Thursday, December 27, 2012

While I Was Gone

We left Spokane on the same day as the school massacre in Newton, CT. On the following day, the Spokesman Review published an article that led with this sentence.

The tragedy in Connecticut could happen here.

That really bothered me as unnecessary fear mongering. No such warning prefaced the reporting about the mall shooting that took place in Portland just three days before, or the theater shooting in Aurora, CO, last July or any other shootings that have taken place in churches, shopping malls, colleges, the home, Post Offices, and elsewhere. Shootings happen everywhere and many innocent lives are lost every day. It's only the worst crimes that get our attention. 

For a little while.

Being on a cruise, I was off the grid for a week and I essentially stayed that way for the remainder of our vacation. But the ship had some television, which included Fox News and CNN. I normally never watch either one but the few times I checked them it seemed like it was nonstop 24-hour repetitious talk about the Newton massacre and guns. I did happen to catch our own Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers making a rather sad statement.

“I think we have to be careful about new, suggesting new gun laws. We need to look at what drives a crazy person to do these kind of actions and make sure that we’re enforcing the laws that are currently on the books. And yes, definitely, we need to do everything possible to make sure that something like this never happens again.”

If only her concern with Fourth Amendment rights, such as extending Patriot Act provisions and granting immunity to telecom companies, was as strong as her concern with Second Amendment rights. And crazy people.

By the way, Congresswoman, if you check the links I provided above, you'll find this happens. All. The. Time. And the last thing I want to see is a teacher carrying a concealed weapon at school. What if the teacher is a crazy person?

I heard ridiculous "causes" of the shooting being proffered, such as no men working at the school and God being taken out of our schools. No such reasons were given for shootings occurring at theaters, churches, shopping malls, or even at house fires. The religious agenda doesn't work so well in those examples as it does in public schools. And then there was Wayne LaPierre's idiotic proposal to have armed guards at every school. One wonders why we don't have armed guards at theaters, churches, shopping malls, and house fires. The gun nut crazy train is headed for the cliff. I hope they make it over the edge with plenty of clearance.

Speaking of extremists, I heard House Speaker Boehner came up with an alternative for avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff of our own political leaders' making. Unfortunately, a number of his party members rose up like bible thumping pharmacists and said, "No Plan B for you!" How ironic.

I'm sure there was much more covered in the 24/7 news cycle, but I avoided it. That's what vacations are for.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We can't prevent mass murderers like Lanza (who targeted children), or Spengler (who targeted first responders), or Obama (who targets both) without limits on the weapons themselves. The focus shift to mental health seems irrelevant, since all three men had ample access to such services.

Gun/drone control now appears to be the least option under consideration, with these mass murders being instead an excuse for more weaponry, and biometric surveillance on the model Disney uses at its theme parks and cruise ships--techniques Obama illegally used against Occupy.

Other than ammunition clip, we'll see no gun control. Instead, Obama appears poised to implement his own weapons of choice--drones, biometric tracing, government-corporate partnerships and pervasive surveillance--as the antidote to domestic gun violence.

LaPierre is a useful villain. But his suggestions are both lawful and open to public debate, if stupid. We won't get to discuss much of what Obama and corporations may implement, nor will their actions be lawful. LaPierre suggests discussing armed guards, but Obama has already given the ok to a massive increase in weaponry. Unlike LaPierre, Obama has shown he will target political dissenters with his weapons, not just potential murderers.

Anonymous said...

FISA is Obama's first "gun control" policy. Notice that Feinstein is the leader on both the assault weapons bill and the illegal domestic wiretapping bill.

The Democrats are simply using the Newtown massacre as a coverup for gutting the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

This is what Fascism looks like.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter what Obama does, or not, on gun control, drones, surveillance or any other issue.

Liberal Democrats will always welcome him back, no matter how he treats us, same song, again and again.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLKOmXm6W3s