Krauthammer: The right-to-work dilemma

Charles Krauthammer  "The nostalgics look back to the immediate postwar years when the UAW was all-powerful, the auto companies were highly profitable and the world was flooded with American cars. In that Golden Age, the UAW won wages, benefits and protections that were the envy of the world.

"Today’s angry protesters demand a return to that norm. Except that it was not a norm but a historical anomaly. America, alone among the great industrial powers, emerged unscathed from World War II. Japan was a cinder, Germany rubble and the allies — beginning with Britain and France — an exhausted shell of their former imperial selves.
"For a generation, America had the run of the world. Then the others recovered."....

American gun culture illustrated

Sense of Events  "Funny how in the aftermath of tragic events such as Sandy Hook school Friday, when the Left starts once again to bewail and condemn the "American gun culture," they always zero in on guns and never the culture.
"Well, here's the culture part:

"After the massacre at the high school in Columbine, Colo., in 1999, I told this to my congregation:"

Boston Globe editorialist John Ellis wrote, “Ours is a culture that glorifies violence, profits from it, sells it with the most advanced technology known to mankind. Violence bounces off satellites in outer space and beams into every American home, every hour of every day, every month of every year.”

You have probably heard that the average preschool or elementary school child spends twelve hundred minutes per week watching television and only forty minutes talking with parents. The average teenager spends nine hundred hours in school per year and fifteen hundred hours watching television. These hours do not include the time kids may spend listening to heavy metal or “gangsta” rap, which glorifies killing cops and raping women, or playing computer games both violent and occultic, or watching violent movies on video or in theaters.

According to researchers, during prime time viewing hours, at least fifty people are killed, shot, maimed, or raped on broadcast and cable television. Eight out of ten television producers say there is a link between television violence and real-life violence.

Wrote Ellis, “In the 1980s, evangelical groups tried to lead boycotts against entertainment and media companies that produced and broadcast gratuitously violent fare. Their efforts met with some success at the grass roots and nothing but scorn from media elites. Hollywood’s contempt for public concern about the ceaseless stream of violent media was perfectly captured in a quote from Ted Field, co-founder of Interscope. ‘You can tell the people who want to stop us from releasing controversial rap music one thing,’ said Field: ‘Kiss my ‘[snip].’”

"I will be much more sympathetic to calls for more gun control when those same people are just as adamant about culture control. Sort of like what Glenn Reynolds has said in another context: "I'll believe it's a crisis when the people who say it's a crisis start acting like it's a crisis."
"In the meantime, perhaps we should remember that the Left has been working full tilt on culture control all along:"

About.com

UPDATED:

The Blaze   "Most died at the very start of their young lives, tiny victims taken in a way not fit no matter one’s age. Others found their life’s work in sheltering these little ones, teaching them, caring for them, treating them as their own. After the gunfire ended Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the trail of loss was more than many could bear: 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman’s mother at home, and the gunman himself.

"According to the authorities, all six adults killed at the school were women.
"Of the 20 children who were shot to death, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were ages 6 or 7."

Here is the complete list:     
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47 (pictured at right)
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56 (pictured below)
Victoria Soto,27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6
"When the shots rang out, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, threw herself into the danger.
"Janet Robinson, the superintendent of Newtown Public Schools, said Sherlach and the school’s principal ran toward the shooter. They lost their own lives, rushing toward him.
"Even as Sherlach neared retirement, her job at Sandy Hook was one she loved. Those who knew her called her a wonderful neighbor, a beautiful person, a dedicated educator"

'Always smiling': Portraits of Conn. victims


In this undated photo provided by Mark Sherlach, Mark Sherlach and his wife, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, pose for a photo. Mary Sherlach was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. Photo: Courtesy Of Mark Sherlach / AP

"Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau, 30, teacher;  Lauren Rousseau had spent years working as a substitute teacher and doing other jobs. So she was thrilled when she finally realized her goal this fall to become a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook."....

"Anne Marie Murphy, 52, teacher A happy soul. A good mother, wife and daughter. Artistic, fun-loving, witty and hardworking.

"Remembering their daughter, Anne Marie Murphy, her parents had no shortage of adjectives to offer Newsday. When news of the shooting broke, Hugh and Alice McGowan waited for word of their daughter as hour by hour ticked by. And then it came.

"Authorities told the couple their daughter was a hero who helped shield some of her students from the rain of bullets. As the grim news arrived, the victim's mother reached for her rosary."....

 

" Nancy Lanza, 52, gunman's mother; She was known before simply for the game nights she hosted and the holiday decorations she put up at her house. Now Nancy Lanza is being called the mother of a killer and his first victim."....

 

 

 

Sandy Hook Shooter’s Mother Not A Teacher At School, He Just Decided To Kill Children…

Weasel Zippers  "Initially it was reported Adam Lanza killed his mother in her classroom at the elementary school, now it turns out she wan’t a teacher or even connected to the school. He killed her at their house, then drove to the school and killed 20 children. Mind blowing."

The Kindergarden of Eden: How the Modern Liberal Thinks

PJTV Video: "Author Evan Sayet sits with Bill Whittle to discuss his book The Kindergarden of Eden. Sayet thinks that most liberals are neither stupid nor evil. So why do liberal policies so often produce stupid, if not evil results? Is it because liberalism promotes evil over the good? Find out on this interview with the very funny and insightful Evan Sayet."

First pictures of the tragic children murdered in their classrooms after 'deeply disturbed' gunman massacred 26 at Connecticut school

UK Mail  "The three teachers murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School all died heroes trying to save their students from the gunman.

"Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, and 27-year-old Victoria Soto (pictured right), a first grade teacher, as three of the eight adults found dead on Friday.

Twenty-eight people died in the shooting rampage, including 20 young children between the ages of five and ten, alleged gunman Adam Lanza, who took his own life, and his mother, who was shot before the school massacre.

"MailOnline can now reveal that Miss Soto sacrificed herself to save her students - throwing her body in front of the young children*.

"When Lanza began started firing at the school in suburban Newtown, Connecticut, some teachers dived under tables - but the Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach never hesitated.

"They ran into the hallway to confront the danger - and were murdered execution-style as a result . The New York Times reports that Mrs Hochsprung buzzed Lanza into the school, bypassing the newly-installed security system - recognizing him as the son of Nancy Lanza. It's unclear what Nancy Lanza's connection to the school was, if she had one at all."

*Another report said Soto hid her kids in a closet and told the gunman they were in the gym just before he killed her.

More detail in this account:   "Soto’s cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told media that the teacher was shielding students and ushering them into a classroom closet “when she came face to face with the gunman. “
" “'She put herself between the gunman and the children and that's when she was tragically shot and killed,' Mr Wiltsie said."

Little to add on the adults so far.  "Lt. Paul Vance said Saturday morning that the suspect was not voluntarily let into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton."....
"A custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman on the loose, and someone switched on the intercom, alerting people in the building to the attack -- and perhaps saving many lives -- by letting them hear the hysteria going on in the school office, a teacher said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building."

Commentaries on the Connecticut shooting

Three from American Thinker;
Good Guns Can Kill Bad People  "There is no one to shoot back and thus deter the shooter from his maddened mission. Think about it, most of these mass shootings end with the suicide of the killer after he has accomplished his goal. Few are ever killed by authorities or captured."
A frustrating point to make, I know, but what else can we do? The guns are out there everywhere in their millions and accessible to all forms of human debris. I wish every gun would disappear from the face of the earth, but that would just leave us at the mercy of mass murderers with bombs and knives.

There Was Silence in Heaven for Half an Hour  "Mortals can learn something from the angels and spirits living in a perfect realm. Even in Heaven, where it is said there are no more tears, there is a time for silence.
"Could we imitate the angels and just shut up for at least half an hour?"

Yet another massacre in a 'gun-free zone' "Armed defense at the ready is the only thing that can stop a deliberate massacre. This conclusion is not rocket science. More gun control won't accomplish anything except to endanger all of us even further."
Ugly words, yes, but with the genie out of the bottle can you give me a better conclusion?

Is the American Economy Being Deliberately Destroyed?

Stay with us on this, there is an educated guess regarding the subject.
Gulag Bound
"New Zeal Is the looming economic destruction of America deliberate? Bill Whittle thinks so. So do I."...

The Doctor Won’t See You Now; American health care is in a bureaucratic death grip.

Mark Steyn   ...."They gave her the usual form to fill in, full of perceptive inquiries on her medical condition: Do you wear a seat belt? Do you own a gun? How many bisexual men are you now having sex with? These would be interesting questions if one were signing up for eHarmony.com and looking to date gun-owning bisexuals who don’t wear seat belts, but they were not immediately relevant to her medical needs. Nevertheless, she complied with the diktats of the Bureau of Compliance, and had her medical records transferred, and waited . . . and waited. That was August. She has now been informed that she has an appointment with a nurse-practitioner at the end of January. My friend pays $15,000 a year for health insurance. In northern New Hampshire, that and meeting the minimum-entry requirement of bisexual sex partners will get you an appointment with a nurse-practitioner in six months’ time."

After much gifted satire, Mr. Steyn sums up his entire point with this assessment:

As I wrote a couple weeks ago, Obamacare governmentalizes one-sixth of the U.S. economy — or the equivalent of the entire French economy. No one has ever attempted that before, not even the French. In parts of rural America it will quickly achieve a Platonic perfection: There will be untold legions of regulators, administrators, and IRS collection agents, but not a doctor or nurse in sight.

Hat tip to Margi Hawks, Liberty, MO.