NEON GODS

Anther innocent bystander shot

From WaPost today:

The D.C. middle school student shot and killed Tuesday afternoon at a Northeast Washington housing complex was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of two rival groups fighting over stolen guns, police and law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

Police and other sources say Davonta Artis, 15, was killed when teenagers from 37th Place SE and Clay Terrace, a neighborhood about two miles away, got into a dispute in the 5300 block of Clay Terrace NE, and there was an exchange of gunfire. Daquan Tibbs, 18, who lived in the 200 block of 37th Place SE, was also killed. Three other teenage boys were wounded.

These are the mean streets of Washington, DC, where people who are struggling to survive live.  Few would call them middle-class.  Some have seen better days and are trying hard to claw their way back into a better life, others have never known anything better and have given up trying.  These are people none of us know, they don't shop where we shop, they don't eat in the restaurants where we eat, their paths rarely cross ours.  They are for all intents and purposes invisible to us, to the politicians, and to the system until someone gets shot or commits a crime.

But because these invisible people are black, plenty of middle class whites presume to pass judgment, and in the process manage to absolve themselves of any blame.  Just read the comments that accompany any news article about inner city blacks.  It's all "their" fault of course.  These inner city dwellers are guilty of bad parenting, they are lazy, they lack any desire to better themselves, they don't try to keep their young daughters from getting pregnant, they don't have the good sense to send their kids to private schools, etc.  And then there are the drooling idiots who delight in equating blacks to vicious animals who are violent by nature.

It's all very depressing.  I don't know what the answer is. I don't know how we can help people trapped in violent, inner city neighborhoods break free and begin improving their lives and the lives of their children, but I do know that we as a society have given up trying.  These are powerless, invisible people.  Most of the time they don't bother us, their children join gangs that fight and sometimes kill each other, and then we briefly notice.  It's been this way forever, why bother to try to change things?

We like to pretend we a re a great nation, but we're not.  Our leaders and our media have told us poverty is not our concern.  Poverty is a choice, in America you can live very well if you are willing to work hard.  So we should pity the poor but leave it to the churches to feed and clothe them, and move on.

Sadly, one of our political parties has done all they can to divide our country into white and non-white (i.e., non-real American).  Instead of considering blacks living in inner city poverty as fellow Americans who need a helping hand, they are now our enemy, taking our hard earned tax dollars and using the money to live in violence and squalor which is their preferred life-style.  People in rural Pennsylvania or Kansas or Idaho who have never known an African American appear to have no trouble passing judgment on them, and that judgment is almost always negative.   Just try to devote any tax money to help black inner city dwellers and watch the teabag protests blossom.

Now, with our economy in shambles, and the national debt skyrocketing, you can bet our politicians will devote little of our precious tax dollars to help those who need it most.  We have wars to wage and corporations to subsidize, this is what really matters in 21st century America.  What we will do, however is continue to make it easy for the poor to get guns which they will use on each other.  Then we can bury the dead, imprison the shooters, and keep the poor under control.

--Trakker

"The only good liberal is a fkn dead one..."

Yesterday Harold Meyerson wrote the following on the WaPost blog PostPartison:

Think about that. The public option has been demonized non-stop for the past half-year; it’s the key to the Republican charge that instituting such a program is tantamount to bringing socialism to America. They have clearly rallied the Republican base to this position, just as they rallied the base to fear the coming of death panels and publicly-subsidized immigrant care. But whereas pluralities of Americans simply said they didn’t know enough to believe one thing or the other about death panels and immigrant care, virtually all Americans not in the Republican base support the public option. [emphasis mine]

In the comments section were two comments by someone called LiberalBasher.

Public option over my dead body.

I don't own a gun, I will buy one if this goes into affect.

I never have understood milita's. I definatly will embrace them if this goes into affect.

public option equals civil war. I will be the first to arm myself to be a part of that war.

go for it, bring it on. Be warned, you will not need death panels if you put in a public option.

Posted by: LiberalBasher | September 25, 2009 4:31 PM

And 15 minutes later, responding to another comment, LiberalBasher wrote again:

We should go with a public option. Doctor's fees are out of control. INOVA Fairfax billed me $5,369.30 to circumcise my son. Thank God my wife and I can afford insurance - we ONLY ended up paying $845.60 of that bill.
---
Thats right, someone that saves your life should not make a decent living.

When your loved one dies because you got a cheap doctor, don't blame anyone but yourself.

Truthfully, I hope its you that dies at the hand of the cheapo. But, who cares.

As long as its a liberal first.

Hope you die slowly like Ted Kennedy.

Whats it matter. You will get your death pannels, staffed by underpaid people who are not qualified. Every death will be your fault and nobody else's.

Again, hope its you and all of your loved ones.

Die liberal. Or better yet.

Want my address? I live in ohio.

Want me to help you die?
Not a threat, just a fact. I don't want an underpaid doctor. I want one that knows he is worth every penny he charges.

fkn liberals. I hate your guts.

I am not racist. I am prejudice. I hate ALL liberals. Black, white, asian, ... what ever. men, women, young, old. doesn't matter. Your liberals. I hate your guts and everything you stand for.

The only good liberal is a fkn dead one and I will glady help do that when you take my life into your hands with your goverment run health care.

Again
die liberal

every one of you

die

Posted by: LiberalBasher | September 25, 2009 4:46 PM

"The only good liberal is a fkn dead one..."  This was written in the comments section of the Washington Post, and it's still there the last I looked.  Ya' know, I'm getting really pissed at being targeted by the loony right.  I sometimes wonder if our country is going to erupt into open warfare.  Many on the right seem to be spoiling for an armed insurrection. I was skeptical that the census taker's death in Kentucky was a hate crime directed at the government, but the comments above by LiberalBasher reminds me the depths of the hatred harbored by some on the right.

--Trakker

How will the right's anger "blow itself out"?

Andrew Sullivan is back at his Daily Dish blog after a month's sabbatical.  Since returning he seems angrier if anything, angrier at how depraved and nutty the right is becoming.  Here is one of his posts that is worth passing along:

Publius [writing at Obsidian Wings] thinks that the Obama administration should have stood firm on end-of-life counseling and on the language of his address to schoolchildren:

[H]ere's the thing -- when you surrender to such obviously absurd outrages, you hurt yourself in the long run. You not only validate those complaints, you come off looking weak and defensive -- as if you did something wrong. The conservative outrages on both issues should be counter-attacked, not retreated from.

I disagree on the politics, although I think Publius is obviously right on the issues. If we cannot counsel Medicare recipients on how to make end-of-life decisions for themselves, then, given the huge expense of treating people in the last days of their lives, we are not being serious about healthcare costs. Equally, the hysteria over the presidential address was, well, hysteria. Even Newt Gingrich broke with the crazies on that one. But Obama's mojo has always been to hang back, let his opponents reveal their irrationality and win in the end. There were many moments in the campaign when I feared this would simply mean being Dukakised. But I was wrong. And I suspect the only way to unwind the ferocious cultural blowback from the election of a non-Southern non-white president is to let it blow itself out.

The fear, of course, is that it will blow itself out by assassinating him. I just hope the secret service knows what is being whipped up out there. And I hope that when the GOP leaders acquiesce to this insanity, they understand what Obama following Lincoln would do to this country - and the world. [emphasis mine]

This is why I am furious about those on the right showing up with guns at Obama functions.  They aren't armed for protection, it is pure intimidation.  I lived through the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King.  The country was devastated and traumatized for years.  We now have a television network whose single mission is to fuel the fear, anger, and hate on the right, something we've never had before in our country.  There appears to be no line they won't cross to demonize Obama, the Democrats and liberals.  This is a recipe for violence and no one is trying to stop it.

--Trakker

No Guns on Campus...in Texas?

Here is an encouraging, uplifting post on DailyKos about a graduate student who was able to block a bill allowing college students (21 and over) to carry concealed weapons on campus.  In today's political atmosphere, where gun ownership in America trumps life itself, this was a big victory, but look where it happened: TEXAS!

Kudos to John Woods.  Damn impressive story!

--Trakker

Tulsa World: Inhofe blasts Obama at town hall

President Obama is disarming the military, destroying everything good about America and determined to turn foreign terrorists loose on U.S. soil, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Wednesday.

via www.tulsaworld.com

These are the words of Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) at a town hall meeting today. Sen. Inhofe is either a dangerous idiot or (worse) a dangerous Anti-American, hateful enemy of our Democracy. He and his fellow right wing lunatics are doing everything they can to encourage a rebellion. These are the words of a United States Senator, not some wacky private individual.

The Democrats, the Obama Administration, and the media have got to start answering this shit. As long as they keep getting away with it they will keep ratcheting up the rhetoric until all hell breaks loose.

--Trakker

More Gun Nut Assholes Are Appearing at Obama Events

PHOENIX – About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said.

Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who monitored the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him. ...

Last week, during Obama's health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a sign reading "It is time to water the tree of liberty" stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

"It's a political statement," he told "If you don't use your rights, then you lose your rights." ...

Fred Solop, a Northern Arizona University political scientist, said the incidents in New Hampshire and Arizona could signal the beginning of a disturbing trend.

"When you start to bring guns to political rallies, it does layer on another level of concern and significance," Solop said. "It actually becomes quite scary for many people. It creates a chilling effect in the ability of our society to carry on honest communication."

via news.yahoo.com

"When you start to bring guns to political rallies, ... It actually becomes quite scary for many people. It creates a chilling effect in the ability of our society to carry on honest communication."

No shit?

This is just the latest example of how the loony right is ramping up their temper tantrum over losing the election. They are anti-democracy, anti-America assholes who will continue to increase their acts of intimidation and threats toward our first non-white President until someone goes ape-shit and the feces really hit the fan.

Many on the fringe right are just aching for a revolution in which heavily armed "real Americans" attack and throw all the immigrants out of the country, and force all non-conservatives out of the government.

For years I've been saying the NRA and their nutty gun-worshiping members are paranoid bullies who fantasize they are somehow modern patriots, thus justifying in their minds the use of their firearms to intimidate and even force the rest of us to do their bidding. They are a real danger to our society.

Every population has a their share of scared, paranoid, bullies who fantasize about using force and violence to get what they want. It seems only America is stupid enough to let them be armed with high powered weapons at political rallies where a President they hate is attending,

There is no reason why these gun nuts needed to be armed. The crowds pose no danger to them. No one at any political rally has found themselves in a situation where their life was in danger and a gun was needed for self-defense. No, the only reason they come armed is to intimidate their opponents and by God that includes me and I'm PISSED about this. I'm pissed that we as a society have allowed gun nuts to overcome our common sense. We know they are nuts. We know they love to strut and intimidate. We know we are playing with fire letting these nuts walk around armed. We even recognize that President Obama is in real danger of assassination, but we continue to cower to the right.

How stupid are we? I'm afraid we might just find out with the pull of a trigger.

[h/t Bitburg Guy]

--Trakker

Protester seen with gun outside Obama town hall

President Obama traveled to Portsmouth, New Hampshire Tuesday for what many feared could be a rowdy ‘town hall-style’ meeting at a time when some foes of his healthcare overhaul have shouted down lawmakers holding similar events around the country. But no such disruptions occurred at the event.

Earlier, MSNBC’s Ron Allen reported that cameras filmed a protester with a handgun strapped to his leg the meeting before Obama arrived. The man was seen carrying a sign saying “It’s time to water the tree of liberty.”

The man’s “tree of liberty” sign is a reference to Thomas Jefferson, who said “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Allen says the Portsmouth police chief told him the man’s gun is legal, because he is on private property — he is on the grounds of a nearby church. Police say his gun is registered and he can keep it on him as long as it is not concealed.

via rawstory.com

Why does this man have a gun strapped to his leg? Especially when he is carrying a sign that clearly suggests that democracy requires bloodshed from time to time? Obvious the whole intent is to intimidate Obama and his supporters.

And what about the church that gave him permission to stand there? The right is self-destructing before our very eyes.

--Trakker

Reducing Violence in the Cities

I have had some feedback to my post about the shooting death of little eight year old Heather Center.  Many objected to my anger directed at the gun lobby for the many shootings each year, telling me that guns don't kill, people kill.

That is without a doubt one of the stupidest arguments ever.  No one has ever claimed otherwise!  (The second most stupid argument is that people can kill with knives, baseball bats, frozen turkeys, etc.  so it will do no good to implement gun control measures because people will just use something else.  The parallel to this argument is that we shouldn't try to find a cure for cancer because people die of lots of other things too so if we cure cancer people will still die of something else. Yeah, that's pretty stupid).

But I digress.  Yes, people kill people, and they frequently use guns.  This has become a real problem in the inner cities (much to the gun lobby's delight).  At first we tried to control the flow of guns into the cities, but there are just too many gun owners and gun shops only too happy to make a profit, so we could only stand by and watch the carnage, but now there is a new program called CeaseFire that has shown promise in reducing the shootings (and other violence) in the cities.

The key is to change social norms so that violence is seen as "uncool" both by potential perpetrators and their communities, instead of being the automatic way to settle a dispute. [...]

"Violence gets transmitted the same way as other communicable diseases, so we train 'violence interruptors' to prevent escalation," says Gary Slutkin, founder and executive director of CeaseFire.

"They change the norm from 'violence is what's expected of me' to 'violence will make me look stupid'," says Slutkin. [...]

A three-year independent evaluation of CeaseFire published by the Department of Justice last year found that in Chicago, it reduced violence in every community where it was deployed.

Shootings and killing fell by between 41 and 73 per cent, with drops of 17 to 35 per cent the result of direct interventions by CeaseFire. Retaliation murders fell by 100 per cent in 5 of the 8 communities covered...

So, yes, this is a recognition that people kill people, and the focus of this program is on the people who kill (or injure) other people.  The idea behind the program makes sense and it would be great if it works, even if it only reduces killings by 50%.

--Trakker

Heather Brooke Center Was Shot to Death Today

This evening a man in South Carolina shot a little 8 year-old girl to death.

A man put an 8-year-old girl in a headlock Wednesday and shot her to death, then shot himself in the stomach, authorities said.

How many times a week do we read stories like this - innocent people shot to death by a gun owner.  We're told that people need guns for personal protection and to defend us from a rogue government, but every day we read of angry gun owners shooting a wife or girlfriend or their children or someone they hate. They shoot abortion doctors, they shoot guards at museums, they shoot someone to make a statement, they shoot classmates, they shoot someone hoping the police will shoot them, now so common that it has a name, "Suicide by Police." 

While I'm sure gun zealots feel sad about the victims, they have historically refused to do ANYthing to effectively stop these killings.  They respond by blaming the victims for not arming themselves.

Sure, there are laws that are supposed to prevent criminals and the mentally unbalanced from owning guns, but as we all know from reading the tragic stories in the news everyday, those laws are unenforceable.   Just look at the man who shot this little girl:

The sheriff said [the shooter], 50, has a long criminal record.

So why did he have a gun?  Who cares?  Certainly not the gun lobby.

Why are these laws unenforceable?  Because the gun lobby doesn't want the laws to be enforceable.  In fact, if they had their way (and they usually do) everyone would be allowed to own any gun they want, in whatever number they want, with no accountability whatsoever.  They want everyone in America to be armed.

Oh, they scream and bleat and beat their chest about how much they hate criminals and assure us that they want to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have one.  If that's true then the NRA would be outraged that this child killer with a long criminal record had a gun.  They would demand that the South Carolina authorities investigate how this man got his gun and would demand that the person or gun shop that sold him the gun, or neglected to take it away from him once he was convicted of a felony (assuming he had committed one) be identified and punished.

It won't happen. It never happens, in fact sometimes the shooter is even a member of the NRA.  I called and asked the NRA once how many members a year are purged from their rolls because they were convicted of a felony.  They said they wouldn't divulge that information.  Why?  Wouldn't that send the right message, that the NRA doesn't tolerate members who commit felonies?

The little girl who was shot was named Heather Brooke Center.  She only got to spend eight years on earth.  Think of her for a moment because what she was today is all she'll ever be.

--Trakker

This is not going to end well...

I hesitate to write about gun issues because in America, guns appeal to the most insecure, frightened, paranoid people around and the NRA knows it and stokes their fears to keep their coffers full.  These same unbalanced people viciously attack anyone who dares to point out that maybe these are not the kind of people who should be allowed to assemble an arsenal (which is why the comments to this post are closed).

The gun movement in America is not about protecting the rights of hunters, it's not about insuring that the relatively few who have a genuine need for handguns for protection are able to have them when needed.  No, the gun movement in America is focused on one single issue: making sure every sick, scared, mentally unbalanced American can buy any, and as many, firearms as they want, with as few controls as possible.

The NRA pays lip service to keeping guns out of the hands of convicted felons and others who are dangerously unhinged, but in reality they don't give a damn.  After all, the more shootings there are of innocent people, they more likely the rest of us will feel the need to arm ourselves for protection.  It's a viscous circle that only benefits a few: undertakers, hospitals, and gun manufacturers (and the NRA).

What set me off this time was emails I've received from gun zombies (write about guns and the gun zombies come out from under their rocks and shoot you with comments and emails).  A few are polite and civil, the rest are obviously from people too scared to imagine facing life without an arsenal to provide them with a spine and a dick.

Then there was this article in the NY Times about a pastor in Kentucky who is encouraging his flock to come to church armed tonight for a special service (guns are allowed but not cameras).  Sheriff's deputies will be at the door of the church to make sure openly carried firearms are unloaded.  Read the whole article to get an idea of how bizarre the gun culture has gotten in the U.S.

There have been many who have noticed a major uptick in blind anger on the right since Obama was elected.  A lot of right wing organizations and political movements are using Obama's election to inflame their listeners or members, including Rush, Fox News and the NRA.

This is not going to end well.  We have a nation whose right wing citizens are armed to the teeth and their leaders are doing everything they can to paint Obama and the Democrats as enemies, as a danger to everything (right wing) America stands for.  Watch your back, liberals.

--Trakker