Well, I’ve grown past that for the most part. In all my time on this earth I have never once found myself in a position where I’d wished I had a gun. Yeah, I know, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Or is it?
How many kids die every year because they got hold of a parent’s weapon and accidently killed themselves or others? I read somewhere that in 2018 it was around seventy-five kids under 12. That statistic alone should spark a national conversation but here, in the good old USA, seventy-five dead kids means nothing. NOTHING.
According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute an average of thirteen youths between the ages of 10 and 24 are the victims of a gun homicide….PER DAY.
I could go on but we’ve heard all the statistics. In fact, we’ve heard them so often that we’ve become numb to them. So, I’m going to delve into some complicated analysis. Hang on. It’s earth shattering stuff. These concepts are the result of countless hours of deep thought and contemplation on my part. I have a headache.
1- If you throw a baited hook in the water, you might catch a fish. If you throw 500 baited hooks in the water your chances of catching a fish increase dramatically.
2- If I stand at mid-court and try to drain a jump shot my chances are not good. If I take 50 of them, chances are I’ll make a few.
3- Many years ago, I was told that if you walk up to 10 random women and ask them if they want to have sex, one will reply in the affirmative. I can’t confirm this unfortunately. I CAN confirm that if you do it four or five times you’ll get slapped at least once and six to seven attempts will conjure up an unseen boyfriend and his posse of friends who will gleefully kick your ass.
4- If we placed one gun…any gun…. a single shot .22 or a .50 caliber BAR (look it up) in the middle of the country, the odds of a child, or an adult, dying from a gunshot wound, are next to nothing (unless we put it in the home of a lunatic). If we arm every adult in the country the dead bodies will pile up pretty quickly.
It’s a simple numbers game. It’s not complicated. Like I said earlier, common sense. Now, some of you are thinking “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. You’re 100% correct. People kill people. So, I would like to put you in a room with me. The bad news is I’m going to try to kill you. The good news is you get to pick my weapon. You can pick a 9mm semi-automatic handgun with 15 in the clip and one in the chamber, a samurai sword, a bowie knife, a baseball bat, or a wrench. Did anything register yet? Good for you! Wrenches don’t kill people, people kill people… but not usually with a fucking wrench.
But what about the second amendment? It’s my constitutional right to own a gun! To you I pose the question, how many years need to pass before a document starts to become dated? Do you think the founding fathers were thinking in terms of that 9mm above? Really? Did you think the day would come when we would hold the accumulated knowledge of the human race in the palm of our hands? There’s more computing power in your cell phone that there was in the computers that helped us get to the MOON. You didn’t see that coming did you? Well, the founding fathers didn’t see the high capacity semi-automatics coming either.
But let’s leave the 2nd amendment in place. It says that we have a constitutional right to own guns (and I’ll ignore the well-regulated militia part). It does not say we have a constitutional right to buy them at 7-11. Why, would any sane individual protest the implementation of sensible screening for gun ownership? How does putting a waiting period of a few weeks or even a month, disadvantage us? Don’t YOU want to be sure your crazy uncle Eddie doesn’t have access to a gun? He tried to stab the dog with a steak knife last thanksgiving. You want him to have a gun?
Things we wait a month for:
1. New Years Eve on November 30th.
2. Your lawn mower if you wait until spring to bring it in for servicing.
3. An appointment with a specialist for that nagging pain in your knee.
4. The full benefit of Preparation-H if you use it as directed.
We live through all of these don’t we? If it saves one child’s life, or any life, wouldn’t it be worth it? No? What if it was YOUR child? Let’s stop the insanity. Conservatives are always throwing these ridiculous memes at us about Australia’s crime rate going up when they outlawed certain weapons or how the highest crime rates are in areas where gun control is the most restrictive. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. Here are some numbers (by the way, Australia’s gun violence went DOWN substantially when they implemented the mandatory buy back program).
In France there are around 15 guns for every 100 people. They experienced less than three gun related deaths per 100,000 people in 2012. Spain has around 10 guns per 100 people. They see around 1 gun related death per 200,000 people. In Germany, there are 20 guns per 100 people. There you’ll find a death rate of 1 per 100,000. Great Britain has about one death per 400,000 and their gun to person ratio is 3 per 100,000. Now, how about the good old USA. How do we stack up? We own a staggering 120 guns per 100 people (think about that) and around 20 in 100,000 die each year from gun related deaths. You don’t have to be a genius to see the math here. You do however need to be pretty dense to argue about it.
I’m not advocating a change to that gun to person ratio (although it would be nice and the time will come so start getting used to the concept). What I am advocating for is common sense screening and education for gun ownership. If it takes a month, tough shit. It probably took you longer than that to get your drivers license. If you have to wait until your 21, too bad. You can’t legally drink until then either. If it saves ONE life, it’s worth it. Stop the insanity. I’m sick and tired of people dying. And please don’t argue with the logic. I will only make you look stupid. No one is coming for your guns (yet). Keep up fighting it though and sooner or later the blow back will be huge. In the meantime, I’m hoping all of our kids, and all of you, remain safe.
Until next time.
Peace
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
The Gun Debate
In the wake of still more mass shootings, I feel compelled to comment on it all. When I was younger… OK, much younger… I was a gun toting Republican. No, it’s true. I even have one of those “I’ll give up my gun when they pry it from my cold dead fingers” belt buckles lying around somewhere. I thought I had all the answers when it came to the gun debate. I was even a card carrying member of the NRA (although in fairness, there was a time when the NRA hadn’t lost its mind and primarily promoted gun knowledge and gun safety). Besides, who wants to be caught unprepared when the apocalypse comes to fruition? You’ve all watched the Walking Dead right? Do you want to be swinging an axe or stabbing a knife into those zombie heads, getting that gooey, bloody, brain gunk all over you? Hell no! I want to blow their fucking heads off with a .45 or a .357! By the way I’ve attached a picture below to prove it. Damn, I was trim and good looking!
Well, I’ve grown past that for the most part. In all my time on this earth I have never once found myself in a position where I’d wished I had a gun. Yeah, I know, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Or is it?
How many kids die every year because they got hold of a parent’s weapon and accidently killed themselves or others? I read somewhere that in 2018 it was around seventy-five kids under 12. That statistic alone should spark a national conversation but here, in the good old USA, seventy-five dead kids means nothing. NOTHING.
According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute an average of thirteen youths between the ages of 10 and 24 are the victims of a gun homicide….PER DAY.
I could go on but we’ve heard all the statistics. In fact, we’ve heard them so often that we’ve become numb to them. So, I’m going to delve into some complicated analysis. Hang on. It’s earth shattering stuff. These concepts are the result of countless hours of deep thought and contemplation on my part. I have a headache.
1- If you throw a baited hook in the water, you might catch a fish. If you throw 500 baited hooks in the water your chances of catching a fish increase dramatically.
2- If I stand at mid-court and try to drain a jump shot my chances are not good. If I take 50 of them, chances are I’ll make a few.
3- Many years ago, I was told that if you walk up to 10 random women and ask them if they want to have sex, one will reply in the affirmative. I can’t confirm this unfortunately. I CAN confirm that if you do it four or five times you’ll get slapped at least once and six to seven attempts will conjure up an unseen boyfriend and his posse of friends who will gleefully kick your ass.
4- If we placed one gun…any gun…. a single shot .22 or a .50 caliber BAR (look it up) in the middle of the country, the odds of a child, or an adult, dying from a gunshot wound, are next to nothing (unless we put it in the home of a lunatic). If we arm every adult in the country the dead bodies will pile up pretty quickly.
It’s a simple numbers game. It’s not complicated. Like I said earlier, common sense. Now, some of you are thinking “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. You’re 100% correct. People kill people. So, I would like to put you in a room with me. The bad news is I’m going to try to kill you. The good news is you get to pick my weapon. You can pick a 9mm semi-automatic handgun with 15 in the clip and one in the chamber, a samurai sword, a bowie knife, a baseball bat, or a wrench. Did anything register yet? Good for you! Wrenches don’t kill people, people kill people… but not usually with a fucking wrench.
But what about the second amendment? It’s my constitutional right to own a gun! To you I pose the question, how many years need to pass before a document starts to become dated? Do you think the founding fathers were thinking in terms of that 9mm above? Really? Did you think the day would come when we would hold the accumulated knowledge of the human race in the palm of our hands? There’s more computing power in your cell phone that there was in the computers that helped us get to the MOON. You didn’t see that coming did you? Well, the founding fathers didn’t see the high capacity semi-automatics coming either.
But let’s leave the 2nd amendment in place. It says that we have a constitutional right to own guns (and I’ll ignore the well-regulated militia part). It does not say we have a constitutional right to buy them at 7-11. Why, would any sane individual protest the implementation of sensible screening for gun ownership? How does putting a waiting period of a few weeks or even a month, disadvantage us? Don’t YOU want to be sure your crazy uncle Eddie doesn’t have access to a gun? He tried to stab the dog with a steak knife last thanksgiving. You want him to have a gun?
Things we wait a month for:
1. New Years Eve on November 30th.
2. Your lawn mower if you wait until spring to bring it in for servicing.
3. An appointment with a specialist for that nagging pain in your knee.
4. The full benefit of Preparation-H if you use it as directed.
We live through all of these don’t we? If it saves one child’s life, or any life, wouldn’t it be worth it? No? What if it was YOUR child? Let’s stop the insanity. Conservatives are always throwing these ridiculous memes at us about Australia’s crime rate going up when they outlawed certain weapons or how the highest crime rates are in areas where gun control is the most restrictive. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. Here are some numbers (by the way, Australia’s gun violence went DOWN substantially when they implemented the mandatory buy back program).
In France there are around 15 guns for every 100 people. They experienced less than three gun related deaths per 100,000 people in 2012. Spain has around 10 guns per 100 people. They see around 1 gun related death per 200,000 people. In Germany, there are 20 guns per 100 people. There you’ll find a death rate of 1 per 100,000. Great Britain has about one death per 400,000 and their gun to person ratio is 3 per 100,000. Now, how about the good old USA. How do we stack up? We own a staggering 120 guns per 100 people (think about that) and around 20 in 100,000 die each year from gun related deaths. You don’t have to be a genius to see the math here. You do however need to be pretty dense to argue about it.
I’m not advocating a change to that gun to person ratio (although it would be nice and the time will come so start getting used to the concept). What I am advocating for is common sense screening and education for gun ownership. If it takes a month, tough shit. It probably took you longer than that to get your drivers license. If you have to wait until your 21, too bad. You can’t legally drink until then either. If it saves ONE life, it’s worth it. Stop the insanity. I’m sick and tired of people dying. And please don’t argue with the logic. I will only make you look stupid. No one is coming for your guns (yet). Keep up fighting it though and sooner or later the blow back will be huge. In the meantime, I’m hoping all of our kids, and all of you, remain safe.
Until next time.
Peace
Well, I’ve grown past that for the most part. In all my time on this earth I have never once found myself in a position where I’d wished I had a gun. Yeah, I know, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Or is it?
How many kids die every year because they got hold of a parent’s weapon and accidently killed themselves or others? I read somewhere that in 2018 it was around seventy-five kids under 12. That statistic alone should spark a national conversation but here, in the good old USA, seventy-five dead kids means nothing. NOTHING.
According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute an average of thirteen youths between the ages of 10 and 24 are the victims of a gun homicide….PER DAY.
I could go on but we’ve heard all the statistics. In fact, we’ve heard them so often that we’ve become numb to them. So, I’m going to delve into some complicated analysis. Hang on. It’s earth shattering stuff. These concepts are the result of countless hours of deep thought and contemplation on my part. I have a headache.
1- If you throw a baited hook in the water, you might catch a fish. If you throw 500 baited hooks in the water your chances of catching a fish increase dramatically.
2- If I stand at mid-court and try to drain a jump shot my chances are not good. If I take 50 of them, chances are I’ll make a few.
3- Many years ago, I was told that if you walk up to 10 random women and ask them if they want to have sex, one will reply in the affirmative. I can’t confirm this unfortunately. I CAN confirm that if you do it four or five times you’ll get slapped at least once and six to seven attempts will conjure up an unseen boyfriend and his posse of friends who will gleefully kick your ass.
4- If we placed one gun…any gun…. a single shot .22 or a .50 caliber BAR (look it up) in the middle of the country, the odds of a child, or an adult, dying from a gunshot wound, are next to nothing (unless we put it in the home of a lunatic). If we arm every adult in the country the dead bodies will pile up pretty quickly.
It’s a simple numbers game. It’s not complicated. Like I said earlier, common sense. Now, some of you are thinking “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. You’re 100% correct. People kill people. So, I would like to put you in a room with me. The bad news is I’m going to try to kill you. The good news is you get to pick my weapon. You can pick a 9mm semi-automatic handgun with 15 in the clip and one in the chamber, a samurai sword, a bowie knife, a baseball bat, or a wrench. Did anything register yet? Good for you! Wrenches don’t kill people, people kill people… but not usually with a fucking wrench.
But what about the second amendment? It’s my constitutional right to own a gun! To you I pose the question, how many years need to pass before a document starts to become dated? Do you think the founding fathers were thinking in terms of that 9mm above? Really? Did you think the day would come when we would hold the accumulated knowledge of the human race in the palm of our hands? There’s more computing power in your cell phone that there was in the computers that helped us get to the MOON. You didn’t see that coming did you? Well, the founding fathers didn’t see the high capacity semi-automatics coming either.
But let’s leave the 2nd amendment in place. It says that we have a constitutional right to own guns (and I’ll ignore the well-regulated militia part). It does not say we have a constitutional right to buy them at 7-11. Why, would any sane individual protest the implementation of sensible screening for gun ownership? How does putting a waiting period of a few weeks or even a month, disadvantage us? Don’t YOU want to be sure your crazy uncle Eddie doesn’t have access to a gun? He tried to stab the dog with a steak knife last thanksgiving. You want him to have a gun?
Things we wait a month for:
1. New Years Eve on November 30th.
2. Your lawn mower if you wait until spring to bring it in for servicing.
3. An appointment with a specialist for that nagging pain in your knee.
4. The full benefit of Preparation-H if you use it as directed.
We live through all of these don’t we? If it saves one child’s life, or any life, wouldn’t it be worth it? No? What if it was YOUR child? Let’s stop the insanity. Conservatives are always throwing these ridiculous memes at us about Australia’s crime rate going up when they outlawed certain weapons or how the highest crime rates are in areas where gun control is the most restrictive. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. Here are some numbers (by the way, Australia’s gun violence went DOWN substantially when they implemented the mandatory buy back program).
In France there are around 15 guns for every 100 people. They experienced less than three gun related deaths per 100,000 people in 2012. Spain has around 10 guns per 100 people. They see around 1 gun related death per 200,000 people. In Germany, there are 20 guns per 100 people. There you’ll find a death rate of 1 per 100,000. Great Britain has about one death per 400,000 and their gun to person ratio is 3 per 100,000. Now, how about the good old USA. How do we stack up? We own a staggering 120 guns per 100 people (think about that) and around 20 in 100,000 die each year from gun related deaths. You don’t have to be a genius to see the math here. You do however need to be pretty dense to argue about it.
I’m not advocating a change to that gun to person ratio (although it would be nice and the time will come so start getting used to the concept). What I am advocating for is common sense screening and education for gun ownership. If it takes a month, tough shit. It probably took you longer than that to get your drivers license. If you have to wait until your 21, too bad. You can’t legally drink until then either. If it saves ONE life, it’s worth it. Stop the insanity. I’m sick and tired of people dying. And please don’t argue with the logic. I will only make you look stupid. No one is coming for your guns (yet). Keep up fighting it though and sooner or later the blow back will be huge. In the meantime, I’m hoping all of our kids, and all of you, remain safe.
Until next time.
Peace
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Say Duh Bobo....
May 3, 2019
Who Supports The Dump?
I’m sure everyone who doesn’t support the current POTUS has spent some time ruminating on this question. I sure have. With some individuals it’s obvious but how otherwise seemingly intelligent, compassionate, people can sit back and insist that the guy is legit and doing a great job will go down as one of the greatest mysteries of the 21st century. I know a lot of people who, based on what I’ve observed about them, shouldn’t be willing to even consider the guy as the leader of the free world. But they do. What follows are some of my observations. There’s nothing earth shattering here. It’s all been spoken of before. I’ll probably lose a couple or friends over this but frankly, I don’t care anymore. The gloves came off a long time ago when it comes to this shit so, “whatever”.
Let’s start with the obvious but not spend to much time on it. It’s been discussed substantially and analyzed repeatedly over the course of the campaign and presidency, but I’d be remiss to not give it a nod here. Stupidity.
Not all conservatives are stupid, but most stupid people are conservative. Sorry stupid people but it’s true. Your ability to analyze, research, comprehend, think critically, formulate conclusions based on fact, are all sorely lacking. Your analogies flat out suck. This results in the ease with which you can be manipulated and made to believe what is neither true nor beneficial to you or our society.
Can anyone cite an example of when a liberal said walls are evil? Maybe someone has but I’ve never heard of it or understood that to be the issue. The issue has been that walls are expensive and ineffectual when stretched over 2000 miles and liberals don’t want to pay for them. Remember those drooling idiots who were orgasmic over the prospect that Mexico was going to pay for the wall? They were so tickled with glee that you could see their missing teeth. I don’t think any liberals would give a shit one way or the other about the wall if Mexico paid for it. Have at it.
And we don't abort newborns. A newborn is, by definition, BORN. You can’t abort what’s already been born. And if you can name one liberal that supports infanticide, have at it. Are you really SO misinformed that you believe that? You want to know what could be considered a form of infanticide? Not giving low income families the means to care for newborns. You yell and scream about abortion, then you yell and scream about delivered children whose parents need financial help to raise them. Make up your addled minds. Do you want to care for them or do you want to abort them? If you can’t make a decision, stay the fuck out of it. In fact, you should stay the fuck out of it anyway. It’s none of your business. P.S. If you haven’t adopted any unwanted or orphaned children, you have absolutely no right to play the pro-life card. I shall mock you incessantly.
Here’s another great example. There’s a meme out there with a picture of the conservative God of the Sun, Ronald Reagan. Alongside the picture is this quote attributed to him. “Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the people must be stopped, by force if necessary.”
As soon as I read this I knew it smelled funny. As a marginally intelligent person (not bragging, I’m not a genius and know a lot of people smarter than I am. Plus,for the purpose of this example the bar is pretty low.) I looked it up immediately. You guessed it. Not Reagan. Know who? Karl Marx that’s who. For a tribe of people who despise socialism and communism as passionately as these people do, they sure seem to embrace the Russians and their leaders. It begs the question, “why don’t these bone heads look this shit up for themselves?” No, really. Why don’t they? I’m asking you. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Then there’s this next one.
"No politician who supports gun control should get armed protection paid for by those he is trying to disarm."
Here, some dimwit tries to draw a twisted parallel between an attempt to keep guns out of the hands of those that shouldn’t have them, and the protection afforded by those who are highly trained and most certainly should have them. Is there a liberal politician out there lobbying for disarming the Secret Service? The police? The military? These people can’t think. And these are just o couple of examples taken from HUNDREDS.
I could go on and on about stupidity but instead I’ll share this link. It perfectly exhibits how incredibly easy it is to manipulate these people. This guy made up stories and the red hats bought them hook, line, and sinker.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/fake-news-donald-trump-supporters-gullible-believe-anything-barack-obama-paedophile-hillary-clinton-a7623441.html
Next is hate. Hate has always been, and likely will always be. Early in our history we hated African Americans so much that we sold them as chattel and beat them if they didn’t perform to our liking. We hated Native Americans to the point of genocide. We hated the Chinese. We hated the Irish. We hated Italians. We hated the Jews. We hated the French after 9/11. We hate Mexicans and South Americans and REALLY hate Muslims. We hate the gay community and those that support them. As a society, we just seem to get off on hate. Of course this isn’t really true. It’s a specific segment of society we’re dealing with here. What causes all this hate? That’s right, stupidity.
For the most part, the haters are just exhibiting the stupidity already discussed. They believe people can be inferior based on skin color. They believe people can be murderers based on religion. They believe intelligence can be equated with wealth. They believe all sorts of shit that isn’t true. But I lied. It’s not just stupidity that drives the hate. It’s also fear. These people are dripping fear. For all the tough talk, they’re really just a passel of pussies. They need walls. They need guns. They need a military that could destroy the world ten times over. They’re afraid gay people will make their children gay. They’re afraid foreigners will hurt them. They’re afraid the liberals will turn the country into a haven for communists. They fear illegal aliens who will rape and plunder, deranged sexual perverts running naked through the streets with their sons and daughters. They fear the government will come and take their guns. They just live in constant fear. And they say we’re the snowflakes? But, I lied again.
All this fear is also based solely on their stupidity. None of that shit is anything to be afraid of. The things they fear have been misrepresented, misunderstood, or just plain made up! What these dolts should be afraid of is climate change.
Who is responsible for seeding the minds of these sheep? Those conservatives who are greedy money hungry pigs. They don’t give two shits about these poor lemmings. They just want to control them through the fear that will keep them voting against their own best interests. These are the same people who want you to believe “trickle down” is a thing. If they can keep their flock believing that sooner or later the money will reach them, they can keep them following orders. The dum-dums aren’t sharp enough to look at history and realize that shit doesn’t happen. When you increase wealth at the top, the top gets wealthier. That’s it. They buy nicer homes. They buy bigger boats. They send their kids away to expensive schools. And they stick together like glue! Wealthy conservatives might as well form a gang. They do all the things gangs do. They just do it metaphorically or utilize questionably legal methods to achieve the same results.
But, let’s look at those greedy little shits. What would happen if they weren’t so greedy? Consider for a moment how middle and lower class families would respond to a higher pay day and lower taxes? They’d spend a lot of it wouldn’t they? They would want nicer things. They would want things they never could afford before. They would spend more on goods and services and that money flows UP. That’s right. Trickle UP is a thing. Not only would they benefit, but those above them who control manufacturing, energy, services, etc., would benefit as well. I don’t have the time or the required skills to calculate how much of a benefit the big wigs would realize. I suspect it would be substantial and provide more than the tax breaks they currently realize. I do know this. I have gone back 60+ years or so and examined economic indicators and stock market performance. I can confidently state that with maybe one exception, the economy under Democrats has outperformed the economy under Republicans. Don’t take my word for it. Look it up. Who usually benefits under Democrats? Everybody, that’s who. So, an argument can be made that these rich, greedy, pricks are stupid too. If they just seeded the lower classes with some of those tax cuts they could watch the money trickle up to them.
Gee, they’re all stupid! That’s it. We don’t need to complicate it. Some of them have a better command of the English language and might be better at math but they’re stupid. If they weren’t, this orange piece of shit wouldn’t have gotten elected in the first place. It took a nation plagued with stupidity to get this guy in the Whitehouse and that is something truly frightening.
Peace
Common Sense
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
I'm BAAAAACK!
OK. I've been off the blogging bender for a long, long, time. Basically, I'm just reintroducing myself to the platform, the process, and the mechanics of getting in here and posting. It's been so long that it took me 15 minutes to find it! I finally referenced bikini barista bellevue, based on the fact that I knew I had posted about that before. What came up was an article from November 2009 which gave the name of the stand... Knotty Bodies. I googled that which led me to an article from France 24 in which my blog was quoted when trashing the news of it's closing. I have no idea why France 24 was reporting on the closure of a latte stand in Bellevue WA. but, I was excited as hell to be in a French publication! Thankfully, it actually provided a link to the blog and here I am! Hey, France 24! Let me reciprocate in kind! https://observers.france24.com/en/20091125-bikini-baristas-booed-bellevue-knotty-bodies-washington
So, now I've found it. The Voice of Reason. Boy do we ever need a voice of reason these days huh? I look forward to espressing (that's a joke, get it?) my opinions, sharing my observations, and releasing my pent up rage over the current condition in what used to be the #1 country in the world. Be advised... I can be crude, rude, and vulgar as hell. But I don't view it as vulgarity. I view it as punctuation.
I look forward to posting regularly. It's therapy....
Hugs,
Common Sense (You can call me Mr. Sense or The Other Common)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Do, Re, Mi......
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here. I’ve started on several occasions but frankly, as I progressed it dawned on me that I was beginning to sound like a broken record (my son once came to me and asked “Dad? What are those ‘big CDs’ in the boxes out in the garage?). If you are too young to know, records would sometimes get scratched in a way that forced them to repeat a short section, over and over again…,thus the expression, and the reality that you are getting old if you need to explain that.
Anyway, I came upon something that inspired me. It made me ask myself why more people can’t be like the guy I’m going to tell you about and those he worked with. This is not an original idea (at least I don’t think he did it first) but it could be the first time it was done remotely. He talks about how it brought a tear to his eye and I can understand why. Not that I would ever cry over something like this. But I can certainly see how it could happen (wink, wink).
In stark contrast (well, yeah I need to do a little broken record set up for the story), we have Marilyn Davenport, an elected member of the Orange County (CA) Republican Central Committee, insisting she’s not racist after sending a photo shopped picture in an email depicting Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. She says, and I quote, "I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth." Oh yeah, one other thing… along with the photo is the tag line…” Now you know why… no birth certificate”. I’m not going to reprint the photo here. You can Google it if you want to. I will mention that I have blogged about these people associated with the Tea Party (I forgot to mention she’s a Tea Party activist). As I recall I put forward the proposition that these people were ignorant and racist. A lot of people took issue with that. Well, for all of you who did, I present to you Marilyn Davenport, the poster child for ignorance and racism. After you Google her you can read her ridiculously weak apology too.
Some other things I’ve wanted to touch on include the Republican lame ass presentation of ineffectual budget cuts at the expense of just about everyone reading this. I’ve been dying to discuss the fiasco in Wisconsin. I was tempted to touch on an article I read about our way overblown military budget and the fact that the Republicans don’t want to cut any fat there. One thing on that… did you know that a new aircraft carrier is almost completed and due to be launched in 2014? It’s named the Gerald R. Ford. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke doesn’t it? “You steer it to port and it moves to starboard”. It’s no joke. It cost around $15 billion. Then there’s another one that has just been started (not named yet) that is due to be launched in 2020. That one will also cost around $15 billion. That’s $30 billion for two aircraft carriers for a military that is moving towards drone technology. We already have eleven of them! Will we even be using manned jets for combat in 2020? Do we need more aircraft carriers? According to the article we currently spend about the same amount of money on our military as the rest of the world combined! Yeah, that’s right. The rest of the world combined.
OK… so I need to dwell on this just a bit. First, the “Gerald R. Ford”? Really? I think he was a nice guy. I really do. But he didn’t even serve a full term in office. In fact, he wasn’t even elected! He was appointed VP when Spiro Agnew resigned, and then after the demise of “Tricky Dick” Nixon, he became the “Pres”. What the fuck are the criteria for having an aircraft carrier named after you? Have they gone through every dead president and finally HAD to name one the Gerald R. Ford? They name carriers after famous battles, famous historical navel vessels, cities. Gerald Ford? That wasn’t even the guy’s real name! He was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. When his mother left his father she wound up marrying a Gerald R. Ford and they started calling young Leslie Gerald because Leslie senior was an abusive ass hole. So, he was not elected to office, did not serve a full term as VP OR President, and he never in his life had an original name! I’m sure his mother had redeeming qualities but independent creativity apparently wasn’t one of them. Gerald was the butt of many a joke but can you imagine how bad it could have been if his mom had stayed with her first husband? Didn’t anyone see the problem with a person who’s middle and last name were Lynch King?
Anyway, that military budget... We spend about the same amount of money as the rest of the world combined? And we’ve been in Iraq how long? Afghanistan how long? We got our ass kicked in Viet Nam because the Pentagon felt a need to fight with one hand tied behind our backs (at least that is how a Viet Nam veteran described it to me… it was an unpopular war… a political anathema…and I’m sure that had something to do with it). My point is do we really need to spend as much as the rest of the world for the results we’ve been getting? Who’s running this show anyway? We spend as much as the rest of the world and Iraqis are killing us with bombs held together with duct tape and super glue? Something is seriously fucked up with the management of our military.
One last thing on the economy and deficit. There’s an outfit out there called Unity for a Fair Economy. Basically, it’s rich people who aren’t assholes. They believe that richer Americans SHOULD bear a slightly higher tax burden than the average American. I have this argument with some conservative friends on a regular basis but they never get it (can't imagine why). One member of UFE says that he made over 200 grand last year and only paid around 2 grand in taxes. He poses the very valid question of whether or not it’s fair that after deductions he winds up paying around one percent of his income? Of course it isn’t. But your typical conservative will argue that it is. After all, it’s rich people that keep the wheels of our economy turning. Bull shit. It’s the rest of us spending money that do that.
Let me get back on track. That “thing” I was telling you about at the beginning of this post is a project that was put together by a guy named Eric Whitacre. I had never heard of him. He’s a contemporary classical musician and composer. The video I’m going to point you to is rather long by modern “You Tube” standards (about 15 minutes) but it’s well worth the time. What Mr. Whitacre has been doing is putting together “virtual choirs”. You audition by sending him a video of yourself. Another guy (who’s name I don’t remember) does the final editing. The final product is pretty amazing and I strongly encourage you to watch the entire clip. But, that in and of itself, is not my point…
My point is that this work exemplifies why we should NOT be defunding the arts. This project vividly demonstrates what COULD happen if people decided to work together and not in violent opposition to one another. What might the world look like if this type of effort were put into world peace? What might the American economy be like if Republicans and Democrats worked towards a common goal and not two entirely different ones? And finally, do you think Mr. Whitacre is a Republican or a Democrat? I don’t know the answer to that question but I know where I’d lay my money down on a bet.
Here's the link. Do yourself a favor and take the full 15 minutes to enjoy it.
http://www.wimp.com/choirvoices/
Peace,
Common Sense
Anyway, I came upon something that inspired me. It made me ask myself why more people can’t be like the guy I’m going to tell you about and those he worked with. This is not an original idea (at least I don’t think he did it first) but it could be the first time it was done remotely. He talks about how it brought a tear to his eye and I can understand why. Not that I would ever cry over something like this. But I can certainly see how it could happen (wink, wink).
In stark contrast (well, yeah I need to do a little broken record set up for the story), we have Marilyn Davenport, an elected member of the Orange County (CA) Republican Central Committee, insisting she’s not racist after sending a photo shopped picture in an email depicting Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. She says, and I quote, "I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth." Oh yeah, one other thing… along with the photo is the tag line…” Now you know why… no birth certificate”. I’m not going to reprint the photo here. You can Google it if you want to. I will mention that I have blogged about these people associated with the Tea Party (I forgot to mention she’s a Tea Party activist). As I recall I put forward the proposition that these people were ignorant and racist. A lot of people took issue with that. Well, for all of you who did, I present to you Marilyn Davenport, the poster child for ignorance and racism. After you Google her you can read her ridiculously weak apology too.
Some other things I’ve wanted to touch on include the Republican lame ass presentation of ineffectual budget cuts at the expense of just about everyone reading this. I’ve been dying to discuss the fiasco in Wisconsin. I was tempted to touch on an article I read about our way overblown military budget and the fact that the Republicans don’t want to cut any fat there. One thing on that… did you know that a new aircraft carrier is almost completed and due to be launched in 2014? It’s named the Gerald R. Ford. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke doesn’t it? “You steer it to port and it moves to starboard”. It’s no joke. It cost around $15 billion. Then there’s another one that has just been started (not named yet) that is due to be launched in 2020. That one will also cost around $15 billion. That’s $30 billion for two aircraft carriers for a military that is moving towards drone technology. We already have eleven of them! Will we even be using manned jets for combat in 2020? Do we need more aircraft carriers? According to the article we currently spend about the same amount of money on our military as the rest of the world combined! Yeah, that’s right. The rest of the world combined.
OK… so I need to dwell on this just a bit. First, the “Gerald R. Ford”? Really? I think he was a nice guy. I really do. But he didn’t even serve a full term in office. In fact, he wasn’t even elected! He was appointed VP when Spiro Agnew resigned, and then after the demise of “Tricky Dick” Nixon, he became the “Pres”. What the fuck are the criteria for having an aircraft carrier named after you? Have they gone through every dead president and finally HAD to name one the Gerald R. Ford? They name carriers after famous battles, famous historical navel vessels, cities. Gerald Ford? That wasn’t even the guy’s real name! He was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. When his mother left his father she wound up marrying a Gerald R. Ford and they started calling young Leslie Gerald because Leslie senior was an abusive ass hole. So, he was not elected to office, did not serve a full term as VP OR President, and he never in his life had an original name! I’m sure his mother had redeeming qualities but independent creativity apparently wasn’t one of them. Gerald was the butt of many a joke but can you imagine how bad it could have been if his mom had stayed with her first husband? Didn’t anyone see the problem with a person who’s middle and last name were Lynch King?
Anyway, that military budget... We spend about the same amount of money as the rest of the world combined? And we’ve been in Iraq how long? Afghanistan how long? We got our ass kicked in Viet Nam because the Pentagon felt a need to fight with one hand tied behind our backs (at least that is how a Viet Nam veteran described it to me… it was an unpopular war… a political anathema…and I’m sure that had something to do with it). My point is do we really need to spend as much as the rest of the world for the results we’ve been getting? Who’s running this show anyway? We spend as much as the rest of the world and Iraqis are killing us with bombs held together with duct tape and super glue? Something is seriously fucked up with the management of our military.
One last thing on the economy and deficit. There’s an outfit out there called Unity for a Fair Economy. Basically, it’s rich people who aren’t assholes. They believe that richer Americans SHOULD bear a slightly higher tax burden than the average American. I have this argument with some conservative friends on a regular basis but they never get it (can't imagine why). One member of UFE says that he made over 200 grand last year and only paid around 2 grand in taxes. He poses the very valid question of whether or not it’s fair that after deductions he winds up paying around one percent of his income? Of course it isn’t. But your typical conservative will argue that it is. After all, it’s rich people that keep the wheels of our economy turning. Bull shit. It’s the rest of us spending money that do that.
Let me get back on track. That “thing” I was telling you about at the beginning of this post is a project that was put together by a guy named Eric Whitacre. I had never heard of him. He’s a contemporary classical musician and composer. The video I’m going to point you to is rather long by modern “You Tube” standards (about 15 minutes) but it’s well worth the time. What Mr. Whitacre has been doing is putting together “virtual choirs”. You audition by sending him a video of yourself. Another guy (who’s name I don’t remember) does the final editing. The final product is pretty amazing and I strongly encourage you to watch the entire clip. But, that in and of itself, is not my point…
My point is that this work exemplifies why we should NOT be defunding the arts. This project vividly demonstrates what COULD happen if people decided to work together and not in violent opposition to one another. What might the world look like if this type of effort were put into world peace? What might the American economy be like if Republicans and Democrats worked towards a common goal and not two entirely different ones? And finally, do you think Mr. Whitacre is a Republican or a Democrat? I don’t know the answer to that question but I know where I’d lay my money down on a bet.
Here's the link. Do yourself a favor and take the full 15 minutes to enjoy it.
http://www.wimp.com/choirvoices/
Peace,
Common Sense
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Tragedy of Tragically Turning Tragedy Into Rhetoric
It’s been way too long since I’ve put any thoughts to paper and I guess that, plus the abundance of material, has given me the overwhelming urge to write again. So let’s start talking about the recent tragedy.
First and foremost, my heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those killed or injured in the Tucson shootings. It is a sad reality of life that in a free society, nut jobs are sometimes left to their own devices and those devices turn out to be violent (and senseless). Let’s hope for a speedy and full recovery for those that were injured and that the relatives and close friends of those we have lost find peace. These heinous acts of violence really are an affront to all of us. We need to stand together in solidarity and send a message that this type of violence is condemned.
But of course we won’t. Sit back and ponder how the news surrounding these events has unfolded. Within about a day of the breaking story I began to read intimations that there would be talk of the vitriolic right wing rhetoric being a possible cause of the incident. In most of what I read it was specified that we didn’t KNOW the motive and there was no PROOF that this whacko acted on anything other than his mentally unstable “voices”. The right immediately began to wail that the “left leaning” media was accusing them of instigating the tragedy.
Now wait a minute. Although I’m not crazy about the media even bringing up the possibility that this guy was motivated by anything emanating from the right without evidence, the reporting of the fact that it would be examined is border line news. But what happened next? The right immediately went into heavy defense and counter attack mode. Sarah Palin was one of the first to fire a salvo. She sent out her condolences while stating she abhors violence. She also had her now controversial website, “targeting” those that should be concentrated on during the mid terms with an actual gun sight, taken down pretty quickly. Now, here is where it gets interesting in my mind.
In the face of this horrific event the argument between left and right takes over the story and in some ways actually becomes the story. The grieving families and friends of these victims now not only have to deal with the emotional trauma, but they have to watch as the argument over political rhetoric takes on a life of its own. I think both parties should be ashamed of themselves…. But as usual, the right more than the left. Here’s why.
As stated previously, the initial reaction by the right was really directed more towards innuendo. The first articles I read simply stated that there would be probing into whether or not something coming out of the right gave this guy a push before he pulled the trigger. I didn’t read anything really accusatory until after the snowball started rolling down hill. What I heard immediately following the innuendo was indignation and counter punching from the right. How dare the left accuse them of causing this. Frankly, when I read that I was unaware the left had accused anyone of anything. But, as that snowball continued to roll the left started punching back and transcended the innuendo by pointing fingers. I really think it’s time for everyone to step back and take a deep breath. The right should just shut the fuck up because they don’t have a leg to stand on here. The left needs to back off because they fuel the flames of hate AND lower themselves to the level of the right! Hey, leave the bashing of the right to me and you can keep your noses clean!
Getting back to Sarah Palin. She abhors violence? Really? She hunts doesn’t she? I mean that’s pretty violent isn’t it? And no, I’m not anti hunting, nor am I judging her for being a hunter. Just don’t tell me you abhor violence when you are known to take part in violent activities! Hey, I like a good Clint Eastwood movie as much as the next guy. There are a handful of people out there (let’s assume big hands) that I would likely enjoy kicking the shit out of! But I’m not telling you I abhor violence. Frankly, under certain circumstances, I kind of like violence. So Palin is lying right out of the blocks.
Then there is that asshole Bill O’Reilly. Talk about someone I’d like to kick the shit out of (See? I told you I like violence). This guy’s nose grows every time he opens his mouth. Go to You Tube or Google and do a search of Bill O’Reilly lying. He’s a lying sack of shit. So anyway, he does this over the top, melodramatic castigation of Paul Krugman and a piece Krugman did on the divisive climate we have fostered and the conservative roll in it. O’Reilly has the unmitigated gall to call Krugman a liar! You have got to be kidding me! I think Krugman makes the right really nervous because he’s intelligent, well credentialed, and if the morons in this country ever learn enough English to know what he’s saying the right will be in very deep shit.
Getting back to the point (I had to go off on O’Reilly…. I fucking hate that guy), what the right seems to be missing (and maybe the left too) is that this isn’t really about whether or not right wing rhetoric is what set this guy off. It’s about a fucking lunatic with a gun. But, if you feel a need to bring rhetoric into the argument, it’s about whether or not lying, misleading, vitriolic verbal vomit MIGHT have set this guy off. And if not this guy, the next guy. We already had one act of violence by a fruitcake who said he got his direction from Glenn Beck (another guy I would thoroughly enjoy kicking the shit out of). Is it really that important what sets off this guy or that guy. Not really. What’s important is CAN it set off this guy or that guy. If the answer is yes, THEN STOP DOING IT. It’s the responsible thing to do.
But the GOP stopped being responsible a long time ago. If they were responsible, they wouldn’t fight so hard to keep the Bush Tax Cuts for the very rich. If they were responsible they would have worked with the left to formulate meaningful healthcare reform. If they were responsible they would speak out against the lies that come out of FOX News. If they were responsible they would unilaterally condemn the infantile rants that get hurled at the moronic element of our society by the Limbaughs (yet ANTOTHER guy that would be fun to kick the shit out of) et al. Should I go on? They would target something meaningful as they regain control of Congress and not the health care bill which there is NO chance of them repealing. They would acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, the Democrats have accomplished SOMETHING in the last two years. You have to be brain dead to not see things as having improved from when THE MORON left office. They would, at least every once in awhile, sit back and say “mea culpa” (the left might do this a little more often too… the just don’t have as many opportunities).
I could continue but what’s the point. In the wake of multiple deaths and injuries in Tucson, the right is arguing their innocence when frankly, we don’t know if they are innocent or not. Hey, the guy with the gun is the only one we can really point fingers at. But to sit back and say things like gun sights on a map, quotes like I want my constituents “armed and dangerous” (that Michelle Bachman is a hoot isn’t she?), and other like minded analogies are OK, or not potentially dangerous is both ignorant and irresponsible. If just ONE mentally deranged individual goes on a shooting bender because Michelle “I’m so stupid that you can’t believe just how stupid I am until you hear me open my mouth” Bachman says she wants you “armed and dangerous” isn’t that one too many? If there’s ANY chance this Tucson dimwit acted based on rhetoric… any chance at all….shouldn’t that rhetoric be stopped? No? You don’t think so? Well, could you explain that to the families of the victims of this heinous act? I’d be curious to hear your views and I’m sure they would be too.
A final note on gun control. I have owned guns. I do not want the government telling me I no longer have the right to own them if I choose to. But I DO want the government to get off their collective asses and do something about the PROCESS of buying guns. They need to tell the NRA to shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down! I’m not 100% sure what the process is now but from what I understand it hasn’t changed much, if at all, from when I last purchased a gun (and that was probably around 35 years ago). There are federal requirements that are consistent throughout the country and then (and this is where it gets dicey) there are state requirements that vary from state to state. Fuck the states. I don’t want Utah’s maniac driving over to Washington on a political hunting trip. Hell, I don’t want Utah’s (or anyone else’s) maniacs driving over to Washington with a gun period! Not that Washington has any heavy duty gun control going on that I’m aware of. But that’s not the point. Currently the federal requirements are a joke. You fill out a questionnaire that asks you things like “Ever been convicted…? Ever been a psycho….? Ever had the urge to take some target practice in a shopping mall…?” You know, stuff like that. Like I said, it’s a joke.
State control of guns is worthless too unless we are going to start restricting travel across state lines. That’s not going to happen. We are a free country. Besides, we can’t even police our national borders. Forget about states. So the Feds need to step it up and create federally mandated gun control laws that outweigh and outrank anything the states can come up with. If the states want to fight that fine. Let the states have their own standards of gun control but with the caveat that they are going to be required to set up, at their own expense, inspection stations at EVERY point where one of their roads, or a federal road, crosses their border into another state. AND, they will be required, at their own expense, to man a state police “border patrol division” tasked with monitoring the space between those roads. They will be responsible for KEEPING THEIR GUNS IN THEIR OWN STATE. If they don’t want to do that, they will adhere to the federal requirements.
Those federal requirements need to have some teeth. This may take awhile to put into play but it will be well worth it. First and foremost, state and federal criminal data bases will need to be kept up to date and made accessible to any retail outlet that sells firearms. If a name pops up on that database, game over, you can’t buy a gun. Next, to be an accredited mental health facility you will need to enter all patients into a federal data base. Same deal. If your name pops up no sale. But what about privacy issues you cry? How can we allow a mental health patients confidentiality to be compromised? If you don’t want your privacy invaded, DON’T TRY TO BUY A GUN. I also think if we are going to trust you to own a gun, you need to be registered to vote. It’s another point of reference for tracking you AND it at least tells us that you are engaged in the way the country YOU LIVE IN is run.
After you “pass” the screening in the store, your information would be forwarded on to a federal division that investigates your background. Basically the same thing that happens at the store level but more thorough. The store is a “pre-screening” if you will. The federal investigation is the real deal. They would be required to run your name, address, social security number, and whatever other identifying information we can come up with, including aliases, and do everything possible to insure that you are a responsible, law abiding, level headed, reasonably sane adult. Then, and only then, would you be approved for gun ownership. Any retail outlet that tried to screw with this system would immediately lose their license to sell firearms. Selling of firearms at “gun shows” or privately without going through a licensed gun dealer (you go in with your gun, the person who wants to purchase the gun, and they run the check on BOTH OF YOU AND the gun) would immediately become illegal. If a serial number from a gun that YOU were the registered owner for turned up in the hands of someone else and there was no record of theft, YOU would be guilty of a crime.
Yeah, the plan needs work but you know I’m right. If you have nothing to hide, and you aren’t a fucking crack pot, you can’t object to this can you? Hey, I’m Common Sense and so is this! We can stop the argument over the Second Amendment immediately and just implement a process that does everything possible to keep guns out of the hands of those that would use them in ways we don’t want them to. Will it eliminate all of our gun problems. No. Will it radically reduce them? Yes, of course it will.
Now, if we can just do something to radically reduce the maniacal drivel that comes out of the mouths of the moronic conservative segment of our society we may REALLY be onto something.
Peace,
Common Sense
First and foremost, my heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those killed or injured in the Tucson shootings. It is a sad reality of life that in a free society, nut jobs are sometimes left to their own devices and those devices turn out to be violent (and senseless). Let’s hope for a speedy and full recovery for those that were injured and that the relatives and close friends of those we have lost find peace. These heinous acts of violence really are an affront to all of us. We need to stand together in solidarity and send a message that this type of violence is condemned.
But of course we won’t. Sit back and ponder how the news surrounding these events has unfolded. Within about a day of the breaking story I began to read intimations that there would be talk of the vitriolic right wing rhetoric being a possible cause of the incident. In most of what I read it was specified that we didn’t KNOW the motive and there was no PROOF that this whacko acted on anything other than his mentally unstable “voices”. The right immediately began to wail that the “left leaning” media was accusing them of instigating the tragedy.
Now wait a minute. Although I’m not crazy about the media even bringing up the possibility that this guy was motivated by anything emanating from the right without evidence, the reporting of the fact that it would be examined is border line news. But what happened next? The right immediately went into heavy defense and counter attack mode. Sarah Palin was one of the first to fire a salvo. She sent out her condolences while stating she abhors violence. She also had her now controversial website, “targeting” those that should be concentrated on during the mid terms with an actual gun sight, taken down pretty quickly. Now, here is where it gets interesting in my mind.
In the face of this horrific event the argument between left and right takes over the story and in some ways actually becomes the story. The grieving families and friends of these victims now not only have to deal with the emotional trauma, but they have to watch as the argument over political rhetoric takes on a life of its own. I think both parties should be ashamed of themselves…. But as usual, the right more than the left. Here’s why.
As stated previously, the initial reaction by the right was really directed more towards innuendo. The first articles I read simply stated that there would be probing into whether or not something coming out of the right gave this guy a push before he pulled the trigger. I didn’t read anything really accusatory until after the snowball started rolling down hill. What I heard immediately following the innuendo was indignation and counter punching from the right. How dare the left accuse them of causing this. Frankly, when I read that I was unaware the left had accused anyone of anything. But, as that snowball continued to roll the left started punching back and transcended the innuendo by pointing fingers. I really think it’s time for everyone to step back and take a deep breath. The right should just shut the fuck up because they don’t have a leg to stand on here. The left needs to back off because they fuel the flames of hate AND lower themselves to the level of the right! Hey, leave the bashing of the right to me and you can keep your noses clean!
Getting back to Sarah Palin. She abhors violence? Really? She hunts doesn’t she? I mean that’s pretty violent isn’t it? And no, I’m not anti hunting, nor am I judging her for being a hunter. Just don’t tell me you abhor violence when you are known to take part in violent activities! Hey, I like a good Clint Eastwood movie as much as the next guy. There are a handful of people out there (let’s assume big hands) that I would likely enjoy kicking the shit out of! But I’m not telling you I abhor violence. Frankly, under certain circumstances, I kind of like violence. So Palin is lying right out of the blocks.
Then there is that asshole Bill O’Reilly. Talk about someone I’d like to kick the shit out of (See? I told you I like violence). This guy’s nose grows every time he opens his mouth. Go to You Tube or Google and do a search of Bill O’Reilly lying. He’s a lying sack of shit. So anyway, he does this over the top, melodramatic castigation of Paul Krugman and a piece Krugman did on the divisive climate we have fostered and the conservative roll in it. O’Reilly has the unmitigated gall to call Krugman a liar! You have got to be kidding me! I think Krugman makes the right really nervous because he’s intelligent, well credentialed, and if the morons in this country ever learn enough English to know what he’s saying the right will be in very deep shit.
Getting back to the point (I had to go off on O’Reilly…. I fucking hate that guy), what the right seems to be missing (and maybe the left too) is that this isn’t really about whether or not right wing rhetoric is what set this guy off. It’s about a fucking lunatic with a gun. But, if you feel a need to bring rhetoric into the argument, it’s about whether or not lying, misleading, vitriolic verbal vomit MIGHT have set this guy off. And if not this guy, the next guy. We already had one act of violence by a fruitcake who said he got his direction from Glenn Beck (another guy I would thoroughly enjoy kicking the shit out of). Is it really that important what sets off this guy or that guy. Not really. What’s important is CAN it set off this guy or that guy. If the answer is yes, THEN STOP DOING IT. It’s the responsible thing to do.
But the GOP stopped being responsible a long time ago. If they were responsible, they wouldn’t fight so hard to keep the Bush Tax Cuts for the very rich. If they were responsible they would have worked with the left to formulate meaningful healthcare reform. If they were responsible they would speak out against the lies that come out of FOX News. If they were responsible they would unilaterally condemn the infantile rants that get hurled at the moronic element of our society by the Limbaughs (yet ANTOTHER guy that would be fun to kick the shit out of) et al. Should I go on? They would target something meaningful as they regain control of Congress and not the health care bill which there is NO chance of them repealing. They would acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, the Democrats have accomplished SOMETHING in the last two years. You have to be brain dead to not see things as having improved from when THE MORON left office. They would, at least every once in awhile, sit back and say “mea culpa” (the left might do this a little more often too… the just don’t have as many opportunities).
I could continue but what’s the point. In the wake of multiple deaths and injuries in Tucson, the right is arguing their innocence when frankly, we don’t know if they are innocent or not. Hey, the guy with the gun is the only one we can really point fingers at. But to sit back and say things like gun sights on a map, quotes like I want my constituents “armed and dangerous” (that Michelle Bachman is a hoot isn’t she?), and other like minded analogies are OK, or not potentially dangerous is both ignorant and irresponsible. If just ONE mentally deranged individual goes on a shooting bender because Michelle “I’m so stupid that you can’t believe just how stupid I am until you hear me open my mouth” Bachman says she wants you “armed and dangerous” isn’t that one too many? If there’s ANY chance this Tucson dimwit acted based on rhetoric… any chance at all….shouldn’t that rhetoric be stopped? No? You don’t think so? Well, could you explain that to the families of the victims of this heinous act? I’d be curious to hear your views and I’m sure they would be too.
A final note on gun control. I have owned guns. I do not want the government telling me I no longer have the right to own them if I choose to. But I DO want the government to get off their collective asses and do something about the PROCESS of buying guns. They need to tell the NRA to shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down! I’m not 100% sure what the process is now but from what I understand it hasn’t changed much, if at all, from when I last purchased a gun (and that was probably around 35 years ago). There are federal requirements that are consistent throughout the country and then (and this is where it gets dicey) there are state requirements that vary from state to state. Fuck the states. I don’t want Utah’s maniac driving over to Washington on a political hunting trip. Hell, I don’t want Utah’s (or anyone else’s) maniacs driving over to Washington with a gun period! Not that Washington has any heavy duty gun control going on that I’m aware of. But that’s not the point. Currently the federal requirements are a joke. You fill out a questionnaire that asks you things like “Ever been convicted…? Ever been a psycho….? Ever had the urge to take some target practice in a shopping mall…?” You know, stuff like that. Like I said, it’s a joke.
State control of guns is worthless too unless we are going to start restricting travel across state lines. That’s not going to happen. We are a free country. Besides, we can’t even police our national borders. Forget about states. So the Feds need to step it up and create federally mandated gun control laws that outweigh and outrank anything the states can come up with. If the states want to fight that fine. Let the states have their own standards of gun control but with the caveat that they are going to be required to set up, at their own expense, inspection stations at EVERY point where one of their roads, or a federal road, crosses their border into another state. AND, they will be required, at their own expense, to man a state police “border patrol division” tasked with monitoring the space between those roads. They will be responsible for KEEPING THEIR GUNS IN THEIR OWN STATE. If they don’t want to do that, they will adhere to the federal requirements.
Those federal requirements need to have some teeth. This may take awhile to put into play but it will be well worth it. First and foremost, state and federal criminal data bases will need to be kept up to date and made accessible to any retail outlet that sells firearms. If a name pops up on that database, game over, you can’t buy a gun. Next, to be an accredited mental health facility you will need to enter all patients into a federal data base. Same deal. If your name pops up no sale. But what about privacy issues you cry? How can we allow a mental health patients confidentiality to be compromised? If you don’t want your privacy invaded, DON’T TRY TO BUY A GUN. I also think if we are going to trust you to own a gun, you need to be registered to vote. It’s another point of reference for tracking you AND it at least tells us that you are engaged in the way the country YOU LIVE IN is run.
After you “pass” the screening in the store, your information would be forwarded on to a federal division that investigates your background. Basically the same thing that happens at the store level but more thorough. The store is a “pre-screening” if you will. The federal investigation is the real deal. They would be required to run your name, address, social security number, and whatever other identifying information we can come up with, including aliases, and do everything possible to insure that you are a responsible, law abiding, level headed, reasonably sane adult. Then, and only then, would you be approved for gun ownership. Any retail outlet that tried to screw with this system would immediately lose their license to sell firearms. Selling of firearms at “gun shows” or privately without going through a licensed gun dealer (you go in with your gun, the person who wants to purchase the gun, and they run the check on BOTH OF YOU AND the gun) would immediately become illegal. If a serial number from a gun that YOU were the registered owner for turned up in the hands of someone else and there was no record of theft, YOU would be guilty of a crime.
Yeah, the plan needs work but you know I’m right. If you have nothing to hide, and you aren’t a fucking crack pot, you can’t object to this can you? Hey, I’m Common Sense and so is this! We can stop the argument over the Second Amendment immediately and just implement a process that does everything possible to keep guns out of the hands of those that would use them in ways we don’t want them to. Will it eliminate all of our gun problems. No. Will it radically reduce them? Yes, of course it will.
Now, if we can just do something to radically reduce the maniacal drivel that comes out of the mouths of the moronic conservative segment of our society we may REALLY be onto something.
Peace,
Common Sense
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Custer's Last Stand... But Unfortunately, Not FOX's.
OK. I’ve been trying to tone it down a little bit. After all, I have friends that are conservative and they likely don’t appreciate it when I go off on the right. Now, in my defense, remember it’s the radical right I really take issue with. Well, I also take issue with the GOP’s mastery of manipulating those on the right that are, well, shall we say, hmmmm…. I’m trying to find the right term here…..how can I put this….. I want to be delicate…. FUCKING MORONS!!!
Sorry, I’m really pissed off. I just read an article about FOX “News” (and it’s not really news… it’s total, unadulterated bull shit that thrives based on a market of idiots that believe the lying hateful crap that emanates from that piece of shit station… is that delicate enough?). You may be aware that Mr. Obama has recently published a children’s book. It’s entitled “Of Thee I Sing, A Letter To My Daughters”. He speaks of 13 Americans “whose traits he sees in his own children”. It’s a picture book and it begins with the sentence “Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?” The proceeds from this book will go to the families of fallen and disabled veterans.
Now, I apparently share two traits with the POTUS (I likely share more but for now we’ll just consider two). I have two children who I love completely. To me, they too are wonderful. I also think we don’t take good enough care of our disabled vets and the families of those we have lost in action. In many cases these families not only lose a loving father, brother, sister, son, daughter, etc., but the primary bread winner of the family affected. The impact could last years. So as I see it, this children’s book (and it is, very much, just a children’s book, not political satire, or a political statement of any kind.) is a good thing. It’s a very nice, considerate, loving thing. It’s a lovely message and the proceeds will be given to a very worthy cause. Who could take issue with it? Why those lying, hateful, shit suckers over at FOX “News” that’s who.
FOX ran a headline that says “Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed U.S. General”. FOX “News” is up in arms because one of the 13 Americans Mr. Obama cites in his children’s book is Sitting Bull, the now infamous Lakota holy man who FOX “News” would have you believe led his crazed savages in their blood thirsty quest to kill “General” Custer. Are you with me so far? Good.
Now I’m going to take a chance here. Maybe I should keep my opinion to myself but I just can’t stand it anymore. So here goes. If you buy into the shit storm that is FOX News, then you too are unfortunately a FUCKING MORON. There, I said it. I have completely reached my breaking point. I hope I don’t lose any friends over it. What I do hope is that this blog will open some people’s eyes. Listen, if you want to be a conservative, then be a conservative. Do your research. Get your facts straight. Then draw your conclusions. If you are conservative based on REALITY then more power to you. But, if you are getting your facts from FOX, then I’m afraid you are a FUCKING MORON. They rarely disseminate facts. What they toss out to the masses is vitriolic hyperbole, misleading propaganda, and outright lies. This story on Obama’s children’s book is a perfect example. Where should I begin?
I love the Sioux. I’ve read extensively on them and they were a proud honest people. They treated with the U.S. in good faith and got screwed EVERY time. They loved their families. Now we can sit here and argue manifest destiny, progress, the greater good, etc. That’s not my point (although I’d be glad to discuss that too, but for now, let’s stick to FOX “News” and why they suck.
First of all, Custer was not a General. He was a Lieutenant Colonel. During the Civil War he had been given a field commission to the rank of General but after the war he was made a Captain. At some point he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. So, FOX got that wrong. Right off the bat they’re full of shit.
Next, Sitting Bull was not a “chief” when the battle occurred. He was a respected holy man but not a chief. He did lead a band into Canada in an attempt to hold on to the old way of life but it didn’t work out. He wound up surrendering and living out the rest of his days on a reservation. Well, he got to tour with Buffalo Bill too. Anyway, by this point he was considered a “chief” but not at the time of the Custer Battle. In fact, he considered himself to be chief of all the Lakota and was recognized as such by the U.S. Government. He was not recognized by all the Sioux as such though. But that’s another story. Oh, and he was murdered. It was done by one of his own people, a tribal policeman, but the general consensus is that the U.S. sanctioned it. They had come to arrest him. Couldn’t continue to have any native people around who were looked up to and respected. Get rid of them and any “threat” of an “uprising” was all but eliminated. Crazy Horse was murdered too. But I’m drifting from the point.
So, at the time of the Little Bighorn, Sitting bull was not a chief. There’s actually an interesting story of him having a vision of many soldiers falling into the camp prior to the Custer Fuck (get it… cluster… Custer… a clever play on words….). During the battle he stayed in his teepee praying and doing what he could, in an esoteric kind of way, from there. There were multiple leaders on the field of battle, the most prominent of which was likely Crazy Horse. Others included Roman Nose (that’s not a joke… I’ve tried to find out how he got that name in the past with no success. Obviously had to be connected to something “whitey” did as I seriously doubt any Native Americans had knowledge of the Romans!), American Horse, Gall, Rain In The Face, Kicking Bear, "everyone who was anyone" wanted in on the action (it’s been awhile since I looked at this stuff). It is indisputable however that Sitting Bull did NOT take part in the battle or in any way plan or direct it.
Next up is the reality that Custer was an asshole. He was not liked by his troops. He graduated dead last in his class from West Point. He had one of, if not THE highest casualty rates among his troops during the Civil War. He was an egomaniac. And he constantly disregarded advice and even orders. At one point in his career (post Civil War) he was even suspended without pay for almost a year. He absolutely loved the concept of leading his troops in a charge to glorious victory. But, Custer was under orders to NOT engage the enemy at Little Big Horn. Custer was on a scouting mission. He was advised by his Crow scouts to not engage the enemy. They recognized immediately that there were far too many of them. The Sioux and Cheyenne that were camped there knew of Custer’s close proximity but weren’t concerned. If I remember correctly he had less than 400 troops. No one knows for sure how many able bodied warriors were there but estimates range into the thousands based on the size of the camp. Some think it was the largest summer gathering ever. The natives never imagined Custer would be stupid enough to fuck with them.
So, the Sioux and Cheyenne were not the aggressors. Custer attacked them. They were minding their own business. And not only was he stupid enough to attack, but he split his command. He sent …hmmm…. Reno I think was the guys name, probably a Captain, to attack the southern end of the encampment. He then took the remaining men and swung around to attack from the north. It’s theorized he knew how badly he had fucked up when he realized how far away the northern end was! He sent a command to attack in the middle too but they were quickly turned back and rejoined Custer. I think he also left some of his troops behind (Benteen?) or perhaps they were slower coming up because of wagons and equipment. Lucky them… they were late!
Reno ( I checked… it was Reno) knew right away he didn’t stand a chance and retreated to some trees where he held off further advances at least in part because by the time the warriors got back to him they realized there would likely be hell to pay so they packed up and got out of there. Benteen also had joined up with Reno. Taking them out wasn’t worth it. They were no longer a threat.
So, the death of Custer and the other cavalry soldiers at Little Big Horn were a direct result of the actions of Custer, not Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull did not kill Custer. No one knows for sure who did kill Custer. The natives didn’t even know it was Custer until it was over. They always identified him by his hair (I think they called him Yellow Hair) and he had gotten it cut. He never got to the northern end of the encampment. It wouldn’t have mattered. He directed his men to some high ground where they likely freaked out completely when hit with the full realization of how many Sioux and Cheyenne they had attacked. Hell, maybe one of THEM killed Custer.
So, much like the assholes of the 1800’s who fanned the flames of rage by putting it on the Indians, FOX is misleading and lying so they can turn Obama’s book into a club and beat him on the head with it. By the way, if you haven’t visited the battlefield I highly recommend it. They do an excellent job of describing the battle and you can walk trails to the various points where certain actions were carried out. You can not tread on the hill where Custer bought the farm. He’s not buried there but some are I believe. It's fenced. There are markers everywhere that indicate where soldiers fell. Now, markers have started to pop up that show where Sioux and Cheyenne warriors fell. It was a battle, not a massacre. And Custer started it. FOX, because they are the biggest assholes on TV are again distorting reality to discredit what should be respected as an honest attempt for a father to send a loving message to not only his daughters, but children everywhere. Fuck you FOX. You’re douche bags.
I’ve proofed this a couple of times and believe it or not, toned in down a bit! It dawned on me that not everyone who believes the crap that comes out of FOX is a fucking moron. I think there are those that believe it because it is what they want to hear. They are so opinionated or full of hate for the left that they desperately want what they hear on FOX to be true. I suppose they pretend that it is. So I guess there are two classifications of "believers". Fucking morons and closed minded assholes. I’m not sure which is worse.
Peace,
Common Sense
Sorry, I’m really pissed off. I just read an article about FOX “News” (and it’s not really news… it’s total, unadulterated bull shit that thrives based on a market of idiots that believe the lying hateful crap that emanates from that piece of shit station… is that delicate enough?). You may be aware that Mr. Obama has recently published a children’s book. It’s entitled “Of Thee I Sing, A Letter To My Daughters”. He speaks of 13 Americans “whose traits he sees in his own children”. It’s a picture book and it begins with the sentence “Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?” The proceeds from this book will go to the families of fallen and disabled veterans.
Now, I apparently share two traits with the POTUS (I likely share more but for now we’ll just consider two). I have two children who I love completely. To me, they too are wonderful. I also think we don’t take good enough care of our disabled vets and the families of those we have lost in action. In many cases these families not only lose a loving father, brother, sister, son, daughter, etc., but the primary bread winner of the family affected. The impact could last years. So as I see it, this children’s book (and it is, very much, just a children’s book, not political satire, or a political statement of any kind.) is a good thing. It’s a very nice, considerate, loving thing. It’s a lovely message and the proceeds will be given to a very worthy cause. Who could take issue with it? Why those lying, hateful, shit suckers over at FOX “News” that’s who.
FOX ran a headline that says “Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed U.S. General”. FOX “News” is up in arms because one of the 13 Americans Mr. Obama cites in his children’s book is Sitting Bull, the now infamous Lakota holy man who FOX “News” would have you believe led his crazed savages in their blood thirsty quest to kill “General” Custer. Are you with me so far? Good.
Now I’m going to take a chance here. Maybe I should keep my opinion to myself but I just can’t stand it anymore. So here goes. If you buy into the shit storm that is FOX News, then you too are unfortunately a FUCKING MORON. There, I said it. I have completely reached my breaking point. I hope I don’t lose any friends over it. What I do hope is that this blog will open some people’s eyes. Listen, if you want to be a conservative, then be a conservative. Do your research. Get your facts straight. Then draw your conclusions. If you are conservative based on REALITY then more power to you. But, if you are getting your facts from FOX, then I’m afraid you are a FUCKING MORON. They rarely disseminate facts. What they toss out to the masses is vitriolic hyperbole, misleading propaganda, and outright lies. This story on Obama’s children’s book is a perfect example. Where should I begin?
I love the Sioux. I’ve read extensively on them and they were a proud honest people. They treated with the U.S. in good faith and got screwed EVERY time. They loved their families. Now we can sit here and argue manifest destiny, progress, the greater good, etc. That’s not my point (although I’d be glad to discuss that too, but for now, let’s stick to FOX “News” and why they suck.
First of all, Custer was not a General. He was a Lieutenant Colonel. During the Civil War he had been given a field commission to the rank of General but after the war he was made a Captain. At some point he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. So, FOX got that wrong. Right off the bat they’re full of shit.
Next, Sitting Bull was not a “chief” when the battle occurred. He was a respected holy man but not a chief. He did lead a band into Canada in an attempt to hold on to the old way of life but it didn’t work out. He wound up surrendering and living out the rest of his days on a reservation. Well, he got to tour with Buffalo Bill too. Anyway, by this point he was considered a “chief” but not at the time of the Custer Battle. In fact, he considered himself to be chief of all the Lakota and was recognized as such by the U.S. Government. He was not recognized by all the Sioux as such though. But that’s another story. Oh, and he was murdered. It was done by one of his own people, a tribal policeman, but the general consensus is that the U.S. sanctioned it. They had come to arrest him. Couldn’t continue to have any native people around who were looked up to and respected. Get rid of them and any “threat” of an “uprising” was all but eliminated. Crazy Horse was murdered too. But I’m drifting from the point.
So, at the time of the Little Bighorn, Sitting bull was not a chief. There’s actually an interesting story of him having a vision of many soldiers falling into the camp prior to the Custer Fuck (get it… cluster… Custer… a clever play on words….). During the battle he stayed in his teepee praying and doing what he could, in an esoteric kind of way, from there. There were multiple leaders on the field of battle, the most prominent of which was likely Crazy Horse. Others included Roman Nose (that’s not a joke… I’ve tried to find out how he got that name in the past with no success. Obviously had to be connected to something “whitey” did as I seriously doubt any Native Americans had knowledge of the Romans!), American Horse, Gall, Rain In The Face, Kicking Bear, "everyone who was anyone" wanted in on the action (it’s been awhile since I looked at this stuff). It is indisputable however that Sitting Bull did NOT take part in the battle or in any way plan or direct it.
Next up is the reality that Custer was an asshole. He was not liked by his troops. He graduated dead last in his class from West Point. He had one of, if not THE highest casualty rates among his troops during the Civil War. He was an egomaniac. And he constantly disregarded advice and even orders. At one point in his career (post Civil War) he was even suspended without pay for almost a year. He absolutely loved the concept of leading his troops in a charge to glorious victory. But, Custer was under orders to NOT engage the enemy at Little Big Horn. Custer was on a scouting mission. He was advised by his Crow scouts to not engage the enemy. They recognized immediately that there were far too many of them. The Sioux and Cheyenne that were camped there knew of Custer’s close proximity but weren’t concerned. If I remember correctly he had less than 400 troops. No one knows for sure how many able bodied warriors were there but estimates range into the thousands based on the size of the camp. Some think it was the largest summer gathering ever. The natives never imagined Custer would be stupid enough to fuck with them.
So, the Sioux and Cheyenne were not the aggressors. Custer attacked them. They were minding their own business. And not only was he stupid enough to attack, but he split his command. He sent …hmmm…. Reno I think was the guys name, probably a Captain, to attack the southern end of the encampment. He then took the remaining men and swung around to attack from the north. It’s theorized he knew how badly he had fucked up when he realized how far away the northern end was! He sent a command to attack in the middle too but they were quickly turned back and rejoined Custer. I think he also left some of his troops behind (Benteen?) or perhaps they were slower coming up because of wagons and equipment. Lucky them… they were late!
Reno ( I checked… it was Reno) knew right away he didn’t stand a chance and retreated to some trees where he held off further advances at least in part because by the time the warriors got back to him they realized there would likely be hell to pay so they packed up and got out of there. Benteen also had joined up with Reno. Taking them out wasn’t worth it. They were no longer a threat.
So, the death of Custer and the other cavalry soldiers at Little Big Horn were a direct result of the actions of Custer, not Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull did not kill Custer. No one knows for sure who did kill Custer. The natives didn’t even know it was Custer until it was over. They always identified him by his hair (I think they called him Yellow Hair) and he had gotten it cut. He never got to the northern end of the encampment. It wouldn’t have mattered. He directed his men to some high ground where they likely freaked out completely when hit with the full realization of how many Sioux and Cheyenne they had attacked. Hell, maybe one of THEM killed Custer.
So, much like the assholes of the 1800’s who fanned the flames of rage by putting it on the Indians, FOX is misleading and lying so they can turn Obama’s book into a club and beat him on the head with it. By the way, if you haven’t visited the battlefield I highly recommend it. They do an excellent job of describing the battle and you can walk trails to the various points where certain actions were carried out. You can not tread on the hill where Custer bought the farm. He’s not buried there but some are I believe. It's fenced. There are markers everywhere that indicate where soldiers fell. Now, markers have started to pop up that show where Sioux and Cheyenne warriors fell. It was a battle, not a massacre. And Custer started it. FOX, because they are the biggest assholes on TV are again distorting reality to discredit what should be respected as an honest attempt for a father to send a loving message to not only his daughters, but children everywhere. Fuck you FOX. You’re douche bags.
I’ve proofed this a couple of times and believe it or not, toned in down a bit! It dawned on me that not everyone who believes the crap that comes out of FOX is a fucking moron. I think there are those that believe it because it is what they want to hear. They are so opinionated or full of hate for the left that they desperately want what they hear on FOX to be true. I suppose they pretend that it is. So I guess there are two classifications of "believers". Fucking morons and closed minded assholes. I’m not sure which is worse.
Peace,
Common Sense
Monday, November 15, 2010
Fred Rogers WILL Hurt You...
Hello again. I don’t know exactly what to talk about today but I’m feeling pressure to write so let’s see what happens.
I guess the hot topic would be the election. Wow, what a serious ass kicking. And it’s so incredibly sad because things were starting to get a little better. But we’ve been down this road before and I’m somewhat deflated on the subject so let’s just say that the Republicans own the house and will unless (until?) they show us they don’t know what to do with it. Then we can only hope the tide rolls the other way. Later on I’ll cite yet another reason why. But first….
I received an email recently about a Lee Marvin appearance on The Tonight Show back when Carson was king. In the email, it says that Johnny questioned Lee on his heroism and subsequent wounding during the invasion of Iwo Jima. Lee did his humble, mumbly, bumbly, thing (those of you old enough to remember him know what I’m talking about) and briefly commented on getting wounded in the posterior (ass for those of us less genteel). He then went on to highly praise someone he truly deemed to be a hero. He spoke of this guy facing fire and encouraging his troops and on, and on, and on. Then he says this hero is none other than Bob Keeshan. You know Bob. Yes you do. You know him as Captain Kangaroo.
So, it’s a lovely email that tells a lovely story of two war heroes. I’m sure you can find it if you Google mumbly, bumbly. OK, maybe that won’t work but you will likely get a hit if you Google Marvin and Keeshan. You will also get hits on Snopes and Snopes like sites that explain the story is false. Not completely mind you… but mostly. Lee Marvin did serve in the Pacific and was in fact wounded in the derriere (again, that’s ass for you and me). He did not take part in the invasion of Iwo though. He landed on Saipan.
The other fallacy is that he never met or observed Captain Kangaroo (who I’m guessing was Private Kangaroo at the time) in combat. In fact, the good captain enlisted too late to see action. Shortly after he enlisted we dropped the bomb… then did it again for good measure…. And the war was over.
Now, I don’t have a problem with the story per se. I mean no one is claiming that Lee and the Captain were raging child molesters. Nobody accused them of heinous crimes against humanity. Nobody said they were traitors or served less than honorably. It’s really all quite positive. BUT, why the fuck do people make this stuff up? Is there somebody out there who just has a huge “man crush” on one or both of these guys and felt the need to enlarge their legacies? Were they not quite good enough in someone’s eyes and therefore in need of some polishing? Are there people out there that wake up and say “Hmmmmm… I think I’ll make up a story about Lee Marvin and that Kangaroo fellow today”.
Hang on, it gets better. After the Lee/Private Kangaroo story, the “author” (unpublished I’m guessing) goes on to tell us a little bit about Mr. Rogers. Yes that Mr. Rogers. Apparently Gentle Fred was actually a blood thirsty former Nave Seal who served in Viet Nam and had 25 confirmed kills to his name! That’s right… don’t fuck around in “the neighborhood” or you’ll wind up bleeding out in a dumpster. The long sleeved shirts and cardigans were used to cover the many tattoos the psycho had amassed over the years. I can see it now. The director yells “that’s a wrap” and Fred immediately tears off his shirt and sweater, flexes his mighty pectorals and biceps, and sticks a Ka-Bar into a squealing live pig while screaming “I’m killing you ya fucking pig! I’m killing you slow, right here on the stage in front of all these freaked out kids! And what the fuck are you kids staring at? You wanna be next? Yeah baby! When I’m done here I think I’ll go kill something else!” Thanks Fred but I think I’ll pass on the “Won’t you be my neighbor” invite.
What? Huh? That’s not true either? No tattoos? No military service? No KILLS? Well why the hell would somebody make that shit up! What gives with these assholes? What do they expect to gain? Are they just completely fucking nuts? I think that’s likely it. They’re nuts. And speaking of nuts….
Have you heard about Illinois Representative John Shimkus? He’s a Republican who is seeking the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (remember, I promised “more on that later" concerning why we want the Democrats to take back the House). According to Mr. Shimkus we have nothing to fear from global warming or climate change of any kind. Why? Because it says in the Bible that God promised Noah that he would never again destroy the world. He just wanted this one shot at a flood of epic proportions and then that would be it. What else has Shimkus said? Well, he’s indicated that seeing people in his home state ice fishing is PROOF that global warming is a hoax. He’s also said that we exhale CO2 and wants to know if that should be made illegal (OK, he’s kidding… but the joke conveys his brilliant analysis on the effects of CO2).
Listen, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and likely again, and again, and again). I have absolutely NO problem with an individual’s religious beliefs. What I have a problem with is when those beliefs start to close in on my personal space! I do not want this guy making decisions that affect me. I mean let’s look closely at what this dim wit is saying. Basically what he is saying is that we can all go ahead and launch our nukes… all of them…. How many thousands are out there now? I don’t even know but I bet it’s a shit load. So let’s all launch because God promised Noah it would be cool. Either they won’t detonate, or the cumulative affect will be negligible.
I think it’s possible for a biblical scholar to pretty much argue ANY position by quoting the bible. For example, Shimkus says God won’t allow the destruction of the world because he promised Noah. But wait a minute! Aren’t there other passages in the Bible that say naughty behavior will make God angry enough to take us out? Doesn’t he threaten to smite us? Doesn’t smite mean kick ass? And if Shimkus argues God will protect us, can’t it also be argued that God helps those that help themselves. How about the nutcases that quote scripture in defense of their hatred of gays and lesbians? Doesn’t it say in the Bible that God loves everyone? I don’t think it says God loves everyone, except the people God doesn’t love. If it does, could someone point me in that direction?
I think a lot of people like to quote that bracelet that says WWJD? Just in case one of you have been in a cave for the last 40 years it stands for What would Jesus do. Anyway, they like to quote it while walking around doing stuff that Jesus wouldn’t do! But this does illustrate just how important the separation of Church and State really is. If we’re not careful we might wind up with too much representation like John Shimkus and boy oh boy will we ever be fucked then!
Peace,
Common Sense
I guess the hot topic would be the election. Wow, what a serious ass kicking. And it’s so incredibly sad because things were starting to get a little better. But we’ve been down this road before and I’m somewhat deflated on the subject so let’s just say that the Republicans own the house and will unless (until?) they show us they don’t know what to do with it. Then we can only hope the tide rolls the other way. Later on I’ll cite yet another reason why. But first….
I received an email recently about a Lee Marvin appearance on The Tonight Show back when Carson was king. In the email, it says that Johnny questioned Lee on his heroism and subsequent wounding during the invasion of Iwo Jima. Lee did his humble, mumbly, bumbly, thing (those of you old enough to remember him know what I’m talking about) and briefly commented on getting wounded in the posterior (ass for those of us less genteel). He then went on to highly praise someone he truly deemed to be a hero. He spoke of this guy facing fire and encouraging his troops and on, and on, and on. Then he says this hero is none other than Bob Keeshan. You know Bob. Yes you do. You know him as Captain Kangaroo.
So, it’s a lovely email that tells a lovely story of two war heroes. I’m sure you can find it if you Google mumbly, bumbly. OK, maybe that won’t work but you will likely get a hit if you Google Marvin and Keeshan. You will also get hits on Snopes and Snopes like sites that explain the story is false. Not completely mind you… but mostly. Lee Marvin did serve in the Pacific and was in fact wounded in the derriere (again, that’s ass for you and me). He did not take part in the invasion of Iwo though. He landed on Saipan.
The other fallacy is that he never met or observed Captain Kangaroo (who I’m guessing was Private Kangaroo at the time) in combat. In fact, the good captain enlisted too late to see action. Shortly after he enlisted we dropped the bomb… then did it again for good measure…. And the war was over.
Now, I don’t have a problem with the story per se. I mean no one is claiming that Lee and the Captain were raging child molesters. Nobody accused them of heinous crimes against humanity. Nobody said they were traitors or served less than honorably. It’s really all quite positive. BUT, why the fuck do people make this stuff up? Is there somebody out there who just has a huge “man crush” on one or both of these guys and felt the need to enlarge their legacies? Were they not quite good enough in someone’s eyes and therefore in need of some polishing? Are there people out there that wake up and say “Hmmmmm… I think I’ll make up a story about Lee Marvin and that Kangaroo fellow today”.
Hang on, it gets better. After the Lee/Private Kangaroo story, the “author” (unpublished I’m guessing) goes on to tell us a little bit about Mr. Rogers. Yes that Mr. Rogers. Apparently Gentle Fred was actually a blood thirsty former Nave Seal who served in Viet Nam and had 25 confirmed kills to his name! That’s right… don’t fuck around in “the neighborhood” or you’ll wind up bleeding out in a dumpster. The long sleeved shirts and cardigans were used to cover the many tattoos the psycho had amassed over the years. I can see it now. The director yells “that’s a wrap” and Fred immediately tears off his shirt and sweater, flexes his mighty pectorals and biceps, and sticks a Ka-Bar into a squealing live pig while screaming “I’m killing you ya fucking pig! I’m killing you slow, right here on the stage in front of all these freaked out kids! And what the fuck are you kids staring at? You wanna be next? Yeah baby! When I’m done here I think I’ll go kill something else!” Thanks Fred but I think I’ll pass on the “Won’t you be my neighbor” invite.
What? Huh? That’s not true either? No tattoos? No military service? No KILLS? Well why the hell would somebody make that shit up! What gives with these assholes? What do they expect to gain? Are they just completely fucking nuts? I think that’s likely it. They’re nuts. And speaking of nuts….
Have you heard about Illinois Representative John Shimkus? He’s a Republican who is seeking the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (remember, I promised “more on that later" concerning why we want the Democrats to take back the House). According to Mr. Shimkus we have nothing to fear from global warming or climate change of any kind. Why? Because it says in the Bible that God promised Noah that he would never again destroy the world. He just wanted this one shot at a flood of epic proportions and then that would be it. What else has Shimkus said? Well, he’s indicated that seeing people in his home state ice fishing is PROOF that global warming is a hoax. He’s also said that we exhale CO2 and wants to know if that should be made illegal (OK, he’s kidding… but the joke conveys his brilliant analysis on the effects of CO2).
Listen, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and likely again, and again, and again). I have absolutely NO problem with an individual’s religious beliefs. What I have a problem with is when those beliefs start to close in on my personal space! I do not want this guy making decisions that affect me. I mean let’s look closely at what this dim wit is saying. Basically what he is saying is that we can all go ahead and launch our nukes… all of them…. How many thousands are out there now? I don’t even know but I bet it’s a shit load. So let’s all launch because God promised Noah it would be cool. Either they won’t detonate, or the cumulative affect will be negligible.
I think it’s possible for a biblical scholar to pretty much argue ANY position by quoting the bible. For example, Shimkus says God won’t allow the destruction of the world because he promised Noah. But wait a minute! Aren’t there other passages in the Bible that say naughty behavior will make God angry enough to take us out? Doesn’t he threaten to smite us? Doesn’t smite mean kick ass? And if Shimkus argues God will protect us, can’t it also be argued that God helps those that help themselves. How about the nutcases that quote scripture in defense of their hatred of gays and lesbians? Doesn’t it say in the Bible that God loves everyone? I don’t think it says God loves everyone, except the people God doesn’t love. If it does, could someone point me in that direction?
I think a lot of people like to quote that bracelet that says WWJD? Just in case one of you have been in a cave for the last 40 years it stands for What would Jesus do. Anyway, they like to quote it while walking around doing stuff that Jesus wouldn’t do! But this does illustrate just how important the separation of Church and State really is. If we’re not careful we might wind up with too much representation like John Shimkus and boy oh boy will we ever be fucked then!
Peace,
Common Sense
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