Cal Thomas Oct 8^th

Thomas has written two columns in one today; the first part of his column focuses on gun control and why any effort there is worthless, then he segues to the horrors of government waste, fraud and abuse. At least he hasn’t attacked Hillary Clinton for Benghazi or for her email server. Be patient he’ll get to the server eventually but after Kevin McCarthy’s admission of the Benghazi Committee politicizing its investigation I doubt the conservatives want to talk about that.

Thomas says, “Someone intent on killing other human beings will not be deterred by more gun laws. Law breaking is what criminals do; otherwise they would be law abiders…” That statement is absurd. How does Thomas know that more, or more rigorously enforced gun laws, will not slow the killing? He obviously does not. Then he claims that, “…criminals are law breakers otherwise they would be law abiders.” The man who murdered nine students at the Oregon college was “a law abiding citizen” until he wasn’t. This is true of everyone who kills someone; they are all law abiding citizens until they aren’t.

Then Thomas comments on the mentally ill: “The Oregon shooter’s neighbors recognized that there was something a little off about him but no one said anything to authorities.” Well, that should have raised a huge red flag! Imagine the reception at the police station if you tell the desk sergeant that, in your opinion, one of your neighbors seems a “little off.” Who do you think they’ll send for a psychiatric screening?

Thomas wonders if “another law or two or three would have made a significant difference.” Gee Cal, how many additional survivors would it take to make a “significant difference?” If it’s only two or three it probably isn’t worth the effort.

In the next paragraph Thomas suddenly switches to the budget and the economy…I guess he’s finished with all this gun nonsense. He reports that the Government Accounting Office (GAO) has found 124 billion dollars in improper payments. Thomas would like us to believe that those erroneous payments are all President Obama’s fault. Then he rails at the president for ignoring, ‘…a record 94.6 million Americans not in the labor force…”  Of course he ignores the fact that these Americans “not in the labor force” includes a very considerable number of retirees, a number of college and university students, a number of mothers whose husbands now earn enough so that they can stay home with their children. If all 94.6 million Americans were in fact out of work and looking for employment our unemployment rate would be about 30 percent! What is his point in siting this curious statistic; it was probably to make the President look bad but instead it makes Cal Thomas look like a fool.