BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 01:37 AM

OK..I agree with most of that......however, Germany made the mistake of opening the war on TWO fronts..and that most certainly put the nail in the coffin for them.
BTW, I'm glad that when the Allied Forces invaded Normandy, I'm glad they used slingshots and bows and arrows!...maybe even banged a few rocks together in the process!
As far as Hollywood's version...Do you mean that John Wayne, didn't win that Battle of the Bulge by himself??..I thought Audie Murphy and him slaughtered the whole of the German forces...(BTW, John Wayne was a '4-F'..meaning he was turned down for the military for physical or medically unfit reasons...just a tidbit)....

As for, Rapparee's, ".....you mean like the Black Panther Party? The Huey Newton Gun Club? W.E.B. DuBois? Harriet Tubman? Frederick Douglass? The New Black Liberation Militia? The New Black Panther Party? Deacons for Self-Defense? Nation of Islam? Revolutionary Action Movement?"....You mean all of Obama's buddies???? His Justice Department seems to overlook those groups altogether...for any and every thing...like the drug cartels....
Just a thought... have you ever wondered WHY those groups haven't been reigned in???....I guess if the ideological mindset is 'useful', why go after them?
I was referring to those groups(the ones I mentioned who hold a 'traditional view' of America.

Look, I'm NOT promoting, nor defending the use or reasons that gun people like their guns...merely stating that IF a policy came about in gun confiscation, or over regulating them out of existence, that the backlash would be VERY bloody. Just imagine if someone came to YOUR door and demanded YOUR guns. I don't think your re-action would be quite the same as 'Trick or Treaters, at Halloween!

If you don't like guns, don't get one....if you want to get rid of their use, I'd suggest promoting calm, and unity, being a living example of Love, Peace, and tolerance. It worked for Gandhi, throwing off British oppression, and it worked for Dr. Martin Luther King. Blaming guns for all the violence, is like blaming Rosie O'Donnell's fork for her being so fat! Perhaps, we should focus more on people's values...and raise them, by example, rather than catering to the lowest common denominators in society! and passing laws to accommodate the stupidest, by forcing all those who aren't prone to be as stupid, into laws dictated by the needs of the stupid few...perhaps the need to feel like one needs a gun would subside.....and that goes for a whole lot of other things, as well!
The government, allegedly, bans illegal drug use...so, how's that going???

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 12:11 AM

I should also add that the RAF saved Britain's "ass" in the late summer and fall of 1940, when they (just barely) held off the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. It was a VERY close thing, could have gone either way but for one or two bad German decisions, but the British did it by themselves (with the aid of some very brave Polish, Czech, French, and Canadian pilots who also served in the RAF during that campaign. The USA played no part in that.

One thing the USA did that was quite helpful to Britain in the dark days of the early war was to supply about 50 old American destroyers to the Royal Navy as part of the Lend Lease Act of 1940. This did help the British significantly. It didn't win the war, but it helped. Credit where credit is due. The full story of that is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyers_for_Bases_Agreement

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 11:46 PM

Gfs...we agree on more than a few things, but I want to correct some ahistorical, and oft-repeated, but untrue things in your statement below:

***** "Some people (mostly some of the Brits) wholeheartedly agree with Adolf Hitler. He banned all guns, then attacked Britain. It's a good thing that the Yanks knew how to use those guns....it saved Britain's ass!" ******

Okay, here we go.

1. Hitler did not ban all guns. Hardly. It's an apocryphal story endlessly repeated by American politicians, and it's simply not true. This has already been commented on by Ebbie and Rapparee.

2. He did not "then attack Britain". He attacked Poland in September 1939. Period. Just Poland. He did it believing that Britain and France would make angry noises about it, but not go to war. He was mistaken about that! Britain and France declared war on Germany within days, which was a stunning shock to Hitler and his diplomatic staff. Therefore, hostilities between Britain and Germany began when Britain (along with France) declared war ON Germany. This does not equate to Germany attacking Britain, as Germany did NOT initiate a state of hostilities with Britain or France, they responded TO a state of hostilities declared BY Britain and France. Germans, not surprisingly, considered Britain and France to have started the great power war that followed, since they declared war on Germany. There followed a lengthy period called "the phony war", because none of those three powers were ready yet for a major campaign in the West, and they all desperately needed more time to prepare. By spring of 1940 they fairly much were ready. Hitler had always envisioned the British as his most desirable potential allies in the new World Order that he had in mind, and he was very hopeful of avoiding war with Great Britain. Because of this he made many militarily odd decisions, such as not sending in the panzers to crush the British troops trapped at Dunkirk. He expected the British to reach an accommodation with Germany and seek peace after the Fall of France. Again he was utterly mistaken. He did eventually attack Great Britain when his diplomatic hopes got nowhere, yes, but a lot of fighting and time had gone by before that happened.

3. The Yanks' use of guns is not what "saved Britain's ass". The Russians saved Britain's ass when they stopped the German army dead in its tracks before Moscow in December '41, threw the Germans back, and inflicted upon them their first great defeat on land. It was the Russian Army that broke the back of Nazi Germany's military machine in huge battles of attrition from Dec '41 to May 1945. Nearly 8 out of 10 German soldiers killed in that war died on the Eastern Front. The fighting in the West was a sideshow in comparison.

4. Did the USA help the British fight the war? Certainly. And that help was quite significant. But it does not compare in importance or scale to what the Russians did. You won't get this in the Hollywood movies, because all they are ever about is promoting the USA version of itself as "savior of the world", and they have little to say about the Russian role in WWII.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 10:18 PM

Oh. Glad to hear it. Thought maybe Idaho measures things differently. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 10:02 PM

Excuse me, that should be 10.6%, not 106%

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 10:01 PM

Goofus, you mean like the Black Panther Party? The Huey Newton Gun Club? W.E.B. DuBois? Harriet Tubman? Frederick Douglass? The New Black Liberation Militia? The New Black Panther Party? Deacons for Self-Defense? Nation of Islam? Revolutionary Action Movement? Lowndes County Freedom Organization? The number of African-Americans in the US military (NB: an average of 106% of the total troops in Vietnam were African-American).

"Violence exercised merely in self-defense, all societies, from the most primitive to the most cultured and civilized, accept as moral and legal. The principle of self-defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi," to quote Martin Luther King (who applied for a concealed carry permit, but was turned down).

Geez, Goofus, learn something before you make a fool of yourself!

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Greg F.
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 06:46 PM

OK, Rapparee, and Ebbie..but still, it amounts to much the same thing.

No, Goofus, it doesn't. Go back to sleep.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,#
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 06:45 PM

They still allow fox hunting in the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 06:13 PM

Get real, Goofus! Neither Ebbie nor Raparree said anything about banning gun ownership to specific racial or religious groups.

And for the anonymous one who criticized my suggestion that a Brit armed with a shotgun could be more dangerous than an American (or a Brit) armed with a snub-nosed revolver, you might take a good look at how the UK's gun laws are actually working. "Civilization," indeed!!

In 2009, twelve years after the Firearms Act of 1997 was passed, Daily Mail Online reported that Britain was "the most violent country in Europe." They also reported that Britain's home figures showed "the UK had a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and South Africa."

Not quite the rosy picture that some of the Brits inhabiting this website and taking pot-shots at Americans would have you believe!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 05:57 PM

What's to prevent somebody bent on murder and mayhem from breaking into a safe and going out with a shotgun concealed beneath an overcoat?

Civilisation

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 05:43 PM

OK, Rapparee, and Ebbie..but still, it amounts to much the same thing. What group of people, religious or racial would you suggest should be banned from owning guns?....and then call it non-discriminatory?? ...Maybe, traditionally married Christians?..White people?? Republicans? Independents?
It wouldn't work...because once you demand people to turn over their guns, and they say ,"No", then the next step is by force...and then the bloodshed begins!

...just so long as they don't try to take away my guitar picks, or ballpoint sword!!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 05:26 PM

Dozy twat, yourself, o anonymous one!

What's to prevent somebody bent on murder and mayhem from breaking into a safe and going out with a shotgun concealed beneath an overcoat?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 05:02 PM

A few decades back, a guitar student of mine was an ex-Marine, and in the Marine Corps, he developed an enthusiasm for target shooting with a pistol. He invited me to come with him to a local pistol range. I found trying to put a bullet into a 3" black spot on a piece of paper at 25 yards quite a challenge and a great deal of fun—sort of like golf.

Loren had a .22 target pistol (I forget which brand) and a fine-tuned Colt .45 automatic "Gold Cup," the target model of the slab-sided military sidearm. Kick like a mule!

I went to a local sporting goods store and bought a Smith and Wesson Model 41 target pistol (long barrel) and, on a whim, a Walther PPK, 9mm. short—this was nearly the same pistol that James Bond packed around. Small, compact, powerful for its size. Europe's answer to the .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver.

Interesting to note that when I bought these guns, there was no background check of any kind. The store clerk didn't even ask me for I.D. (!!)

For a couple of years, Loren and I, and a couple of other friends, would spend Sunday afternoons either at the Seattle Police Athletic Association's pistol range (Loren was a member, although he was not a policeman) blowing holes in paper targets, or out at a gravel pit "plinking." Filling empty beer or soft drink cans with water, setting them on a fence rail, and blazing away at them. A soft drink can filled with water makes a very satisfying geyser when hit square-on with a 9mm bullet!

I haven't gone shooting for a number of years, now, and my pistols reside safely under lock and key. I have no plans to join an unofficial civilian militia. Crazy! If the U. S. government turns into a dictatorship, I will simply move to Canada. If someone tries to break into my apartment, he will, first, have to deal with a secure building, then get through some efficient locks. My wife and I feel pretty safe in our snug little nest.

But--if someone does manage to break in, he may find himself being whipped about the head and shoulders with a sport fencing saber, left over from my days of emulating Zorro at my local athletic club.

I understand that, although private ownership of handguns is illegal in the UK, ownership of shotguns IS legal. If push came to shove, I'd prefer to face someone who is armed with a snub-nosed revolver than some nutter with a double-barreled shotgun!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 04:42 PM

No, GfS. You're incorrect. Please check it out -- Jews were banned from owning ANY weapons and those that they had were confiscated. Check out Halbrook's writings.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 04:09 PM

Ebbie: " Hitler EASED them.
Except for Jews, mainly."

Wrong!

However, I did agree with your very first post.

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 03:39 PM

"... Hitler. He banned all guns, then attacked his own citizens,"

Not so. Check it out. Only people still ignorant of the facts make that claim.

The Weimar Republic, the governing body BEFORE Hitler's regime, passed stringent gun restrictions. Hitler EASED them.

Except for Jews, mainly.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 03:16 PM

Clarification: "Some people (mostly some of the Brits) wholeheartedly agree with Adolf Hitler. He banned all guns, then attacked his own citizens, killed many innocent Jews, along with multitudes of others, after enslaving them in concentration camps...then attacked Britain.

Personally, I think that nobody needs guns....IF they felt secure that their governments were really up to the task of protecting their citizens. A lot of people in the U.S. feel that they need guns and stuff, to protect themselves from the government!!..or from those that the government refuses to protect them from. Many people feel that the reason they want their 'right to maintain their arms', to overthrow an out of control government....which is being brought about by the very same 'activists', on both sides('right' and 'left').
So, if you feel the need to rag on people for their gun beliefs, try ramping down the inflammatory rhetoric, that promotes and exploits hate, and divisions...and try lifting up those things which unite us, and demand honest government!!!!...(something that neither the Brits or the Yanks have!!!!!!!!!!...!!!!!

Regards, and Keep loving!!...(to some you may have to look that up!).

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 02:58 PM

Some people (mostly some of the Brits) wholeheartedly agree with Adolf Hitler. He banned all guns, then attacked Britain. It's a good thing that the Yanks knew how to use those guns....it saved Britain's ass!

I VERY much agree with Will Fly's post:

From: Will Fly
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 04:58 AM

"Richard, I don't understand what motivates you to open threads which comment on some disagreeable fact or other about the USA. I don't understand your reasons for opening this one in particular. It deals with a topic which has been discussed over and over again, ad nauseam, ad infitum, with the same points made endlessly by the same people.

All it does is irritate those American 'Catters who know perfectly well what happens in their own backyard and are perfectly aware of the issues surrounding the topic. Do you pretend to some British moral superiority which you want to wave in the air? If you do, it's fucking tedious.

If you want to get worked up about social issues, there's a whole heap of shit in our own UK backyard - try concentrating on that for a change.

As if anything discussed here - no matter how hot the topic gets - will make any difference anyway."

Instead of promoting the use, or banning of guns, why not promote tolerance, and even love, and less stupid, useless opinions of divisions. How about promoting MUSIC.

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 12:38 PM

Just wait till I get elected president. You'll see dramatic changes in gun laws in the USA then. Yessir. And if Richard Bridge don't like it, he can kiss my coconuts.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Musket shooting from hip
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 12:28 PM

Rational gun law?

I thought you weren't interested in UK policies?

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Will Fly
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 03:43 AM

Bill D and Rap - my feelings exactly!

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Jul 15 - 10:34 PM

I quite agree, Bill D. And I speak as both a gun owner and a (target) shooter. I have never had objection to rational gun laws, or any other type of well-considered law. But to harp upon a subject which is based upon media representation and the resultant personal opinions, for the US or any other country, is beyond a waste of time. It is as if I based my opinions of the UK on the actions of those men who broke into a house in Romford wielding crowbars and a shotgun.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jul 15 - 07:59 PM

Musket said: ". But U.S. Attitude to guns and the absurd stupid misinterpretation of a legal amendment ..."

The US is not an 'entity' in that regard... and it doesn't HAVE an attitude... and expressing it that way does poor service to those many millions who object to the stupid attitude SOME Americans have - which is furthered by the millions spent by and in the name of the NRA in order to keep the $$$$$ flowing and promote that ".absurd stupid misinterpretation of a legal amendment ".

There are flaws & problems about and within the UK, but I don't start a dozen threads about them, and I certainly don't assume that the UK as an entity should be held up for ridicule for any of them. Why is that so hard to understand?

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Musket bridging the gap
Date: 31 Jul 15 - 12:05 PM

Oy Bridge. Just because I'm cultured enough, important enough and handsome enough to have been invited to No. 10 for the odd reception, does not make me a "Blairite." I'm a Musket, which means I have my own views but have always voted Labour.

So, when you were a Tory, were you waving your Union Jack flag at Heath, Th*tcher or Major?

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: LadyJean
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 10:39 PM

The second amendment is part of The Bill Of Rigths, the first ten amendments to our constitution. In the U.S. this is a very important document. When I was in the fourth grade we had a framed copy on our classroom wall. One day, our teacher went through it and explained what each right meant. To her it meant she would never have to endure the kind of persecution her ancestors had as Russian Jews. When we got to the second amendment she explained that this was written when our country was a wilder and woolier place, like on the westerns we saw on TV. Doubtful she ever touched a gun.

In the seventh grade the Bill of Rights was in the back of our history book. Once again, our teacher went through it and explained what each amendment meant. Then she told us that NO RIGHT IS ABSOLUTE. The first amendment guarantees religious freedom. But Mormon polygamy is still illegal. It also guarantees free speech, though we do still have libel laws in this country, fairly liberal libel laws, but libel laws.   

So, it is possible to regulate gun ownership. It is doubtful, though it could be done, that we would scrap the second amendment.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 10:18 PM

If the planet stops abruptly -- to paraphrase Phil Ochs -- I'll stand behind a bar dreamin' of a spaceship getaway car, headed for Mars or any other planet that has bars, like Gerde's Folk City.

I've also found obsidian in the slag heaps near blast furnaces and other very hot places. Not often, but I have.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,#
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 09:46 PM

"the pendulum swings both ways"

I seldom disagree with you, but in fact a pendulum just swings. Recall Foucault's, and it becomes clear. Until it digresses to inertia, it swings in ever-dimishing spirals until its motion dissolves to stasis.

BUT, if the planet should stop abruptly, all bets are off :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 12:44 PM

"The mills of the gods grind slow...", seeking balance,the pendulum swings both ways, all things come to those who wait, blar, blar, blar (to quote joHn), etc, etc, etc...

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 12:26 PM

Since the USA is not a multi-party democracy I can see that some structural inertia provided by the Supreme Court might have its merits.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 12:10 PM

Although the US Supreme Court is allegedly non-biased and supposed to look at each case it rules on by the legal ramifications of each case, each member of the Court is a human being, and it is a given that human beings act and react upon their own beliefs and desires.

So it develops that sometimes we have a liberal court and sometimes, like now, sometimes we have a conservative court. Each member is brought in by the president currently in office, subject to ratification by the legislature at the time, a legislature also either predominantly conservative or liberal at the time.

Turnover of Supreme Court members is slow, since tenure is either life long or terminated only by a member's own decision to retire.

Currently we have a conservative Court, and their decisions reflect this, often by a 5 to 4 vote.

This won't change any time soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 12:08 PM

Hi, Rap and Ebbie. Thanks for the info on obsidian. As a Midwesterner, I have never seen obsidian in the wild, not even on my trips out west.

Then somebody told me about Glass Butte in Oregon, clearly a good place to look, (but not the only place.) That would be interesting to see sometime.

http://northwestrevealed.com/2013/09/17/rivers-of-glass-glass-butte-oregon

#, that's interesting about obsidian for surgical use.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 11:36 AM

Yes but -

Once we got hold of what a warmonger B.Liar really was, his star was no longer in the ascendant and eventually off he went (until, like a vampire, he rose from the dead to try to sabotage the people's desire for Corbyn to lead the Labour party - but I disgress). That it at the root of many of the disagreements between Mither and me. He's a Blairite. And possibly a Mandelbaumite too.

Further - we are in the beginning of the era in which the fourth estate Balkanises, and the barriers to entry in media are going down. If IS can use the new media so effectively to recruit and propagandise, so can we. The more people we can educate into believing that in some areas the USA is beyond the pale, the sooner change for the better may come.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,#
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 11:14 AM

Musket is right. However just being right changes nothing. Nor does being rude, btw. The US is bound by whatever the SCOTUS decides is law in the US. Could it change? Yes. All it would require is a revision of the second and clarification of the fourteenth amendment. (The reason regarding the fourteenth amendment is that a section says Congress's enforcement power may not be used to contradict a Supreme Court interpretation of the amendment (which then extends to all other amendments.))

Blathering about how Americans are still in the stone age helps no one. They have a problem and recognizing it--which is beginning to happen--is the first step to solving it. It may require a totally disgusting/revolting event to cause an overturn of the second amendment. An event that makes things like Sandy Hook pale in comparison. Certainly the NRA as it presently exists needs a thorough house cleaning, and gun/ammunition dealers need to be barred from having the political-lobby influence they have at present, so while it is possible, I won't hold my breath. I wish the Americans well.

Media plays a pivotal role in how we think of things. And media is owned by rich rich people, people to whom an expenditure of a billion dollars means little. Much like spending a hundred dollars might mean to most of us. The scope and magnitude of media's ability to change and direct our thinking is well documented, long-studied and very scary. So while I agree with Musket's remark that some people have catching up to do, that also extends to people everywhere, including the UK.

Blair was a warmonger and British people voted him into power. That may sting because the self-righteous can claim "it wasn't me", when in fact though it may not have been 'you' directly, it was your countrymen/women that voted him into power and your taxes that paid to fuel the killing machine, and your children who died protecting rich people's investments. We can look back a dozen years and ask the question, 'What good came of it?' Looking at present-day Afghanistan and Iraq, I will have to leave the answer to people lots smarter than I'll ever be. Have a good day all.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Musket getting disturbed
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 09:48 AM

Bugger bugger bugger.

I'm supporting Bridge on this. You don't have to be in the cage to comment on the zoo.

Yes, he is possibly preaching to the converted to a degree and yes, his way of going about it does get up your nose. But U.S. Attitude to guns and the absurd stupid misinterpretation of a legal amendment from the country with more lawyers per square inch than The Old Bailey are worthy of a good old shake of the head.

Ok Wesley, you took on The Stones, Beatles, Who etc. we have other things to offer such as less gun crime, nobody has to carry a gun to make up for a small dick, we don't kill prisoners and we have a universal social safety net.

Perhaps you might want to see if any of their back albums are available on Amazon?

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 09:36 AM

Central Oregon has its own history of vulcanism. Mt. St. Helen's is only one of the more recent examples. I collected some obsidian from the slopes of Mt. Shasta in Northern California quite a few years back; I eventually gave it to my brother for his rock collection.

My brother recently had some rock from a farm in West Central Illinois assayed to prove or disprove an old legend about a silver mine. While the location of the mine is of course lost, the rock assayed out for both silver AND gold: you'd need to move and smelt a fairly large sized hill for the gold, but only half of that for the silver. It was decided not to pursue the minerals not only for economic reasons, but also the prevent a wild, mad gold rush into the farmlands of Illinois. Chicagoans flooding the area every Fall to "hunt deer" are bad enough!

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 03:11 AM

I don't understand what motivates you to open threads which comment on some disagreeable fact or other about the USA

US Federal governement seems to have a job of looking out for the best interests of the American people. Is there something to that effect in the constitution ? From the perspective of most of the rest of the world it does that ruthlessly.

Its foreign policy (and some actions that don't seem to be publicly declared policy) get it noticed, including some of its internal affairs.

Maybe if they studied how other countries manage their affairs they could do something about this particular disagreeable fact. All countries have long and complex histories.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jul 15 - 01:01 AM

Rap, I found the obsidian in the central Oregon mountains. I used to spend a lot of time in those mountains. Found a lot of fools gold and quartz too.

Speaking of fools gold, I found a lot of it on huge boulders in the mountains. I like my idea of prying it off then dipping each strand in laminate to keep it from rusting. I would market it geared especially to lovers.

You are welcome.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Wesley S
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 10:32 PM

"Richard, I don't understand what motivates you to open threads which comment on some disagreeable fact or other about the USA. I don't understand your reasons for opening this one in particular. It deals with a topic which has been discussed over and over again, ad nauseam, ad infitum, with the same points made endlessly by the same people."

Will - I couldn't agree more. The assumed superiority of a small number of English posters here has always amused me. Life must be good indeed if one has to look at foreign countries for problems to solve. The sun has set on the British Empire indeed.

Thanks for the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and especially the Who however. That's one export we love. The superior attitude - not so much.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 09:59 PM

There is quite a bit of obsidian here, as this is the area of the Yellowstone Caldera and the track of the "hot spot" as the North American Plate moved over the past few million years. There are many spots of previous volcanic activity, such as Craters, a great place to see how plants establish themselves and eventually turn rock into soil.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 07:42 PM

I had a rather experience that taught me just how very sharp a piece of obsidian can be.

I gave a chunk of it to each of two little nieces of mine, because the rocks were beautiful and the little girls wanted them.

A few moments later I asked to see the rocks again and to my chagrin the little girls' tender little palms were crisscrossed with tiny little bloody cuts.

Even then they didn't want to give them up.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,Modest Proposal
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 07:22 PM

Here's a thought. Let the guns be. Regulate the bejaysus the sale of ammo! Require a licence, limit the amounts, apply the rules to self-loading fans too. Make customers return used casings before buying more. Let them have their guns, but rigorously control the bullets. Works for dangerous pharmaceuticals~~no, wait. Ah, ¥%¡|!¿>^ it! Back to Adams' formula. It's a metaphor.
I'm not in the US or the UK, I'll just get me hat...   < ><>how many times must the cannonballs fly . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 07:07 PM

my dentist must be an obsidian - I knew he was some sort of foreigner

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,#
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 06:27 PM

Obsidian tools are sometimes used in surgery. Have been since the 1960s. Nothing to do with anything; just an observation.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 10:03 AM

Go further back, much further back.
http://www.livescience.com/50908-oldest-stone-tools-predate-humans.html

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 09:52 AM

Flint knapping is actually a very precise skill, whether it's done with two stones or by flaking chips off with a piece of antler. The result can be a very, very sharp tool, as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel. Volcanic glass, or obsidian, can be made that sharp rather easily; it can even be ground rather than chipped. In any case, creating weapons and tools out of stone is not done by "banging the rocks together," nor is using flint to create sparks for a fire.

You might want to visit the old flint mines in East Anglia (as I have) to learn more on this subject. It's really quite interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 09:44 AM

"What do I think of American civilisation? I think it would be a good thing."
.,,.,.

LoL. But if one is going to pinch a well-known mot of Mahatma Gandhi, minimally adapted to the occasion, would it not be civil at least to acknowledge its source?!

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST,#
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 09:26 AM

"PS - although POTUS has been doing well the last week."

I'm sure he's thrilled to have your approval.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 08:23 AM

PS - although POTUS has been doing well the last week.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 08:19 AM

It is important to continue to condemn primitive stupidity and arrogance. And to note that in general those waving the most wholly unnecessary rifled phallic symbols are waving the most confederate symbols of racism.

What do I think of American civilisation? I think it would be a good thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Guns - keep banging the rocks together
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 15 - 07:18 AM

Cutting the head off a lion is one thing, cutting the head off a person in the street is quite another. People in glass houses.....