Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 25, 2010

Makes me glad I don’t go to Starbucks!

What, Mr Trudeau is unaware that many women also carry guns?

I think they’re all misreading the amendment; in Starbucks, everyone’s entitled to bearclaws! You have to have something to eat with your coffee!

I never fully appreciated how cowed we’d become, but the comments sure reflect how brainwashed we are as a population. In a period of time when our country is sliding into socialism, you’re attacking our last line of defense to protect our constitutional rights. Go ahead America, give up your guns you can we fall in line with the socialist dogma of Obama and his crony’s

In a Democracy, you don’t get the best representation, you get the representation you deserve.

My daughter drug me into a Starbucks once. I ordered a small black coffee. Tasted like it was l0 days old! I took it back to the counter and asked for my money back. I got it and did not order anything else. Daughter was embarrased, but I was $4.00 to the good…

Went to Starbucks exactly once. Stared at the preposterous complex menu and finally said, “I didn’t come in for an ‘experience’. All I want is a cup of coffee. A “barista” of adult years took pity on me and said she had just what I wanted. It was a decent cup of coffee, but it cost about four times as much as it should have.

Bottom line, it doesn’t take guns to keep me out of Starbucks.

I really don’t drink coffee, we are on a last name basis, it calls me Mr Chaffee, and I call It Mr Coffee.

\\//_

..I’ll have the Dark Tower blend…

caesarjd, I was thinking you were just putting us on. Either that, or you’re delusional. Our last line of defense? Bwahahahaha! You think your pea shooter is going to do anything? And socialism? Apparently, you don’t understand the term. Not that capitalism in its ugliest form has been very beneficial for the population. The constitution’s preamble sets out the following goals for the constitution: ”establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” Universal health care would achieve those aims far better than private for profit insurance. Gun toting loonies do not achieve those aims.

I’d much rather know someone was packing heat than have them carrying it concealed…… And many women carry “cute little” guns in their purses for “protection” I do not happen to be one of them (couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from 5 feet if I tried, and i am not at all interested in trying…) But I do know of some. Again, to me open carrying is preferable to concealed; and the Starbucks guy did ask them to show that the safety was on before serving them. BUT! My personal preference is only law-enforcement and active military (on duty) should be carrying weapons in public. Hunters and target shooters should have them where they are “working” but no place else but the vehicle (again openly!) they are using to get to their designated spot.

There have been some comments about how much safer places are where people carry. Israel has been mentioned as an example. However, I think of my wife’s hometown just outside the Bronx – this is a working class neighborhood to the core. Nothing Starbucks about it. But they haven’t allowed guns there for a lot longer than most anywhere. Guess what? In 300 years, they’ve had 4 murders. Looking at international statistics, places where guns aren’t allowed are generally safer. Japan is the safest. Most European countries with strong gun laws are safer than anyplace in the US that allows gun carrying. And in Israel (like Switzerland), virtually everyone is a member of the military. At least they’re “well regulated” (as required by our 2nd Amendment.

Remember, without the Second Amendment, the Constitution is just a piece of paper.

General Welfare

All men are created equal

Under these two “truisms”. why would one man be taxed to provide for another?

A government should do for a man what he can’t do for himself.

A man cannot by himself build roads, libraries, firehouses,, nor regulate interstate trade. That is the proper function of the government. You say a man cannot feed nor insure his family? In China they have a lot of government. What’s that one child rule? I guess they ensure a man can feed his family.

We are in a temporary recession.

Use it up wear it out. Make it do. Or do without.

What cannot be cured Must be endured.

Those two “truisms” got us through the Great Depression and made us the greatest nation on Earth.

cdward Yeah, but those aren’t real facts. They haven’t been debunked yet, so you can’t believe them. XD

They need to complement the menu with something like a “cowpie”.

KUDOS to CDWARD, put that bleeep mook in his place!

What is up with the art this week? Today was better, but still had a panel where Mike’s head wasn’t in proportion with his body. Yesterday, his head was shrunk even worse, and Tuesday, his glasses disappeared and reappeared.

To followup on someone’s question from yesterday, Starbucks actually does have an excellent employee benefits package.

Larry said,

“Remember, without the Second Amendment, the Constitution is just a piece of paper.”

Well, no. It’s still merely a piece of paper with the Second Amendment.

Without the Rule of Law, it is just a piece of paper.

Avolunteer:” My personal preference is only law-enforcement and active military (on duty) should be carrying weapons in public.”

So if you’re in a public place and some sociopath begins shooting and there are no cops or soldiers around, you would rather that I(who carries concealed, to quote Clarice Starling, “Cocked and locked, every minute of my day”) not be around? Interesting viewpoint.

I became a gun owner for the simple reason of possibly preserving my life or the life of someone I care about. I thought long and hard about it, and finally decided that I would rather defend myself or someone else with possibly deadly force, then be killed or watch someone I care about be killed and spend the rest of my life wondering “what if?”

Personally, I would suggest a national standard for handgun purchase and CCW permit issuing, say, take the strictest state standard and make it the default. More legislation to restrict the legal sale of handguns will not solve any problems, it will only do just that: restrict the LEGAL sale of handguns. I don’t think any drug gangs or violent criminals would have more difficulty getting their hands on a piece than they currently do.

America

Can I have a Grande frappachino and a side of Gun violence?

Yes. Cop-killers bullets or anti-personel shells?

America, where People who Drive in PUBLIC roads, rely on a Fire Dept, Go to PUBLIC schoools, but complain about Socialism(not even knowing what the word means).

We are screwed. cowards on the right than need to feel so manly when armed. Dream up some scenario from a Stallone movie from the 80’s as a rational to have MORE guns. Idiots.

I have question for the people who need to protect themselves from crime. HAs the crime rate in America gone up or down in the last 15 years?

Dunkin’ Donuts, never looked better.

3hourtour: lol, good one. Thankee-sai.

caesar - “last line of defense”? Ever hear of elections? Or, like my three year-old niece, can’t you wait until November?

peoplesmushroom you are SO right!–I even forgive yu for being a patsfan! I fear for the violence that is being stirred up…… last line of defense , indeed!

get out your guns and let’s revolt, bring back MY america meaning: get rid of uppity ………..’s (insert euphemism for african american)

I’m a Starbucks regular,,, I know it’s expensive, but from what I understand, they do treat their employees well - subsidized health benefits, 401(k), paid vacation… I’d rather pay a little more for the coffee and service than patronize a place that pays minimum wage and treats their employees as a commodity.

Fictional Sailor

Starbuck is a character in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by author Herman Melville. Strong and steady, Starbuck serves as first mate on the whaling ship Pequod under the command of the mad Captain Ahab. Starbuck tries to stop Ahab’s obsessive hunt for Moby-Dick, but loyal at the last, he dies at sea with Ahab and his crew after a final battle with the great while whale. The Starbucks coffee chain took its name from the character.

Unrelated characters named Starbuck also appear in the Broadway play The Rainmaker and in the sci-fi TV show Battlestar Galactica.

Caffeine - the legal drug……and a nation at war with itself, the new! new! new! unCivil War…..the house divided against itself which cannot stand.

Is that coffee made from Rocky Mountain Oysters? Starbucks is waaaaaay too expensive if you want to kill the flavor of their Kenyan coffee.

caesarjd …. RUN do not walk to the closest elementary school. Enroll in the first grade. Stay in school until you find out what socialism is. THEN (and only then) come back here to discuss politics.

FirstOf_TheFallen: “So if you’re in a public place and some sociopath begins shooting and there are no cops or soldiers around…”

A psychologist would probably say that anyone who considers such a scenario to be likely (say, more likely than being killed by a meteorite) is so far out of touch with reality that he/she is in need of professional help.

I used to think I liked Starbucks coffee. Then I started roasting my own coffee 3 years ago. I now realize Starbucks burns their coffee so you can’t tell how cheap the beans are (really). I love my coffee this morning (from Ethiopia, a fair trade coffee)

It’s just their coffee I don’t like. They treat their employees good with good pay and benefits, and I enjoy the atmosphere.

But seeing as I don’t own any firearm, I guess I will stay away. Can I take a cap pistol?

guns don’t kill people

guns help people kill people

I notice that they’re staying. If they are so offended why don’t they leave? The door swings both ways.

Not all gun owners are good people, not all gun owners are bad people. I just don’t understand the need to carry at all times.

I love my Rottweilers, but I don’t take them with me where they make other people nervous or frightened. Intimidation is a bully action, not a show of strength.

Yup, I will agree that America is the greatest country on earth – with all the guns and all the money and 99 percent of the media, it is sitting pretty – it can outsource all the jobs to virtual slaves in other countries while using the media to stir up hate against these “foreigners” (usually of color, living in deplorable conditions making pennies a day so that we can wear our Nikes and our Calvin Kleins) who have stolen “our” jobs; use the media also to distract us from the reality of the starving millions below the middle class in our own country (what?? there are people lower than the middle class???). Meanwhile, the elite of this country stir up the vitriol between the gun-carriers and the gun-control folks (and all the other polar opposites), so that we’re so busy screaming at each other, we’re blind to the fact that all the bad stuff coming down from the top (guess what, it’s really a one-party system we have) is hurting us all equally. And if we don’t wake up and smell the coffee, we’ll find that the limb on which we are all standing is being sawed off by the guys at the top who will be the last to fall, because they’re closest to the trunk… So let’s just keep attacking each other, we who all want to feed and clothe our children and keep a roof over their heads – we who have so much in common with each other in our basic needs and wishes, regardless of color or creed or ethnicity or orientation – than we do with the guys calling all the shots and getting away with murder. And they are – getting away with murder. And we are just squabbling like children while it’s going down.

misterwhite

I hate to burst your worthy bubble, but:

If the Texas State School Board has it’s way, school children will cease to learn real history.

Because of Board forced mandates on text book content, they will be treated instead to a broad spectrum of lies, and from what I have heard will never hear about Thomas Jefferson and the separation of church and state.

Even though America’s two most important documents start with “In the course of HUMAN events” and “We the PEOPLE” the Texas State School Board will mandate that children be taught that the “Founding Fathers” founded this country on “Cristian” doctrine .

The Texas Board mandates will teach children that the Board’s Imaginary Cosmic Friend (OK, God) inspired the “Founding Fathers” in every thing they did.

Most of the “Founding Fathers were deists who saw God as the natural force in the universe, an IT that had no consciousness.(or plans, or intent) They none-the-less revered this God as much as any Cristian person revered the Christian Creator God. They believed that humans could conduct themselves morally and spiritually without the help of a creator God, and the natural force in the universe was their sufficient inspiration. The Texas mandates will erase these truths.

Text book companies are reluctant to spend money on different versions of their books. Texas buys more text books than any other state so most other states will have to teach from Texas mandated books. These lie promoting mandates last ten years.

Don’t get me started on the Creationists madness mandates.

Also: Thank you anarchogram.

And the battle cry was …

“DON’T RETREAT… RELOAD!!!”

(Sorry-ass the im-Palin-ator)

Yeeeeee-haw!

starbucks lost me a long time ago and i’m from seattle, where it all started.

thx alex and anarchogram

Happiness is a large mug of hot chocolate. No ammunition needed.

Marshmallows, maybe…but no ammo.

Cars are more regulated than guns. If some one is demented the DMV will revoke their driver’s license.

What do ya bet Trig gets a gun on his birthday? Just for NRA politics and destiny.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29934520@N08/sets/72157623567407127/

For those who think guns are an anachronism and the police will always protect you, I refer you to Castle Rock vs. Gonzalez. One in a long line of Supreme Court rulings that say they police are not required or able to protect individuals. That is the job…of the individual.

fbjsr: out of curiosity, if GT offends you so much, why do you read his strip?

anarchogram: Bravo. Well said. I’m getting really tired of the divisiveness and extremism promoted by both sides.

I want another story line. This one’s been shot to death.

“don’t retreat…reload!” ?????????

Spoken like a true responsible leader. Yeah, right. Or, should I say rightwingnut?

These idiots keep procreating they will make the best argument ever for wholesale sterilization.

I’m going to do all I can to get Sarah elected in ‘12. This place deserves her more than ever. Give it to her and watch the show.

Guns in a coffee shop will be the least of your worries.

Good thing no health care Dems walked into the Starbucks that day….At least Gary isn’t milking the latte jokes.

Reading some of these comments reminds me of when I was stationed in Bayreuth, Germany during the midsixties. I had the opportunity to speak with several German soldiers from WWII and the personal photographer of Hitler.

Since then I have observed how our society and government has slowly developed similaities to pre Nazi Germany. More government control over our lives by pitting one group of the population against another for more control.

A most memorable comment from some of them was that it could never happen in America, as long as the people kept their guns.

Um, grampaspot, I used to live in Germany, too. With Germans who fought in WW II. Their take on this is 180 opposite of what you heard. They were amazed and horrified at the “wild west” attitude of so many Americans. They have extremely strict gun control and are very happy with it. They also have a 125 year old health care system that covers virtually everyone and has proven sustainability.

I order real coffee, black & keep my piece warm, holstered under my arm.