Guns and America and Newtown

America is driven by fear. 

We are scared of what our neighbors might do.  We are scared of what terrorists might do.  And we are even fearful of what our own government might do.  Logic and objective reasoning goes right out the window.  We feed our fears and it, in turn, consumes us.  This is not a new thing however.  There are still plenty of bomb shelters built in the 50s/60s out there.  Before that we had Communists hiding in our closets.  The South is still smarting over the War of Northern Aggression (seriously.)

And so you have a group of well intentioned women having tea and discussing why it's important to have a few UNREGISTERED guns - just in case the government tries to take them away from us.

The other issue with America is we are no longer capable of having a discussion.   Compromise is not a tenable position.  You are either for or against (pick an issue) and any attempt at middle ground is waffling, at best.  At worst you are accused of actually siding with the opposition and your talking points are dismissed.  The causes for this are myriad but, I think, are not in a small part rooted in our fears.

So you have a Newtown tragedy and it seems obvious to everyone outside America that we should address this head on.  It's easy.  We need to deal with mental issues in this country - provide support and change the system so folks like Adam and his mother can get the help they need.  Perhaps that might have prevented Adam from arming himself that day.  We need to address automatic and semi automatic weapons - as well as magazine size - so that if there is crazed gunman out there again he at least has to pause and reload.  Perhaps that might have minimized the damage Adam caused.  And we should respectfully discuss the quantity and security of guns.  Perhaps if Adam's mother had better secured her firearms this might not have happened.

You will see some media outlets try and bring these issues to light.  Already there are a few politicians (even some with the GOP) that are talking gun control.  It's going to get real ugly though.  Why?  Because a large percentage of Americans will see this as a trampling of their 2nd amendment 'rights' and the next step in total government control - furthering Obama's socialist agenda while negating our ability to defend ourselves against criminals and our own government.

It's absolute lunacy but there it is.

Mitt for Tat

"Those people."

Poor 'ol Mitt was caught on a hidden camera, going on and on about those people - the 47% - and the media had a field day with it.  Well, everyone except Fox, that is.  Some are already calling this the end of his campaign - stick a fork in him, he's done.  He might well be (one could argue that he was never really a starter to begin with) but it shouldn't be for what is being quoted OUT OF CONTEXT.

It's a tit for tat situation though.  Not so long ago, Obama was speaking about the infrastructure this great country has - the foundations on which our businesses are built upon.  What he wanted to say was something along the lines of "this country provides the support to make our businesses thrive" but what came out of his mouth was "you didn't build it."  He was trying to imply that you didn't do it on your own, that your business would not be where it was were it not for education, communication and transportation et cetera.  But it was too late - as soon as he proclaimed loudly that you didn't build it the phrase was exploited and became the centerpiece for a lot of GOP speeches.  Again, out of context.

So Mitt does this private function and someone asks him about his strategy for getting elected.   The 47% he was talking about are folks who will vote for Obama no matter what so, in the context of garnering votes, he can't worry about those people - nothing he can do will sway their votes.  That's what he was talking about but that's not what most folks are taking away from his answer.

My problem with what Mitt says has nothing to do with that statement.  What I have issue with is how he went on to describe that 47% which showed a clear lack of knowledge, compassion and, frankly, was just plain ugly.  Either he believes what he said or he was playing to the crowd.  It's hard to say but it would not surprise me if this actually does mirror his conviction regarding nearly half of the population.

You see, the thing is, we all have either required government assistance or have a friend or loved one who does.  ALL OF US are part of that 47%.  And if Mitt truly doesn't care about those people then, clearly, he doesn't care about us.  Which is kind of sad.  For the nth time, I really expected more out of Mitt.

Dear Mayor Rahm Emanuel

I have a suggestion for you.  As you know, one of the key points being negotiated is the hiring of laid off teachers.  Seems to me, there's plenty of laid off teachers across the nation.  So here's my idea: delay the school calendar by one month, fire any teacher that doesn't show up to work tomorrow and hire teachers who really want to work - I'm sure those vacancies will fill in a heartbeat.

You're welcome.

If I Had a Twitter Account...

I'd have tweeted "The definition of a savage is someone willing to kill for their religion."

If I Had a Twitter Account...

... I'd have posted something along the lines of:  Dan Cathy has offered Todd Akin Chick Fil A for life.

Lose/Lose

I knew when I answered the phone that I was screwed.

The husband of my wife's friend called and explained that another husband of my wife's friend (not the same friend.  Although one couple is Mormon.  I've always contended that the women should have a shot at multiple husbands if they really wanted to.  What d'ya say, Handy?) had expressed an interest in seeing a baseball game and they wanted to know if I wanted to go with...

The answer, of course, is no.  Not because I dislike these husbands - perfectly nice individuals - but rather because my tolerance for crowds has greatly diminished over the years and, frankly, I just don't enjoy it any more.  But, of course, I couldn't say that because I knew there'd be recriminations at home - "why did you tell Bocephus* that you didn't want to go?  They're my friends too and they're going to think you don't like them if you keep rejecting them..."

*sigh*

So I said yes.  And prayed that maybe, just maybe, the Gods would intervene and something would happen to get me out of it: the game being sold out, a sinkhole swallowing the stadium, hurricane Zasu** flooding the city.  Hey, it could happen.  As the day approached though it became evident that there would be no deus ex machina for me.  I would have to go.

I will confess, in my own passive/aggressive way, that I could have left a tad earlier.  But, still, I was pulling up to the stadium a full 40 minutes before the game started.  What I wasn't prepared for was a change in the traffic patterns - the route I normally would take was blocked off and I was shunted with startling speed south of town before I knew it.  A series of left turns got me back on track - now on the other side of the stadium - where I promptly got stuck in traffic.

And it's the worst kind of traffic - you know, folks changing lanes then changing back, people jumping out of vehicles, car door to car door sales folks offering to buy or sell.  There were police waiving folks in various directions: I think their sole job was to keep us all circling for as long as they could without giving us an opportunity to park.

So it was that at the end of the second inning I was STILL stuck in traffic, behind the Incredible Expectorating Man***, when I saw my sign.  No, it didn't say 'Parking,' it said "this way to the interstate."  Eff it, I thought, I'm going home.  So I texted the husbands, jumped on the freeway and watched the last four innings (we lost) from the comfort of home.

Yes, I did catch hell the next day but, as I said, I knew I was screwed from the very beginning.

*Not his real name.
**Also not her real name.
***If it's not his real name it should be.  I wonder if his date was impressed.

Twitter

After a brief foray into the twitterverse I once again chickened out. 

Well, not necessarily out of fear, I think.  It's more of an obsessive thing.  "This tweet was funny, dammit, why didn't anyone reply to it?" or "Is this tweeter being sarcastic or serious?" or "You're being stupid tweeting at that quasi-celebrity" or "Gosh, she's cute."  And so I find myself thinking about tweets and checking in way too damned frequently.  There's something in my make up that makes me unable to do the digital social thing in moderation.  LOL  It's much safer being here where no one reads.

I have low expectations and it's best, apparently, to keep it that way.

Obama and those Damned Muslims

We took a visit up to the mountain between the holidays and I asked at the hardware store if the town had any special events going on for New Years - something that would interest the kids was my hope.

"Nothing that I know of besides whatever those damned Democrats are doing," the clerk said.

"Damned Democrats?" I asked.

"Yeah, they are doing some kind of veterans function at the City Park. I'm just sick of all of them!" she replied.

"The veterans or the Democrats?" I couldn't help needling her a bit.

"Well, the Democrats but mostly that man in the White House. I'll be damned before I'd support someone that kisses a prayer mat. Damned Muslims," she added.

Seriously. I'm not making it up. I could tell there wasn't much room for an intelligent conversation. There was no point mentioning how far the previous administration was up the Saudi's hinders, for example. This gal, salt of the earth type, running a small business in a small town honestly believes this: #1 that Obama is a Muslim and #2 that that's actually a bad thing!

So I joke about voting all the politicians out - usually safe ground and was certainly so this time, too. But as I left I could still hear her grousing about Obama, terrorists and damned Muslims...

There's no moral to this story here folks. Just some food for thought.