such is the price of freedom? I don't know, I think it is sort of telling that China is able to keep guns off the streets at the expense of political freedoms. I'm not trying to be glib here, but I don't think there is a way to keep illegal weapons out of the hands of criminals without a totalitarian police state.
Let me be plain. If a few more gun crimes is the price we have to pay for a freer, open society, then I think I can make piece with that. Otherwise, I am not willing to have a total ban on guns that is 100% effective due to an ever present government. Because then we wouldn't have to worry about being shot by a mugger, but rather being shot for voting the wrong way.
I still think we should have restrictions on gun ownership and we should, as I said earlier, tackle the problems at their source - finding these people at risk to feel desperate or deranged enough to engage in gun violence. But not only is outright banning guns in some ways just as bad a temporary fix as arming teachers is, but it is worse because of the implicated powers it gives government.
I'm not going to say America should ban guns, I'm just saying I recognize the other side of the argument.
I just don't think this is a big enough problem to merit having guns in the classroom. Is this part of Texas particularly dangerous? Are there lots of gun crimes already?
What about the other rhetorical questions I already asked?
I guess the debate ultimately ends at the question, "Do the benefits outweigh the risks?" I just don't think they do.
But who knows, maybe if I had a kid I'd think differently. I don't know.
It's not about gun violence, it's that Texas is primarily a gun crazy state. I can almost assure you, though, that as much as they are letting people have guns, they are also stressing gun safety. If anything, this would probably only work in Texas, since that's a state where you can get a gun, oh I don't know, anywhere? Guns are part of their culture, so I doubt that other states and schools will follow suit unless they are as gun friendly.
True story: 2 nights ago I was walking around with a girl from Dallas after we had eaten dinner together with some other friends, and she said that she used to carry a gun around with her when she walked around at night and that the only reason she didn't still have it was because she sold it.
While I've never heard of any other teenage girl walking around with a gun, our reaction was like "Wow, okay, must be a bad neighborhood." South Dallas is a pretty bad neighborhood though.
Well, I'm somewhat familiar with Texas; I lived in Plano for a little under 5 years in my middle school days. I remember it being really bad with heroin back in my day, but not so much with guns.
lol, Plano has a lot of drugs. Dallas has a lot of shooting.
EDIT: not shooting up, I just hear about a lot of people getting shot, having to do with gangs and drug dealings. Mostly in South Dallas, where that girl said she lived.
I remember in middle school a 6th grader got busted by cops and drug dogs for a huge stash in his locker. They made rounds every few months, but apparently someone decided to take a chance.
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday.
Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.
Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans.
The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said.
Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo's dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.
Mpaluku said the government was investigating.
He made no mention of witchcraft, but confirmed that soldiers had fired into the air to calm angry crowds. The shooting prompted panic instead, which became fatal "when the crowds all tried to leave at the same time."
"Most of the dead were children, only two or three were adults," Mpaluku said.
North Kivu has been the epicenter of violence between Congo's army and rebels over the last year which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
LONDON (AFP) — Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has paid tribute to the band's keyboard player Richard Wright, who died of cancer aged 65, praising his "quiet touch" that brought their classic albums to life.
Wright, a founding member of the progressive rock group, wrote and sang several numbers from classic albums including "The Dark Side of the Moon" (1973) and "Wish You Were Here" (1975).
He died on Monday after a short struggle with cancer, his family announced.
Gilmour praised his bandmate's "vitality, spark and humour".
"No-one can replace Richard Wright -- he was my musical partner and my friend," he said. "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten.
"He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound."
And he added: "Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him."
Among Wright's best-known compositions were "The Great Gig In The Sky," and "Us And Them".
Without those tracks, "What would 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' have been?" Gilmour said.
"Without his quiet touch the album 'Wish You Were Here' would not quite have worked. In my view, all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow."
Wright, born in the London suburbs, met bassist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason at college, where they formed The Pink Floyd Sound in 1965.
After tensions with Waters, Wright left the band shortly after recording sessions for "The Wall" album in 1979.
He released two solo albums in a period during which Gilmour said Wright "lost his way for a while," before officially returning to Pink Floyd in 1987.
"In the early 90s, with 'The Division Bell,' his vitality, spark and humour returned to him," Gilmour said.
Wright took part in the band's reunion alongside Gilmour, Mason and Waters at the giant Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park in 2005. It was the first time Waters had appeared with the group since 1981.
He also played last year at a tribute concert to Syd Barrett, the band's early leader who left the group in 1968 and died in 2006. Waters and Gilmour appeared separately.
Wright played on every Pink Floyd tour and Gilmour paid tribute to his "uplifting" performances.
"It's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him," he said.
LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury acquitted a man accused of killing a boy who broke into his home looking for a snack — a case that sparked outrage in this border city, where many thought the man should not have even been charged.
It took the jury of eight men and four women three hours Friday to find Jose Luis Gonzalez, 63, not guilty of murdering Francisco Anguiano, who was 13 when he and three friends broke into Gonzalez's trailer to rummage for snacks and soda one night in July 2007.
"I thank God and my attorney, the jury and the judge," Gonzalez said in Spanish after the verdict. "It was a case where it was my life or theirs, and it's a very good thing that they (the jurors) decided in my favor."
Gonzalez said he was sorry for Anguiano's death, but "it was a situation in which I feared for my life."
Texas law allows homeowners to use deadly force to protect themselves and their property. In June, a grand jury in Houston cleared a homeowner who shot and killed two burglars outside his neighbor's house despite the dispatcher's repeated request that he stay inside his own home.
"I feel vindicated for Mr. Gonzalez and his family and for all of the homeowners and all of the seniors in Laredo," said Isidro "Chilo" Alaniz, Gonzalez's attorney. "This case has huge implications across the board. We always, always believed in Mr. Gonzalez's right to defend his life and his property."
Alaniz is running uncontested for Webb County district attorney in November.
However, Assistant District Attorney Uriel Druker maintained during his closing arguments that the case was not about homeowners' right to protect their property, but about when a person is justified in using deadly force to do so.
"What really took place here was a case of vigilantism," he said after the verdict. "A 13-year-old boy was killed because a man was enraged."
Anguiano's aunt, who asked not to be named, said in Saturday's editions of the Laredo Morning Times that she was disappointed with the verdict.
"The state fought the case the way it should have," she said. "There was a sufficient amount of evidence, and I thought that some of the jurors would be a father or a mother, and perhaps they would think about this happening to them."
Gonzalez had endured several break-ins at his trailer when the four boys, ranging in age from 11 to 15, broke in. Gonzalez, who was in a nearby building at the time, went into the trailer and confronted the boys with a 16-gauge shotgun. Then he forced the boys, who were unarmed, to their knees, attorneys on both sides say.
The boys say they were begging for forgiveness when Gonzalez hit them with the barrel of the shotgun and kicked them repeatedly. Then, the medical examiner testified, Anguiano was shot in the back at close range. Two mashed Twinkies and some cookies were stuffed in the pockets of his shorts.
Another boy, Jesus Soto Jr., now 16, testified that Gonzalez ordered them at gunpoint to take Anguiano's body outside.
Gonzalez said he thought Anguiano was lunging at him when he fired the shotgun.
Many people in Laredo — a town just across the Rio Grande from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where drug violence runs rampant — defended Gonzalez's actions. In online responses to articles published by the Morning Times, comments included statements such as "The kid got what he deserved" and calls to "stop the unfair prosecution."
LUSBY, Maryland (AP) -- A mother told police that child-sized human remains uncovered in her basement freezer were those of her two adopted daughters, and police believe that she is responsible for their deaths...
Oh, and since I never got to comment about the Texas shoot em up situation: that guy should have been sentenced to prison, if not death. Death seems a bit extreme in this situation, but to be found not guilty? That's just wrong. Yeah, the kids were in the house, and they were robbing the guy, but they were robbing petty things; even if this wasn't the first time they tried to steal from this guy, a punishment of death is NOT acceptable, and just cuz I live in texas and agree that there definitely some situations where I think killing an intruder is justified, this is certainly not one of them. Boo Laredo Texas and the jury that decided to let him off.
The story about the abused child makes me really sad.
Texas article: It wasn't self defense. That's just disgusting that he got away with that. I'm all for beating the hell out of some punk kids who probably need it, but bruises heal. Gunshot wounds to the back don't.
Child abuse article: That's just sad. Seems to me the adoption agency really failed those children by not checking that woman thoroughly enough. But I'm sure whoever issued those children to her is feeling guilty enough.
As much as I'd like to say "those kids screwed up, and got what was coming", I just can't support the use of a gun like that. Certainly after holding the kids at gunpoint for a few minutes, they'd be scared enough to run off and not bother ol' Mr Jones again. But the law says it's cool, because they were breaking in.
And shame on Mr Jones for stocking twinkies and the like in his cupboards. He should know damn well that they attract teenage boys like flies to wine! He should've built a sugary trap for them, perhaps. Like a bear trap for boys.
I still enjoy the occasional RickRoll. Or are you one of those people who think something isn't worth doing if it's not cool? Psh. Go be hip and trendy somewhere else.
Also, compared to the competition in that article, I'd say Astley has a very good chance.
Comments
Let me be plain. If a few more gun crimes is the price we have to pay for a freer, open society, then I think I can make piece with that. Otherwise, I am not willing to have a total ban on guns that is 100% effective due to an ever present government. Because then we wouldn't have to worry about being shot by a mugger, but rather being shot for voting the wrong way.
I still think we should have restrictions on gun ownership and we should, as I said earlier, tackle the problems at their source - finding these people at risk to feel desperate or deranged enough to engage in gun violence. But not only is outright banning guns in some ways just as bad a temporary fix as arming teachers is, but it is worse because of the implicated powers it gives government.
EDIT: I'm not saying I particularly like this situation, but I'm just saying it is better than some alternatives.
I just don't think this is a big enough problem to merit having guns in the classroom. Is this part of Texas particularly dangerous? Are there lots of gun crimes already?
What about the other rhetorical questions I already asked?
I guess the debate ultimately ends at the question, "Do the benefits outweigh the risks?" I just don't think they do.
But who knows, maybe if I had a kid I'd think differently. I don't know.
While I've never heard of any other teenage girl walking around with a gun, our reaction was like "Wow, okay, must be a bad neighborhood." South Dallas is a pretty bad neighborhood though.
EDIT: not shooting up, I just hear about a lot of people getting shot, having to do with gangs and drug dealings. Mostly in South Dallas, where that girl said she lived.
Ah, school memories!
Rick Wright passed away.
Why do all the good guys have to die?
I'm glad I don't live in Texas.
The story about the abused child makes me really sad.
Child abuse article: That's just sad. Seems to me the adoption agency really failed those children by not checking that woman thoroughly enough. But I'm sure whoever issued those children to her is feeling guilty enough.
And shame on Mr Jones for stocking twinkies and the like in his cupboards. He should know damn well that they attract teenage boys like flies to wine! He should've built a sugary trap for them, perhaps. Like a bear trap for boys.
Good lord, what has the world come to??
Rick Astley
Kurt Cobain
Also, compared to the competition in that article, I'd say Astley has a very good chance.