Sunday Round-Up
Posted: December 23, 2012 Filed under: American Gun Fetish, Civil Rights, education, Environment, ethics, Food, GM crops, Gun Control, History, legislation, lobbyists, Main Stream Media, Mental Health, morning reads, nature, Regulation, Republican politics, Second Amendment, The Right Wing | Tags: Assault rifles, Battle of Fredericksburg, Civil War, frankenfish, frost flowers, GM salmon, Gun Lobbies, megapiranha, Newtown CT, Walmart 38 Comments
Good Morning
My daughter is still sick with the flu, but she is getting better…unfortunately I think she has passed it on to me. I am just hoping that my flu shot kicks in and the symptoms don’t get any worse.
Here’s the latest news out of Newtown. (And there is really nothing “new” in the way of information…and Philo Vance, I mean Paul Vance has been conspicuously absent, is his microphone packed away for good?)
From the Hartford Courant, we have our only bit of new information on the investigation. Sandy Hook Shooter’s Pause May Have Aided Students’ Escape
As many as a half-dozen first graders may have survived Adam Lanza‘s deadly shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School because he stopped firing briefly, perhaps either to reload his rifle or because it jammed, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the events.
A source said that the Bushmaster rifle that Lanza used in the shootings is at the state police forensic laboratory undergoing several tests, including tests to determine whether it was jammed.
The children escaped from the first-grade classroom of teacher Victoria Soto, one of the six educators Lanza killed in Newtown after shooting his way through a glass door with the .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle on the morning of Dec. 14.
On Friday, detectives obtained and began examining records related to psychiatric care Lanza had received in an attempt to determine a motive. Several friends of his mother have said that he suffered from Asperger’s syndrome but authorities have not confirmed that or indicated it had anything to do with the shootings.
Finally, some sort of words about Lanza and medical records. Damn, it has been like Adam Lanza just dropped out of nowhere, no records or “social networking” footprints have been found. (I still think it is all too strange, the silence…and the attitude of the various “authorities.” Something still feels fishy to me!)
Anyway, you can watch the Newtown police chief interview here, it is a quick few minutes at the start of the CBS Evening News: 12/22: Newtown police chief shares his story- CBS News Video
The chief also shares his opinion on armed patrol officers guarding schools. That should be enough of a tease for you to watch it.
Another thing to give a few minutes to is this report from All Things Considered: Near-Replica Of Sandy Hook Made Nearby For Students : NPR
I’d love to hear from Dr. Boomer about the new school being made into a “near-replica” of a place so many of these children survivors associate with unbelievable violence and horrible death.
On the subject of this carnage in the classroom, Roland Martin has this op/ed on CNN America should see the Newtown carnage
“One of these mothers from Connecticut should do an Emmett Till moment; show the picture of their child dead in the classroom.”
That’s a text I received earlier this week from my TV One show producer. When I got it, a chill immediately went through my body just thinking about the possibility of seeing the carnage in such a photo.
When taping this week’s edition of my show, “Washington Watch,” Sirius/XM Radio host Joe Madison somberly said the same thing. Joe remarked that Emmett’s mother, Mamie, insisted on an open casket for her son so the world could see what was done to him by racists in Mississippi.
Many Americans may not even remember Emmett Till, a precocious 14-year-old black teenager from Chicago who went to visit his family in Mississippi. He allegedly flirted with a white woman in a store, and the woman’s husband and his brother later went to the home where Till was staying, pulled him out of his bed, took him somewhere and beat him to a pulp, gouged out his eye, blew the back of his head away with a gun, attached a cotton gin with barbed wire around his neck and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River.
I think Martin may have a point. Look at the images from the Civil War, and how they shaped the mindset of the population. It brought the bloody war home to the people in a way that stories in the newspapers could not.
When Jet magazine and the Chicago Defender newspaper published his battered face on their covers, it sent shock waves throughout America, and especially in the black community. The brutality of lynchings were talked about and covered, yet for the world to witness with its own eyes the end result of vicious bigotry, it forced the nation to examine its conscience.
“There was just no way I could describe what was in that box,” Mamie said. “No way. And I just wanted the world to see.”
In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, mass shooting, we have seen numerous photos of the beautiful, smiling faces of the 20 children and six adults slaughtered at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The images we have become accustomed to include them singing at a piano, sporting the gear of a favorite sports team and others. When we think of them being memorialized it’s in the context of teddy bears, candles and flowers.
Americans want to remember them as vibrant and fun-loving children, but will that actually shake the conscience of America to do something about how they were gunned down in the classroom?
Please go read the rest, and let me know what you think about viewing the crime scene photos, and if that can make the horror more real to those people who seem bent on keeping gun control/legislation as is…and actually put more guns and assault weapons in the hands of the regular public, who don’t need these kind of semi-automatic military rifles to shoot a deer.
Speaking of those pro-gun lobbyist, take a look at this: Newtown’s firearms tradition clashes with gun control push
When the wind blows a certain way across the tree-topped hills, Gary Bennett can stand in his yard and hear echoes of gunfire from his hunting club five miles away. The sound comforts him.
“It’s a huge tradition here,” said Bennett, a retired electrician and former president of the club, which helped defeat a proposal to tighten Newtown, Conn.’s gun ordinances in September. “I’d rather see more gun clubs come to town, training people with the use of firearms so that everyone’s doing it safely.”
Anguished families are still burying the 20 children and six women who were shot to death by a lone gunman Dec. 14 just after the morning Pledge of Allegiance at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But a surprising local undercurrent has emerged: Many gun owners here say the slaughter has sharpened their view that guns alone aren’t the problem.
The article interviews folks who feel that there should be armed people at these schools. “Somebody…” to take out the shooter. But all I can say is go back and watch that interview with the Newtown Police Chief, who does not think that armed patrol is the answer.
I’ve got one story here about Walmart, funny in a way: Walmart Sells Assault Weapons But Bans Music With Swear Words
Yup, no sale of music that contains the words, “fuck you” but they will gladly sell assault weapons that are only good for “fucking someone up…” killing them and making the surviving family’s life a living hell.
The rest of the links are slightly connected…I mentioned photographs of the disfigured and bloated dead Civil War soldiers above, well this past week was the anniversary of one of the most deadliest series of battles fought. From the New York Times: ‘The Day the Stars Wept’
The majority of fighting at Fredericksburg had ground to a halt as the sun slipped below the horizon on Dec. 13, 1862. Ghastly piles of dead men and horses were scattered in the fields, and the woods were littered with abandoned equipment and debris. Sporadic gunfire continued as exhausted survivors on both sides ventured out into the war-blasted landscape to rescue wounded comrades.
In one sector of the battlefield, the men of the Fourth Vermont Infantry had endured a day of intense enemy artillery and infantry fire. The regiment suffered more than 50 casualties, including 18 killed and wounded when a spray of lead balls from single Confederate canister shot tore into one company.
Whether it is images of this American Civil War or photos of the other civil war, the war for civil rights, fought one hundred years later…or the war in Europe…being able to look at images of the dead, or smell the shoes of thousands of holocaust victims, can we learn from the violence. It is the only way to stay connected with the past, and make sure we do not forget it.
Library of Congress Illustrator Alfred R. Waud’s sketch of pickets near Fredericksburg, circa December 1862The Vermonters occupied a skirmish line in the twilight. George Washington Quimby, the 27-year-old acting major of the regiment, stood conspicuously among the men. A peacetime high school principal, he cautioned his boys to “keep low to avoid danger” while random shots whizzed through the air. They obeyed the command and sat or lay down.
On the Confederate side, a soldier leveled his musket and squeezed the trigger. Hammer struck percussion cap and caused a spark that ignited gunpowder and propelled a conical shaped Minié bullet down the muzzle.
Quimby never saw it coming.
Read the rest of that NYT story at the link up top, and you can see images of the dead and read more about the battle here:
Battle of Fredericksburg – December 1862 Civil War Battle at Fredericksburg, Virginia
Photo via the Library of congress.
In other news, the White House has changed its “opinion” of those frankenfish… I mean, genetically engineered fish. White House Reverses Itself, Lifts Political Block on FDA Approval of GM Salmon
The Food and Drug Administration today released an electronic version of its Environmental Assessment for a genetically
modified (GM) salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies of Massachusetts—effectively giving its preliminary seal of approval on the first transgenic animal to be considered for federal approval.
According to sources within FDA, the EA had been approved by the all the relevant agencies on April 19, 2012, but had been blocked for release on orders from inside the executive branch—which has raised both legal and ethical issues of political interference with science and the independent work of federal agencies.
The decision by the White House to rescind its order to block the FDA from releasing the EA came Wednesday within hours after the publication of an investigative report by the Genetic Literacy Project (GLP) last Wednesday documenting that the executive branch had been hold the EA for political reasons.
Well fuuuuuuuck…..that! And of course, this change of heart comes during a media filled frenzy of Fiscal Cliffs, dead children, Santa and Gun Control. Humph!
I’ve got another fish story for you, Megapiranha put T. rex’s bite to shame, says study
You ready for this?
Tyrannosaurus rex and megalodon, a gigantic shark that preceded the great white, have nothing on the black piranha and the extinct megapiranha when it comes to chomping power. Researchers at George Washington University report that, relative to its size, the megapiranha bite was more powerful than T. Rex and history’s largest shark. According to the study published in Scientific Reports, the black piranha was determined to have a biting force behind its powerful teeth of up to 320 Newtons.
“Comparisons of body size-scaled bite forces to other apex predators reveal S. rhombeus and M. paranensis have among the most powerful bites estimated in carnivorous vertebrates. Our results functionally demonstrate the extraordinary bite of serrasalmid piranhas and provide a mechanistic rationale for their predatory dominance among past and present Amazonian ichthyofaunas,” the authors write in their study.
Holy Ceviche! That is some powerful jaws…
…the piranhas’ aggressive nature, small body size and easy-to-access populations make them a great group of predatory vertebrates in which to examine the evolution of powerful chomping capabilities. Researchers believe that piranhas will attack and rip chunks of fins and flesh from prey regardless of size. Prior to this study, however, no data on the piranhas biting powers was available for researchers to use.
Researchers gathered the first bite-force measurements from wild specimens of the black piranha. Using these measurements, they were able to better understand the fundamental functional morphology of the jaws that gives the black piranha the ability to chomp down on its prey with a force that is more than 30 times greater than its weight. Researchers contend that this powerful biting force comes from the large muscle mass of the black piranha’s jaw and the deft transmission of its big contractile force through a modified jaw-closing lever.
Researchers believe that the ancient megapiranha shared a common trait with black piranhas: An extremely powerful bite. They reconstructed the bite force of the megapiranha and found that, despite its small body size, the chomping power of this extinct piranha was more powerful than that of megalodon.
Lots more at the link.
And finally, let’s end this post with a pretty picture, cold…sharp and clean: Frost Flowers…Suddenly There’s A Meadow In The Ocean With ‘Flowers’ Everywhere
…little protrusions of ice, delicate, like snowflakes. They began growing in the dry, cold air “like a meadow spreading off in all directions. Every available surface was covered with them.” What are they?
“Frost flowers,” he was told. “I’d never heard of them,” Jeff says, “but they were everywhere.”
Stay warm and enjoy the last Sunday before Christmas…see you later in the comment section!
peej
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Once again, JJ, you’ve served up quite a bit to think & talk about. Where to begin??
As far as armed security in schools, I personally doubt any amount of discussion will change the minds of those for & against the idea. I don’t see how ONE guard could prevent someone from committing a mass shooting in a school. No one can see in all directions at once, no one can always be in the right place at the right time. Maybe if a rational person planned to shoot students/teachers knew there was a guard it would deter them from attempting it. However, have any of the shooters been rational? I think not.
Needless to say, I’m angered with the approval of GM salmon. Salmon has been a “problem” for a long time. Most of the salmon sold now is raised through aquaculture methods & is not wild salmon. They are raised in confined areas, swimming/breathing in water filled with their own excrement, fed a diet of antibiotics to prevent disease, passing mites on to any wild salmon who swim past the aquaculture areas. We humans, with our dams in the Pacific NW, have decimated many species of salmon along with overfishing. With the various species struggling to survive, the mite infestation may well be the final blow to wild salmon. And grizzlies depend upon salmon as a high protein, high fat food source that will carry them through hibernation. Humans – we f**k up nature wherever & whenever we can simply because we can.
Personally, I don’t think releasing the crime scene photos from Newtown will make much of a difference for many people. Maybe if they strapped LaPierre & his buddies to a chair & played a slide show for 24 hours straight, but the average person is already either grief stricken or not. When I was involved in animal rights, I saw the most horrific photos and films. It angered me, made me cry as well as strengthened my resolve while making me feel helpless in the enormity of the carnage. So many people I knew refused to look at the images. For them it was too painful. I was determined and chastised them that their pain was miniscule as compared to what those innocent non-human animals suffered. I’m at a point now where I can’t look any more, and I can barely watch nature shows.
Now I’ll go check out some more of your links. Thanks for a terrific variety of morning reads.
Here is what I think about all this, first…ban all assault rifles,like they did in Australia and make the bullets harder to get…a lot harder to get…have 14 day waiting periods with any gun purchase. and sit the buyers down with a counselor who can interview them before they get that gun. (make it as hard for someone to get a gun as it is for a woman to get an abortion) I think having an armed police officer in school is a good thing. We had one in our school in Tampa, and it was more a community outreach and seen as another resource to the students.I don’t think volunteers or arming teachers is the way to go. Of course, more mental health care as well.
But, who and how is all that going to be paid for? when you have asshole cutting social service left and right and keeping the rich from paying taxes.
note I said police officer and not armed guard…don’t want any privatized mall cops with a gun in the schools.
We have police officers in a lot of the high schools here already.
There was a cop stationed at Columbine, but it did not stop that massacre. I think having a cop at the schools helps, but it is not the only answer.
There were two of them at Columbine … people need to go back and watch Bowling for Colombine and refresh their memories.
I’d kind of like to see a $10 per bullet tax, frankly.
That is a good idea, if the tax on cigarettes can be so high…tax the bullets.
ITA. Who needs any weapon which can auto or semi-automatically keep firing? No civilian does. Ban anything remotely automatic. Put a fierce tax on the ammunition. Or ban the ammunition for anything more modern than a black powder rifle.
Yank money from corporate welfare and put it towards mental welfare.
Yeah, riiiiight. Dream on. I’d be better off emigrating to Australia, NZ, or Canada or any other industrialized country to get away from gun violence.
Re the salmon: it’s horrible! Clearly they don’t care that some will breed. I haven’t bought farmed seafood since the melamine fiasco. If we have to ship grain to China so they can turn it into animal food and send it back, I’m not sure I would even call the resulting animal a “local grown” product. Then, there is the OT issue of whether the guts of animals I might ingest, like oysters, contain residual gluten.
If a fish farmer could convince me that what they are doing is truly sustainable, instead of just a shell game, I would reconsider.
If folks are outraged enough photos might be shown, but the political determination to not show our dead in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars shows how little control we have to confront our realities.
More guns in a school is stupid stupid stupid and inane and moronic and a ridiculous answer. Moreover, what school budget has room to include this kind of training and defense?
Those ocean “flowers” are neat. And I found this at the bottom of the page: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/12/17/167446885/this-should-be-a-hit-in-texas-puddle-of-oil-turns-into-a-christmas-tree It made me wonder if something like this on a bigger scale could function to pick up more oil following a spill. The artist infused iron oxide into the oil and then used magnets to create her trees. I just imagine a giant vacuum cleaner with the electromagnet attached. Sure beats toxic dispersant for me.
They are beautiful! They look like water lillies.
That is so neat Connie…thanks for the link.
Good morning! If you had a flu shot, you shouldn’t get the flu, right? I hope you don’t! Thanks for the roundup. I’m going to read links now.
I doesn’t stop you from getting the flu, it just decreases the time and strength of the symptoms. My daughter had the flu vaccine and she still got it.
Depends on how close to the actual winter flu strain the vaccine designers were. Some years it’s a nice match. During a few years the expected virus strains they planned the vaccine for didn’t spread, and different strains were more common — those years the vaccine did not help much.
Most of the time the scientists do a good job. This season the flu strains are matching up with what the scientist designed this year’s flu vaccine to cover. Which is great. It’s approx 90% to 95% effective.
The flu shot is killed virus — sortof petrified, and our bodies’ immune systems then make antibodies to those virus shapes. It usually takes around 2 weeks to make enough to defend against the flu virus. Also, people who are not well nourished have problems making enough good antibodies. I think it’s pretty kewl how our bodies actively make antibodies in response to the flu vaccine.
The flu vaccine that’s in nasal spray form uses a live, but weakened, virus. Only people under 50 and not with immune-system problems should get that form. The antibody creation response is still the same as with the injection type.
Anyhow, JJ, I sure hope that you will escape influenza, and that your daughter feels better soon. Both of you try to get a lot of rest.
Some other links on Adam Lanza:
Why we’re still in the dark about killer Adam Lanza – Americas – World – The Independent
Adam Lanza will be cremated in secret and his remains hidden – Mirror Online
I wonder if the family said they would not claim his body so the town is going forward with cremation and dumping…
Leads across the nation being followed – Connecticut Post
Ryan Lanza — Brother of Sandy Hook Shooter Adam Lanza Says He’s a Victim | TMZ.com
The scapegoating of Nancy Lanza | Lionel Shriver | Comment is free | The Guardian
Gunslinging in America – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
Thought ya’ll might find these snow formations (about 13,000 feet) interesting: http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/nature-blows-my-mind-strange-snow-formations-called-penitentes.html Thought it sort of went with the ice flowers.
We had frost on our windshields & lawns this morning in sunny central Florida. It was 45 degrees when I got up & I couldn’t get warm. I don’t know how you folks who live where it snows do it year after year. BRRRRR!
Nieve penitentes! I’ve seen them in climbers’ photos from climbs at high elevation in more southerly latitudes — they make travel much more strenuous, even on relatively flat terrain.
Hmmm, Riled Up David Gregory Hammers Wayne LaPierre Over NRA Position On Gun Laws | Mediaite
Here you go BB and Pat!
Alan Colmes @AlanColmes
Poll: Deval Patrick Could Beat Scott Brown For Senate From Massachusetts http://colm.es/ThCkXM #p2
I don’t understand what you mean. What’s fishy? I also don’t understand the Philo Vance reference.
I welcome Dr. BB’s insights on the replicated classrooms–you likely didn’t mean it to sound this way, but for the record, we have psychiatrists and psychologists in Newtown too. As I understand it, the folks that made the decision are hoping the children feel normalcy and ownership with the new school. They have all been advised to watch for individual children who may have an adverse reaction. I realize that every article painted Newtown as a “sleepy suburb” but that doesn’t mean the people who live here lack sophistication, education, and even familiarity with The Big City. Indeed, it is their knowledge of “life out there” that made them choose Newtown as a place to raise their families.
I’ve been reading so many articles accusing Newtown of putting guns before children because there are a number of hunt clubs in the town. The town occupies a huge land mass (about 60 square miles) and consists of many “open spaces,” which is land the taxpayers bought back for the town. I hardly recognize the place in these articles–they make it sound like a caricature of a backwoods hole, where the children have no shoes and everyone is armed to the teeth, if they have them. I am not FROM here. I moved here from suburban NY. I don’t care for guns but after a few seasons of the MANY deer treating my garden like a salad bar, I considered getting one. I thought that’s why most people had them. While Newtown is a red outpost in the blue sea of Fairfield County, the hunt club attitude is more like Virginians have with their fox hunting clubs (if Rita Mae Brown’s portrayal is accurate).
As for showing the crime scene photos, maybe in the future. Certainly not yet. The town First Selectman [sic] just moved the town flag back up the mast after being at half mast since last Friday. (As you may know by now, the flag pole in town is a sacred landmark.) Today, we were all invited to the supermarket parking lots to pick up our 26 luminaries (little white bags and candles) to set out on Christmas Eve.
I apologize if I am being too sensitive but I am seeing so much judgement about Newtown out there on the Internet from people who have never been here and don’t know anyone who has. I am fond of the people at this blog and thought I would offer some facts and feelings “from the inside” as it were.
I think that people are trying to understand what caused this to happen or at least what factors contributed to it. The only thing that I’ve noticed about this particular shooting is that the police haven’t been very forthcoming with anything. In some of the other shootings, we had all kinds of people coming forward and the police offered up a lot of different bits and pieces of information. The Head of the State troopers hasn’t been saying anything which leads to all kinds of rumors and speculation as people try to understand how something this horrible could happen. I think it’s just people looking for answers when no information has been forthcoming from the traditional sources. Think of how we knew immediately from the Aurora Mall shooter’s school and the Tuscon Mall shooter’s school and parents about their issues. They both had to even go through the criminal justice system so it’s rather odd that the Connecticut State Police seem so tight about whatever it is they have. Again, I think it’s just rampant speculation because no has come forward with anything concrete. Probably doing the community a lot of injustice and likely the shooter and his mom who both are the sources of all kinds of media rumors. Just my hypothesis, though.
I agree with your hypothesis–that there just hasn’t been the kind of information coming forward that we usually have by now. The one person that probably knew the whole story and every little detail–the mother–was the first one killed. It doesn’t seem like the brother or the father had much insight into him. And if they do, and if they have been telling anything to the authorities, it hasn’t been getting told to the public. I wonder if police are waiting to get a complete and verifiable picture before sharing any info, especially since the day of the tragedy was a misinformation fiasco. (So much so, I thought we should give Susan Rice a second chance.)
Still, I wouldn’t go all the way to fishy. (Because I read this article earlier today–basically, a conspiracy article–and I’m touchy about fishy theories.)
My theory: It was senseless and we are never going to make sense of it. I don’t even think Adam planned to go to the school. I think he was all hopped up on adrenaline after he killed his mother, knew he did something wrong and decided he had to off himself, and wanted to go out having “done something” in his life. Now I’m speculating–not good.
Like I said, I’m sorry if I’m being over sensitive, but some of the rampant speculation is callous and forgets that we are regular human beings and our town is very sad right now. I am seeing this callousness all over the Internet and it’s getting to me. This was not the worst place by a long shot. I took the time to write here because I come here often, respect the writers and readers, and thought I’d let you know the view from in here.
I had not seen that VT post Sophie…funny he used the word footprint when he spoke about no facebook page for Adam.
Geez, some of the comments and questions on that list are f’d up!
Exactly Dak @ 6:17pm…I agree with every word you say.
My thoughts exactly on these sorts of things.
Sophie,
You may not be aware that JJ used to live in Newtown too, so she is quite familiar with the area. Thanks for sharing your insights.
You are correct–I was not aware of that.
Sophie, I lived in Newtown CT…and loved it. We lived on Sugar Street, our house was the original site of the Key Rock Gardens, we had a sign from the nursery dated 1900, that stayed with the house when we sold it. Along with the family bible, there have only been 5 families who have lived in that house btw, and a bunch of newspapers that were up in the attic, New York times papers with headlines of Hindenburg, Roosevelt (FDR) death, Kennedy Death, and when LBJ took office…when my husband survived the attack on September 11th, we added that first New York Times paper from 9/12 to the pile. It all stayed with that house we loved.
I know people in Newtown, whose kids were lucky to come out of the shooting alive!
I know that flag pole, and Trinity Church…my Nana used to go to the catholic church…when she came to visit. We would go to the Big Y and places like Carmunuccio’s Pizza, we used to eat at the hot dog joint, the one with the great chili dogs and those steamed old fashioned buns on Main St…I can’t remember the name…it is a stand, take out only. Damn, it is an institution over in Newtown…I just can’t remember the name. My kids still talk about how we would take them over to the sundries shop down from My Place heading toward Church Hill Rd..to get them snow cones…any time of the year.
I loved Newtown, my family loved Newtown too. If it wasn’t for Dan loosing his job after 9/11, we would still be living there, and both my kids would be attending Newtown High School.
That is why I’ve been so upset over all this, we always hear people say after mass killings…it could never happen in my town. Well, it has happened in the town my family used to live.
It bothers me that there is a hesitation or lack of info coming forward…we still know nothing more than we did the day after the shooting. It bothers me that Newtown is home to the man who is some big hot shot with the company that makes the gun Adam used to kill those innocent children and teachers. That Newtown is home to the second largest gun lobby…that makes the lack of information even more disturbing.
The attitude from Paul Vance has rubbed me the wrong way from the very beginning. And why would the selectwoman say “don’t blame us” at the service that Obama attended? No one would blame the folks of Newtown…unless there was something they are keeping from the public.
There is questions we all have, and it seems like some of the authorities are staying too silent about things.
The Philo Vance thing was referring to a fictional detective…they made some movies back long ago…with William Powell as Vance…TCM is showing a few this week and it was in the back of my mind when I wrote this post.
I hope that helps explain where I’m coming from.
I sent my husband a message and he wrote me back…the man who owned the convenience store was named Neal. My kids loved to go to that place and get snow cones.
JJ, I truly appreciate your reply and it does explain much. I agree that real information has been absent, but as I said earlier, I think they are trying to avoid a repeat of the disinformation from the first day. I don’t think they have it pieced together yet. I don’t think there was a subtext to Llodra’s “no blame to be laid on us” statement. I think she was simply comforting people. Perhaps she’d already read some of the “editorials” from around the country, speculating about what kind of town could raise an Adam and not even know it–why a gun-loving town of course! People want the story and when it isn’t forthcoming, will make one up. Some are downright ridiculous. For example, here’s Joan Walsh (who won’t let having nothing relevant to say stop her) in an article where she is trying to imagine Nancy Lanza:
She frequented a bar called My Place.
Let’s stop there. Is there anything more American (in the bad sense) than a bar, a place where we seek company, called My Place? Why not “Our Place”? I mean, if you really want to drink at My Place, you can drink at home. But what a clever name: It lets us live in the fiction that we can each have our own special private place, we don’t have to share it, as we enjoy the company of others who are likewise in their own special private place!
I thought that was pure stupid drivel. It’s not a bar–it is just a pizza place with a bar inside named My Place. It’s in the middle of the town and has been there for the longest time–nothing to read in to. It’s not even good pizza (I’m originally a NYer). In fact, I don’t think Newtown has any bars that are not inside restaurants.
Also, Llodra’s statement was made before the President’s address. I don’t think her original speech was written expecting a national audience. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, the priest at Trinity and one of the main organizers of the event, invited the whole community to an interfaith service. Then the president invited himself and the community was basically uninvited. (She said we’d have one for us when the media left town.) Anyway, my point there is that Llodra and others may have begun and planned that day with different ideas in mind and had to quickly shuffle some text for a different audience. I don’t know, but she has been a good selectwoman and I would give her the benefit of the doubt.
Anyway, I appreciate your perspective and thank you for taking the time to respond.
Did you mean Jumbo Dogs?
My Place a bar? You know…that is ridiculous, and I thought the press was reaching on that tidbit of information too.
I hope you are right about Llodra’s statement, the rest of her comments were really good, but those few words bothered me.
As far as the hot dog place, I still don’t know the name of the joint. All I know is the hot dogs were good. lol
beautiful!!!
In memory of the 1913 Christmas Massacre
… and for you Beata …
Thanks, Dak. xoxo