Is It Still the Wrong Time to Talk About Gun Control?

Tags

Boston Review, Bryan Fischer, climate change, GOP, gun control, Islamophobia, James Inhofe, lifestyle, Mitt Romney, religious right

 

 

Yes no doubt it is. Just as La Pierre and his band of gun-sodden nuts. After all, guns don’t kill, people do–with guns.

And for the Breitbart wannabes out there who were sure this was some Obama-induced Islamic terrorist. . . .first go learn some history, and then shut the F**K up.

And the senseless killing continues perpetrated by mentally ill individuals who find it oh so easy to purchase the weaponry they desire to wreak havoc on innocents.

How sick of this need we get before we wake up?

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Because I have fabulously bright and well read readers, I invite you to a website that I suspect many of you will thoroughly enjoy. It’s called the Boston Review, and comes out I believe 4-6 times a year. You can of course subscribe to a hard copy but I think you can read all or most of it online. This month’s subject is: Under the Influence: Politicians listen to money rather than to the public’s preferences. An opening article starts the discussion and then others respond with articles of their own. Plus there is more. Go take a look.

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I have come to the very important conclusion that being a leveraged-buyout artist ala Willard, must be a job that any moron can do. Why you say?

Because every which way I turn, Willard manages to screw the pooch. I mean has anyone ever run a worse campaign to date? His attempt to turn the lawsuit filed by the Obama Administration against the new voting law that seriously shortens the time average people have to vote into some anti-military thing is falling on deaf ears. Perhaps, and finally, people are starting to understand that with Willard it is noun, verb, lie whenever he opens his mouth.

Similarly Willard has come out against tax credits for wind energy, something that is insane in a state like Iowa which was still considered a toss-up. Wind energy accounts for some 20% of electric power in Iowa and supports several thousand jobs. Nice job dunce!

So headhunters! Call me! I can leverage all day!

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Some people are no longer worth picking on because they have lost every last cell of common sense and gone over to the willy-wonka crazy tent. Such a one is Bryan Fischer, the dude who waxes all too often on the growing fascism of the President. Today Bryan told us that a Saudi woman who competes in judo is nothing more than way of promoting sharia law, something he claims is now enshrined in the Olympics.

I bet if you asked his mom, you’d find out that Bryan ate paste as a child. He has all the symptoms of paste syndrome you know–wild leaps of fantasy, followed by long bouts of crying.

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Oh, gosh, it’s so hard to decide who to give the YOU’RE STUPID AS HELL AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT, award for the week. I think I’ll give it to that perennial idiot, James Inhofe, senator from the burning state of Oklahoma. Given the awful weather of the year, and the growing and uncontradicted reports of global warming, Mr stupid pants came up with this intellectual response:

“It gets cold, it gets warmer, it gets colder, gets warmer. God is still up there, and I think it’ll continue in the future.”

Another paste eater for sure.

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If ya didn’t hear, our new best friend, Curiosity Rover landed softly on Mars and is busy going about its job. You can follow her at Twitter: Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity. She’s a her, cuz I said so.

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There are 12 rules to being a human being. Bet you didn’t know that. There are though, and if you don’t believe me, go over to  Mark and Angel’s and see. I wouldn’t lie ya know.

Life lessons. Don’t miss them.

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Scott Erb over at World in Motion has a great post on givers versus takers. And I want you to know I stole this from the post. I wouldn’t lie to ya, like I said.

Yeah, someday they will wake up. Hopefully before it’s too late.

We’re having some brokeback tacos for dinner with guacamole and green chile salsa. And I need to get into the kitchen and start makin’ it. If you would like thee recipes just head on over to What’s On the Stove? and you can find ’em with little efforts.

Have a good one.

Related articles

• Mars rover Curiosity lands on surface of Red Planet (thehimalayantimes.com)
• Willard Romney’s Lies of the Week (theobamacrat.com)
• US gun control dilemma. More shooting incidents lead to guns sales increase (english.ruvr.ru)
• Inhofe Exposes Another Epic Fail by Global Warming Alarmists Thursday (wattsupwiththat.com)
• US Elections: Hot Air over Wind Energy Tax (junkscience.com)
• Romney’s Chances in Iowa: Gone with the Wind? (decoded.nationaljournal.com)

 

Unmasking the Face of Hate

Tags

American History, editorial, hate in America, racism, right wing extremists

Hate has shaped America from its inception. Strong statement, but I believe essentially true.

Hate caused the new colony in Massachusetts to deny property rights to Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and anyone else who weren’t the “right” faith denomination. They were also prevented from seeking office, and many were thrown out of the state and not a few hung.This was repeated in most of the other new colonies as well.

Indifference which turned to hate,  led America to push out and then virtually exterminate indigenous people in the growing country.

That same sentiment led to the 3/5 clause in the US Constitution and ultimately to a thriving slave-owning business throughout both the North and South. Many of our first presidents and other founding fathers owned other people.

As each wave of immigrants came into the country from, they were mistreated and segregated for a generation or more.

Now we have turned out animus upon those of Latino and Arab descent. Oh, I know, we’ve looked down upon them for decades at least, as we have Asians. Anything not-white was not quite right, not as good. But for the most part, except for the Japanese internment, we have been happy to eat their cooking, and walk on the lawns they mowed, and buy from their convenience stores without anything overt.

That changed with 9/11. At least insofar as Arabs were concerned. And as the economy began to sink, Latinos, in the guise of “illegals” became a convenient target.

It seems that everywhere we look we see utterly crazy people doing utterly crazy things. Legislatures being inundated with idiotic laws meant to limit the rights of parts of our population. Of course the answer is not that there are more crazies today than before, but that the Internet has allowed crazies to connect and validate each other, and to speak in a forum that reaches to the ends of the earth.

These once secluded loonies now bay at the moon all their hatred of “other.” And the vast majority of us who are rational beings, well, we worry.

Having spent a couple of weeks thumbing through the comments at The Blaze, I’ve learned a few things. More than a few actually. It’s important to understand the code, for it tells you much of what is actually going on.

I’m reading a book featuring Thomas Merton’s letters. Merton was a Trappist monk and kept up a huge correspondence with something in excess of 2,000 people over his life. In a letter to James Baldwin, the writer, he noted:

“. . .there is not one of us, individually,racially, socially, who is fully complete in the sense of having in himself all the excellence of all humanity. . . .I am therefore not completely human until I have found myself in my African and Asian and Indonesian brother because he has the part of humanity which I lack.”

Truer words were never more eloquently spoken. And yet, there are people who are aghast at such sentiments.

Over at The Blaze, one of the things I’ve learned is that white people, themselves specifically, are NOT racist. They adore and revere Martin Luther King, Jr. However, you might not be familiar with Dr. King, for he was for Equality of Opportunity. He was NOT for social justice. He was NOT for redistribution of wealth. He was NOT for actions that attempted to undo past wrongs, and level the playing field. No, Dr. King would be appalled at such things. He wanted only an equal chance.

I learned that Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, and ANY black (they never use the term African-American) person who espouses institutional racism as still evil in this country, ARE in fact the racists of the day. The NAACP is a Marxist organization, or mob controlled. They are also purveyors of racism. Always “playing the race card.”

Because Jackson, Sharpton and the NAACP are racists, they can be heaped with the ugliest epitaphs imaginable. It’s okay to call them even such things as nappy head, because they are the racists, and therefore deserve these terms. You see, when you are not a racist, and you identify the victim of racism as yourself, then why by definition you can’t say anything racist!

Indeed, the loudest cry from these demented haters is that there is no racism in America, anyone who says different is a racist. All that is behind us. Why can’t white people form into organizations like the NAACP? Why can’t they call themselves “white Americans?

Racism is done, ala Michele Bachmann, and her vapid rewrite of history wherein the Founding Fathers ended slavery.

Ain’t it just so neat?

This redefining allows these same folks to decry Latinos and Arabs to their heart’s content. Because it’s got nothing to do with them as them. It’s got to do with them–acting as Them. You know, being Illegals and flying planes into buildings. It’s a free ticket to call all the names you wish, because it ain’t racism.

Can’t you see that?

It allows the final insult. We can call the President vile names and his wife equally vile ones. Why? Just because he’s defined as a racist (ala Mr. Beck) and we ALL know he’s nothing but a dirty Muslim/socialist, communist. It’s not because we still secretly hate B L A C K.  Have you heard that word said, with the acid dripping. No mistaking it. It’s the big N, but pronounced BLECK.

We can claim we aren’t racist because we listen to Juan Williams and we support Alan Keyes and we think we have a good house Negro in that fool from Florida. We loves us some a dos Negroes. They talk like us, the Clarence Thomas’s. They don’t want a “free” ride. They don’t want welfare and free homes, and all that stuff that comes out of my taxes. They DON’T THREATEN OUR PLACE AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN!

It’s good to know the language.

**I found a picture I almost used today. But then I thought it might be taken the wrong way. I’ll describe it. I’d really like your reaction. It was about 5 little tiny black chicks on a stone wall, and a single yellow chick  just below them, with its little wings spread and saying “N * * *ERS. I thought it was a powerful statement of the reality of our time, but again, was afraid it would be seen as humorous and therefore wrong. Let me know.

History Will Not Be Kind

Tags

GOP, Ground Zero, hatred, History, Muslims, Newt Gingrich, Obama, racism, religious intolerance, religious right, right wingnuts, Sarah Palin, teabaggers

Hatred and bigotry have had an illustrious career in America. It  did not originate here of course, earliest man soon found an angry god to blame for snow storms and drought.

But American has certainly refined the concept better than most places in the world, if only because we have been oh so willing to transfer our aggressive fears and hatreds to so many different groups.

Religious hatred is not new. In fact, it prompted today’s religious right’s most reviled amendment–the first, which mandates a clear non-involvement of government with religious practices. At it’s inception the new United States of America was a collection of states each, for the most part, with their laws and practices that excluded (and often road out of town and sometimes executed) such groups as Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and Anabaptists.

What those who champion “our Christian origins”  forget, is that the Pilgrims didn’t come to these shores to establish a community of religious tolerance, but rather to establish a  practice of their version of Christianity without interference from other “papist” types.

We soon moved on from religion however, and took up the banner of “non-humanity.” By that I mean, peoples who were not white anglophiles were soon relegated to non-human status. This included native peoples, and then Africans, but came to include Italians, Irish, Chinese, and Eastern Europeans, and Latinos from anywhere. 

All of these groups, to one degree or another, found the going tough in America where they were shunned, segregated, consigned to the lowest jobs and least pay. White American strutted as superior in every way. (Certainly we were not alone in this. Britain and much of Western Europe also played this game.)

Class, in America at least, has been down played, but there is little doubt that the upper echelons of our society have felt “entitled” to their privilege largely due to their superior breeding and determination. Ask any nouveau-rich just how long it takes to break into the blue blood of our major eastern cities. (Boston would be a key case in point.) No, it has been largely the working and working poor who continually have declared that we are a country of equality of opportunity.

So, I am not surprised nor shocked at the ugly and vicious attacks upon  the Muslim community in this country. The rabble have been assured that it is always okay to blame someone other than themselves for their perceived woes.

Yet, the rhetoric coming from our so-called educated leadership is most troubling. Words and arguments drip from their jaws that one would have thought more likely to be from the minds of the KKK and other white-rights militia groups. We are used to that kind of ugliness and we have learned to turn a deaf ear as the best defense. Shun and ignore has been our winning motto.

Today, however, we find those whom we would not expect saying simply awful things. People like Newt Gingrich spew hatred with abandon against Muslims. Ditto Sarah (that woman is an idiot) Palin, though she can be forgiven to a degree since she is so ill-educated in public affairs.

But, and here is the irony, these are the same folks who rant and rail day in and day out that Obama and company are “destroying our freedoms.” One of those freedoms, they declare  that is on the brink of destruction, is their ability to practice their religion.

Clearly, they do not offer this right to others. In reality they are really saying that Obama is not George Bush, who at least mouthed his preference for Christian rights as the best. Obama, following the Constitution, refuses to support efforts to raise Christianity above other faiths, and in fact has made it most clear in his remarks about the Islamic Center proposed in NYC, that government has no business voicing any “advice” about where a religious building is erected.

And that is perhaps the key point to be realized here. The extreme religious right, and it’s congressional and pundit minions, are not really about our freedoms at all. They are about instituting a “Christian” government in the US as they define it. They are about shredding the US Constitution whenever it becomes necessary to accomplish that goal. They are about revising history to “prove” their point of view.

People like Gingrich and Palin, have no real intent to alter the the Constitution, I suspect. They have a strong intention to use the mob mentality of the religious right and all the  tea bagger unfocused anger to gain power for themselves. That in some sense is all the more egregious. As one of Gingrich’s ex-wives noted in a link we gave you last week, Newt gave up on principles when he decided he wanted fame and fortune and power more.

Palin, of course, is a study in opportunistic ranting. She neither knows nor cares about truth. She plays to anger and fear and desperation. She creates it when necessary, all in her pursuit to “be somebody.” We have John Sidney McCain to thank for that one.

The Becks, Limbaughs, Hannitys, they are just pure feeders upon the human flesh. They are the vultures and hyenas, fangs dripping with our blood, returning to their lairs with bloated stomachs, laughing and reeking of their own evil.

I can but smile when I think, that history will not be kind. Gingrich, Kyl, Palin, King (Peter and Steven), Bachmann, McCain, Graham, DeMint, (oh the list is interminable indeed),  will be remembered for a very long time. But not as great states-persons. No not a one. But they will be remembered.

Wallace blocking school desegregation

They will be remembered.

McCarthy & House UnAmerican Activities Hearings

They will be remembered.

Stories that Stuck Like Flypaper

Tags

Arnold Schwartzenegger, awards, Books, Britain, choking, Evan Bayh, fashion week, GOP, haute couture, health care reform, hotdogs, Japanese, Party of NO, Toyota, unsafe cars

I’m surely not the only one who finds Evan Bayh a pale comparison to the giant many of us consider his father, Birch.  Well, Ragebot, has done a lovely satirical piece on the retiring Senator from Indiana. Or is he? Go and take a gander at this quite amusing little post.

And guess what? It turns out that Evan’s wealthy wife, Susan, sits on the Board of Wellpoint, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross. You remember them? They were planning a 39% rate hike for their existing members in California.

I guess we see why Evan has been so vehement in his refusal to consider anything meaningful when it comes to health care reform. Not gonna mess up that golden egg are we Evan? As I said, your father must be appalled.

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Everyone in the world knows that America is nuts. After all, we are the home of swallowing goldfish, stuffing phone booths with people, food eating contests, Evel Kneivel, and Dog, the Bounty Hunter, and his fashionista wife. Need I say more?

Well, the Brits can give us a run for our money it seems. That should be clear anyway. Ever get a look at  what passes for royal fashion at Buckingham Palace? Enough said.

The silly Brits have a thing called the Diagram Award, and it features the best and silliest of book titles they can find. Past winners have been Bombproofing your Horse and Living with Crazy Buttocks.

Do stop by and see the finalists for this year. What can I say? I guess I have too much time on my hands again.

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I’ve never been much of a fan of Arnold. I tend to be skeptical of actors entering politics. No doubt I’ve said an unkind word about the Terminator now and then.

But utter kudos are in order. Appearing on This Week, George Stephanopolous’s old gig, with Governor Rendell of PA, Arnold was willing to call it down the middle.

He condemned his own party for decrying the merits of the Stimulus package, all the while posing at home for photos with the big check, taking credit for bring money home. He also acknowledged that Republicans were in fact the “party of no” and it was time for ideas and compromise.

Colin Powell also echoed the call for compromise, calling on both parties to stop the bickering and start working for the American public.

I found it refreshing that Schwartzenegger was willing to put his state first and not merely echo the usual Rethug talking lies. Maybe we are seeing a few cracks in the monolithic GOP propaganda machine.

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Okay, so we like Ugly Betty and Hollywood’s rendition of the fashion world, but to us sane folks, most of the crap worn on the runway is fit for either a Halloween costume or the grand finale of the Barnum and Bailey’s Circus.

I guess it stands to reason that each season, some attempt is made to “outdo” last year. Being more outrageous (ever seen the stilts Lady GaGa has tripped around on?), seems to be the key to wowing them in the aisles.

Anyway, Isabel Mastache, (we hope she is not an American. . . .as I said, our cup runneth over with weirdos already), offered us “penis pants.” in her new spring collection. There is a video attached so link up and go see for yourself.

One would be tempted to say, what next? but I rather think that we can’t fathom the possibilities. But what do I know? I after all, shop mostly at the Goodwill a hotbed of sweat pants and t-shirt fashion.

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Is nothing sacrosanct? I mean really! Okay, its a serious subject. Choking is no laughing matter. People die from choking, but this?

It seems that doctors, some at least, think that hot dogs are the worst offender to young children. They also add in grapes and popcorn.  I mean how more American can one get than a hot dog? It’s more American than apple pie and mom right?

Yes, I can see that these items could be dangerous. But heck, should you not allow your children to ride their bikes down the sidewalk because somebody might suffer a stroke and go careening over the curb and run down your offspring?

These overly cautious ones want the hot dog redesigned, whatever that might mean. I guess we can redesign the Dachshund while we are at it. And what about the poor hot dog bun? What is he supposed to be used for now? A pen holder?

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Toyota has got its tit in a wringer, or is up a chit creek without a paddle, which ever works for ya.

I’m not sure the Japanese automaker will be surviving this endless parade of its failure to build safe vehicles. Today I saw a feature where a man has been imprisoned for some years on a manslaughter conviction, all from an accident he claims was caused by an accelerator that would not release.

I’m wondering if Japan sells Toyotas to Japanese folk at home. While there are plenty of reasons why Asians have some axes to grind against America, callously ignoring the safety of innocents seems a lousy way to redress grievances. It’s impossible to believe that the average Japanese is so unfeeling, so we can only conclude that Japanese business leaders go to the same ethics lacking schools as Americans do.

Sad. Just sad.

Enough of all this drivel. You must have important things to do. Get on with them, and I’ll see ya tomorrow with who knows what. I never do.