Little Known History: The NRA Once Supported Gun Control.

Monday, Jan 14, 2013 10:00 AM EST

The NRA once supported gun control

It may seem hard to believe, but for decades the organization helped write federal laws restricting gun use

By Steven Rosenfeld, Alternet

The NRA once supported gun control.

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

For nearly a century after its founding in 1871, the National Rifle Association was among America’s foremost pro gun control organizations. It was not until 1977 when the NRA that Americans know today emerged, after libertarians who equated owning a gun with the epitome of freedom and fomented widespread distrust against government—if not armed insurrection—emerged after staging a hostile leadership coup.

In the years since, an NRA that once encouraged better marksmanship and reasonable gun control laws gave way to an advocacy organization and political force that saw more guns as the answer to society’s worst violence, whether arming commercial airline pilots after 9/11 or teachers after the Newtown, while opposing new restrictions on gun usage.

It is hard to believe that the NRA was committed to gun-control laws for most of the 20th century—helping to write most of the federal laws restricting gun use until the 1980s.

“Historically, the leadership of the NRA was

Hurricane Sandy Pummels East Coast, Stresses Cities’ Weak Infrastructure

Like many, I’ve read a few stories, and seen a few pics from the landing of Hurricane Sandy on the United States Eastern seaboard.

Honestly, it’s difficult to go throughout the day not hearing at least one story about the extreme climatic conditions that’ve been wreaking havoc for thousands of miles, stretching North into Canada and South into the Appalachian foothills of Tennessee & North Carolina from the hurricane’s epicenter located in the New York City & New Jersey areas.

Though unlike many, I’ve not stayed glued to the weather news or developments.

Extreme climatic events in remote affected areas – unusually early and deep snowfall, including heavy rain – have accompanied this unparalleled severe weather event. Yet one of the odd things about this storm, is that – as hurricane strength is measured – it’s not a powerful storm.

Hurricane measurements grade storm intensity according to wind strength, and

Mitt Romney’s 47% gaffe makes him 100% unsuitable to be president

It is Romney’s only unerring quality that he constantly affirms his stereotype. And this could be the week that sinks his challenge

by Michael Cohen
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 September 2012 12.20 EDT

If the Republican primaries and presidential campaign have taught us anything, it is that Mitt Romneyis not very good at politics. Incessant gaffes, strategic missteps, a paucity of policy prescriptions and a plethora of head-scratching tactical decisions have come to define his run for the White House. Quite simply, Mitt Romney is a bad politician.

Mitt Romney: “My job is not to worry about those people.” Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters

But on Monday night, we learned something new – and profoundly unsettling – about him: he may very well also be a bad person.

I don’t use those words lightly, but I’m not sure how else to interpret the comments he made at a closed-door fundraiser that were posted online by Mother Jones. They are devastating. They suggest a level of meanness and divisiveness in Romney’s personal character that is disturbing – even disqualifying for the nation’s highest office.

Look at how Romney classifies the 47% of Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes:

“[They] will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what … These are people who pay no income tax …

“[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

This is a breathtaking statement: a fundamental misunderstanding of

Guess whose salaries will NOT be sequestered? Yup. Congress.

Congress sets Congressional salaries. Not voters. Why should there not be a mechanism to limit their ability to do so, and why should there not be a mechanism for determining how much they’re paid?

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Sequester cuts? Not for Senate and House salaries

By SCOTT WONG, 9/14/12 3:19 PM EDT

Money for smaller classrooms and afterschool programs would get the ax. So would funding for border patrol agents, food inspectors and cancer research.

But the salaries of members of Congress? Their $174,000 annual take won’t be touched.

Because lawmakers couldn’t

New images emerge of Miami Cannibal attack

Warning: You’ve probably seen graphic photographs before… right?

However, American media outlets rarely ever assault our sensibilities with such. They leave that to their regular programming.

This horrible tragedy was caused, no doubt, by the sudden cataclysmic loss of one’s mental faculties brought on by smoking so-called “bath salts.”

So, here’s to the “let’s legalize drugs” crowd.

Enjoy.

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Graphic image shows Miami cannibal and his blood-soaked victim seconds after grisly attack

• Image shows scene moments after Rudy Eugene was shot for refusing to stop eating Ronald Poppo’s face
• First images of Poppo since attack also released
• Nose is missing and face is covered with scabs
• May be blind after losing one eye in the attack and sustaining severe damage to the other
• But is walking and talking and asking for pizza

By Rachel Quigley and Lydia Warren

PUBLISHED: 11:27 EST, 13 June 2012 | UPDATED: 12:19 EST, 13 June 2012

A graphic new image shows the grisly scene just moments after the Miami cannibal was shot dead by police as he chewed off a homeless man’s face.

It shows Rudy Eugene lying naked in a pool of blood next to his victim Ronald Poppo, who was attacked as he slept by a busy highway.

Poppo, whose head is drenched in blood, is naked below the waist after Eugene stripped off his trousers before

Ten Great Tips for 2011: #7

And a top ‘o the Monday mornin’ to ya’!

We’re staring down the barrel at a brand new, and exciting week ahead!

And we’re already half-way over January!

My, my, my! Where has the time gone?!

Let’s pick right back up with our next weekday installment of Ten Great Tips for 2011!

Here’s #7!

Ten Great Tips for 2011: #2

Welcome to Monday!

Continuing our one-a-weekday series of Ten Great Tips for 2011, we present tip #2!