Dick Jaeger
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On the Blog Post Boots, Guns and Mental Illness
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On the Blog Post A Sad Day for the State of Michigan
Dick Jaeger
8:36 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2012
ReplyMost interesting to read the variety of responses to my orginal blog. To be sure I expected some response but certainly not the amount I got. Some were very well thought out - on both sides of the issues raised ponts deserving of consideration by all. Others though either missed the mark by begining from a flawed premis or misunderstanding the intent of my comments. I leave the reader to determine that for themselves. Some though went off on an irrelevant (to the blog) tangent. Points that may be well taken in another context but not not this one. With all due respect to Dale, for example, the disdain shown toward Paul Ryan or the so called fiscal cliff are interesting and worthy of discussion but not germain to my subject.
As for the issue of Gov. Snyder and RTW I would refer you to the editorial in the Sunday Free Press lambasting Snyder and his position.
I do stand on my position that the rights of a woman to make a decision on abortion or contraception should be her's and should follow the dicates and beliefs of her heart and not mandated by a law based on the religious views of any organization. That view is I believe Constutionally unassailable. -
On the Blog Post A Sad Day for the State of Michigan
Dick Jaeger
3:58 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
After watching endless hours of CSpan coverage of debate on the Affordale Healthcare Act I agree there was no input from Republicans only objections but whose fault is that they had equal time as proponents of the act to state a case or come up with their own version or input. That they did not is not the President's fault or the Democratic House or Senate Caucuses fault - its their own fault.
The true issue on the religious right so called pro-life position is that they want to impose their religious views on all Americans. A religious leader whose faith obliges him or her to object to abortion or contraception has every right to say so (and perhaps even an obligation to do so at least in front of his congregation) but has no right to impose that view on people not of his faith as a matter of law. Clearly a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution would occur if that happens. -
On the Blog Post A Sad Day for the State of Michigan
Dick Jaeger
12:27 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
ReplyThank you all for your comments. Obviously I agree with some and disagree with others but the point is you as members of the public have taken the opportunity to express your views - which is exactly what was not allowed in Lansing. No public hearings were held. and of course once passed the law can not be changed by ballot proposal since a bit of an appropriation was included.
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On the Blog Post Where Did Civility Go?
Dick Jaeger
12:37 pm on Saturday, October 20, 2012
ReplyBryce,
I understand completely where your coming from but would ask you to consider two points. First, that fact that we as a people are losing some of the niceties of social interaction that we had does not make it right. It may be a fact of life but not necessarily a good thing. Second, the point of my comments was not the current campaign, though i certainly see how it could be taken that way, but the way our legilators at all levels have become so ideologically polarized that the ability to reach a concensus or compromise is becoming more and more difficult and the tone of debates - in Congress and State Legislatures more and more lack the civility that was a hallmark of our country's history. Much as I have enjoyed sitting in the gallery of the House of Commens in London, their approach to debate, is not what you and I would what to see in Congress, with catcalls and booing from the opposite bench in a hardly decorous manner. -
On the Blog Post Where Did Civility Go?
Dick Jaeger
9:08 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
ReplyThe point of my comments was not the tenor of the campaigns but the inflexability to compromise by both the right and left in Congress and state legislatures. Which diasgree if you must has been a tenet of our system of government since the Constitutional Convention.
I do agree that the negative aspects of campaigning do get much more publicity today and hopefully most voters see them for what they are and seek out the facts before casting a ballot. -
On the Blog Post Where Did Civility Go?
Dick Jaeger
9:04 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
ReplyFirst my comments, while certainly having some applicability to campaigns was intended for the idoelogical abyss that our legislatures at the Federal and State level have found themselves in.
Unable to do what is a hallmark of our history and work out issues to a consensus in most cases.
Second The tenor of the Constitutional Convention set the tenor of the Federal legislature and most state legislators until recently.
With regard to Andrew Jackson being called a a murderer after his 1806 duel with Charles Dickenson (granted Dickenson did get the first shot off so it could be said to be self defense) But Dickenson fell backwards and the seconds insisted he get back on his mark.He did so, but unlike many in that position Jackson aimed a killing shot rather than fire in the air The other incidents were "whispered" and obviously without merit as are many. Today pacs and superpacs who give a candidate total deniability can say virtually anything they want and spend unlimited funds to put it out to the public.
In any event the unfortunate tone of the current campaigns was not the central theme of my post which I am sure most readers will see. -
On the Blog Post Your Boobies and the Flight Attendant
Dick Jaeger
12:19 pm on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
ReplyThank you for an excellent reminder. May I just add that men can get breast cancer too, though rare (0.01% of the general population but 4% of descendants of Eastern European Jews). As one of those who had breast cancer and a mastectomy I urge men to listen to their bodies and if something doesn't seem right or feel right see your doctor. Now after fifteen years I get a mammorgram annually and am fine - all because something was bothering me and I asked my doctor about it.
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On the Blog Post Cigar Tax Limit Passes State House and Senate
Dick Jaeger
11:19 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Thank you for your comments. I certainly respect your view though of course I do not agree with your conclusions. As a fifteen year cancer survivor I have very personal feelings about anything that increases the chance of cancer. Scientific data certainly agrees with me that cigar smoking and cigarette smoking do in fact cause cancer.
The right of a state government to legislate in areas that concern the health or welfare of its citizens is well established in all fifty states and even some of the most conservative members of the state legislature have acknowledged that in their support of the Michigan Smoke Free Bill and Healthy Michigan funding each year.
The question comes down to why the double standard when scientific evidence and statistical reports all come to the conclusion that cigars and cigarettes are equally bad for individuals, which makes them fall within the established rule of law on health and welfare.
Dick Jaeger
9:37 am on Thursday, December 20, 2012
Angela,
Absolutely agree with both issues in your blog. in mine printed late yesterday in the Farmington-mi Patch, I make the point (with respect to gun control) that the Heller and McDonald decisions of the Supreme Court reverse long standing and historic decisions including one in 1939 that was unanimous - both the 2008 and 2010 decisions by the way were 5-4, hardly overwhelming. The other point is that a car is manufactured to transport people from point a to point b. Firearms are manufactured to kill, period end. Target shooting is merely a technique for honing one's skills at doing what the manufacturer built the weapon for: to kill.