Criticism of The Wall Street Journal article “Cerberus Sets Its Sights on IPO for a Gun Maker”
Yesterday at lunch I was thumbing through the the Wall Street Journal news paper. The beginning of the section had the following article placed in the most prominent area of the page with the accompanying picture of a middle school aged girl shouldering a rifle.
At first I skipped the article and thought “Oh, another anti-gun article spewing the evils of guns and how they are used for deviant purposes.” After reaching the end of the paper and not the end of my lunch I decided to go back and read the article. I was shocked by what I found – or rather didn’t find based upon my initial reaction.
Read the article for yourself, Cerberus Sets Its Signs on IPO for a Gun Maker. The picture’s caption states:
“Built through a string of Cerberus acqusitions, Freedom Group is one of the largest gun makers. Here, a student in Kansas tests a Bushmaster rifle in 2008; Cerberus bought Bushmaster Firearms in April 2006.”
Be honest with yourself, what does the picture bring to your mind?
The article has nothing to do with students brandishing guns! The author wants to subtly imply firearms will be used improperly.
Why not show a picture that provokes a sense of security by displaying someone properly using a firearm? What about a soldier practicing with a rifle? Or, since our society is so consumer based – a store shelf filled with guns and ammunition.
Since the author mentioned Kansas by name, maybe the author was trying to imply little Jane Doe (girl in the picture) needs her Bushmaster rifle to survive school. Maybe schools in Kansas did away with home economics class in favor of “surviving the fall of government 101”. I doubt very much that either of these apply to Kansas, Jane Doe’s situation, or what the author was trying to imply.
The Wall Street Journal article about Cerberus Investment Group and it’s acquisitions to consolidate the firearm and munition market has nothing to do with children brandishing firearms. So why be sensational and put the picture there?
This entry contains my commentary and review of the article written in the Wall Street Journal, “Cerberus Sets Its Signs on IPO for a Gun Maker”. All quotes from the article are property of the Wall Street Journal.
Protected: First Horse Trip Oct 08
Personal Thoughts
When I think about how stubborn the horses were from lack of riding the trip out to Little Girls Point was quiet remarkable. Especially considering I had never ridden on one before, much less for 6 hours straight! There are several remarkable moments that stick out in my memory after having gone so many months ago.
Crossing the black top by Burger King. The feeling of being on top of a large animal as it inches closer and closer to the curb ( but not wanting to step over the curb ) is very odd. After having crossed a 4 lane intersection and walking in the groass along side BK I would have thought stepping back onto the blacktop would have been the least difficult task the horse would do. Apparently not, God only knows what horses think about. As the horse walked along the grassy peninsula up to the black top I had no idea what it was doing. In my mind it was all down hill and the hard part was over. When the horse stopped at the curb and refused to go further I had no idea what it was waiting for. Who would have thought the horse would hesitate stepping over a 4 inch curb. But alas, as it stood there ignoring my feeble prods I could just feel it inch closer and closer until it was forced to stray left or right. It wasn’t until I figured out to steer her onto the parking lot and around the curb did the journey continue.
Horses are lookers. After an hour or two of riding, and having a chance to think about how dim horses were, I was surprised to see how excited they got when another horse walked up to them from a field in the near by pasture. It was fenced in but ran along calling out to us as we trodded by. Our horses kept looking at it, as if to size him up and say, “Hi, how are you, can you run along with us”?
Horses are 4 speeds.
1. Stalled
2. Are we moving?
3. Hey this is bumpy!
… and my favorite …
4. Weeeeyaaaa!!!!
The “Hey this is bumpy!” speed was fun but hard on my butt. My horse wasn’t ridden much so when it decided to move a little faster all on its own gumption I thought that was pretty exciting. Towards the end of the trip Tim decided to push them a little harder. Thats when the “Weeeeyaaaa!!!!” moment happened, its beyound a trodd and into a full blown gallup. For such a large animal to bound underneath me was an increadible feeling of exhiliration, I couldn’t stop giggling as I’m in the habit of doing.
In the end, after getting off the horse I’m just thankful I could stand because my legs were like jelly, oh, and that the horse let me tag along for the ride :)
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