Richard Day's picture

    GUNS, GUNS & MORE GUNS


    John Lott

    THE EVIL

     

    Guns, guns, and more guns

    Babes in the garden are gone

    Eden's been attacked!

     

    I can't stop cryin'

    Five year-olds are just dyin'

    Before our own eyes.

     

    There is no bizness

    Like show bizness on cable

    Now cliches abound

     

    Children have been wronged

    Families are in mourning

    Is there a morrow?

    http://dagblog.com/arts/tear-stained-friday-afternoon-haikulodeon-15661

    I am amazed at some of the better coverage so far following this tragedy.

    Salon is tops so far.

    Alex is angry and does better obscene rants than I!

    Huffpo has these stories of attempted massacres.

    Incredible.

    But I have got to say Meet The Press receives all the kudos from me.

    I hate Meet the Press; I usually might stick around for ten minutes at 3:00 AM and then it is time for L&O.

    But today was special on that show.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/

    Gregory noted at the onset that he invited 31 anti gun Senators onto that show—I mean he would have granted one or two of the the opportunity to sit at 'the table'; but damn! Not one would bite.

    And does that mean only the anti-right showed?

    Well an interview with Governor Malloy of Connecticut (a dem) opens the discussion following a brief discussion between Gregory and an MSNBC reporter recapping the events of last week.

    Mayor Bloomberg appears next.

    Mayor Bloomberg was stupendous! Attacking Obama; but with aplomb. Can we get our President to act? Bloomberg finally at the last minute supported Obama at the end of October of course so he is not now nor has he ever been some right wing nut but neither could you call him a left-winger!

    Gregory hits the Mayor with tough questions that the NRA might ask; but Bloomberg is not someone you would wish to cross-examine in any forum.

    Bloomberg speaks of gun shows and back ground checks and military weapons.

    Now we have the panel before us.

    And is the panel made up of the anti-right wing in this country?

    No, not at all. William Bennett is there for chrissakes!

    The head of Bush's Director of Homeland Security showed up! Tom Ridge.

    And there was Diane Feinstein who is a gun control fanatic (like me) and has been for decades.

    Dyson is there but he is sitting right next to Bennett and he holds himself really well! A little less diction and he really sounds friendly to Bennett.

    And we find the head of a national teachers association.

    I despise Bennett for a number of reasons and I held nothing but awe for him today!

    These people from different backgrounds, these people with polar political views; but people who have held power or hold power now (Except for Dyson and Gregory of course) were sitting in one room and at one table discussing a tragedy and how we might, as a nation, do something to prevent future tragedies.

    Bennett is being singled out on some of the liberal sites for advocating guns in schools; except that is not exactly what he was advocating at all. The principal should have a gun. William never made the case that a principal having a gun would have prevented this massacre.

    He was simply saying that a properly trained personnel; a few leaders in the school administration could be of help if they were properly trained. I am not dismissing this 'thought'. I refuse to call him a fascist on this issue. He is simply advocating that a security force be created in schools.

    Bennett also railed against this ammo issue and really is against these 'clips' that hold all this ammo.

    Now on the other side of this issue, experts were pointing out that a principal would have to have his arms put in a safe somewhere and how much time would it take for him to get to the safe and pull out that weapon.

    But this single perspective is really not the point of this post.

    I am just pointing out that opinions differ.

    But my goodness; neither Bennett nor anyone else on that panel were against a ban on automatic or semi-automatic weapons and Feinstein has been working for a year on presenting this legislation that will be put forth as a bill when the new Senate convenes within the next 20 days or so.

    (Just a note. Anyone who viewed SNL last night were greeted with no skit, no jokes...just the children's choir singing Silent Night! Wonderful really)

    I am contrasting this discussion of Newtown with what I viewed on Pierce Morgan.

    Pierce gives me heartburn from time to time but certainly not as much as Gregory.

    Morgan is attempting to increase his audience and he loves himself and ….

    But he is an adamant supporter of anti-gun rights or gun control or whatever you wish to call it today.

    His Friday's presentation was more than interesting.

    He had Representative Nadler who is calling the NRA child-killers.

    (here is someone with the same sentiments as Nadler:

    http://www.salon.com/2012/12/15/gun_owners_of_america_gun_control_advocates_have_the_blood_of_little_children_on_their_hands/?source=newsletter)

    And I must add here that that is exactly my sentiment.

    And here was John Lott. If this were a morality play from the Middle Ages, Lott is the devil or death or worse.

    http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/piers-morgan-on-the-newtown-ct-school-shooting-how-many-more-kids-have-to-die-before-you-guys-say-we-want-less-guns-not-more/

    John Lott has this argument:

    At Aurora the shooter ended up in the only theatre that prohibited guns.

    Lott attempts to underline this silly silly argument and as he goes on, I think and feel a sentiment which should never be advocated:

    WHY DOES SOMEONE NOT SHOOT HIM!

    You see.

    My anger knows no bounds and this is exactly the type of reaction that the NRA would hold dear.

    We can never advocate the killing of NRA fascist pricks; which is a point where the NRA always wins!

    First, in Aurora the perpetrator/terrorist is wearing body armor as well as a helmet.

    So the only conclusion one could come to whilst listening to this fascist NRA pig, is that one should never take family members into a movie theatre without proper armor as well as a machine gun properly loaded with hollow point bullets.

    What other conclusion can a sane person come to?

    If you are sitting with your sweetie in the third row at Aurora and this monster appears; do you really think that with a 45 you might have the opportunity to hit this monster in the chin?

    See, this is where I get so goddamnable mad and I …

    It might have been better to actually have Lott on Meet the Press and he might have been properly confronted.

    But Piers Morgan, whom I have satired from time to time, really responded to this paid prick rep of the NRA:

    You are done. You might come back next week when we continue this discussion.

    BUT YOUR POSITION ON THIS MATTER MUST BE RE-THOUGHT.

    Now that is not the word for word response.

    But damn; Piers is now one of my heroes.

    I must wrap this up!

    Artappraiser has contributed fine comments just like Ramona and Smith and Destor and Genghis and so many others.

    I just found this strange squib today:

    http://www.examiner.com/article/indiana-man-arrested-for-school-shooting-threats-independent-evil-or-tie-in

    Evidently this man as old and as ugly as me threatened to shoot babies at an elementary school in Indiana.

    Oh and there was a bomb threat in Newtown!

    http://www.salon.com/2012/12/16/bomb_threat_reported_at_newtown_church/

    I have no idea if this post adds to the discussion.

    I just wanted to say:

    MEET THE PRESS WAS GOOD TODAY.

     

     

     

    Comments

    Good to see TV is moving on and it's not the Mooselims we supposed to be ascared of now. It's us. Real 'muricans and their guns.  Like the 47 guns of the guy in Indiana.

    I reckon Republicans won't be waving their guns around for a while anyway.


    You are right!

    THE ENEMY IS US!

    And this must situation must end!


    I just got done watching the service and President Obama.  Obviously he has had enough of the lack of progress with gun control laws and made a vow to do whatever he could. 

    It was such a senseless and horrific event, all those children and others gone in such a terrifying manner.

    He was so right, we are not doing near enough to protect our children and all.

    I was okay until they showed pictures of the victims, one little girl was missing her two front teeth and I just started crying, thinking of that Christmas song. 

    Thanks for the post.  I hope we all will now be kinder, more caring and considerate of each other.  If only .............................


    Oh the pix of these babies...

    There is nothing more to be said!

    Except that we must find better ways to save our babies!


    Three things I liked about the President's remarks last night:

    *he could have struck an ostentatiously defiant and angry pose, and chose not to do that at this time

    *the unhurried nature of what he did.  He was talking to the country, of course, but I thought in his demeanor and pacing he also was plainly speaking to the people at that service and in that community.  My initial reaction was that I thought the speech might have been a tad long.  But on thinking more about what was important for him to do with it, I now appreciate what he chose to do. 

    *framing the issue as "are we doing all we can to keep our children safe?", the answer clearly being "no".  For many of us, this awareness or belief adds to the anguish we feel when these things happen.  If something good comes out of this, yet another tragedy, it will be because enough leaders and citizens likewise, on the deepest human levels, decide they agree, and this time, finally and too late for so many, act.  If we do, it will not be the first time the children brought the adults together, for a moment at least, to do right.


    Now the Indiana Police Chief says he thinks the 60 year old guy that told his wife he would set her on fire and then massacre kids at the elementary school she worked at, 1000 feet from their home, was 'just bluffing'.

    He also said most of the 47  guns in the man's house were 'collector guns' I guess like we all probably have around, you know, 20 or 30 guns here and there collected over the years.

    I have seen enough of the speeches, the candles and heard enough of the prayers for the dead and bereaved. It's far past time to at least reinstate the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban although I doubt it will ever happen.


    OH I AM JUST A COLLECTOR!

    What the hell does that mean?

    Oh and Feinstein gave me some hope.

    Her friend in the House will introduce the same legislation at the same time.

    So...we shall see.


    I'd  be checking the NRA's membership list for that police chief's name.   Seriously.


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