because congress really is the reason that nothing is getting done! Mostly because of the House because of the fractured republican party who cannot even agree amongst themselves! Ignorance is bliss they say but in their case ignorance is chaos!
It is time that in the next two elections we get rid of those that have been there too long and cannot get things done! We need new blood in congress before it crumbles and we have to start all over! That doesn’t sound bad but it would take a long time and unfortunately too many rich will probably take over and to hell with the rest of us!

ENTITLED CONGRESS!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/congress-retirement-package-compares-yours-185406482.html

The above article brings up the point I was making with my last posting! I have always believed that no senator or representative should be allowed more than 2 terms in office just like the President! There was never the intent for any elected official to stay in office long term! They are making sure that their “entitlements” are always available for them yet the money we pay into SS and Medicare every single paycheck they have “borrowed” to the point that all that is left is a bunch of IOU’s instead of the monies that should be there earning to be able to pay out when we retire! They call the money we pay in and expect back later an entitlement yet why isn’t the money that WE pay in taxes that pays THEIR salary AND their retirement funds (think about it, the match is our tax dollars as well as what they put in because WE pay them) considered and entitlement? Because they think they are above the rest of us! They put themselves onto a pillar and look down on us even though they are acting like children fighting over a toy!
This whole sequester crap is because they cannot play nice with each other! I would love to see the WHOLE tax code thrown OUT! Start over with a straight flat tax and NO loopholes! Then everyone will be paying the same percentage all the time! I hate seeing the regular guy down the street who just squeaks by paying he bills and always pays in the full taxes he should yet the wealthy jerk who really doesn’t know what it is like to put in a hard days work and still worry where the money is going to come from to pay the bills pays in almost nothing or nothing because of all the loopholes!
There are many areas that the government could cut costs without cutting SS, Medicare, Military programs, etc.,etc.. Why don’t they begin with themselves and then REALLY look at the amount of redundant garbage they have all over the government! It seems a little strange that the more things are automated and online that the workforce within the government offices keeps getting bigger! Why is that? They forced those that were getting SS to go to direct deposit so they could “save” money yet there are more people added to these offices even though the hours have been shortened for the public to go into the offices! Hell, here the office used to be open until 5pm, then it was 4:45pm, then it was 4:30 and now it is 4pm and one or two afternoons are actually closed by NOON! Trust me when I say that it is not so they can “catch up” because the employee parking lot empties very quickly! The worst is when you call to ask a question or stop in to ask and you are told to call the toll free number for that info or to order a new ss card! What are they actually doing in that office anymore!?!?!?
Almost every government office could cut its staffing in half and some more and even some could be closed because they actually have no actual purpose other than wasting money! When the government cleans up its own “backyard” then and only then can they begin to look at actually straightening out budgets!
There are a couple of other things that do bug me and one is the amount of money we keep sending to other countries to “help” them when we cannot afford to do so! I would love to be able to send money to ALL the charities that I feel are important but I could not afford to do that and neither can our government! The Congressmen from each state sit and try to figure out how much money they can get for their state so they can say “see what I was able to get just for my constituents! How great am I!” even if it is for some museum that isn’t needed or some weird grants for studying something really out there like the digestive route of a grasshopper in that particular region and if it might be different than other areas of the country or not! (WHO CARES!??!?) I know that it is called “pork” but I call it all a bunch of crap! Wasting money and not really doing anything real for their constituents at all in the end except putting this country further into debt which of course is (I guess) doing something!

Congress! A Waste of Space and Time!

It amazes me more and more every day how completely useless Congress is! They continually act like little kids fighting over a favorite toy! I am sick of hearing the word “entitlements” when speaking of social security and medicare! Neither of those are the issue AT ALL!!!! Social Security and Medicare are seperately funded by us,the taxpayers! We pay into it all our working lives to be able to get this back in our retirement years, it is in seperate funds from EVERYTHING else! If the government would never have used these funds as a piggy bank it would not be filled with IOU’s! Stupidity runs rampant in Washington!
I think the biggest “entitlements” are the paychecks, pensions, health inurance, etc. of our “illustrious” elected officials! There was never supposed to be “career” politicians, ever, they should not be allowed to give themselves raises nor should they be allowed to take the number of vacation days they have been! They spend less time doing their job and more on vacations and raising money for getting re-elected! It amazes me how we are reminded of seperation of church and state yet Congress sure loves to take advantage of the Easter and Christmas Holidays and Sundays along with every single holiday they could possibly find! If the rest of us told our boss that we have to have the amount of time off that Congress does and that we will give ourselves a raise when we want to and they have to just deal with it, I guarantee that we would NOT have a job! Yet here we are, the taxpayers who pay their salaries (and all the other perks they get) allow Congress to do this!
I suggest that we start with holding their salaries until they do their jobs, we end lifetime pensions immediately, force Congress to pay into social security and medicare just like the rest of us, force Congress to pay for insurance like the rest of us have to do, Congress should have a HUGE cut in their pay and only receive he same percentage of COL raise that those on Social Security gets or doesn’t get according to the government! This year several people I know that are on SS received about a $12 a month cost of living raise! What a joke! How do they come up with their numbers anyway? COL is not determined very well AT ALL!!!!! I know for a fact that the COL has increase A LOT here in ND but more so in the NW and W parts of the state more than the rest but definitely has everywhere here and yet that extra $12 a month should take care of the doubling of monthly bills and higher gas prices (funny considering all the oil here) and all other expenses that are higher now!
Why should ANY elected official collect the huge pensions even after only one term in office? Right around $175,000 a year for life? REALLY?!?!!?! WHY?????? I don’t believe the President should be allowed money after their term/s are up! They make plenty in speaking engagements and why are they still covered under the secret service after their terms? Maybe the first year or so right after leaving office but why longer than that?
There are plenty of places to cut spending when you look at the amount of waste in government, itself! It amazes me the number of people that work for each elected official! WHY?!? The number of redundent positions and then they complain that they do not have enough in other positions, stupidity!
Congress right now is just a waste of space and time! Do your job right now instead of strategizing about the 2014/2016 elections! If you actually do YOUR JOB you don’t have to worry about getting elected again! DUH!!!! I am tired of hearing the whining about so and so isn’t calling for a meeting or this group is not doing anything, why not stop the whining and get off your asses and step up and take care of business! I don’t care who steps up I just wish someone would and get this crap done.
Everytime I hear another politician say cut “entitlements” i.e. SS and Medicare, I am going to call, email, etc. to find out when they aregoing to actually cut the real “entitlements” Themselves!!!!!
We as taxpayers need to make sure that those not doing their job knows that we will notstand for it and that they can and should be replaced if they are not willing to make the hard choice to cut their own pay, pensions, ins., etc.. Good Luck to us!

Troubled Or Forgotten

I am writing this time to wonder why everyone seems to get all worked up about mass shootings but doesn’t seem to get as worked up with all the other violence that kills children everyday. I not saying that these things are not a terrible tradgedy but where is all this outrage for the ones that die daily from the ones on the street, ones that die from child abuse and those that take their own lives! Recently my 21 year old son lost 3 friends to suicide in just a month and a half period of time. One hung himself, one shot himself and one from an overdose. All three were tradgedies and two were married, another had a child and one of them had a child due this Feb. yet they took their own lives. Why did it happen? My son has taken this very hard but we talk about them and honestly when you really look at it you see where there were problems. One was bullied from grade school all the way through college and even at Job Corp (where he met my son). My son is having such a hard time because they always seemed upbeat and having fun but obviously they were hiding a lot of pain. I have said over and over that parents need to talk with their kids openly and honestly and at the same time keep them on the right track. Now I know these boys were young men and 21 to 23 years old and definitely not at home but their problems started a long time before. One lived in a home with both parents and ended up on drugs for a long time before he cleaned up and started over, got married last July and had a baby on the way but something was still troubling him. Another came from a home where his parents were divorced and it was not amicable so the fighting before and after were definitely a problem along with the fact he was bullied for being different. His difference was that he had dyslexia and did not get help for it until he went to Job Corp. He did feel better after he got that help but there were problems with a former girlfriend and her child and whether it was his or not. The last was from a home where one parent had died and the other had to work two jobs to make ends meet just to put food on the table so he spent a lot of time dealing with everything by himself and he had married in the last year or so and had a child yet there still was something wrong.

I am not saying it is all because of parents or because of bullying or anything like that but these young men needed help and did not know where to turn. I cannot imagine the helplessness they must have felt to have taken their own lives, how they believed there was no other way to deal with whatever they were feeling. The tradgedy of these lives lost so early just shows how much our culture is changing and not for the better. Most of their communication was on social media and through texting and email so you can fake how you are through there very easily yet when you actually talk with people you hear the emotion and can tell how someone is really doing!

Ironic that as I write this on a blog that will be viewed online but I do believe one of the biggest problems anymore is the technology that does little to bring people together to just talk! You cannot show emotion through a typed word, ever. The more we push this type of technology the more loners and people who need help are not gonna be seen or heard. Those that are committing crimes against others and those caught in the middle are just as much a tradgedy than those involved in the mass shootings but they seem to get the attention more than those lone tradgedies that happen everyday. We need to look at the real causes and help all those out there that need it before something else happens!

Has To Be A Better Way!

I know that there are a lot of differences out there about gun control but there has to be a better way to deal with this than some of the things I have heard. Just banning guns is not a solution! Just adding more complicated gun laws for those that are actually law abiding gun owners is not a solution! Just banning large capacity magazines is not a solution! Arming teachers everywhere or adding armed security in schools is not a solution!

The crimes that are taking place are by criminals not law abiding gun owners! Why is the justice system not doing their job? Why is the ATF not doing their job? Why isn’t law enforcement doing their job? Why are the current gun laws not being enforced already? How are they going to be able to background check someone for a mental illness, unless they have been found criminally insane in court, with the HIPPA law? Why add more laws on the books when the current ones are not followed? So many criminals get away with things because of the convoluted laws already on the books that they often find loopholes everywhere! If they add more laws it just gets more confusing and the more loopholes are found! (Look at the precious tax code)

The ATF know who the ones are that are trafficking the weapons illegally yet it can take them years to arrest and even longer to go to court, why? Why not pick up the street sellers and convict and just keep doing so until the top ones either give up because they have nobody to do the dirty work or they bust them too? Everytime one of them gets off on some stupid technicality or loophole the criminal gets more power and any of us who know of these things is just as responsible to turn it in to get this riffraff off the streets!

I know a lot of gun owners and I can honestly say they are responsible law abiding citizens who respect a gun teach their younger family members how to respect any firearm! The way some people are talking is that all firearm owners are irresponsible and that is just not true! I think that each side needs to do a little more listening to all the people and not just big business and lobbyists and definitely not while emotions are high!

I do not have a problem with background checks but they already do them and obviously the databases are not set up very well or accurately so that needs to change. Yes they could add in the gun shows but I doubt that would change much but I am not against it. The large capacity magazines are really not necessary but what one person considers high capacity is not always the same as anothers so where is the cut off number? I also do not have a problem with getting rid of banana clips or jungle strap/clips but other than that who knows what is the right number? I also believe that the sale of or instructions for refitting a semi auto to an auto should be gone but it is easily available online so how does that get stopped? If someone wants to purchase an assault type weapon maybe they should have to go through a class and be required to secure it properly and also maybe go through a psychological testing every so often to keep it but that could get expensive and complicated with having to keep track of those doing the testing and who pays for it?!?

I have always been a believer that guns, knives, clubs, etc. do not kill people but people kill people! So we have to look at the ones committing the crimes because we know that the weapon they use does not get put in jail or get executed the person that used the weapon does. The fact is that most of the mass shootings have been done by those with a mental illness so why did nobody do something before it got to that point? The Virginia Tech shooting is an example of falling through the cracks when afterwards you hear so many people knew this person had issues. The Aurora theater suspects mother (and probably other family) knew he had problems yet did nothing to get him help, had they done so it could have saved a lot of lives!

I do not want to turn on the tv and see another mass shooting any more than anyone else but we need to look at the core problem and not just what the outcome was with each of these. Too many days people do not pay attention to what is going on in their own homes and their own families! They ignore the problems and/or throw money at it in buying the kids anything and everything they want! With the technology out there now more and more people do not talk to each other, they text, they use social media(which seems like a joke calling it that) and of course email to talk to each other and sometimes in the same room instead of actually having a conversation with each other. Parents need to actually talk with their kids and know what they are up to but I hear all the time that they are too busy working and paying bills to do this yet I do not believe this at all! I am not saying that we just round up all those that are mentally ill and put them away but those with a mental illness need help not having it hid under the rug! I wish that our mental health system was better and I wish that families would not try to hide problems because that makes it seem that the one suffering is a problem and/or embarrassment and not talking about it makes that person become even more withdrawn. Schools need to do more about bullying in the school system, don’t get me wrong the parents are responsible for teaching their children that it is wrong to bully but when it happens in the schools the administration needs to be responsible to get the help for the one being bullied and punish the ones doing the bullying! There are too many times when this bullying can and does cause violence and/or suicide! I want our children to be safe but it is not just safe from another mass shooting but from the day to day problems that many have to deal with getting picked on or made to feel ashamed about something they are or do differently than others. We need to make sure the children are safe but there are many things that need to be changed to make the violence go away, all violence not just guns!

Why Does ND Get Brought Up During Gun Control Talks?

I have been listening and reading a lot about the gun control issue being discussed right now and am amazed at the number of people who mention ND in those discussions. Yes this is a republican state and most all people either have or have been around guns in their lives or even all their lives. In this area hunting is a big outdoor sport for many including my own family. We have hunted all our lives and so have our families and we have never had an accident or something worse happen at anytime. Our boys all went through hunter safety classes when they were old enough to hunt but before that they were taught to respect firearms at home. In ND we have fewer people in the whole state than what some would consider a medium sized city and people know each other a lot better. I am not saying that there has not been gun violence here but it is very low occurence although there has been an upturn of such since the oil boom and many people from other areas of the country have come here to work and live. The higher percentage of violence is directly involved with out-of-staters against each other.

One report in particular had to do with a mayor (not sure if it was Chicagos or another) involved with mayors and gund control advocacy group who stated that although things are different between Chicago and ND those in ND need to understand that more laws are needed, basically. The problem I have with that comment is that Chicago IS very different from ND and we do not have the number of illegal weapons going through here that they obviously have there. The number of drive by shootings and gun violence in Chicago (or any large city) is an issue but since we do not have this type of violence occurring here why is that even a comparison?

This past weekend there was a Gun Trade Show here and my husband and I went just to see how people were reacting to the possible changes to the laws. I will say that it was VERY busy and that although there were about four booths that did have semi automatics and what is considered assault type weapons for sale there were a lot of other booths with knives, weapons training classes, concealed weapons permits, and many, many shotguns, hunting rifles and antiques guns for sale and restoration experts. The booths with the semi automatics and assault type weapons were very congested and I honestly do not know how many were sold but I do know that they were taking a lot of info and making calls for each sale. My husband bought a gun that day and filled out ALL his info and then the seller made a call to verify his info and that he had a clean record. Although he did not have a waiting period there was more to purchasing the gun than just handing over cash or a check with no record of the transaction. The way I have heard the gun shows portrayed you would think they do not check anything at all, not true in this case at all. My husband was in the Navy and in the Guards after his Navy stint and has hunted all his life being raised on a farm and guns are a part of that life he has no problem with having guns in our home and neither do I. I was very impressed with the way this gun show was set up also, with the guns checked and handled with the care necessary for firearms. The entrance was set up with a checkpoint to have someone checking any weapons brought in to ensure they were not loaded and secured. I do not know what the process is for other gun shows are in other areas of the country but here I do see the amount of respect for any firearm and the needed safety in handling such is being held up very well.

I will say that I am very strict about my belief of not buying ANY toy guns for small children. I do not believe they should have them as a toy because they are being made more realistic all the time and those small children cannot tell the difference. I won’t buy BB guns either because again to realistic. Once a child has gone through a hunter safety course, only then can they understand how important it is to handle firearms carefully. I know people who think that their child is just playing with a toy and since they do not keep any guns of their own in their home they do not see a problem with a toy. There is a problem because they do not know what weapons are kept at their child friends homes and how secure they are. What happens if their child is there and that child and their friend sees a real gun but cannot tell the difference? That could be tragic! Responsible gun owners follow the laws and have respect for firearms, they keep them locked up and make sure their family understands how important safety is! The type of gun violence that occurs everyday is NOT committed by law abiding citizens but by those who will find a way to hurt others if they want to whether by using a firearm or another method.

We really need to look at better mental health and that those that are having problems are getting the necessary help! We also need to be very aware of those around us and those that do have criminal records of violence. The data base of those with a record are not as complete as they should be and that needs to be kept up to date. We also need to make sure that the government does their job of getting the illegal trafficking of firearms under control! The ATF should have made better headway in getting these actual traffickers off the streets. The government has made the laws so complicated that it can take years of investigation and compiling a case before they actually make any arrests! Why not take down those they catch in the act? They could take down more and more and eventually there would be fewer criminals to distribute so those that are at the top will not have anyway to distribute their weapons.

Between getting the database updated for the background checks and getting the illegal gun traffickers that would take care of alot of problems. The background checks that are being tossed out there about if someone has a mental health issue I would like to know exactly how the government would be able to enforce that after the creation of HIPPA? If you do not mark a certain box on your release of medical records nobody can have access to your mental health info! They are saying those that are mentally crazy by the courts are what they mean and I believe that those that are proved by the courts to be criminally insane are usually in prison so they would not be purchasing guns. If you think about it those are the only people that you can legally find out if they have a mental problem! Logistically some of the proposed possibillities for a new gun law are unrealistic! I do agree that nobody needs the large clips like the “banana clip” or “jungle mags” for any reason except military and maybe law enforcement!

Maybe they should look at those that want the assault type weapons and the large mags could be required to go through a seperate gun safety class and be required to have a certain type of way to secure it and maybe even a psychological evaluation done annually or biannually to keep that firearm?

There are a lot of people in ND that do have firearms but if you look at TX, GA, NC or any state that hunting is a large sport there are many more firearms and many more people and much larger populations so why is it that ND keeps coming up? For the most part I agree with most democrats on many issues but in this case I can’t agree with democrats or republicans because the views from each are way too different. There has to be a middle ground that can actually be helpful and work for both sides of the argument. For the most part all of the mass shootings that have happened in the last 30 years have been done by people that had definite depression problems or other mental health issues or in their minds were pushed to it by the bullying they undured for a long period of time. I am not making excuses but I am saying that these are things that need to be looked at. The changes within the last 20-30 years have caused more and more people to be more isolated than ever with internet and social media sites there are more issues with bullying than ever and nobody talks to each other anymore! I watched a group of teens sitting within feet of each other glued to their phones and texting each other, no talking just texting! I asked a couple of them why they just didn’t talk and the reply was “why? it is easier to just type! your too old to understand!” Wow I couldn’t believe it but I do know that with children glued to a screen all the time is not good for them whether it be a PC, video games, TV or a cell phone or tablet! Too many families that only communicate through electronics does not make for a very close family no matter how you look at it. You always hear about the violence on TV but look at the amount of violence these kids see on their video games and through the internet and even through the media! Yes the video games and movies are bad enough but with all the changes in how we keep up to date these days the media has images of very disturbing things happening at the time it happens or within seconds or minutes. You never used to see a dead body on the news and now they show not only that but much much more and very gruesome images! Is that really necessary? No it is not!

I want to see a less violent world also but unfortunately I doubt VERY much that ANY excessive gun laws are going to change this until our own culture changes. Our culture changes over time but unfortunately not always in a good way and it is never going to go back to the way it was so now we have to deal with how things are handled from here on and there are many things that need to be looked at NOT just gun laws!

ENTITLEMENTS! WHO REALLY GETS THEM!?!

Politicians keep saying that they need to do something to fix the deficit. The most popular seems to be what they consider entitlements, but what are these? To them Social Security and Medicare seem to be the most popular yet these are NOT what I would consider entitlements in a way. The social security trust fund is paid into by us and is a totally seperate entity that is not part of the deficit. Medicare is a tax we pay in also, so why do they believe that they should cut something that has nothing to do with the deficit? Because government has notoriously dipped into the social security trust for decades and used it to pay other programs instead of what it was meant for. Social Security and Medicare should not be used as bargaining chips between Congress because they were the ones to put all the “IOU’S” in the trust!

To me the “entitlements” seems to be what Congress makes both while in and out of their seats. Lifetime pensions, for what? The pay they receive and the raises THEY vote themselves seem t be entitlements. The “pork” they add to any and every bill they can is what I believe is and “entitlement”. The nonproductive offices they create are what I would consider “entitlements”. There is also the amount of money that we send over to other countries to “help” them instead of our own is what I would consider a definite “entitlement”! There are many areas of government waste and that should be the first thing looked at and cuts made there.

One other area that I believe would help the middle and lower class is putting a stop to the constant and astronomically rising costs of living. Especially for our elderly with the rising costs of medical care. Too many “non profit” hospitals with too many paper pushers that are paid way too much that do nothing productive. The so called non profits do not pay taxes but make a lot of profit and extend more and more in every city. We have two main hospitals here that are exactly two blocks apart in the downtown area and one was recently bought by the largest rural hospita system in the country just a few months ago the other is a Catholic hospital. Both non profit and both have expanded 10 fold plus. The hospitals have expanded so much you almost cannot tell where one begins and one ends except for the signs. They have expanded several blocks north, south, east and west of their initial spots. They have expanded to the very north and very south of town and many othe the surrounding small towns. This is a lot of property that these non profits now own and even more money they make yet they do not pay property taxes on any of it. They do not have to pay in like the rest of us yet they continue to hike up the costs of everything. When my son was small and hospitalized a tylenol would cost around $.50 each and the last time he was in a few months ago the cost of a tylenol had gone up to $12.00 each. That is one hell of a jump in costs and that is just for a tylenol. Compare that to every single thing they use in a hospital and every test they perform and look at the raise in all of those things. This has gotten ridiculous yet they claim they cannot afford to hire the staff they need to actually care for the patients who pay their salaries. To me it is a lot like government in that they get paid well but they forget that they actually work for us. They both are out to hurt the elderly and those that are on the lower end of the pay scale to save those that make the most money, including themselves.
I believe that Congress needs to look elsewhere for the cuts they need to do and that maybe if they went ahead with fixing our infrastructure (will add jobs) and up the minimum wage (which those making it will put right back into the economy) and assess what pay should really be in government (to make it more inline with what middle americans earn) then and only then will they begin to make some sort of sense in changing our deficit. Yes we need cuts but what they consider “entitlements” seems to be way different than what an average taxpayer would consider them.

My only hope is that common sense kicks in with the 113th Congress but I really doubt it with all the infighting and the refusing to budge on anything whether it is right for this country or not! Social Security Trust should have approximately 2.6 trillion dollars in it but unfortunately it is only paper which doesn’t mean much when the IOU’s come from government. Sadly I believe that this whole situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.