At least 65 Dead and 97 Wounded: Mass Shootings 2012

It's a sad night that brings me back to this blog that I've missed so much.

There has been another mass shooting at a shopping mall. Made me wonder how numb I am to news stories like this or how many people I've dishonored by not working harder to fight for protection of the collective good from those who for whatever reason, hold all the rest of us responsible for their own misery.

I don't have any answers but I sure wish there was an easy one.

Here's what a quick search has turned up. It may or may not be a complete list:

January 10, 2012: Three teenagers were shot dead in an ambush in Philadelphia, CBS reported at the time. The 30-year-old suspect opened fire on four teens in a car, killing three and injuring one

 February 21, 2012: Jeong Soo Paek burst into a spa his family owned in Norcross, near Atlanta, Ga. He killed four relatives before turning the gun on himself

February 27, 2012: A 17-year-old student, T.J. Lane, confessed to going into his Chardon, Ohio high school cafeteria and shooting students at random. Three students died and two were hospitalized, The New York Times reported. Lane said he stole the gun from a relative who had obtained it legally.

March 30, 2012: A gunman drove by and opened fire on a crowd of mourners outside a funeral home in Miami, Fla. Two people died and 12 more were injured, the Miami Herald reported. The mourners were gathered for the funeral of 21-year-old Marvin Andre, who also died in a shooting.

April 2, 2012: One L. Goh opened fire at Oikos University in Oakland, California. He killed seven people and injured at least three more. Goh was a former student at the school and was said to be angry that he was expelled for poor behavior, CNN reported.

April 6, 2012: Five African-American men were gunned down in separate incidents in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ABC reported. Police arrested Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, and said that the murders were motivated by racism. Three men died and two were seriously injured.

May 29, 2012: Ian Stawicki went to a cafe in Seattle's University district, shooting and killing four people, ABC reported at the time. He then fled to a parking lot and shot another woman before killing himself. He wasn't thought to have known his victims.

July 20, 2012: James Holmes, 24, allegedly broke into a midnight premiere of "The Dark Knigh Rises" in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring roughly 60 more. Later, police revealed that Holmes, a doctoral student in neuroscience, spent $20,000 on ammunition and weapons.

August 5, 2012: Seven people died after gunfire broke out at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The gunman, identified by police as Wade Michael Page, also died in the shooting. He was a white supremacist and the shootings were said to be racially motivated.

August 13, 2012: Three people including a police officer were killed in shootings near the campus of Texas A&M University. The alleged shooter, Thomas Caffell, was said to be obsessed with video games and having financial problems. 

August 24, 2012: Jeffrey Johnson shot a former coworker and injured nine more people before being shot and killed by police. The shooting occurred near New York's Empire State Building during rush hour.  

September 27, 2012: The attack took place inside Accent Signage Systems, where a former employee walked inside the firm's building and fired shots. By the end of the day, five people were dead, including the gunman, who committed suicide, and four others were injured, three of them critically. One of those critically injured died the following day, and another man succumbed to his wounds on October 10. It was the deadliest workplace shooting in Minnesota's history 

October 21, 2012:  Police say three people were killed and four wounded in the Sunday morning shooting at the Azana Day Spa. Authorities spent much of Sunday afternoon looking for Haughton.They say they believe the shooting was related to a domestic dispute.The spa is a two-story, 9,000-square-foot building across from a major shopping mall in Brookfield, a middle-to-upper class community west of Milwaukee.

November 7, 2012: FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- A parolee who worked at a California chicken processing plant opened fire at the business on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding two others, before taking his own life, authorities said. 

December 11, 2012:  A gunman opened fire in a suburban Portland shopping mall Tuesday, killing two people and wounding another as people were doing their Christmas shopping, authorities said.

 

The South High Class of 1947 65th Reunion Notice

From page E9 of today's Star Tribune:

(you can click to enlarge or take my word for it that it says:

SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL: Class of 1947,

11:30 P.M, June 23, Kip's Authentic Irish Pub )

If this is accurate and not a typo, it's pretty awesome.

But then again, it might be kind of sad if it's the last standing member of the class,

making a final toast....  

If You Have To Ask, You Probably Already Know The Answer

I suppose one of the reasons they don't like cameras at the store that I shop at is because I find things like this...


Way to not give a direct answer to your own question there, Nestlé ...

Good thing you have the Dittoheads.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

From Mad Magazine when I was a kid:

Thanks to the Citizens United decision, more true than ever.

Cover the Night - Kony 2012

"Tonight thousands of teenagers hit streets of the United States armed with T-shirts and posters as part of a campaign to make Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony even more famous than he already is."

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/In-Gulu-Uganda-Support-for-Konys-Invisible-Children-148317815.html

Here is some of what's been done in my neighborhood this evening:

Printed posters

Hand drawn posters

Written in dandelion on sidewalk

Painted using watercolors.

These kids, taking a stand, are inspiring and should make all of us proud. I know they do me.



Cocoon

Hope I'm home to see what comes out of this:

Way To Go MN GOP- You Lunatics!

We have a huge budget problem here in Minnesota, thanks to former Governor Tim Pawlenty not dealing with the problem previously and kicking the proverbial can down the road.

Today the layoff notices went out to all State employees because the Republicans who control the house and senate here REFUSE to negotiate and/or compromise and create a budget that can keep the State functioning.

As these notices went out, the leadership of the Republicans released a statement saying:

"There is no need" for a shutdown -- if (Governor) Dayton would go along with the GOP's budget."

Now this budget issue has been the most important thing facing all of us all year so I thought I'd share with all of you exactly what the MN-GOP spent this past legislative session working on.

In thinking about this, I got lucky. Someone else also had the same thought and put
together a list.

You can read the entire original article here:

http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/diary/9260/32-bills-mn-republicans-worked-on-instead-of-the-budget

but here is the list:

Creating a constitutional amendment against gay marriage to go on the ballet next year

Voter I.D.

Repeal the smoking ban

Eliminate background checks for gun purchases

Designate English as the official language

Bike tax

Remove the ban on increasing carbon dioxide emissions by utilities

Ban state funding of abortions

Eliminate 8 state agencies including Depts of Employment & Econ Dev, Health, Human Rights, Labor & Industry, Revenue, MNDOT, Vet Affairs and the Office of Mgmt & Budget

Further weaken a woman's right to choose with yet another abortion bill

Repeal the Next Generation Energy Act which was signed by Pawlenty

Prevent welfare recipients from having more than $20 cash in their pockets

Prohibit anyone from suing a company if you get fat from their food

Drug testing for welfare recipients

Racist immigration laws

End pay equity for women

A second bill to end pay equity for women

Bail-outs for schools in Republican areas as well as small budget increases yet they dramatically slash budgets for the large cities

Yet another abortion bill, require parental consent for teens to get health care

Logging in our state parks

Ban federal funding of family planning

Eliminate Meals on Wheels

Ban human cloning and end life-saving and job creating research in MN

An amendment to Health & Human Services bill to exempt MN from health care reform

Prevent animal welfare activists from filming animal cruelty at factory farms

Ban state payments to nonprofits

Amendment to the HHS bill to use baby monitors instead of nurses

Another abortion bill, this one a gag rule which prevents any organization that receive state funds to council about abortion services

Shoot first, show Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card later bill

MN should print its own money

Make it easier to violate licensing laws

Viking Stadium

An entire session spent hating on women, the poor, the elderly, the veterans, the homeless, gay people, nurses, teachers, science , immigrants.

Worse yet, they are proud of their shameless race to the bottom.

One of the funniest things I have ever seen!

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

My Sympathies Representative Weiner

Aside from having to suffer the humiliation of Wolf Blitzer's ego schooling you that,

"You would know if this was your underpants",

you happen to be living in a time where society does seem to think size matters.

At the very least that convincing society that size matters must be very profitable if my email is any indication. (Maybe I, a 50+ year old woman do need a bigger penis?
How could I ever know?)

Anyway, I digress.

Mr. Weiner, I feel for you. Given today's world, where we have sunk so low that a picture of a man's privates in underpants for God's sake, with no other possible way to identify him can lead to all this is just plain pathetic.

Not to mention, again, given the pervasive social climate, I can't think of any man, of any age, that I know who would be willing to publically admit or deny that that particular picture was of him because the very idea of Wolf Blitzer's next questions would be just too repulsive.

"How do we know you are telling the truth? Would you be willing to step behind the screen we've just thrown together here on the CNN set and let me verify so that our viewers will know for sure? We are "The Best Political Team on Television"!

Delicious Salmon Recipe

This recipe was forwarded to me in an email and it was so delicious that even my husband, who is no big fan of salmon raved about it so I decided to post it.

I put off making it because it really looked like it was going to be very time consuming, but it went fast and really smoothly. It didn't occur to me that I should have taken a picture of it until after we ate because it was also very pretty.

Live and learn. Sigh.

Now that the farmers are bringing their fresh vegies to market (and if you are lucky like me) along with the guy from Alaska with the fresh caught salmon, you can use almost all fresh ingrediants making it that much tastier.

For the record, I omitted the salt when called for in the recipe

Enjoy!

Salmon in Parchment Paper

Ingredients:

1/4 C extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the parchment paper,
four 7-8 oz salmon fillets, skin removed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
1 large leek, white part only, cut into thin matchsticks
1 small zucchini, cut into thin matchsticks
2 Roma or plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 cup dry white wine
lemon wedges, for serving (I squirted lemon on the mix of veggies and used a wedge to bake with each fillet/veg mix)
 
Directions

Position racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 375.  Cut four 14 inch wide pieces of parchment paper and fold each in half lengthwise.  Cut out a wide curve from each piece of paper so when it is unfolded you have a heart shape about 12 inches.
 
Brush each piece of parchment with oil. Place a salmon fillet on the bottom half of each heart and season with salt and pepper to taste.
 
Mix the carrot, leek, zucchini, tomatoes, shallots, parsley, and tarragon in a medium bowl, and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Divide the veggies evenly over the top of each fillet.  Drizzle 1 Tablespoon each of olive oil and wine over each fillet. 
 
Fold the top half of each heard down, and crimp the edges tightly to seal. (The packets may be made up to 3 hrs ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake.)
 
Place the parchment heats on 2 baking sheets.  Bake until the parchment is lightly browned, about 12 minutes for medium-rare salmon.
 
Place each parchment heat on a dinner plate.  Serve immediately with lemon wedges.