Charleston South Carolina Has Shattered My Heart

6/19

                 What has happened in Charleston South Carolina has shattered my heart and
       every decent person in this country, nine innocent people murdered for what ? By a
       young man who hated black people or was he trying to make a name for himself ? I
       don't know the answer, I do know shootings like the Conn.children in school, the nut
       job who slaughtered people in Colorado at a movie theater, hand guns have to be out
       lawed, high caliber weapons, machine guns, etc out lawed except rifles for hunting then
      again we have supermarkets why shoot Bambi ?

                            http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33190735


                                                              Joe................

I share your feelings, Joe.  Sarcastically speaking, I wonder how long it will be befoe the NRA suggests people carry guns when going to church.  Perhaps they will also suggest the rewriting of the Ten Commandments, especially the one that says: "Thou shalt not kill."

6/19

                    Or should we have a another commandment " Execute The Bastards."

                                                    Cheers....Joe..

We keep hearing how our Constitution should be amended, perhaps they will begin working on the commandments.

This shooting was very sad and makes me wonder why we don't wise up and limit handguns. If he had a rifle people could beware.

In the southern states, Florida included, there is an ignorance of compassion and a taught prejudice about brown or black or Asian  or any other peoples who are not white who feel entitled to the best of life.  It is put out by the governments, the churches, the businesses.  It is a fear of losing the special status that White brings with it by birth in the world.
I wish it were not so and easily corrected by education.  But, prejudice is such an ingrained, taught, subtle thing.  People stand and say, " I am for all people to be equal," but their actions are not following that thought.  Many white people think they really are better and more entitled to the good stuff.  They teach their children in subtle ways that do not include the words of prejudice and special-ness, but it is there, none the less, taught from birth.  how to fix this is a slow and one by one adventure. 
I am so sorry for the hate that goes around as Christian ethic.  I am sorry for the people who think they are right when they are so wrong and will not see.  I do not think that my voice matters much in this except in the people that I can talk to....not talk to, but who can see by my actions that I am no a hater or prejudiced person.  Perhaps it really is a one to one war on ignorance.  We do need an army.
Love, Betty

6/19

                       I saw tonight on the news the court room scene with this little sum bag,
 sorry I'm enraged by this ! I couldn't believe how relatives of the nine victims told this
 little scum bag how they forgave him then each talked about their relatives. South 
 Carolina should be proud of it's people, no, not one person  rioted over this, even when
 it was stated it's a hate crime, it makes my heart feel good these people black and white
 people have come together to help each other mourn...God Bless Them

                                                                      Joe

Betty, your words reflect what many feel, but can't express.  It would be better for us to concentrate on solving problems in our own country instead of meddling in the affairs of other countries. It is easier to see bad in others than in ourselves. 
This tragic event is already being used by politicians.  Is it to deflect their own prejudices or to gain publicity?  Gun violence in the recent past, especially in schools prompted people to say, "something must be done". however very little if anything has been done.  I attribute that to the strong NRA lobby and that subject, although some feel has been beaten to death, has not been beaten enough.  I expect some new initiatives will be taken and die out once the memory fades.  The only thing to keep it alive is our voices and we can do that with social media.

6/20

                  How come other countries have very strict weapons laws, no crime ! 
                  What we need the people against weapons is massive marches on 
                  Washington DC, and I mean by millions of people , tons of petitions 
                  with millions of signatures....." STOP THE INSANITY !"

                                                                 Cheers...Joe

Joe, there is a mentality that refuses to see what others do.  We're the best, we're number one, if it is good, we must have done it.  That arrogance is leaving us behind.  We try to invent an American healthcare system when there are systems that work and where all the trial and error has been done, however some say, "it won't work in America."  They will say that even without having tried it.
As for guns, where I live no one has handguns except for the Police.  Those who do have guns are hunters and all their weapons are registered.  They also undergo a gun safety program in how not only to use, but how to store the weapons when not in use.  Safety is a big deal.
When incidents happen as has happened in the past several years with mass shootings, people I've talked to just shake their heads.  They just can't understand it and neither can I.  I posed the question on FB this morning in a sarcastic manner:  "How many people would have died if a gun was not used?"  We keep hearing that "guns don't kill, people do."  That is just one more NRA quip. 
Another old and famous one is "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."  If that were the case, it would be easy to spot the outlaws. 
Having a gun for personal safety speaks loudly about the society in which one lives.  We are regressing to the days of the "Wild West".  I realize that many do not share my views on this and I really don't care if I get agreement or not.  It is my opinion.  At one time I also had guns in the house, it was the thing to do - so I thought.  My like keeping up with the Joneses.  I don't have nor do I feel the need for a gun.  I feel safe and secure.  If someone were to break into my home and want to rob me, I do have a weapon (a small axe) hidden near the door, but doubt if I'd ever need it.  As far as I'm concerned, if someone wants to rob me, they can have it.  It is not worth my life or theirs to defend "things".  Defending oneself against a mass murderer is not something one can prepare for.  I read where the NRA suggested that if the church members all carried guns, the murders wouldn't have happened.  Can you imagine going to church carrying a gun, being prepared to kill while the pastor is reading the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill"? 
As they say with the AA,  "The first step to a cure is admitting you have a problem."  When we recognize that a problem exists and stop trying to justify or explain away these incidents, we can then find a reasonable solution.  We might even look to other cultures and learn what they did or do to eliminate or minimize the problem.

6/20

                        Abe............


                                             Cheers.......Joe..........

I think you may find the following of interest:
http://gun-control.procon.org/

Dear Abe. Person of my heart. Intelligent and compassionate.
It is so hard to put out into words what we feel.  You have done it.  love, Betty

Many years ago I wrote a letter to the editor in a Fort Myers newspaper because I was so distraught about a young woman activist with children who were in her yard with her children when her ex husband who had a restraining order shot her dead.  Just like that.  I swore I would fight for gun control - but never fought with more than words. My sister was murdered in a similar, tragic fashion.  In both cases, guns were too convenient for raging men.

Betty is so right about Florida and the south in general.  People talk a good talk but reality is that the culture is one of hatred of differences, fear of losing what one has and the gun as the symbol of manhood, patriotism, freedom and by some twist of logic, Christianity.  There's a lot of profit in weapons, and those hates, fears and beliefs are kept alive to benefit those who profit from death, no better than the drug dealers who likewise profit from death.

The best post on Facebook was one that said race is a creation of man.  We are all one race.  I always say blood runs red in all of us. No one asked at a blood transfusion what race was the donor.  Physical feature differences and skin colors are the result of the migration of the human race to different parts of the world and affected by inter-marriage, foods, weather, famines, sun or lack thereof.  Those traits became genetic.  The reality is that we all started on this earth with ancestors somewhere in Africa or thereabouts.  So, the original "race" would have dark features.  White people are the mutants.  

8

6/20

                              Here's the answer I found on face Book, Awesome !

                                                   Cheers..Joe

6/21

                               This is love and humanity we are all human beings.

                                                         Love Joe

Fortunately you are correct, Joe.  It's just the awful ones are so awful.  The best I saw was on Facebook and I should  have copied it.  The truth is that there is no "race."  These are surface differences that man has allowed to separate us from each other's humanity.

All of us came from common ancestors that were likely dark skinned and in the region we have named with artificial borders, "Africa."  Our differences came from our migration to other parts of the world.  Inside, we are pretty much the same with definite red blood in our veins and a brain that we could use to build harmony instead of fear and hate.  We have the mind to collaborate and cooperate.  We are just ruled by ancient instincts of fear and reprisal.

The world has enough resources for everyone.  The geniuses just need to get together and figure out how to benefit everyone with the gifts we did not earn - the gifts of the earth.

Agree.

How about getting rid of the confederate flag? I don't see why it is displayed on Pubic buildings.
The south lost the war and it is high time they recognized that fact.

6/22

                                This is the truth !

                                 Cheers..Joe.....

It's always about power, I think.  Hanging onto a symbol that antagonizes so many gives the lovers of that symbol their last vestiges of power - of winning something.  The Civil War may have been won technically, but the south kept what remains of their beliefs and lifestyle they could after the carpet baggers and northern raiders took away everything that would have allowed the south to rise to power again in addition to eliminating legal slavery.

Thus, even today, the south is a drain on the U.S. economy for the poorest levels of education, the lowest wages, the poorest health care, the struggling industry, the low standard of living and the levels of abject poverty.  I'm as yankee as they come, born and raised in an industrial Michigan community, but I believe the rape of the south by the North during and following the war with whatever justification generated, contributed to the everlasting poverty and black issues concentrated in southern states (but not there alone - however, impoverished people from slave histories could carry that stain in their heart for generations and to the cities of the north). 

Black people carry the stain of slavery; white people carry the stain of losing everything and living in poverty equal to and often worse than the very black people they once ruled over.  These stains, slavery and white and black poverty, fester and come to the surface top side and sideways.  Thus, a white man says, "why am I so poor and my future so hopeless?"  He looks around for someone to blame and there are the dark skinned races, filling jobs and acting like they belong in his white United States.  The color of their skin provided a visible outlet for hate.

The entire nation suffers for those embers of hate and memory.  Life moves on and new generations are born, but there's always someone who keeps hate and memory alive. For every child in poverty whose hunger diminished his capacity to learn, for every man or woman unable to find work, for every person without adequate health care, housing, plagued with "food insecurity" - that's hunger but food insecurity sounds less damning - the nation cries.  Every prejudice against differences weakens the thread that binds a country as one entity in the world with ideals and focus.

Our strength as a nation is not in our homogeneity - it is in our ability to bring together diverse people and beliefs who treasure the freedom to speak our minds, seek our futures and vote for the systems to provide quality lives for all of us.

A national government is the equalizer.  It has the broad view - the big picture - to draw together the various disparate beliefs to work toward the common good for all its citizens, not just an elite few.

We are, however, the product of our genetics, our religion, our family, our culture and the beliefs we draw to ourselves to survive.  It appears that hatred hold on tightly, nourished by fear.

.

6/24

              I think the little bastard that murdered those innocent 9 people should
              be put on trial at once then once found guilty executed within 30 days
              in the public square by hanging, so everyone can witness this and those
              who dare do it again would think twice about it....

                                                                       Joe

No statistical evidence supports capital punishment in any form or even incarceration for that matter as a deterrent to crime.  The potential criminal believes they will not be caught or just doesn't care.

The people like me who are law-abiding citizens see incarceration as heinous and dread any accidental involvement in the justice system, much less committing a real crime.

My conclusion is that capital punishment and incarceration are seen as feared by honest, law-abiding citizens but not by those who commit heinous crimes.