Comment Archives: stories: News & Opinion: News Blog
Re: “Some useful gun-death statistics”
We are to have sufficient arms of common use. .223/5.56 is the most common rifle in use. It is not a "machine gun" nor fully automatic. It is SEMI-automatic. Our founding fathers would use modern muskets and keep the militarization of police/gov't/DHS balanced by We the People.
http://www.assaultweapon.info/
This is about control and the gradual loss of liberties while those in our entitlement society beg for government to keep them safe rather than to protect the *rights* of the people with *small* gov't as stated in the Dec. of Indep.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have."
Re: “Lawsuit challenges state gun control laws”
No-one has issues with criminals being taken off the street and kept off the street...but turning neighbor against neighbor is an old tactic used for control.
Check this out, this is what is happening:
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-s…
Re: “Lawsuit challenges state gun control laws”
52 of 62 counties have either passed or have pending resolutions opposing the UN"safe" act. The message of necessity did not match the intent. There was no public input. It was rushed through hours after being printed without being read with many admitted mistakes. It admends many different laws by repealing the original then added in a hasty new law. There was no public input into something dealing with a constitutional issue. What is this had been an abortion law to "save lives?" As Cuomo spoke in Rochester, pushing for the first state to be in the lead, Obama began his speech at the same time. Obviously politics for a 2016 bid for President. Why 7 rounds? They didn't think 5 would pass. Nevermind the 10 round law already in effect or DEC hunting regs lower than 10 rounds. No-one makes 7 round mags. Ridiculous. There was nothing to go after criminals, only law-abiding citizens. What effect did the last "assault weapons" ban have? None per DOJ. Less than 2% of crimes involve rifles of any type. .222/5.56 powerful? Ha, I wouldn't use it on a deer but the wife sure would be accurate with low recoil! On and on...their ultimate goal is to get rid of private ownership of firearms per many gun-grabbers own words. One more step for control. Holder is on record in the 90's stating it was possible to "brainwash" people into believing guns are bad within decades. He then denies an equal arm of gov't...Congress, their duty to investigate Fast and Furious, with hundreds dead from the US gov't, stating it is their executive privilege. Guess what else...Mexico does not have private owernship of firearms. There is only 1 gun shop...the gov't, yet criminals/military run rampant. This is about control and changing attitudes of the masses to disarm them. Thomas Jefferson said the beauty of the 2nd Admend is that "they won't know they need it until it is too late." Do you really wan't those who wrote Medicare Part B and the 2,000 page Obamacare, now stretched to over 20,000+ pages, rewritting your 4 page Constitution? The purpose of the gov't, as stated in the Dec. of Independence, is to protect the *rights* of the people with *small* gov't. They then went on to spell out our unalienable rights in the Bill of Rights. We are to have sufficient arms of common use (modern muskets = most popular black rifle). "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neirther Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Frankin
Re: “Lawsuit challenges state gun control laws”
Bart - Actually, this program you're so concerned about was rolled out about a year ago. Must be Cuomo was conspiring to take away your Second Amendment rights even then !
And as to that nasty snitching...
Since 2001 Palm Beach, FL has been paying a $100 bounty for reporting a drunk driver who is subsequently arrested and convicted.
Crime Stoppers has been paying out cash for years to citizens who report verified criminal activity.
Many police departments and civic organizations have offered rewards over the years for information leading to conviction of specific crimes.
But NY"s reward program for detecting and arresting firearm criminals, the very people the so-called law-abiding gun owners are always complaining about, is suddenly a police state tactic.
Go figure.
Re: “Lawsuit challenges state gun control laws”
Now it comes to light that Cuomo's plan for enforcing his new gun law is a snitch-based system. Prior to his new gun law he had implemented a program that if you turn in a suspected owner of of an illegal gun you could get a reward of $500. Presumably meant to address the problem of illegal handguns in urban areas, it was tailor-made to help track down all the owners of firearms that magically became illegal (along with their owners) with the passage of Cuomo's gun law. So much for trusting an honor system where law-biding gun owners had to register or dispose of guns that the state banned (like only putting 7 rounds in a 10 round magazine). This is reminiscent of the former East German Stasi police state. Nothing has been said of potential misuse of the snitch law; what protections a falsely-accused individual has, whether search warrants are needed to investigate claims or if records of the accused could be made public. I smell legal challenges coming - and rightly so.
Re: “[UPDATED] Lovely Warren will run for mayor”
I support neither candidate.
Re: “[UPDATED] Lovely Warren will run for mayor”
Somebody call the television networks ! This contest has all the makings of a hit reality show.
Watch each week as two equally inept and equally unqualified candidates, one a white male, the other a black female, pander to the electorate and bloviate about their plans for rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship as they race to see who will be the next captain !
Re: “[UPDATED] Lovely Warren will run for mayor”
From this morning's D&C " Asked about marriage equality, Richards said he was in favor before New York made it law, calling it a civil rights and personal issue. Warren responded: "as an attorney, i support the state's laws. . . Since that is the law the state passed, I support it." Wow. It is nice to know that under the force of law, Ms. Warren sort-of tolerates gay people. Her quite vague and political answer is incredibly revealing. If their positions were reversed, this would be a City newspaper headline! The LBGTA community (and particularly LBGTA youth) deserves a mayor who gets that this is an issue of human rights and supports marriage equality with full throat as Richards did on the steps of city hall BEFORE it became law.
Re: “RCSD teachers say discipline is still a serious problem”
@Insatiable Dragon
Yes, I do do some comments during the school day. However, it's only when I have the time available. I do my planning weeks in advance, I keep up on grading as best I can, and I also have the ability to quickly and cogently organize my thoughts and get them into the computer.
However, if you were to look at my "participation" in these comment streams, you'll notice that I have only been making significant comments recently. That's in part because the discipline issues and other stresses this school year kept me busy. The students' behaviors haven't gotten better, but I've gotten better at managing them. Contractually we get "planning periods," so, if I'm planned days or weeks in advance, I have the time, when everything else is going according to plan. Also, during the school day students are supposed to be in their classes. After the school day, I get students, meetings and other events that keep me busy.
Also, this year my school starts late, thus giving me some time in the morning to participate during a time when other schools are already in session.
I know what you were insinuating and I don't resent it, but it is telling that you even decided to make the observation in the first place.
Re: “[UPDATED] Lovely Warren will run for mayor”
One must note that in the last two democratic mayoral primaries the designated candidate did not win the election. So in my mind it would be better for Warren to not get designated. Remember, Richards won during a special election where every party could vote. Not the case here. It is definitely going to be a interesting year in Smugtown!
Re: “[UPDATED] Lovely Warren will run for mayor”
Fasten your seatbelts everybody. This is going to be a VERY interesting time in Smugtown this year!
Re: “RCSD teachers say discipline is still a serious problem”
@Yugoboy,for someone who claims to be a City School District teacher, you sure seem to have an awfully lot of of time to make a great many posts, and long posts, during the work day hours. Must be nice.
Re: “In Pittsford, Corby wins reelection”
Looks like Trip and his county legislature crony Danielle found out that people in the village are not as dumb as they think, especially when they name their party "No to 75 Monroe" when they are actually for the building of 75 Monroe!
Re: “RCSD teachers say discipline is still a serious problem”
PARENTS PARENTS PARENTS!! I never got in trouble in school because I knew that both (yes, there were 2 of them) would flip a sh*t if I got any kind of suspension. Discipline starts at home with the parents. If you can't raise a kid, don't have one! Having a kid isn't some disease that you just catch, we know how it happens and how to prevent it!
Re: “RCSD teachers say discipline is still a serious problem”
Thank you for bringing this topic to people's attention (again).
One of the direct observations people can make when looking at the district's test scores is that the decline in Middle School is universal and dramatic. Our students don't get stupider, the behavior does. Discipline in the middle schools is such a major issue that keeping experienced people in Middle Schools is very hard. It takes a special kind of angel to be able to tolerate the incredible strain of dealing with the behaviors, defiance, and lack of effective consequences that teaching in Middle School requires.
When I describe my students' behaviors to people outside the district (and I refuse to use hyperbole) people still think I"m nuts. The teachers in my school have tried literally everything we can think of short of corporal punishment, and the results have been significantly worse behaviors. Phone calls home are done only so we can say we did them, because it's not like they have any significant impact. Kids don't care about their grades because they know they'll get socially promoted. Even if they don't, they can go to summer school for free.
Until we end social promotions, start charging for summer school, and somehow make parents accountable enough for their children's behavior that they will find some sort of effective discipline for their kids, little will change.
Despair amongst my colleagues is high. We are all simply struggling to get to June. The countdown started weeks ago, and the way people talk about April recess in a couple weeks, you'd think it was prison furlough. From a Vietnamese POW camp.
Re: “Praising attendance, appealing suspensions”
Thank you for some insights, Yugoboy. I think the problem is more particular, though. Serious behavioral problems are found mostly amongst African American kids and the relevant parental critique is that the parents care very little about their kids (and thus such basics as discipline).
One phenomenon I have seen in working with kids is what I call "The Kiss of Death". Every few months I will get one or more new African American kids from the same family to show up at my table and wanting to do some worksheets with me. Later that day, or perhaps the next, their parent (almost always a mom) will find their kids there working and awkwardly express gratitude to me (and other tutors present) that there is local tutoring/learning help available. That is "The Kiss of Death". I almost never see their kids again.
The larger context is that amongst our tutors we do have many poor kids showing up regularly - quite a few with illiterate refugee parents - and they try and they behave (and it works). Behind it all they appear to have the essential ingredient - a supportive parent or parents.
Short of a significant change of direction amongst a good chunk of the city's African American community - including getting on board with learning (which one way or another can help in the long run and feels good in the short run), RCSD is going to have an ongoing uphill battle.
Re: “MCC move looks increasingly certain”
If Winn companies wanted to save the taxpeyers money then why did they not propose the $57 million deal first? They onyl want the money and are not worried about MCC or the taxpayers. Winn has already recieved COMIDA assistance but apparently that is not enough. Why is Winn begging for MCC to stay? It is obvious Mayor Richards needs to stay out of real estate and focus on the finances and needs of the City of Rochester. Also, a proposed RPD substation is proposed for the Sibley building. Why? RPD is already on East Main street and the surrounding area!
Re: “Hemlock-Canadice meeting is tonight”
Flashback to 2010. Then Mayor Robert Duffy completes a deal that puts the land surrounding Hemlock and Canadice Lakes into the hands of the state to be protected forever. Read the press release: http://www.cityofrochester.gov/mobilesite/…
Since the state gained control of this land, they need to develop a UMP--unit management plan--for this state forest. The proposed UMP has been released and it allows for the possibility for commercial logging and gas/oil drilling.
YOU need to speak up and prevent these devastating possibilities from happening. It is clear from the city press release that we were told the lakes and land would be “protected” forever. This is a promise the state must keep.
Below is the link to the DEC’s public comment website for the Hemlock-Canadice Lakes State Forest Unit Management Plan. Please submit your comment before April 15, 2013. Please tell the state you want the UMP to state clearly and absolutely that NO OIL OR GAS DRILLING WILL BE ALLOWED. Also tell the state that commercial logging must also be prohibited.
I learned by attending the public hearing that the designation as a State Forest is insufficient for the absolute protection needed for Hemlock-Canadice. So also tell the state to change the designation from State Forest to State Nature and Historic Preserve.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/68822.html
While you’re offering your comments to the DEC, why not contact Lt. Gov Robert Duffy to tell him to weigh in on this topic because he is the one who started it.
Re: “Praising attendance, appealing suspensions”
The suspension problem in the city would not be as severe as it is if parents began to behave more like parents, and enacted discipline on their kids instead of requiring the schools to do it. There are more than a few students who are remarkably resistant to behavioral modification and make teaching and learning exceptionally difficult for others.
If parents started disciplining their kids in elementary school and took measures that caused the kids to behave in manners more conducive to teaching and learning, the suspension rate would not be so high. The suspension rate is as high as it is, not because schools aren't flexible and haven't tried damn near everything they can think of (they have... I've seen a goofy number of different attempts, only a few with even moderate results), but because the students all over the district, for whatever reason, have decided that they have no reason to behave as scholars, or even allow others to behave as scholars.
The reasons are numerous and come from all sides of the problem. A few:
1 - Students realize their prospects for getting jobs that they can support themselves with is minimal at best, and that a high school diploma won't provide enough help, and that college is an unrealistic goal.
2 - Students have been socially promoted far above their ability level, and rather than make the effort to either get themselves up to speed, or find someone to help them get up to speed, have decided to camouflage their ineffectiveness with unruly behavior.
3 - Discipline begins too lax at the beginning of the school year, and by the time the school catches up to what needs to happen, those horses are out of the barn and running for the hills.
4 - As stated above, parents are not effective enough at exerting discipline on their kids.
5 - The pull of the streets (short-term reward) is stronger than the desire for an education (long-term reward).
6 - Poor diets and too much X-Box mitigate against their ability to sit still for 40 minutes.
7 - Students are fed a diet of unhealthy media that impacts behaviors in very subtle ways, especially when there is little to counter-balance those behaviors.
This is obviously not a comprehensive list, but it begins to give one a sense of the struggle being waged. If a parent decides to appeal a long-term suspension, some serious questions need to be asked of BOTH side of the appeal. Something has gone tragically wrong, and the kids are the ones suffering. (Doesn't mean I want to keep unruly kids in my class, though... I've got too many "good" kids who need an education).
Re: “Lawsuit challenges state gun control laws”
MUN:
You wrote "Bart - Actually, this program you're so concerned about was rolled out about a year ago. Must be Cuomo was conspiring to take away your Second Amendment rights even then !"
Yes, I believe Cuomo had been working on his gun control law since he took office, just waiting for the opportunity (excuse) to implement it. The snitch component was rolled out ahead of his gun law, part of the plan to enforce it.