Hi Everyone,
This blog is about one of those story's that just boggles the mind. How could such an incident occur? A complete and utter lack of common sense is the only explanation as to why it did happen.
Last week, a 9 year old girl, while taking gun lessons, accidentally shot and killed her instructor. The little girl was taking lessons, with her parents approval and permission, on shooting a Uzi, sub machine gun. My understanding is that there are settings on Uzi's that can make it a single shot or multiple shot, (semi-automatic) gun. The girl was able to handle the recoil of the single shot mode. But when the instructor switched the gun to semi-automatic mode, the girl was not able to handle the recoil; by being unable to hold the gun facing the target. Instead, she unfortunately allowed the gun to veer off to her left side, where her instructor was standing. In a nano second, the gun fired, and the instructor was shot once in the head and died shortly thereafter.
I feel so sorry for this little 9 year girl, who will most likely be scarred for life, with her vivid memory of what happened. What her parents thinking? That a little girl could handle the recoil of a semi-automatic gun? Obviously the parents used absolutely no common sense in allowing their daughter to shoot this weapon. But also, how is this even legal? But what really amazes me is that the gun range thought this was a good idea. Did you know that there are more restrictions on children being able to ride a roller coaster, (they all have height restrictions) than shooting a very dangerous weapon that can easily and in this case did kill a person?
To add salt to this wound, the NRA, in their infinite wisdom, said that gun ranges need to use more common sense, (now they think about common sense?). A little to late for this instructor and little girl. The NRA also stated, as usual, that the need for more laws restricting this activity is not necessary. That the ranges can self police themselves. Really??? I think not, as evidenced by this incident.
Yes, new laws with age restrictions should be passed asap, so this kind of tragedy can never happen again. Leaving gun ranges to "police" themselves will never happen, especially when there is money to make, trying to teach little children to use weapons that should only be used by adults.
It is time for the NRA to get its act together and stop the insanity!!!
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Haves and Have-Nots
Hi Everyone,
Sometimes you hear or read about something and say, what are they thinking, that makes no sense. Well, today's blog is about just that.
And the back story goes like this... In order for a Manhattan condo skyscraper to be built with government incentives/assistance, the developer had to set aside a certain number of units with affordable rents. The rest of the condos are very pricey, they most likely are for the 1% ers. From the outside looking in, the deal seems to be OK. That type of deal is used widely in New York City. But, when you look into the realities, the deal may not be so good, especially for the renters of the affordable apartments.
NYC is a city where the rich and relatively poor have long lived and commuted side by side. The civil rights acts of the 1960's, stopped the segregation of African Americans and other minorities. But now a new trend is appearing that should have people talking about whether it is appropriate and even legal. The new trend is buildings with separate amenities and even entrances for the haves and have-nots. A few buildings now have a side entrance for the renters, with the main entrance only for the people who could afford to buy the pricey condos. There are even some buildings where the renters aren't allowed to use amenities like fitness centers. In those same buildings, the owners of condos don't even have to pay a bloody cent to use their fitness centers.
Is it just me or are the renters being treated like second class citizens? Of course they are. How can this be legal? Owners are using affordable housing tax breaks, zoning breaks and other incentives to create a caste system. Developers say that they are motivated by business, not bias and reserving some prime features for higher paying residents is the price of having affordable housing in hot neighborhoods. I guess a prime feature is the main entrance, which the renters of affordable apartments are forbidden from using. So the developers have the have-nots walk around to the side of of the building where they won't be seen. Doesn't that sound like bias and segregation to you? It does to me. This is all about money and greed.
Will this lead to separate entrances to Neiman-Marcus like stores or high end restaurants, etc., etc.? I think not, but what is happening with the high end residential buildings has got to stop asap. Jean Green Dorsey agrees with me, as she filed a complaint with the NYC Human Rights Commission this past spring over her Upper West Side building's fitness center. She and her fellow rent stabilized tenants are not allowed to use the fitness center even after they offered to pay.
Obviously, common sense was never a consideration and now these developers/owners are receiving the bad publicity that they rightfully deserve.
Til next.
Peter
Sometimes you hear or read about something and say, what are they thinking, that makes no sense. Well, today's blog is about just that.
And the back story goes like this... In order for a Manhattan condo skyscraper to be built with government incentives/assistance, the developer had to set aside a certain number of units with affordable rents. The rest of the condos are very pricey, they most likely are for the 1% ers. From the outside looking in, the deal seems to be OK. That type of deal is used widely in New York City. But, when you look into the realities, the deal may not be so good, especially for the renters of the affordable apartments.
NYC is a city where the rich and relatively poor have long lived and commuted side by side. The civil rights acts of the 1960's, stopped the segregation of African Americans and other minorities. But now a new trend is appearing that should have people talking about whether it is appropriate and even legal. The new trend is buildings with separate amenities and even entrances for the haves and have-nots. A few buildings now have a side entrance for the renters, with the main entrance only for the people who could afford to buy the pricey condos. There are even some buildings where the renters aren't allowed to use amenities like fitness centers. In those same buildings, the owners of condos don't even have to pay a bloody cent to use their fitness centers.
Is it just me or are the renters being treated like second class citizens? Of course they are. How can this be legal? Owners are using affordable housing tax breaks, zoning breaks and other incentives to create a caste system. Developers say that they are motivated by business, not bias and reserving some prime features for higher paying residents is the price of having affordable housing in hot neighborhoods. I guess a prime feature is the main entrance, which the renters of affordable apartments are forbidden from using. So the developers have the have-nots walk around to the side of of the building where they won't be seen. Doesn't that sound like bias and segregation to you? It does to me. This is all about money and greed.
Will this lead to separate entrances to Neiman-Marcus like stores or high end restaurants, etc., etc.? I think not, but what is happening with the high end residential buildings has got to stop asap. Jean Green Dorsey agrees with me, as she filed a complaint with the NYC Human Rights Commission this past spring over her Upper West Side building's fitness center. She and her fellow rent stabilized tenants are not allowed to use the fitness center even after they offered to pay.
Obviously, common sense was never a consideration and now these developers/owners are receiving the bad publicity that they rightfully deserve.
Til next.
Peter
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Fact or Fiction
Hi Everyone,
Today's topic has very unfortunately become a very hot button political issue. The problem should have never become political, but in today's Washington, D.C., what else would you expect. If one side says it is dark outside the other side will disagree saying the opposite.
So what is today's topic? Global warming. As always, I like to deal with facts and just the facts. Not innuendo, spin or outright lies. So let's check out some facts about global warming from the 6/23 issue of Time magazine.
1) Weather records have been kept in this country since the mid 1800's.
2) Since the mid to late 1800's, at the start of the industrial revolution, man has pumped an unknown amount of pollutants into our atmosphere. While at the same time, more forests were being wiped out for their wood.
3) Scientists have already documented a 5" to 8" increase in the sea level around South Florida over the past 50 years.
4) The first 13 years of this century were among the hottest since records have been kept.
5) California is in the midst of the worst ever drought in their history.
6) With each passing year, forest fires burn more and more acreage, especially in the West.
7) Not only the rate, but also the amount of polar ice melting not only affect sea levels, but also affects weather patterns around the world.
8) Just during the last 4 years, from the mid-Atlantic up the northeast coast, has seen more severe summer and winter storms. Just at my home, 60 miles north of NYC, lately when it rains, it's never a little shower, when it rains it is more like the sky just opens up and deluges us. For years now, during the winter, we don't get a lot of little snow storms, we get dumped on with 6 or10 or 14 or more inches of snow. Schools around here been talking about setting aside more snow days in addition to the 5 or so days already allotted.
Those are the indisputable scientifically proven facts. There are more, but you get the picture. But here is another fact, only 40% of Americans "strongly agreed" that the earth is getting warmer. That is a very sad number. I believe that our polarized politics is at the very least, creating our apathy towards global warming. In other countries, it is the majority of people who believe that our earth is getting warmer. The problem here is that Republicans have outright rejected climate science. Kinds of reminds me when the Catholic church told all that the earth was flat and that the earth was the center of our universe. A very long time ago science proved them all wrong. So why doesn't the scientific proof convince them now? Good question. Science is science and not believing sends us back to the dark ages.
Global warming is occurring now! And common sense says that now is the time to start acting not in the future. The future is also now! Please don't let spin and deceit guide you into thinking that we humans have not had a lot of influence on this problem and that global warming is happening as you read this.
Enough said.
Til next week.
Peter
Today's topic has very unfortunately become a very hot button political issue. The problem should have never become political, but in today's Washington, D.C., what else would you expect. If one side says it is dark outside the other side will disagree saying the opposite.
So what is today's topic? Global warming. As always, I like to deal with facts and just the facts. Not innuendo, spin or outright lies. So let's check out some facts about global warming from the 6/23 issue of Time magazine.
1) Weather records have been kept in this country since the mid 1800's.
2) Since the mid to late 1800's, at the start of the industrial revolution, man has pumped an unknown amount of pollutants into our atmosphere. While at the same time, more forests were being wiped out for their wood.
3) Scientists have already documented a 5" to 8" increase in the sea level around South Florida over the past 50 years.
4) The first 13 years of this century were among the hottest since records have been kept.
5) California is in the midst of the worst ever drought in their history.
6) With each passing year, forest fires burn more and more acreage, especially in the West.
7) Not only the rate, but also the amount of polar ice melting not only affect sea levels, but also affects weather patterns around the world.
8) Just during the last 4 years, from the mid-Atlantic up the northeast coast, has seen more severe summer and winter storms. Just at my home, 60 miles north of NYC, lately when it rains, it's never a little shower, when it rains it is more like the sky just opens up and deluges us. For years now, during the winter, we don't get a lot of little snow storms, we get dumped on with 6 or10 or 14 or more inches of snow. Schools around here been talking about setting aside more snow days in addition to the 5 or so days already allotted.
Those are the indisputable scientifically proven facts. There are more, but you get the picture. But here is another fact, only 40% of Americans "strongly agreed" that the earth is getting warmer. That is a very sad number. I believe that our polarized politics is at the very least, creating our apathy towards global warming. In other countries, it is the majority of people who believe that our earth is getting warmer. The problem here is that Republicans have outright rejected climate science. Kinds of reminds me when the Catholic church told all that the earth was flat and that the earth was the center of our universe. A very long time ago science proved them all wrong. So why doesn't the scientific proof convince them now? Good question. Science is science and not believing sends us back to the dark ages.
Global warming is occurring now! And common sense says that now is the time to start acting not in the future. The future is also now! Please don't let spin and deceit guide you into thinking that we humans have not had a lot of influence on this problem and that global warming is happening as you read this.
Enough said.
Til next week.
Peter
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