Tag Archives: guns

Political Rants

Commierat.

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Another challenging week for those who value sanity. Let’s see what we’ve got in the old political grab bag:

Go West. Channeling Joe McCarthy, congressman Allen West name tagged the entire Congressional Progressive Caucus as members of the communist party this week. Interesting choice. Is this dude trying to lead us back bravely to 1952? Because if he does, he will not be a congressman at the end of that process. Black people effectively did not have the right to vote in Florida back then, let alone represent their constituencies in Congress. Do go there, Congressman! Stay in this decade, at least.

Memento Santorum. Well, this is disappointing. Just when I was getting used to the knock-down drag-out fight that was the Republican primaries, they come to a screeching halt. My guess is that someone got on the phone to old Rick – time to pack it in, old man, and let Mitt start kicking at his general election strategy. Perhaps Mr. Friess made the call himself – suggested Rick hold his ambition between his knees, so to speak. Probably good advice. Looked like the voters of Pennsylvania were prepared to reject him and his bigoted politics for a second time in six years. Nasty S.O.B., that one. Still…. disappointing. Now it’s all Thurston Goodhair Car-Elevator the Third. Even the banker-Republicans are a little disenchanted, but … they’ll rally.

Gun Play. The alleged killer of Trayvon Martin George Zimmerman was arrested and arraigned this week on charges of second-degree murder. They are essentially accusing him of driving a truck through the truck-sized hole in Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law – the one that essentially legalizes murder for anyone with enough brains to arrange shooting their victim without any witnesses. This law is cousin to similar legislation passed or being introduced in state legislatures across the country through the good offices of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), basically an instrument of the NRA in these cases. Inasmuch as the left has all but completely folded on the gun issue, the gun lobby needs to justify its existence by pressing for ever more absurdly permissive legislation on gun ownership, gun toting, and gun use.

“Stand Your Ground” in Florida amounts to standing any ground at any time; a society of vigilantes reminiscent of the film-inspired myths of the 19th Century American West. What could possibly go wrong?

Crime of the Century. A guy in Utica just attempted to rob three banks armed with a toilet plunger. This followed by what sounds like a keystone-cops type of chase by local law enforcement around an ATM. Who says all of the truly big crimes happen in big cities?

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Shooting to kill.

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There’s a lot going on these days, but I’ll confine my meandering comments to a couple of topics.

Tucson shooting. Much has been said and written about this horrible event over the past week. There are one or two things that have stuck in my mind. The first is that weapon – a glock with a 30-round clip. Why the hell are these weapons available for purchase? Where did he get the gun, the ammo? And how many shootings like this will it take to put some reasonable control on such out-of-control firepower? Every time this kind of thing happens, we hear the bleating, “Our thoughts are with the victims of this senseless crime,” blah-blah-blah. And yet we do nothing. I thing it’s time for Chris Rock’s $5,000 bullets. (Adjusted for inflation, that’s probably $7,500 per round.)

The other thing is the discourse question. There’s no question but that over-the-top rhetoric inspires violent acts; whether this is one of them, no one has been able to say. It just seems like the combination of nut-case gun-headed political screamers and easy availability of guns is a particularly toxic one. What can be done? $5,000 bullets.

Haiti plus one. Haiti is still in peril, still buried under a pile of rubble a year after that catastrophic earthquake. The international community has offered the same kind of “help” they always have for Haiti – most recently, blocking participation of Lavalas (Aristide’s party), the only truly broad-based political movement in the country, from participating in the November elections. The current ruling party, having taken power in the wake of a coup, seems capable only of nodding obediently to foreign investors.

Sure, you all have been generous in your donations – that’s clear. But as is so often the case, our charitable acts are more than counteracted by the official policy of our government. That has been the same in regards to Haiti since they declared independence 200 years ago. Through economic and military means, we have worked to bring about the destruction of their government institutions, their agricultural sector, and whatever independent development they may have realized. The 2010 quake was just a coup de grace for them.  

Now that it’s 2011, let’s do better by these people. Let’s get our government to stop manipulating them and make a good faith effort to help them rebuild their independence as well as their homes.

luv u,

jp