April 26, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
GUN DEATHS
It's really perverse that people like Newt Gingrich try to blame societal violence on liberals. I'm sure they try to claim it's the "liberal media" TV shows and movies depicting violence that inspire violence by others. It can't be the easy access to and general glorification of guns, can it? What Hollywood does, after all, is free market capitalism. Violence sells. If it didn't sell, we wouldn't see an endless parade of violent movies and television shows. The number of deaths due to gun violence are appalling. As Bob Herbert points out here, more people have died due to gun violence since 1968 than in all the combat deaths in all of our wars. The column is linked at www.welcome-to-pottersville.com:
I had coffee the other day with Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, and she mentioned that since the murders of Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, well over a million Americans have been killed by firearms in the United States. That’s more than the combined U.S. combat deaths in all the wars in all of American history.
"We’re losing eight children and teenagers a day to gun violence," she said. "As far as young people are concerned, we lose the equivalent of the massacre at Virginia Tech about every four days."
The first step in overcoming an addiction is to acknowledge it. Americans are addicted to violence, specifically gun violence. We profess to be appalled at every gruesome outbreak of mass murder (it’s no big deal when just two, three or four people are killed at a time), but there’s no evidence that we have the will to pull the guns out of circulation, or even to register the weapons and properly screen and train their owners.
IN THE REPTILE HOUSE
I don't feel the need to hear "what the other side is saying." I don't feel compelled to listen to Limbaugh or Hannity or O'Reilly or the other neofascists who love war, guns, inequality, and global warming. I can get a fair sampling just reading the letters page of The Fresno Bee. But this writer sums up what you hear when you venture in the reptile house of right-wing nut jobs. This column by Jason Rothenberg is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
If you, like me, find yourself wondering who the hell makes up this mysterious 33% of the country that still thinks Bush is doing a heckuva job, then this is the place to find your answers. It's a bit like going to the reptile house at the zoo. All those nasty little lizards and snakes behind glass. Little signs next to the tanks explaining where they live, and what harm they could do. No real danger to you. It's here, in the world wide web's very own reptile house, that you'll see the White House/Fox News/Drudge Report nexis reaching it's loyal foot soldiers. They've got it all. Global warming is bull ****. Stem cell research is murder. Tom Delay is not a crook. Cheney isn't pure evil. Bush is still the man. I'm telling you. It's genius. Looking for the "good news stories" out of Iraq that the mainstream media is ignoring. Look no further than The Corner. On The Corner, the surge is working. On The Corner, the economy is so good that you'd have to be an idiot (or a liberal) not to feel it. On The Corner, the fact that 5 out of 9 Supreme Court Justices are Catholic isn't scary, it's just a start. On The Corner, speaking out against this president's war is treasonous, but taking us to war based on a lie is not. In fact, on The Corner, it wasn't a lie. Saddam did have those damn disappearing weapons, and those damn hard to prove ties to Osama. If you believe any of those things, then get yourself on down to The Corner. You won't be sorry.
Showing posts with label gun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gun. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2007
April 19, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR THE U.S.
The mass murder at Virginia Tech has international implications. If the United States were a person, it would be obvious it never read How to Win Friends and Influence People. We are increasingly losing respect around the world because of our violent culture. We start unnecessary wars and we have a fetish for guns. This article by Paisley Dodds is at http://www.time.com/:
The Virginia Tech shootings sparked criticism of U.S. gun control laws around the world Tuesday. Editorials lashed out at the availability of weapons, and the leader of Australia — one of America's closest allies — declared that America's gun culture was costing lives.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the government hoped Monday's shootings, allegedly carried out by a 23-year-old South Korean native, would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation."
While some focused blame only on the gunman, world opinion over U.S. gun laws was almost unanimous: Access to weapons increases the probability of shootings. There was no sympathy for the view that more guns would have saved lives by enabling students to shoot the assailant.
"We took action to limit the availability of guns and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country," said Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who staked his political career on promoting tough gun laws after a gunman went on one of the world's deadliest killing sprees 11 years ago.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR THE U.S.
The mass murder at Virginia Tech has international implications. If the United States were a person, it would be obvious it never read How to Win Friends and Influence People. We are increasingly losing respect around the world because of our violent culture. We start unnecessary wars and we have a fetish for guns. This article by Paisley Dodds is at http://www.time.com/:
The Virginia Tech shootings sparked criticism of U.S. gun control laws around the world Tuesday. Editorials lashed out at the availability of weapons, and the leader of Australia — one of America's closest allies — declared that America's gun culture was costing lives.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the government hoped Monday's shootings, allegedly carried out by a 23-year-old South Korean native, would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation."
While some focused blame only on the gunman, world opinion over U.S. gun laws was almost unanimous: Access to weapons increases the probability of shootings. There was no sympathy for the view that more guns would have saved lives by enabling students to shoot the assailant.
"We took action to limit the availability of guns and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country," said Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who staked his political career on promoting tough gun laws after a gunman went on one of the world's deadliest killing sprees 11 years ago.
Monday, April 16, 2007
April 16, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
GOOD CASE FOR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION
Right-wingers moan a lot about taxes and about "big government." What irks them is any kind of social program that aids people at the bottom of the economic ladder. You're "punishing the achievers" by taxing them more. As this article points out, though, the very rich are the people who benefit most from the system. They get far more from government services than the rest of us do and they should pay accordingly. This article by George Lakoff and Bruce Budner is at www.commondreams.org:
An important point often lost in this debate is an appreciation that the common wealth, which our taxes create and sustain, empowers the wealthy in myriad ways to create their wealth. We call this compound empowerment - the compounded use of the common wealth by corporations, their investors, and other wealthy individuals.
Consider Bill Gates. He started Microsoft as a college dropout and has become the world’s richest person. Though he has undoubtedly benefited from his unusual intelligence and business acumen, he could not have created or sustained his personal wealth without the common wealth. The legal system protected Microsoft’s intellectual property and contracts. The tax-supported financial infrastructure enabled him to access capital markets and trade his stock in a market in which investors have confidence. He built his company with many employees educated in public schools and universities. Tax-funded research helped develop computer science and the internet. Trade laws negotiated and enforced by the government protect his ability to sell his products abroad. These are but a few of the ways in which Mr. Gates’ accumulation of wealth was empowered by the common wealth and by taxation.
As Warren Buffet famously observed, he likely couldn’t have achieved his financial success had he been born in Bangladesh instead of the United States, because Bangladesh had no banking system and no stock market.
Ordinary people just drive on the highways; corporations send fleets of trucks. Ordinary people may get a bank loan for their mortgage; corporations borrow money to buy whole companies. Ordinary people rarely use the courts; most of the courts are used for corporate law and contract disputes. Corporations and their investors - those who have accumulated enough money beyond basic needs so they can invest - make much more use, compound use, of the empowering infrastructure provided by everybody’s tax money.
FRUITS OF THE NRA
Our culture is embraced by violence. We've had leaders assassinated, we have a horrendous number of murders, and now we have another mass shooting at Virginia Tech. This follows eight years after the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Our media glamorize violence. "Make my day," was even used jokingly by Ronald Reagan a few years ago, doing his best to sound like Dirty Harry. I don't see how banning assault weapons or putting reasonable regulations on gun ownership is an encroachment on anyone's freedom. This editorial by Katrina Vanden Heuvel is at www.thenation.com:
Perhaps Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, put it best in issuing this statement today: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the Virginia Tech University community, and to the families of the victims of what appears to be one of the worst mass shootings in American history... Eight years ago this week, the young people in Littleton, Colorado suffered a horrible attack at Columbine High School, and almost exactly six months ago, five young people were killed at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. Since these killings, we've done nothing as a country to end gun violence in our schools and communities. If anything, we've made it easier to access powerful weapons... We have now seen another horrible tragedy that will never be forgotten. It is long overdue for us to take some common-sense actions to prevent tragedies like this from continuing to occur."
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
GOOD CASE FOR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION
Right-wingers moan a lot about taxes and about "big government." What irks them is any kind of social program that aids people at the bottom of the economic ladder. You're "punishing the achievers" by taxing them more. As this article points out, though, the very rich are the people who benefit most from the system. They get far more from government services than the rest of us do and they should pay accordingly. This article by George Lakoff and Bruce Budner is at www.commondreams.org:
An important point often lost in this debate is an appreciation that the common wealth, which our taxes create and sustain, empowers the wealthy in myriad ways to create their wealth. We call this compound empowerment - the compounded use of the common wealth by corporations, their investors, and other wealthy individuals.
Consider Bill Gates. He started Microsoft as a college dropout and has become the world’s richest person. Though he has undoubtedly benefited from his unusual intelligence and business acumen, he could not have created or sustained his personal wealth without the common wealth. The legal system protected Microsoft’s intellectual property and contracts. The tax-supported financial infrastructure enabled him to access capital markets and trade his stock in a market in which investors have confidence. He built his company with many employees educated in public schools and universities. Tax-funded research helped develop computer science and the internet. Trade laws negotiated and enforced by the government protect his ability to sell his products abroad. These are but a few of the ways in which Mr. Gates’ accumulation of wealth was empowered by the common wealth and by taxation.
As Warren Buffet famously observed, he likely couldn’t have achieved his financial success had he been born in Bangladesh instead of the United States, because Bangladesh had no banking system and no stock market.
Ordinary people just drive on the highways; corporations send fleets of trucks. Ordinary people may get a bank loan for their mortgage; corporations borrow money to buy whole companies. Ordinary people rarely use the courts; most of the courts are used for corporate law and contract disputes. Corporations and their investors - those who have accumulated enough money beyond basic needs so they can invest - make much more use, compound use, of the empowering infrastructure provided by everybody’s tax money.
FRUITS OF THE NRA
Our culture is embraced by violence. We've had leaders assassinated, we have a horrendous number of murders, and now we have another mass shooting at Virginia Tech. This follows eight years after the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Our media glamorize violence. "Make my day," was even used jokingly by Ronald Reagan a few years ago, doing his best to sound like Dirty Harry. I don't see how banning assault weapons or putting reasonable regulations on gun ownership is an encroachment on anyone's freedom. This editorial by Katrina Vanden Heuvel is at www.thenation.com:
Perhaps Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, put it best in issuing this statement today: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the Virginia Tech University community, and to the families of the victims of what appears to be one of the worst mass shootings in American history... Eight years ago this week, the young people in Littleton, Colorado suffered a horrible attack at Columbine High School, and almost exactly six months ago, five young people were killed at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. Since these killings, we've done nothing as a country to end gun violence in our schools and communities. If anything, we've made it easier to access powerful weapons... We have now seen another horrible tragedy that will never be forgotten. It is long overdue for us to take some common-sense actions to prevent tragedies like this from continuing to occur."
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