“And what’s become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation,” President Obama said. “Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out. ‘We need more guns,’ they’ll argue. ‘Fewer gun-safety laws.’ Does anybody really believe that?”
I thought that, after what happened in Sandy Hill Elementary School, Connecticut on December 21, 2012, some kind of gun control might actually be enacted. I was wrong.
There is no debate on guns. There is only fear and hate.
There have been over 85,000 gun deaths since the Sandy Hill shooting in Newtown. 85,000 people. Dead.
How many more hundreds of thousands to come? Lobbyists and legislators have to realize that for a society to survive, the violence must be taken out of the argument. Don’t they?
Popular tourist destinations in Downtown Manhattan include the 911 Memorial, City Hall and Wall Street. Even though many tourists stand in front of Federal Hall National Memorial, and take pictures of the statue of Washington on the steps, only a few actually go inside the historic site.This is odd because it’s not only free, but also quite warm.
There’s interesting things to learn. And best of all – no guns are allowed.
This is the final weekend for the New Orleans Art Show: Prospect 3, and one of the most interesting exhibitions would have to be Guns in the Hands of Artists at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery. The images and texts speak for themselves.Jonathan Ferrara’s statement regarding his own work Excalibur No More is most telling: “I have never owned a gun and thought it would be a difficult and cumbersome process. It actually took about five minutes.” “After finding the gun online, the seller brought it to the gallery and I gave him the money and he gave me the gun. That was it, no paperwork, no receipt, no record, totally legal. It blew my mind. Of course, I had to engage in a fifteen minute conversation about the 2nd Amendment with the seller.”
Make no bones about it, Barrack Obama is the greatest President of the United States in the past 60 years. I say this despite the anti-Obama media barrage, the ceaseless mud slung by his political opponents and the embittered populace who have lost faith in a man who was once their desperate icon for hope. The truth is that President Obama was set up to fail. The ridiculous expectations dumped on him demanded that he walk on water and then turn that into wine; anything less would be a failure. That’s the way everyone wanted it. It gave them a perfect scapegoat for unemployment, international strife, indeed whatever plague or natural disaster arose.
Hurricane Sandy, Battery park Tunnel, 2012
All anyone has to say is, “Obama’s let us down again,” and there is applause. This despite the facts, which are these:
a. Obama passed a bill that actually made health care more affordable, an achievement no other president has been able to achieve in the face of a sick political culture which believes in money more than well being.
b. Obama has reduced America’s military presence in the world, despite a war-hungry opposition, and worked to develop coalitions with anyone who will listen.
c. The economy has steadily improved every year under his administration, to where the financial markets now sit at record highs.
d. Obama has consistently endorsed social policies which promote understanding and acceptance of others, such as gay marriage. And although he has yet to succeed in the battle for gun control, he has stood firm for the reduction of automatic weapons.
e. Obama acknowledges the need to confront climate change and looks ready to put this issue at the top of his agenda in his final two years.
It’s actually surprising that there hasn’t been even more hate against the president. After all, not only has he directly challenged the establishment – and played golf with friends – but there is also the insidious problem this country has with skin color.
As high-minded as it might have sounded to have a black guy as president, there are some, a lot actually, that are tired of the idea and want to go back to way things were, everyone knowing their place, that kind of thing. The George Zimmerman verdict, unrest in Ferguson and choke-hold death of Eric Garner all speak to the fact that this is not going away any time soon.. Nevertheless, the elections are just a couple of days away, and as much as everyone seems to want to distance themselves from this leader of our time, only time will tell how bad a mistake it turns out they all made.
The people of Newtown, Connecticut are mad.It’s almost as if they expect the media to address issues like gun control instead of mainlining our catharsis.
More importantly, what’s this “media vultures” spin? Is the media supposed to be something alien? Do they live in a shadowy compound?Don’t the people of Newtown understand that we can only read so much about lobbying for gun control? I mean, it’s just like all of this talk about my privacy being invaded. Instead of going on about what this guy Snowden thinks, can’t TMZ just catch him drunk in Red Square?
In the meantime, the people of Newtown need to stay focused on news that matters:
And remember Edward R. Murrow’s famous words: “Television isn’t the classroom of the world; it’s the marketplace.” That wasn’t a bad guess for a guy who had never posted or sexted, not understanding our basic need for the simple things.Life, liberty and the pursuit of more soma.
The problem with the debate on guns is that one side has a lot of guns and will never surrender them. Republicans and the god-fearing anti-abortionists lead the vacuous parade.Poison-laced letters sent years ago to President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg are another example in the on-going assault: “If you take my guns, you…will get shot in the face.” The truth is there is no debate. A debate involves structure and logic, not threats and yelling, “It is my god-given right!” (It isn’t.) The irony of their argument – do I even need to point this out? – is that it’s the gun owners themselves who are getting killed.
5-year-old shoots 2-year-old sister with toy rifle.
4,362 gun-related deaths since the massacre in Newtown. 4,362 people. Dead. How many hundreds of thousands to come? The lobbyists and legislators have to realize that for a society to survive, the violence must be taken out of the argument. Don’t they?
Yes, we all knew that NRA Chief Loon Wayne LaPierre would say crazy things like having armed guards in schools is the “one thing that will keep people safe” and gun control “is not going to make any kid safer”…but enough already! This is ridiculous!Don’t these statements in fact prove that Mr. LaPierre is mentally unstable and therefore should not be allowed near a sharp object himself, let alone a firearm of any kind? I mean, as interesting as Mr. LaPierre and his fellow gun-bearers might be for a Tarantino movie in their stupidity, duplicity and fury, this is too much. Little kids died. That happened. It really did. And if they don’t want to take that seriously, they need to be given a time-out – a very long one – and let the adults in the room sort out the problem. It’s time to dump the Second Amendment, kiddies. Everyone knows it. The West was settled – all the Native Americans nicely slaughtered – a long time ago and that whole Frontier Justice idea is done. Guns are the problem. If they aren’t taken out of the picture, many more people will die violent and horrible deaths. More little kids will die too. I mean, it’s so insanely obvious! Right?!? Ahhhh! Okay, I’ve got to sort my mind out somehow. I need to divert my attention to something else….Canadian Troupe Comedy perhaps? Click here for a little SCTV magic. Here for some Kids in the Hall. And here for CODCO. Sign this petition to get CODCO’s work released on DVD. At least we can do that. I know it’s not gun control or human rights, but it might help us cope.
I was wrong.
Don’t they?
T
