Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Arizona lunatics and other politicians

The time has come to examine the latest lunacies coming from the politics of the state of Arizona.  Especially if you live right in the middle of it and experience the madness on a daily, sometime hourly, basis.  We’ve had our share of scandals lately—actually they were in full force when I moved to the state over 20 years ago—but GOP state politicians and many others in the conservative culture continue on their merry way, completely oblivious.


Jan Brewer finger-pointing Pres. Obama
 Some of the most infamous in the last few decades were the Keating Five, AzScam and the alt-fuels fiasco.  I’ll let you look these up individually because it will provide some excellent local color into the state that is known for its wondrous Grand Canyon and beautiful deserts, along with neo-Nazi J.T. Ready who killed 4 in his family plus himself recently, another racist and illegal immigrant hater Russell Pearce, and a completely incompetent Gov. Jan Brewer.

That’s just for starters.  USA Today did documentation recently of the “streak of scandals,” as they put it, that continue in Arizona.  The key word here is “continue” because it is a sure-fire thing that it will only escalate in the future if we don’t get rid of the Republican radicals in this state, starting at the top with the governor.  And here’s the understatement of the year by the newspaper: “Arizona has never been known for squeaky-clean politics.”  WOW! 

The Arizona Tea Party favorite is the Obama birther issue, which now has support again from the wacko Donald Trump.  At the same time the state legislature is pushing a bill to require BC certification, not for Mitt Romney, but just for Barack Obama, as orchestrated by Sec. of State Ken Bennett.  Of course Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, demanding some of the limelight, even sent volunteers and one of his deputies to Hawaii for verification just for TPers.


AZ Sen. Lori Klein waving gun in reporter's face in Senate
Some guy in the Arizona Republic “letters” section recently said that if we progressives don’t like it here, go to California.  I moved to Arizona from that state, primarily due to L.A.’s gang war problems.  Little did I know that the gun culture here was designed to put more weapons on the street in the hands of anybody who wanted them.  I happen to love the state of Arizona and some time ago decided to be a part of the change that will rid the state of these fanatics.

Back to the scandals, Arpaio accused by the feds of discrimination against immigrants, as well as financial irregularities in his department.  Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu from Pinal County, accused of violations of the Hatch Act, and after outing as a gay, accused of threatening deportation of his Mexican boyfriend if he didn’t keep quiet.  Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his deputy Lisa Aubuchon, were disbarred in April for ethical misconduct.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio rags on Obama birther issue:

Still just getting started.  Democratic State Rep.s Ben Arredondo and Richard Miranda took their turn in the barrel with the former indicted on federal charges of bribery, mail fraud, extortion and lying, while the latter quit the Legislature this year before pleading guilty to federal felony wire fraud and attempted tax evasion charges.  Historian Jack August says, "The decibel level of what's happened recently is unprecedented in the history of Arizona."

In 1988, the impeachment and removal from the governor’s office of Ed Mecham who violated campaign finance laws and was caught lending $80,000 of public money to a car dealership he owned and ran before becoming governor.  And there was the 1997 criminal trial conviction of Fife Symington who resigned as governor just before being impeached.  Former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, current Sen. John McCain were involved in the Charles Keating financial scandal.

Currently, Arizona Atty. General Tom Horne is under investigation by the Justice Dept. “for alleged illegal coordination with an independent third-party group during his 2010 election campaign.”  You would think the man running for the state’s highest legal post would know the law.  Bruce Merrill, a veteran pollster and professor emeritus at Arizona State U. said: "Outside of Arizona, we certainly do have this image of instability and a kind of weirdness." 

And although the scandal-mongering has been going on for decades, has the recent gang of incompetent conservative fanatics raised the bar?  Yes, says former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a Republican, who says that, “concerns about public corruption are greater today than at any time during his career.”  That’s another conservative speaking, although you wouldn’t put him in the same category as the wingnuts running the state today.

On top of everything else comes the Fiesta Bowl scandal that was directly related to Arizona state politicians.  In 2010 it was discovered that bowl CEO John Junker spent $4 million since 2000 to curry favor from BCS bigwigs and elected officials, guys like former State Senator Russell Pearce who was recalled from office for his fanatical views and other shenanigans.  Junker was fired and there now seems to be a return to normalcy in Arizona’s biggest sporting event.

There’s more which you can see in the USA Today article.  A Southern California psychologist and assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, Jen Overbeck, commented:

“People appear to be more willing to commit ethical transgressions if they feel that it is in service of some higher purpose.  I'm not saying that they have good intentions. It's just how people justify to themselves what the rest of us see as some pretty heinous unethical actions."

The question here is how do the people of Arizona justify returning these people to office year after year, as well as electing new clones just like them?  If ever a progressive sweep was necessary it is in the Arizona November elections.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

NRA ramps up fear mongering machine at Chicago convention

Wayne LaPierre at CPAC
The National Rifle Assn. (NRA) took its, “Let’s scare hell out of our somewhat daft members so we can squeeze more money from them” act to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that was held in Chicago last Friday.  It is interesting that the NRA’s head lunatic, CEO Wayne LaPierre, should choose this location to rant and rave over how President Obama and other progressives want to take away his precious guns.  They don’t.

But current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel thinks Chicago should have a gun registry, an idea that is as old as the senior Richard J. Daley’s administration in the 1960s.  A gun registration law was considered by the state in 1965 and Daley called for the state legislature to pass it again in 1966, saying, "There can be no question that the great increase in juvenile crime has been accompanied by a similar increase in the possession of guns."  It was voted down.

Richard J. Daley
Senior Daley’s son, Richard M. Daley, in spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonald v. Chicago, which struck down the city’s ban on handguns, remained solidly in favor of somehow controlling gun ownership in the city.  The younger Daley was a part of New York Mayor Richard Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns and hosted their convention in October of 2006 in Chicago.  I bring this all up because I wonder what Richard J. would have thought of LaPierre?

My gut tells me that the senior Daley would have had some choice words for the head gun nut, while organizing his precinct captains, possibly even the Chicago police force, to insure “minimum” interruptions at the conference site.  I can say this because I lived in Chicago during the Mayor’s regime. 

Josh Horwitz, Exec. Dir., Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), writes in the Huff Post, “The NRA is not only a sponsor of the conference, but also hosting a panel entitled, ‘Defending Self-Defense: The Liberal's Shadow War on Second Amendment.’”  George Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida, and the subsequent uproar over the stupid Stand Your Ground Law, has provided the NRA with all the ingredients necessary to perpetuate its fear mongering machine.   

Horwitz points out how ridiculous the NRA tirade is over maintaining its gun rights by pointing out that, even though the Democrats—they’re supposed to be for some kind of gun control—control the White House and the Senate, the gun worshippers have gotten just about anything they wanted in the last several years.  But you can’t blame it all on the progressives with a GOP that has been anti-Obama on every issue the President has presented in the last three years.

CSGV video of LaPierre bellowing at CPAC:
Wayne LaPierre, the head parasite at the NRA who makes $970,300 annually by acting like a maniac over gun rights, and his overpaid minions work laboriously to protect their gold mine and generate more power from the group’s 4.3 million members, most of which don’t have a clue what is really going on at the organization.  LaPierre found a potential cash cow when he took over in 1991 and has milked it ever since to the delight of an often addled membership. 

As former NRA lobbyist, Richard Feldman remarked, "They [aren't] interested in actually solving problems, only in fueling perpetual crisis and controversy. That [is] how they [make] their money."


LaPierre ready
to go into action

LaPierre’s Chicago cry in “The NRA’s Circus of Fear” is, "We have nothing to fear but the absence of fear," designed to muddle the minds of a pathetic bunch of members who cheer at anything this screwball says.  I can see LaPierre now as the circus ringmaster under the big top with his whip commanding all 4.3 million members to jump through the hoop.  They do, and the NRA’s master of ceremonies walks away with that normal smug, arrogant look on his face.

Horwitz closes with, “The NRA's ‘Circus of Fear’ depends on misinformation and myths to generate attacks on politicians who have the gall to address the gun violence that continues to destroy families and communities every day in America.”  That’s right.  The NRA doesn’t have the balls to negotiate, because this would obviously lead to facts that would completely undermine what this gang of zealots has been spewing out for years.  Propaganda and lies.

Josh Horwitz’s CSGV also provides the following site for anyone wishing to take a closer look at the motivations and records on a host of issues with guns being only one: MeetTheNRA.org.

Monday, June 11, 2012

48 million people without health insurance in the U.S. spells disaster

The Supreme Court will decide this month just what to do with President Obama’s health care reform law.  Predictions range from a complete repeal to dropping certain parts, to simply a modification.  I have talked to several people, including doctors and other health care professionals, and the general consensus is that the medical community doesn’t like the bill.  But when pressing these folks further on specifics, I question if some of them really understand the law.

At the end of May, a CBS/New York Times poll asked some pointed questions about Obama’s health care reform.  First, do you approve?  34% do, 48% don’t.  Another, how should the Supreme Court rule?  24% keep entire law, 27% overturn mandate (must buy insurance) but keep rest of law, 41% overturn entire law.  55% of respondents feel that political positions will play a part in justices’ decisions compared to 32% who think decisions will be decided on a legal basis.

37% think the health care bill went too far; 27% not far enough; 25% about right.  So in this category we have a total of 52% that either wanted more law or thought it was just right.  That sort of flies in the face of the above figure indicating an approval rate of only 34%.  It would seem that the undetermined figure of 18% who don’t approve or disapprove, might lean toward approval.  28% claim knowing a lot about the law and 62% of them disapprove, 58% strongly.

Meanwhile, back at the emergency room, 26% of the U.S. population had a health insurance gap in 2011.  That’s 48 million warm bodies that probably went without preventive care, and ended up in the ER when there was an emergency or less in some cases.  This study, the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of U.S. Adults, also found that factors impacting this problem were losses or changes in jobs by either the individual or his or her spouse.

Out of this 48 million, 69% reported being out of a job for a year or longer, 57% two or more years without coverage.  Although I don’t have the figures to back this up, it is clear to me that some of the reasons for so many bankruptcies and home foreclosures could be attributed to medical costs in lieu of insurance.  The savings were drained which resulted in giving up health care coverage, then the other two undesirable options.

Obama explaining his health care law:

The Commonwealth Fund discovered that between 2008 and 2010, 9 million people became uninsured after losing a job, meaning that without employment, health care may become a luxury.  By 2014, and due to the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans can’t charge higher premiums, or drop you for pre-existing conditions.  State insurance exchanges would be available for those who lose their coverage to go.  There would be tax credits and expanded Medicaid.

There are 123.8 emergency room visits each year; 42.4 million are injury related.  That’s 41.4 visits per 100 persons with 13% of the 123.8 million resulting in hospital admission.  The Amaranth Group says that approximately 80% of the 123.8 million ER visits annually are “non-emergent.”  Emergency rooms are already overloaded in some cities, and once the 48 million without health care coverage are without it long enough, things are bound to start going wrong.

Yes, I am proposing a scenario where if even a small percentage of the 48 million start to experience serious medical problems, some probably life-threatening, the system will be unable to handle it.  And many of these people can blame their lost jobs, bankruptcies, foreclosures or a short sale on the insane corporate anti-consumer practices of big business.  Like the financial industry that almost brought this country to the brink of disaster.

But some of these people don’t want to buy health care insurance as the law mandates so what do you do?  Deny them medical services in an emergency?  Why not, it was their prerogative to proceed without insurance?  But we know we wouldn’t, so we’re right back with the same dilemma, meaning there must be some regulation to insure that everyone pays his or her fair share.  Maybe health care reform isn’t at its very best yet with this law, but it’s better than nothing.

Friday, June 8, 2012

China takes on U.S. gun violence as human rights violation

Tiananmen Square standoff
Here we have a country that is known for its severe human rights violations in the past, but all of a sudden China has finally decided to fight back against the United States, which has been one of its staunchest critics.  Most notable was probably the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which ended in military suppression and a lone man challenging the tanks by standing firm in front of them.  There’s much more and Amnesty International documents it below:

“An estimated 500,000 people are currently enduring punitive detention without charge or trial, and millions are unable to access the legal system to seek redress for their grievances. Harassment, surveillance, house arrest, and imprisonment of human rights defenders are on the rise, and censorship of the Internet and other media has grown. Repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, and of Falun Gong practitioners and Christians who practice their religion outside state-sanctioned churches continues.”

So with a lineup like that, you’re going to come in with your best guns blasting away.  And what does the Chinese government decide to use as the first issue to confront the U.S. with?  Gun violence.  They could have chosen a multitude of arguments like past slavery, treatment of the poor, the anti-immigrant movement.  They picked none of these.  They chose gun violence.  This problem was already obvious to most of the world.  Now it’s official from a world power.

U.S. on China human rights video:

OK.  I can hear the gun bubbas right now question gun violence in China.  To start, China’s population is 1.3 billion; the U.S. 300.8 million.  The latest figures from 2008 show 14,811 gun homicides in China; the U.S. 9,484.  Now that’s 56 percent over the U.S. but then China’s population is 331 percent larger than the U.S.  However, the important number is that the U.S. has 2.98 gun homicides per year, per 100,000 population.  China has 1.1.

China human rights
I don’t care what you think about China; what I care about is the fact that one of the biggest human rights offenders in the world has exposed the stupid American gun culture.  The charges are in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 issued by the US State Department on May 24.  You can see a summary and link to the full report here.  China report is here.  You’ve heard all of this said before but here it is again…from a foreign nation.

This is verbatim from the China Daily site which is their answer to the report:

“The United States prioritizes the right to keep and bear arms over the protection of citizens' lives and personal security and exercises lax firearm possession control, causing rampant gun ownership, the {State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China} report said.

“The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011 was released by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 issued by the US State Department on May 24.

“According to the online edition of the Foreign Policy on January 9, 2011, the US people hold between 35 percent and 50 percent of the world's civilian-owned guns, with every 100 people having 90 guns, the report said.

“According to a Gallup poll in October 2011, 47 percent of American adults reported that they had a gun. That was an increase of 6 percentage points from a year ago and the highest Gallup had recorded since 1993, the report indicated.

“According to the Foreign Policy report, over 30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence and another 200,000 Americans are estimated to be injured each year due to guns.

“Besides, according to statistics released by the US Department of Justice, among the 480,760 robbery cases and 188,380 rape and sexual assault cases in 2010, the rates of victimization involving firearms were 29 percent and 7 percent, respectively, the report said.

“The report pointed out that the United States has mighty strength in human, financial and material resources to exert effective control over violent crimes. However, its society is chronically suffering from violent crimes, and its citizens' lives, properties and personal security are in lack of proper protection.”


Your average NRA member
 It seems that the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has now met one of its primary goals.  Shoving guns down the throats of so many Americans that the United States is now infamous for its gun nuts all over the world.  Nations now know us as a bunch of firearm freaks that care only about arrogantly waving our weapons around just to prove that we can; who cares about public safety.  And another disturbing fact, no U.S. answer yet to this report released by China in May.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

You will vote in November how your TV tells you to

Well, that’s not all of us.  There are still some thinking individuals out there that will examine the issues and closely evaluate the candidates, then cast their votes in an intelligent way.  Sure, they also watch the television ads but most of them just laugh off the sheer stupidity of two sides trying to make each other look like idiots, socialists, lovers of money, suckers for the needy, the list goes on and on.  That’s the reason most of us have to go to the trenches for our information. 

The GOP is best at the attack and hate ads, created and nurtured to this day by GWB’s top henchman, Karl Rove.  In his latest, “President Barack Obama wears shades, sings Al Green, dances with Ellen DeGeneres, quaffs a Guinness, calls hip-hop megastar Kanye West a ‘jackass,’ and "slow jams the news with Jimmy Fallon.” He is being portrayed as a “rock star,” according to Oliver Knox of Yahoo News.  A dangerous point being made is that popularity is bad.

My headline is based on an article on CNN by Julian Zelizer, “How political ads can elect a president,” that illustrates the issue by documenting some current and past political advertising.  He starts with Rove’s American Crossroads group in an ad claiming that President Obama has “failed to help American families.”  Although the fact that the President hasn’t been able to help these folks is true, the blame lies entirely with Republicans that block everything he does.

You might remember Roger Ailes, Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign consultant who said, “Television is no gimmick, and nobody will ever be elected to major office again without presenting themselves well on it."  Nixon didn’t and he lost the election to John F. Kennedy by 84 electoral votes.  It was Dwight Eisenhower, who Nixon served with as VP, who took the advice of Rosser Reeves who thought it the best way to reach the voters.  He was right.


President Obama

On the other hand, Democrat Adlai Stevenson, a statesman, not a politician, said, "The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal is the ultimate indignity to the democratic process." Eisenhower won that election and the process of “merchandising” a candidate was here to stay.  What is so pathetic is the fact that treating candidates like a commodity has taken away the public’s ability to know just what they stand for…only against.

If you want to see what the old political ads on television looked like, Zelizer suggests a site called Living Room Candidate, which lists them from 1952 to 2008.  The latter an election of both parties offering change instead of more of the same.  An African-American President was elected for the first time over an old warhorse that should have quit long ago, Arizona Senator John McCain.  Well what we did get was change but in the form of a divisive GOP against Obama.

Media doesn't believe in transparency of political ads video:

Zelizer illustrates what types of spots will dictate how your decision will be made in voting for President in November.  First there is the “character assassination spot,” designed to show “perceived weakness of their opponent.”  Lyndon Johnson used this in his “Daisy ad” which was supposed to portray Barry Goldwater with his finger on the nuclear button.  It did and Johnson won.  Eisenhower utilized ads like “High Prices” affecting voters at the time.

GOP, the party of NO
In 1972, Richard Nixon used how Democrats would cut the defense budget, thus, weakening the security of the U.S. to beat George McGovern.  Then in 1988 there was George H. W. Bush’s “Willie Horton” ad to show Michael Dukakis was weak on law and order.  Bush won.  As an example of the ludicrousness of these ads, the prison furlough program, involving Willie Horton, wasn’t even signed into law by Dukakis.  But the oblivious bunch didn’t bother to find that out.

Zelizer leaves us with the “I am good and you should elect me” spot.  {My terminology}  He says the candidates boast of either what they have accomplished or what they will accomplish.  Jimmy Carter used this in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Barack Obama with his “Change” slogan in 2008.  All three were elected, although some negativity crept in on both sides.  But it was clearly refreshing while it lasted.

The author warns that Obama and Romney must be careful of the spots they run, as well as those run by Super Pacs that seem to have created a life of their own.  The Pacs are almost completely uncontrolled in the money they can raise and the people they get it from, particularly when it comes to identifying amounts and the donors.  And this is where most of the dirt and hate originates from.  It’ll be interesting to see just how many “positive” messages we get leading up to Nov.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

May shootings in U.S. show an astonishing increase over March and April

The figures are more alarming than April where there was a 37.5 percent increase over March.  In April there were 66 dead from 69 shootings.  The month of May gave us 90 shootings, 69 deaths with 131 wounded, the latter added in this report.  Doing the numbers, that’s another 30.4 percent increase in shootings, an increase of 3 deaths and scores wounded, some of which may have resulted in death by now. 


Guns are easily available to anyone at gun shows

In two cities, Chicago and New Orleans, I listed the shootings as “Multiple” due to so many unknowns by police.  When two major cities like these have a problem this severe, you must examine the gun culture.  Chicago and Illinois have some of the most stringent gun laws, New Orleans and Louisiana some of the loosest.  Since the Chicago dilemma seems to center around heavily armed gangs in the city, the obvious answer would be the proliferation of weapons.

In multiple shootings over the Memorial Day holiday, there were 10 deaths and 41 wounded.  The Day after Memorial Day, New Orleans experienced several shootings resulting in 3 deaths and 6 wounded.

But the figure that shocked me almost as much as the increased percentage in shootings was the 131 woundings.  Some of these were severe, life threatening, therefore possibly resulting in additional deaths by now.  How can an American citizenry look at numbers like this and not be horrified?  Especially after my recent post, “Canada Laws prove that gun control works,” illustrating the enormous difference in shootings and gun deaths between our two countries.

Now here are the grim statistics:

  • May 2, Dallas, TX, 2 dead, man and woman, fatally shot in an apartment.
  • May 2, Kissimmee, FL, husband suspected of shooting and killing his wife and another man and wounding his pregnant daughter.
  • May 2, New Orleans, LA, 3 people shot in three different incidents.
  • May 2, Gilbert, AZ, the infamous racist, neo-Nazi J.T. Ready family shootings leaving 5 dead including himself.
  • May 2, San Antonio, TX, 16-year-old girl shot in her front yard at her birthday party.
  • May 3, South San Francisco, CA, 3 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot while serving “high risk” warrants.
  • May 3, Carson, CA, 14-year-old shoots and kills his father in his home.
  • May 3, Ellicott City, MD, man shot and killed woman then believed to have killed himself.
  • May 4, Albion, MI, homicide shooting one block from a police station.
  • May 6, Cincinnati, OH, 6 wounded in shootings at a party.
  • May 6, Albion, MI, shots fired seriously wounding a man.
  • May 6, Plainfield, NJ, 3 shootings in area leaving one man dead and two wounded.
  • May 7, Pleasanton, CA, mother and daughter shot, expected murder, suicide.
  • May 8, Tulsa, OK, security guard and patron shot at night club.
  • May 8, Scottsdale, AZ, member at Scottsdale Gun Club accidentally shot himself in the chest and had life-threatening injuries.
  • May 8, Thornton, CO, son dead, dad in critical condition after shootings.
  • May 8, Yuma, AZ, shooting a trailer park leaves one man in serious condition.
  • May 8, Tunica County, MS, in the first Mississippi highway shooting, Nebraska man is shot to death on Interstate 55.
  • May 9, Mesa, AZ, man shot and killed by police after threatening another man with a gun.
  • May 9, Fort Carson, CO, 2 wounded by gunfire resulting from a car crash.
  • May 10, Miami, FL, police officer and immigration officer shot by carjacker who eventually shot himself.
  • May 11, Tunica County, MS, second Mississippi highway shooting killed woman.
  • May 11, Yuma, AZ, 2 people killed after road rage events called act of self-defense.
  • May 11, Oakland, CA, 1 man killed, 1 man wounded in East Oakland.
  • May 12, Page AZ, man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend.
  • May 12, Newark, NJ, 1 man shot and killed and security guard wounded at social club.
  • May 13, Harrison Township, OH, fight in club parking lot leaves 2 wounded.
  • May 13, Gainesville, FL, 2 people are wounded in a tent-city altercation.
  • May 13, Los Angeles, CA, Idaho wide receiver Ken McRoyal killed when attending a Hollywood party.
  • May 13, Buckeye, AZ, man dies from gunshot wound by suspected illegal immigrant.
  • May 13, Raytown, MO, jogger killed by passing car with no apparent motive.
  • May 14, Zanesville, OH, 18-year-old shot in the neck on street.
  • May 14, Tucson, AZ, man shot and wounded by neighborhood resident when he wouldn’t stop firing his own gun.
  • May 15, Port St. John, FL, 5 dead after mother shoots 4 kids, then herself.
  • May 16/17, Columbus, OH, 2 shootings a 2 days in close proximity, one connected to cocaine.
  • May 17, Louisville, KY, 3 people shot and killed and 3 others wounded in a two-hour gun spree.
  • May 17, Fort Wayne, IN, 2 Arizona men dead from different shootings in 2 neighborhoods.
  • May 18, Cape Girardeau, MO, 2 Arizona men dead from shooting that appears to be murder-suicide.
  • May 18, West Bloomfield, MI, 17-year-old fatally shot by his 74-year-old grandmother.
  • MAY 18, Phoenix, AZ, a man and his pit bull dog were shot and killed after a physical struggle for a gun/
  • May 19, Palmetto, FL, 2 drive-by shootings resulting in a police chase that ended with suspects’ car crashing into another car.
  • May 19, Phoenix, AZ, man killed in shooting believed to be related to sale and purchase of a stolen car.
  • May 19, New Orleans, LA, man wounded in Algiers section of city.
  • May 19, Philadelphia, PA, man shot and killed in No. Philly.
  • May 19, Philadelphia, woman shot and wounded in the neck and mouth.
  • May 20, Philadelphia, PA, man shot multiple times pronounced dead in southwest Philly.
  • May 20, New Orleans, husband accidentally shot his wife, also in Algiers section.
  • May 20, Louisville, KY, 2 off-duty officers wounded by gunfire close the location of prior-week deadly shootings.
  • May 20, Independence, MO, unidentified man killed inside a residence, one of five shootings this Sunday.
  • May 20, Plant City, FL, 4 people shot and critically injured in a vehicle.
  • May 21, Tempe, AZ, 2 men are dead in apparent murder-suicide.
  • May 21, Oklahoma City, OK, 8 people shot after NBA playoff game between the Thunder and the LA Lakers, one in critical condition.
  • May 21, Golden Valley, AZ, man fatally shot his girlfriend, and after barricading himself, shot himself.
  • May 24, No. Omaha, NE, 1 16-year-old dead and 15-year-old critically injured in two shooting.
  • May 24, Baltimore, MD, man shot and killed in East Baltimore.
  • May 24, Seattle, WA, father shot in head is dead in one of several Seattle shootings over just a few days.
  • May 25, Knoxville, TN, 2 men wounded by guns in East Knoxville.
  • May 25, Avondale, AZ, female in critical condition after shooting in high school parking lot.
  • May 25, Phoenix, AZ, man killed during argument at a house party.
  • Memorial Day Weekend, Chicago, IL,, 10 dead and 41 wounded from shootings throughout the city.  Most violent period was hour-and-a-half stretch early Sunday morning when 13 people were shot.
  • May 26, Seattle WA, man wounded in leg from shooting apparently meant for someone else.
  • May 26, Charleston, WV, shooter waved gun at pharmacy workers and is shot and killed by one of workers.
  • May 26, Tulsa, OK, 2 shot and wounded, both in serious condition.
  • May 26, Tulsa, OK, teen is shot and killed after her high school graduation.
  • May 27, Seattle WA, 4 drive-by shootings early Sunday morning.
  • May 27, Seattle, WA, home invasion left man with life-threatening gunshot wound in his chest.
  • May 27, Kansas City, KS, 4 shootings in six hours; 1 in apartment bldg., another shot on highway, man shot through window of jeep was critically injured, the fourth when an SUV pulled up beside man shooting.
  • May 27, Glendale, AZ, man arrested for reportedly injuring his girlfriend’s son and killing her cat with a BB gun, while intoxicated.
  • May 28, Chicago, IL, member of Coast Guard killed on South Side.
  • May 29, Phoenix, AZ, woman dead from shooting; husband suspected.
  • May 29, New Orleans, LA, 9 shot, 3 killed including 5-year-old at birthday party.  Woman actually killed on way to party.
  • May 30, Seattle, WA, 2 dead 3 wounded from shooting at local café.
  • May 30, Indianapolis, IN, man shoots to kill one, wounding 4, before fatally shooting himself.
  • May 31, Sacramento, CA, drive-by shootings at opposite ends of city.
  • May 31, San Bernardino, CA, one shooting, man shot multiple times in back but expected to survive.  The second shooting, mother and baby suffered minor wounds.

PEACE!

Monday, June 4, 2012

2nd Amendment repeal not likely. I’ll settle for an amendment to the Amendment

The 2nd Amendment:A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

It rings in our ears because the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has shoved it down our throats for years.  To this conglomeration of thugs it means that anyone can own a gun, take it anywhere they want, with little or absolutely no training.  The best example of a NRA state is Arizona with the loosest gun laws in the country.

It is followed, or maybe even equaled by, Florida, where the now infamous Stand Your Ground law made its debut, and is now probably responsible for the death of black, unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman’s gun, an inexpensive 9 mm semiautomatic known as the Kel-Tec 9 mm PF-9.  As a neighborhood watch captain Zimmerman wasn’t even supposed to be carrying a weapon and the 911 dispatcher told him to let police handle the situation.

Studies have proven that these gun worshippers sometimes try to replicate law enforcement in a situation such as this with results that are tragic, which this one was.  It didn’t have to happen; if only Zimmerman had stayed in his car.  And there would probably have been no altercation at all if there wasn’t a concealed carry law in Florida.  A total of 49 states have passed laws allowing citizens to carry certain concealed firearms in public, either with or without a permit.

There are three unrestricted states: Alaska, Arizona and Vermont.  An Unrestricted jurisdiction is one in which no permit is required to carry a concealed handgun.  In Arizona the concealed carrier can even skip a background check by making the purchase at a gun show where NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, proved it was as easy as…just asking.  But Arizona takes it one step further.  You don’t have to have firearms training.

Josh Sugarmann
Josh Sugarmann is the founder and executive director of the Violence Policy Center an organization that is attempting to reduce gun violence in the United States.  He cites an incident where Meleanie Hain insisted on taking her loaded Glock pistol to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer game in Lebanon, Pa.  This didn’t sit well with the crowd so they complained.  After the game her permit was revoked but reinstated by the court.  She became an open-carry hero.

The judge even urged her not to carry her gun to the soccer games, but Hain decided she knew best because she was afraid of murderers and terrorists.  Even others who might have concealed weapons to harm her like the young soccer players or other fans.  Do you believe this idiot?  She is more brain-washed than the NRA’s graying granny Marion Hammer. 

Sugarman says: “At least 402 victims have been killed in 32 states since May 2007 in non-self-defense incidents involving private citizens legally allowed to carry concealed handguns.”

Sugarman continues, “In October 2009, Hain was gunned down in her home by her husband who, after firing six shots into her with his handgun (hers was in a backpack hanging off a door), went upstairs and ended his own life with a shotgun blast.  Meleanie Hain believed that a handgun—on her hip or in her home—guaranteed her personal safety.”  It didn’t.  Not only was she wrong about the security of a concealed weapon, her actions left her children without parents.

Constance Johnson, a Democratic State Senator in Oklahoma, thinks “Open Carry Is an Invitation to Chaos.”  She makes some good points like, are the armed gun owners trustworthy?; Open carry sounds good but is it realistic in today’s society?; reiterates that law enforcement is against these laws; the 2nd Amendment in its inception was truly for protection during lawlessness but has evolved into nothing but a crutch for the NRA.

So is the U.S. Congress softening its stance on gun control?  On TownHall Brian Darling points out one bill among several designed to restore and preserve 2nd Amendment rights that have stalled in the House and Senate.  Among the bills ready for action is S.2205, the Second Amendment Sovereignty Act, that would bar the Administration from signing onto the Arms Trade Treaty.  The head of Gun Owners of America wants action if Congress expects their votes in Nov.

I know there are reasonable-minded gun owners out there; I have talked to them through comments on this blog.  There are also the gun nuts who are capable only of doing what the NRA tells them to.  It is the former group that must consider revising the 2nd Amendment.  Things like mandatory background checks and adequate training for gun owners.  Closing the gun show loophole and eliminating open/concealed carry except for law enforcement and unusual needs.

This NRA bullshit of no compromise of any kind is getting old and probably beginning to open the eyes of many non-gun owners out there that are starting to believe that just maybe gun control is a good idea.  You can only push your point so far and when the negatives in your issue—like multiple shooting deaths on a daily basis now—begin to be obvious, the momentum is bound to shift.  I think we are on the verge of this happening today.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Washington’s problem is the GOP

It’s official.  Two top political scientists commented in a recent op-ed, "Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem."  Further, "We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional.  In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.”

This is heavy stuff reported by David Frum on CNN, but once again illustrates what President Barack Obama has been up against during his first term in office.  Frum is quoting from Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, “two of Washington's most veteran watchers of Congress. Both men have hard-earned reputations for nonideological independence of mind despite their institutional affiliations.”  Mann is liberal, Ornstein is conservative. 

Ornstein and Mann continue, "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country's challenges."

In their new book, "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism," Frum states that it is clear that the GOP has acted in a “uniquely irresponsible way.”  He cites a number of examples like Republicans almost forcing a default on U.S. obligations in the debt slowdown; a delay on many actions in the senate; and holding up executive-branch nominations.  Just because of Barack Obama.

Karl Rove looking for guidance
It can all be traced back to the master of deceit, lies and fear mongering.  Karl Rove.  His Crossroads group is spending $25 million from donors he will not identify to back Republicans in Congress to denigrate and demonize President Obama.  A media analysis group has indicated that Crossroads GPS is the biggest spender on advertising for the general election up to this point.  So far they have spent $12.6 million in placing 17,000 spots in 47 television markets.

I did a post back in January of this year, “Can Republican HATE politics bring this country down?”  For the piece I Googled “GOP hate” and “Republican hate” and was able to formulate a list of what some pretty influential sites and organizations think Republicans hate.  The results were as follows:

Taxes, the poor and hungry, gays, Hispanics, liberals, gun control, animal rights, the truth, women, even those pregnant, the Occupy Movement, Barack Obama, science (as in stem cell research), public education, environmentalism, veterans, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, teachers, unions, and, yes, even other Republicans (as in Newt Gingrich)

Example of Karl Rove HATE:

Norman Lear, who abhorred bigotry, and was the creator of the Archie Bunker character on TV, was attacked for his liberal views by ministers Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.  Robertson responded with a threat of God’s wrath against him.  Jerry Falwell told his followers, “I am about to name the man that some people believe to be the greatest threat to the American family in our generation: Norman Lear!"  Lear founded the organization People for the
American Way
.

I also used George Orwell’s novel, 1984, to draw a comparison in my post to the connection between hate and the GOP.  In 1984, Emmanuel Goldstein is the face of the “Two Minutes Hate” which the citizens of Oceania were subjected to on a regular basis.  They were whipped up into a tremendous frenzy to hate Goldstein and anything else that didn’t agree with the Party.  One might characterize Barack Obama as the modern day Emmanuel Goldstein. 

What Goldstein said made perfect sense in defying this extremely hellish atmosphere and no matter how much hatred was directed against him and his leftist beliefs, his influence never seemed to grow less.  The “hellish atmosphere” cited would be how Republicans hold the White House and the country hostage in attempting to carry out their deranged ideologies.  And we are guaranteed that will not subside until Pres. Obama is re-elected in Nov.  Maybe not even then.

But closing with another Mann and Ornstein point; the solution to all this must be found outside politics.  They feel the problem “will not be solved until America's rich and America's elderly become either less fearful or more generous.”  These are two terms that are at different ends of the spectrum but explain exactly what this country is up against today.

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