Tag Archives: guns

Political Rants

Last stand.

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So this week we were treated to Son of Cliven Bundy (Ammon) bringing his band of brothers up to Oregon to take a stand for freedom. The freedom, that is, to use public land as if it belongs to you and no one else. What these “patriots” are taking issue with is the jailing of these Oregonian ranchers who set fires on federal land, once to clear brush, the other time apparently to hide evidence of poaching. They were sent to jail on a relatively light sentence, released, and then ordered to return on the basis of a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years for federal arson, the latter decision handed down by a higher court.

A few snacks short of an insurrection.Bundy the younger and his comrades apparently see this as the next chapter in the titanic struggle that began at old man Cliven’s ranch, when the Feds impounded his cattle until he coughed up the $1million or more he owed the People of the United States for use of their (a.k.a. our) land. So they holed up in the office of a federal bird sanctuary, toting their best firearms (you can’t spell Ammon without ammo), and hoped for the same outcome as happened with Cliven – namely, a federal climb-down. (And judging by the fact that they didn’t bring along nearly enough granola bars for a long stay, they are probably expecting that to happen right along.)

Okay, without getting into the tedious details of this incident, I want to make a couple of points. First, there’s no particular federal overreach here. If I went down to the local federal building and built a campfire in the lobby, I would be arrested and charged … and I would expect to be. That said, the federal government is in a way responsible for this ridiculous standoff by virtue of its actions … or inaction. Daddy Cliven still owes the government over a million dollars for his use of federal land. What’s more, his supporters pointed guns at federal law enforcement and paid no penalty. When you allow something like that to happen without adequate response, you encourage others to try. That’s George W. Bush logic. Even so, in this context it makes sense.

Ever wonder what would happen if these dudes were Black or Native American? Stop wondering – we already know. Ask Fred Hampton. Ask the guys who were in the standoff at Wounded Knee in the 1970s. Ask MOVE. Overwhelming force is what they get; patience is what Ammon and Cliven Bundy get. That’s called racial preference, people.

luv u,

jp

 

Political Rants

Four-foot gun.

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My first thought when I heard the name of the male shooter in the San Bernardino massacre was of American Muslims across this country. My primary sympathy is for the victims and their families, but this incident is a disaster for the killers’ co-religionists, particularly in the midst of a political season that features major party candidates calling for registration of Muslims and attempting to incite blood vengeance for invented celebrations of the 9/11 attacks. I have to think that just about every practicing Muslim in America is cursing the name of this crackpot kid and his wife. In the current atmosphere, this could get very ugly.

All legally obtained.Much as the press is obsessing over the terrorism / not-terrorism question, this is in essence another story of the proverbial three-foot creep with a four-foot gun. That these people were prepared for some kind of attack seems clear, but what they had was not all that exotic except in the respect that there was an awful lot of it – something like 4,500 rounds of ammunition. The guns were legally acquired by someone. They’re not very hard to get, frankly, even military-style assault weapons. And as far as ammo is concerned, I am reminded of a kid I knew in my late teens, a musician, whose family maintained a sizable ammunition factory in the basement of their suburban home. I remember rehearsing some songs down there, in a small clearing between the casings, as siblings continued to add to the arsenal. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that my friend and his family had filled 4,500 rounds down there. They never shot up their workplace, but if they had, the basement armory would have been part of the news story.

With regard to the terrorism question, I am not sure what difference it makes. Honestly, if someone is shooting up my workplace, I could care less what his or her motivation is. Typically people are motivated by more than one thing – even jihadi terrorists. Part of the motivation is often provided by their distorted Salafi belief system, but I sometimes think that sham religion acts more as an enabler than an inspiration: you will be okay with the big guy if you do this. That may be mixed with political or personal goals. Nevertheless, the thing that brings Syed Farook and Dylan Klebold together is the freaking gun. They shot a bunch of people to pieces, for whatever harebrained reasons they may have had, and they were able to do so because it’s just too motherfucking easy to get your hands on an AR-15.

We can fix this. We just don’t want to badly enough.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Ban the bullet.

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What is there to say about the Charleston shooting? Another three-foot creep with a four-foot gun. That’s the long of it. I notice most of what’s being talked about is this generic “pure” hatred, evil, etc. Most of the television commentators have been avoiding the “R” word. Hey, folks … it’s called racism. Combine a racist history with a birthday gun, and you’ve got the recipe for Charleston. School friends talk about racist jokes that nobody took seriously. He wore flag patches on his jacket for both Rhodesia and apartheid-era South Africa, Confederate flag license plates. No particular concern? We shall see.

Victim of racism. Say it, people.The sad fact is, racism is a default position in white society, south and north. I grew up in white society, and I have been surrounded by racism my entire life, at various levels of severity. I am certain that, had it not been for the guiding efforts of my mother and my older siblings, I might well have ended up as racist as some of my neighbors. It was, in many ways, the path of least resistance in ’60s middle America. And to this day, when I’m in a room with just white people, racism will occasionally join us in the form of a comment, a joke, etc.

So … that’s a thing. Then there’s the gun culture. The birthday pistol. How you can sell a pistol to someone who advocates race war is beyond me. As much as we have to examine our tendency to look upon black Americans as the “other”, we also have to ponder our devotion to uncle bang-bang. And yes, we’re very unlikely to do anything to slow down the proliferation of firearms. But there is one thing we can do without violating the extremist notion of the 2nd Amendment: ban bullets! You can have all the guns you want, but no freaking bullets. Guns don’t kill people … bullets do. Or adopt Chris Rock’s idea – make bullets cost $5,000 each. That might slow down the Jared Lee Loughners of the world.

Again – these are hard problems. That doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about them. If we are appalled by Charleston, it is incumbent upon us to act. And soon.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

As expected.

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Two events in the news this week struck many – including me – as both depressing and unsurprising. One was the sickening mass killing in California by a depraved disciple of the so-called “men’s rights movement”, something that seems most vibrantly to inhabit the netherworlds of the net. The other is the ever-ballooning VA debacle, fueled by almost daily revelations about other service members and veterans being denied care to the point of death.

No need to explain the depressing element of either of these – the facts are plain and, well, devastating. I will dwell a bit on the unsurprising aspect of the events because it angers me, and as the late Maya Angelou instructed us, anger can be a positive force, so long as it doesn’t lead to bitterness. She has a point there. Would that someone had impressed this upon the young shooter in Isla Vista some years back.

How a grateful nation thanks its veterans.The shooting cannot surprise us, any more than extreme weather can in the wake of Sandy and Katrina. We go through this process every few weeks. We see the head shaking, the somber tones of voice, the promises to do more … and then we’re back at the beginning again. In America, each day is a new beginning; yesterday is forgotten with the next sunrise. Some see this as our promise as a nation, but it’s more of a curse. We keep tripping over the same fold in the carpet, again and again. Somehow, we are helpless.

The same can be said of the VA scandal. This dysfunction is something that pops up over and over again in our history, particularly as wars wind down and soldiers return home in pieces, both physically and mentally. We did not prepare for exponential growth in the population the VA serves, even though we knew it was coming. This was a slow-motion train wreck, and it proves that for all of our magnetic yellow ribbons, all of our bleats of “thank you for your service”, we are still just as dismissive of our veterans as we have been in previous conflicts.

The impetus to address these problems must come from ourselves. These are our failings: we need to address them.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Assumptions.

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So Zimmerman walks. I can’t say as I’m surprised. It is now apparently legal to kill people in Florida, particularly if your victim is black. I should say not exclusively – my neighbor spends half of his time in Florida, and he told me about a “Stand Your Ground” case at his retirement community wherein a Vietnam Vet shot his wife’s lover dead and got off based on Stand Your Ground. The victim was white, but from another country, so that may have been “other” enough for the law. It seems like if your intention is to kill someone, all you need to do is get them alone in Florida and give them the gun, so to speak. So long as there’s no witnesses, it’s your word against theirs.

That aside, let’s consider what this verdict says, in truth:

Not suspiciousKiller Sidewalks. The Zimmerman trial introduced the concept of the sidewalk as a deadly weapon. I suppose this means that any (black) person strolling down the sidewalk can now be considered armed and dangerous. Amazing what legal and logical gyrations we go through to exonerate a white guy who just shot a black guy dead. Who says he was unarmed? He had that deadly sidewalk! 

Thirty Yards. The prosecution failed not only to discredit the defense’s story but to communicate in concrete terms an alternative story that fit the facts.  Martin’s body was found something like ten yards away from the sidewalk. How could Zimmerman have been in mortal danger when the “deadly weapon” (see above) was that far away from where he shot the kid? Why wasn’t the prosecution all over this like a cheap suit?

Silent Witness. Ultimately, the defense put Trayvon Martin on trial. There is one person who knows what happened that night, and he was sitting in that courtroom wearing his stoic wannabe cop face. Sure, he has a constitutional right not to testify. But I don’t see why the prosecution couldn’t have made more of a point of his reluctance to testify.

The Video. I think the item that defines the core issues in this case is the police station video of Zimmerman being processed by the cops after the shooting. He is not only ambulatory, he seems positively casual. The cops treat him at worst like a crime victim, but really more like a colleague. It’s this assumption of innocence in the face of overwhelming indications of guilt that speaks directly to how race plays a role in the outcome. Based on those assumptions, Martin’s body was not properly examined for forensic evidence, the crime scene was not properly protected … the case was lost then.

Note to John Roberts: racism still appears to be alive.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

The week that was. (Again.)

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It’s hard to settle on one thing when so much is so fucked up, all at once, so I’m going to just set them up and knock them down.

Boston. I am thoroughly disgusted by this crime, by the callous brutality of it. I am sick with the notion that we might be entering an era when bombs go off in our cities with some regularity – hope to hell not. I am horrified at the loss of life and limb and amazed by the selflessness of those who helped others, not knowing or seemingly caring what price they might pay. I am also angered by the eagerness on the part of some organs of the press and near-press to hang the blame on someone when they don’t know WTF they’re saying.

Profile in Courage (not)Gun show. Another majority vote fails to carry legislation out of the rat hole that is the U.S. Senate – the proverbial Box of Crackers has once again screwed minimally useful legislation in favor of doing absolutely nothing. These people are hopeless, so just send them the hell home. If you can’t pass something as watered down and flaccid as Manchin Toomey, hang it up. Shame!

West Texas. Very few industrial accidents are truly accidental. The West, Texas fertilizer explosion is no exception. That plant was, by virtue of its location near a school, a nursing home, and an apartment complex, a disaster waiting to happen. Add to that the fact that they had no disaster planning, no fire alarms, very few safety measures in place, and managed to evade inspections, and you’ve got yourself a town-sized bomb. Will someone go to jail for this? I’ll believe it when I see it. We’re still waiting to see BP execs behind bars.

Maduro. Chavez’s successor won by what the U.S. press terms a razor thin margin – over 200,000 votes (here, that’s a mandate). The opposition, with the encouragement of our government, no doubt, is disputing the results, bringing Venezuela to the brink of a major crisis. This is a very difficult situation for the poor in that country, who are just inches away from having their meager stake in the Venezuelan economy taken away from them. Hard to see a good outcome here.

That’s all for now. Lights out.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Guns and poses.

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Rumor has it that the assault weapons ban is all but dead. There’s a surprise. It has, after all, been more than a stretch of weeks since the Newtown CT children’s massacre, so all of the will has drained out of our ever-reliable legislators. The rabid voices of reaction have once again gained the foreground and are pulling out all of the stops to keep open their option on tactical nuclear arms … or whatever military weapon system will next be successfully marketed to bullet-headed Americans. We knew we had a problem after Newtown, but I don’t think we realized just how deep that problem is.

Repeat offenderAssault weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines, and a lack of regulatory oversight over who can purchase a gun and who can’t – these are all crucial components of this national crisis. But they are not the core of the problem. Our problem is far broader than our persistent gun lust – it is the easy resort to violence for which we Americans are best known. This takes many forms, from the epidemic of domestic abuse to retail gang violence in Chicago and other cities. We fetishize anger and violence, honor it, respect it. And we have little trust for our neighbors and the people beyond our immediate circles of acquaintance.

My home region was struck by gun violence over the past week and a half – the kind that gets you into the national headlines for a day or two. Some older guy, out of work, out of money, grabbed a shotgun and started shooting people seemingly at random in a barber shop and a car wash he frequented. He was eventually shot by the police, but not before he killed several, sent others to the hospital, and blew away a police dog. No, he didn’t have an assault rifle … but that right up the street from where he committed his heinous acts is a major manufacturing plant that produces AR-15 style rifles, including Bushmasters like the one the Newtown shooter used.

This guy’s simple solution was to kill at random, and plants like Remington Arms feed the national addiction to violence. Put those two pieces together and you have a recipe for the types of atrocities we see all too often in this country.

Next week: Iraq, ten years later.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Crock tears.

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Attention, politicians of every stripe. I don’t want to hear your expressions of regret over the Aurora massacre. You have no intention of doing anything to stop this bloodletting, so spare me your pious speeches and your pretentious, made-for-television tears. There is no excuse for what happened in Aurora, Colorado last weekend. You can blame that madman for losing his head and killing people, but there is a collective responsibility for the magnitude of the crime. This atrocity goes way beyond what a single armed person should be able to perpetrate through the use of legally obtained weaponry.

Perhaps some do not see a difference between 70 people shot and five. There is a difference. Five is bad, unacceptable, and something to be outraged about. Seventy shot – twelve fatally – is beyond outrage, and was only possible through the use of military grade weaponry. If Holmes had been armed only with the type of gun my dad used to carry (loaded) to coin shows on Sundays, perhaps only two or three families would be mourning lost loved ones, only a handful fighting their way back to a tolerable state of health, only one or two paralyzed for life. Instead, he had an assault rifle with an ammunition clip that holds 100 rounds, as well as two Glock handguns and a shotgun. Overkill would be putting it mildly. That’s more like the arms dad lugged about in Germany during WWII, when he carried a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Here’s the difference: HE WAS FIGHTING NAZI GERMANY.

Invoking the second amendment, are we? Two things. First, I seem to recall, back in the early days of Dubya Bush’s Glorious War on Everyone that in the face of an all-out assault on civil liberties (made manifest in the USA Patriot Act) that conservatives were fond of saying something to the effect of, “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.” Since they were so eager to toss out the first, fourth, and fifth amendments under that banner, why the hell should we, in the face of atrocities like Aurora, hesitate to consider limiting application of the second?

Secondly, if our representatives in government would take the ten seconds it requires to actually read the second amendment, they might notice that the word “gun” does not appear anywhere in that brief and cryptic complex clause. It’s referring to “arms”. What the hell does “arms” mean? Guns, sure. But bombs are arms, too. So are bazookas. Landmines, anti-aircraft missiles, nerve gas – they all fit within that rubric, as do nuclear missiles, tanks, and battleships, for that matter. My point is, we are already interpreting the second amendment and limiting its application. We are not merely relying on its text for guidance in this matter. I have to think even conservatives are against letting anyone buy and plant land mines in their yard. But if you think about it, a landmine is probably going to kill fewer people than that AK-47 knock-off Holmes got his hands on.

So … why do we allow one and not the other? Both are horrific weapons of war. Both should be banned from use in civilian life. We have to draw the line somewhere – we’ve already done so. Let’s just draw it on the safe side of AK-47s and 40 – 100 round ammo clips.

luv u,

jp

Reflections

Karen Morse: A thank-you note to Aurora

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Because in the midst of dark, shocking disregard and cruelty, we were privileged to see such inspiring generosity and caring.

It is impossible to imagine those first disorienting moments. Impossible to comprehend how the night had turned upside down and inside out. The smoke clawing. The audible terror of gunfire and screams of pain. The ripping flash of gunfire. The barely seen figure hell-bent on destruction.

Yet, in this sensory assault, this mayhem, this perversity, decisions were instantly made based on the utmost kindness. While the gunman was cloaked in all manner of protective gear, people chose to use their bodies to protect others. These people had no Kevlar vests to shield them, but they would fling themselves, their futures, their possibilities, their tomorrows over others to offer them a chance. “Here,” they said, “let me use all that I am to protect all that you are. You deserve a chance.”

Friends stayed at each other’s side, offering life-giving assistance. Refusing to leave and try to save themselves. It may have taken months of planning to marry the desire to hurt them with the mans and tools of doing so, but it only took minutes to decide I love my friend, my child, my dear one too much to ever, ever abandon them. True brotherhood made manifest in a theatre, in that frightful, dark theatre in Aurora.

So the strident cacophony of cruelty continues to be silenced by the soft melody of kindness. The pictures of the candles lit, flowers laid by crosses, hugs of comfort shared, all sing this song. The sweet, sweet remembrances of those mortal lives lost. “They were the best of us,” we say, “the best of us.”

To which I add … thank you, Aurora, for reminding us of what is best in all of us.

Political Rants

Kvetch in haste.

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There’s a lot going on these past few weeks, so I just want to touch on a few things and go. Touch and go, that’s right.

Fast and fatuous. Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted this week to recommend Attorney General Eric Holder be held in contempt of Congress. That, of course, has been reported by all and sundry. What have only really been visible on Fox News are the positively loony allegations that are behind this push for the contempt citation. Perhaps you’ve heard this – it’s a conspiracy theory that the Obama administration allowed the “Fast and Furious” arm sales to go wrong in the hopes that the resulting increased gun violence in Mexico would prompt a popular movement for gun control back home.

Crazy stuff. Except that it’s being repeated by G.O.P. lawmakers like Rep. John Mica, Trent Franks, Joe Walsh, and Issa himself. Sen. Charles Grassley (a.k.a. Grandma) has alluded to this as well. So…. why is it the mainstream media haven’t pointed out the fact that this goof-ball paranoid yarn is driving this whole effort? I’m no great fan of Holder, but this is ludicrous. Question for the mainstream media: when they start eating dogfood on T.V., will you report on it?

Lovin’ it. Hiring is still down. Millions are still out of work. This is a depression, and Congress is sitting on their hands, hoping it stays bad long enough to elect one of their own president. They are not alone. American business, large and small, could make a difference here, but they are making do with fewer workers. Frankly, they like it like this. What’s not to like? They make their existing work force work harder for the same money or less (greater “productivity”). The presence of a large surplus labor force keeps the employees quiet and cautious, afraid to ask for a raise, better working conditions, etc.  And pappy tax cut gets elected president. Am I wrong? Has anyone out there ever worked for a business? I have, and I can tell you…. if they can get away with fewer people, in my experience, they do just that.

One wishes large businesses, at least, would act for the good of the nation and start hiring people again instead of sitting on their historically enormous cash reserves. But that’s not their mission. Their mission is to maximize shareholder value, workers be damned. So prosperity for them doesn’t mean jobs for us. It means more of the same.

luv u,

jp