Since nearly no one is talking about it...

[lovelygamer]

The right to bear arms goes back to the English militia in the UK, and the mentality of the American Revolution that followed. In the US, we have the right to bear arms, supposedly, to keep our government in check. Among other reasons.

Not that you can see any of this in the Patriot Act.

The people that keep harking to the 2nd amendment and the right to bear arms should keep in mind that we don't live in Revolutionary times. Keeping our government in check? Like that is going to happen in our lifetime.

I am ashamed at the lack of gun control in our country. While we are at it, I"m also ashamed at the lack of health care too.

I've traveled the world and yes we have a higher standard of living than most but our idea of "control" is so misguided. Our government controls things we don't NEED them to control and doesn't control things that do need to be controlled.

Just having a higher standard of living doesn't make the US the BEST country in the world. We have to start thinking globally and look at standards across the world in our first world countries.

P.S. Hate is never going to end, anywhere. It is an awful awful situation but I don't know how you can control these hate or terrorist incidents. It is a shame. You know what else is a shame? The news reporter today saying "Sikhism originated in Italy" on a US news network.

PS. I don't want to get involved in a huge debate but just thought I would put my .02 in. Ride on, friends!

[zoom-zoom]

I am ashamed at the lack of gun control in our country. While we are at it, I"m also ashamed at the lack of health care too.

I've traveled the world and yes we have a higher standard of living than most but our idea of "control" is so misguided. Our government controls things we don't NEED them to control and doesn't control things that do need to be controlled.

Just having a higher standard of living doesn't make the US the BEST country in the world. We have to start thinking globally and look at standards across the world in our first world countries.

Actually, I don't think our standard of living is high at all...not when compared to the UK or Scandinavia...countries with universal health care and much lower infant/maternal mortality. We have a helluvalot of people "living" below the poverty line, too. FAR more than a company with our resources should.

[limewave]

Did not even know this happened! But I haven't had the news/tv/radio or been on the net much at all. When I have been online I've been looking for updates on Jakson Kreiser--missing in Glacier Nat'l Park. We have a connection to his family.

I feel like there are so many tragic and scary things going on right now. Zoom-Zoom, even locally the stories we've had about the Good Samaritans being attacked.

Did not mean to get off topic. What is going on in this world? I'm heartbroken for the lost lives and the families/friends left behind in this horrible tragedy in Wisconsin.

[lovelygamer]

Actually, I don't think our standard of living is high at all...not when compared to the UK or Scandinavia...countries with universal health care and much lower infant/maternal mortality. We have a helluvalot of people "living" below the poverty line, too. FAR more than a company with our resources should.

I agree with you. We like to advertise our standard of living is higher than it really is.

[salsabike]

I don't think not talking about it means that people don't care. And quite a lot of people choose to keep their FB posts off politics or other things that in their personal lives they take very seriously.

[Crankin]

Funny, I relate much more to this one. There have been several national or local incidents that have caused my synagogue to hire a police detail. Every year, when I walk in the door for the High Holidays and there are 2-3 Acton police officers standing there, I think of this.
I didn't talk about the Colorado thing with anyone, except DH.

[PamNY]

Funny, I relate much more to this one. There have been several national or local incidents that have caused my synagogue to hire a police detail.

I had a similar reaction, since I have often seen police stationed at houses of worship.

[zoom-zoom]

I'm not the only one who is seeing drastically less outpouring of support and sorrow directed to the community in WI vs. previous mass shootings. Even 24+ hours later I'm seeing no prayers, poems, or memorial graphics, unlike the days immediately following the CO theater massacre of just 2 weeks ago. The mainstream media is covering this non-stop, but on FB I'm seeing the same emphasis on the Mars Rover and Olympics that that writer is.

[PamNY]

I'm not the only one who is seeing drastically less outpouring of support and sorrow directed to the community in WI vs. previous mass shootings. Even 24+ hours later I'm seeing no prayers, poems, or memorial graphics, unlike the days immediately following the CO theater massacre of just 2 weeks ago. The mainstream media is covering this non-stop, but on FB I'm seeing the same emphasis on the Mars Rover and Olympics that that writer is.

Does Facebook actually provide news? Where would the prayers, poems or memorial graphics come from?

[Anyabeth]

I haven't posted about this on Facebook because I cannot stand to get into the political, religious and racial issues on this shooting. It doesn't mean that I don't care, I DO, but I also cannot handle knowing which of the wackos on my feed thinks this is ok (political season is when I hide and unfriend with abandon but still it is shocking). I don't think that this is a good barometer of who cares about the event.

[Koronin]

Since the Olympics have been on, I haven't watched much regular news or really much of anything else at all. However I did watch Rachel Maddow's show tonight and she did a segment on the Wisconsin shootings. So there are some out there trying to cover it.

Would this latest one have been prevented by better mental health care, most likely no. However the VA Tech shooting most likely would have been, Gabriel Gifford's shooting most likely would have been. The Colorado one may or may not have been.

[Bethany1]

Mental illness of any kind has been dropped from health care completely. It can be hard to diagnose and once diagnosed if you don't have access or refuse to take the medication terrible things happen. It's something the medical community ignores and is disgraceful. It's a silent epidemic that is showing it's ugly head more and more. Something like heart disease is easily detected. Not so much with any form of mental illness and most of us with a mental illness are not going to take a gun and start shooting in a public place.

What makes it hard it that most of those drugs have terrible side effects and just numb you so you don't feel anything. I'd rather feel something than nothing as i've been on several of them. Most people with mental illness end up in jail, get medication and once out can't afford it or refuse meds and repeat that cycle over and over until they are dropped completely from the system.

I was also surprised and very saddened that this story was basically ignored. I'm so sick of hearing about the Olympics. My heart goes out to this group of people and hope they get the help they need.

The only thing that truly has me upset over our obnoxious new health care is that the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance due to some stupid cop-out religious law. Something about that insurance is a form of gambling. What about car insurance or house insurance? If we all are required in the US to have it, everyone is in the system and there are no exceptions. Do Muslims in Europe have health insurance or are they exempt?

Gun control will always be a hot topic when some pathetic loser uses one and those countries that have strict control still have crime rates, just not with guns.

I refuse to let these people win and have me cower in fear wherever I go. If we start putting metal detectors and other stuff around "soft targets" we let them win.

[shootingstar]

The only thing that truly has me upset over our obnoxious new health care is that the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance due to some stupid cop-out religious law. Something about that insurance is a form of gambling. What about car insurance or house insurance? If we all are required in the US to have it, everyone is in the system and there are no exceptions. Do Muslims in Europe have health insurance or are they exempt?



Maybe someone can elaborate on this. Is this more about buying health care insurance from private insurers?

In Canada, a Canadian Muslim gets public health care, like everyone else, regardless of income because they are taxpayers...like everyone else.

[OakLeaf]

the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/exemptions.asp

Maybe you noticed that some of the loudest protests about religious exemptions have come from Roman Catholic institutions (not Roman Catholic individuals).

[Trek420]

.... While we are at it, I"m also ashamed at the lack of health care too. ........

PS. I don't want to get involved in a huge debate but just thought I would put my .02 in. Ride on, friends!

I think in all the ongoing talk about health care (and I'm not wishing to turn this into a debate about the Affordable Care act) I just want to say that we need to add to the civil conversation; mental health care IS health care.

So when people lack access to affordable care mental health is part of what's unavailable.

We talk easily about the child with miss-set broken bones or consequences of poor prenatal care, the missed or late diagnosis of cancer. What happens to a veteran under stress who can't get help? Perhaps this. We saw in the Gabby Giffords shooting the family had been trying to get mental health care to the shooter. Same seems to be true in Colorado: the shooter may have fallen off the radar or through the cracks.

We need to remove the stigma of asking for help and make mental health care easily and widely available.

My $0.02. Back to cycling.