;)
Wednesday
Apr172013
The Commentariat -- April 18, 2013
Michael Shear & Julia Preston of the New York Times: the anti-immigration foment which right-wing talkshow hosts churned up in 2007 to defeat immigration legislation backed by President George W. Bush may not work this time around. Even some of the wingers, like Sean Hannity, have "evolved" on the issue. ...
... CW: Yeah, because there's this, for example. Jamie Self of the State: "Three out of four South Carolinians support immigration reforms that include giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, according to a Winthrop University poll released Wednesday. The results to that poll question -- asked exclusively for The State -- were nearly the same for registered voters who identified themselves as Republicans and Democrats." South Carolina!!
President Obama's remarks at a memorial prayer service in Boston:
... The text of the President's speech is here. The text of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's remarks is here. ...
... Andrew Ryan, et al., of the Boston Globe: "In a powerful, uplifting speech at an interfaith service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Obama said he had come to join people to 'pray and mourn and measure our loss. We also come today to reaffirm that the spirit of this city is undaunted and the spirit of this country shall remain undimmed.'" ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Thursday morning that the National Rifle Association 'made a big mistake' by opposing his gun background checks compromise legislation, saying the amendment would have gotten 70 votes without the NRA's interference." With video. ...
... President Obama made remarks following the Senate's defeat of the Manchin-Toomey background check amendment. See also yesterday's Commentariat, including some great post-vote commentary. I have been surfing the net in search of punditry as profound as that of Reality Chex contributors. No luck. ...
... Tho Charles Pierce does quite well in discussing the "World's. Greatest. Deliberative. Body." With special props for Heidi Heitkamp (SupposedDem-N.D.) & Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) -- "Sarah Palin with Verbs."
... Ed O'Keefe & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Obama's ambitious effort to overhaul the nation's gun laws in response to December's school massacre in Connecticut suffered a resounding defeat Wednesday, when every major proposal he championed fell apart on the Senate floor.... The national drive for laws that might prevent another mass shooting unraveled under intense pressure from the gun rights lobby, which used regional and cultural differences among senators to prevent new firearms restrictions." ...
... ** Gabrielle Giffords, in a New York Times op-ed: "We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like 'tough vote' and 'complicated issue.' I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending." ...
... Dana Milbank: "Courage was in short supply at the Capitol on Wednesday."
... Jonathan Cohn & Eric Kingsbury of The New Republic highlight how very undemocratic the Senate is. This, of course, is not news. ...
... BUT, as Jonathan Chait of New York writes, "Don't Blame the Founders for the Gun Debacle." ...
... DITTO from Ezra Klein: "It's typical to say that this is how the Senate's always been. It's also wrong. The filibuster didn't emerge until decades after the first congress, and its constant use is a thoroughly modern development. As for the small state bias, that, too, has changed over time. During the first Congress, Virginia, the largest state, was roughly 12 times the size of Delaware, which was, at the time, the smallest state. Today, California is 66 times the size of Wyoming. That makes the Senate five times less proportionate today than it was at the founding."
... Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times on "Harry Reid's Conscience." ...
... Mitch McConnell thinks the murders, suicides & mayhem that will result from the failure of this bill are a hoot. ...
... Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post: "Late word has it that Harry Reid will pull the gun bill down from the Senate floor prior to a final vote in order to be able to bring it back at some point in the future." ...
... Tweet from Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: "Howard Dean prediction on Morning Joe: Brian Schweitzer will either primary or replace Baucus over background check vote" Via Greg Sargent.
Linda Greenhouse: "If you read only one judicial opinion this year, you might consider skipping the Supreme Court entirely and going right to a decision issued early this month by Judge Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The ruling ordered the Obama administration to lift age restrictions on the over-the-counter availability of emergency contraception." ...
... AND NEWS FLASH! Crazy Old Bigot Still on Supreme Court. Luke Johnson of the Huffington Post: "Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Monday that the Voting Rights Act is an 'embedded' form of 'racial preferment.' ... He later criticized United States Supreme Court precedents that expanded the number of minority groups, positing that 'child abusers' could be a minority, but do not deserve special protection." CW: Pause for a moment & ponder the logic there. Also, Scalia seems to think homosexuality is a crime. ...
... Charles Pierce: "The 'emergency' to which the VRA was a response in 1965 began almost as soon as the Civil War ended.... And anyone who's been alive since 2010 ... knows that the "emergency" hasn't gone away. It's just put on a suit and gone to law school."
Outrage of the Day. Boing, Boing, Boing. You know those piddly checks the banks agreed to settle on mortgagors whom they'd screwed out of their homes? Well, the first ones have been going out, and they're bouncing. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "The mishap is just the latest setback to troubled homeowners. It took more than two years to resolve a federal investigation into the foreclosure abuses. Even after the settlement in January, the checks were delayed for weeks. 'It's the perfect ending for such a debacle,' said Michael Redman, a paralegal who runs a Web site for victims of foreclosure abuse. He said he had received 15 e-mails on Tuesday from homeowners whose checks bounced."
Obama 2.0. Sam Youngman of Reuters: "President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget appeared Wednesday to be on a clear path toward Senate confirmation. Sylvia Mathews Burwell/strong>, a former official in the administration of President Bill Clinton and until recently head of Wal-Mart Stores' philanthropic wing, sailed through committee votes without Republican opposition on Wednesday, virtually assuring her confirmation as the next head of OMB."
Thomas Edsall, in the New York Times: "Obama is unlikely to achieve top-rank historic status based on his legislative agenda. What he does have is a shot at using the platform of the presidency to jumpstart the process of economic adaptation by strengthening public awareness. People need to understand that the economic problems facing the country -- wage polarization, inequality and lost middle class jobs -- are structural, not just cyclical.... He can nurture greater empathy for workers, encourage majoritarian opposition to the conservative anti-regulation-anti-tax agenda, and reactivate dormant instincts of self-determination among the previously marginalized."
"The Kids Are Not All Right." Charles Blow: "According to a Unicef report issued last week -- 'Child Well-Being in Rich Countries' -- the United States once again ranked among the worst wealthy countries for children, coming in 26th place of 29 countries included. Only Lithuania, Latvia and Romania placed lower, and those were among the poorest countries assessed in the study."
You might be surprised to learn that Paul Kevin Curtis, the suspect in the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama & Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R)(name sounds like a patio store; h/t Stephen Colbert) seems to be crazy as a loon who is "on the front lines of a secret war." Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed reports. ...
... UPDATE: Aaron Davis & Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "As Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was about to appear in a federal courtroom in Oxford, Mississippi, a lawyer who once represented him said Curtis had suffered for years with a mental illness, and that his family had struggled to keep him on medication to treat it."
Edward Krudy of Reuters: "How a student took on eminent economists on debt issue -- and won."
In New Zealand, Government Works. "As the votes are announced in the New Zealand Parliament that affirm the Definition of Marriage Amendment (allowing equal marriage rights for the gay community), spectators in the gallery break into a Maori love song which most of the Members of Parliament then join in with":
... New Zealand MP Maurice Williamson makes a speech prior to the vote:
Andy Borowitz: "Authorities who have spent the past forty-eight hours combing CNN in the hopes of finding any information whatsoever have called off their search, they confirmed today." ...
... CW: Actually, you get plenty of news on CNN. It's just totally unreliable. Note the crawl in the screenshot above. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Wednesday afternoon has seen a flurry of contradictory reports about the status of an alleged suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, but for the past hour or so, CNN has been going all-in with sources that said an arrest had already been made. A few minutes ago, though, CNN's chyron went from 'Sources: Arrest In Boston Bombing' to 'Defcon: Oh, Crap,' as CNN contributor Tom Fuentes came on the air to tell Anderson Cooper that two 'highly-placed sources' say there has been no arrest, followed by Fran Townsend reporting that 'two administration officials' have confirmed that there has been no arrest." ...
... The FBI is cautioning media outlets -- CNN -- to cut said crap: "Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting."
Kevin Drum on why the Republican brand isn't dead.
Right Wing World
CW: This post by Florida winger Javier Manjarres of Shark Tank, in which he squeals about the MarcoPhone, is hilarious. ("Move over 'Obama phone,' we present the new 'Hola, Como Estas?!' MarcoPhone.") At least Manjarres backs down with his updates, the gists of which are self-evident to anyone who reads the damned bill in the first place. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "I'm having trouble feeling bad for Rubio getting a taste of what it's like to be on the receiving end of a Tea Party delusion."
I knew it. Obama bugged McConnell's office. John Stanton of BuzzFeed: "White House logs and the Twitter feed of Shawn Reilly, one of two men at the heart of the McConnell wiretapping scandal, show he met with White House officials on Dec. 5, just days before his organization Progress Kentucky began a messaging blitzkrieg against the Republican leader." Oh. Near the end of his post, Stanton writes, "... a source familiar with the situation said Reilly was one of 83 other people from Kentucky and Tennessee who attended the event. An administration official addressed the attendees, discussing the then-looming fiscal cliff fight and other items on the White House's upcoming agenda. Neither Reilly nor any of the other people in attendance had 'intimate' one on one meetings with [Valerie] Jarrett or other senior White House officials.... Still, Republicans pointed to the evidence of the visitors logs to argue that Reilly is far more connected to the Democratic establishment than leaders would have the public believe."
News Ledes
New York Times: "A former justice of the peace who had been convicted of robbery was charged Thursday with the revenge killings of the prosecutors who handled his case, closing a chapter in one of the more chilling cases of assault on American law enforcement officers."
Washington Post: "A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in central Texas Wednesday night left more than 160 people wounded and killed an estimated five to 15 people, officials said, likely including firefighters who had been battling the blaze at the factory that triggered the explosion." ...
... New York Times UPDATE: "Rescue workers searched the rubble of a fertilizer plant on Thursday, looking for missing firefighters and survivors of a huge explosion that tore through this small central Texas town on Wednesday night, killing as many as 15 people and injuring more than 160 others, laying waste to buildings and potentially sending toxic fumes into the air, the authorities said.... Homes and businesses were leveled in the normally quiet town of West, just north of Waco, and there was widespread destruction in the downtown area, Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department said Thursday morning."
Boston Globe: "In a potential breakthrough in the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing, investigators have isolated images of a suspect carrying and perhaps dropping a black bag believed to have held one of two bombs that exploded 12 seconds apart Monday near the finish line of the historic race, said an official briefed on the investigation. Authorities were 'very close' Wednesday in their pursuit of the bomber, said the official...." ...
... UPDATE: "Authorities have clear video images of two separate suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings carrying black bags at the explosion sites and are planning to release the images today in an appeal for the public's help in identifying the men, according to an official briefed on the case. The official said that the two suspects were seen separately on videotape -- one at each of the two bombing sites, which are located about a block apart."
... New York Times: "... a senior law enforcement official ... said the authorities were trying to boil down the number of people of interest in the videos and would then decide whether to ask the public's help in locating them." ...
... Boston Globe: "President Obama will speak at an interfaith prayer service to honor victims of the Boston Marathon bombings Thursday morning at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.... Four former governors will attend, Governor Deval Patrick said: Mitt Romney, William F. Weld, Michael S. Dukakis, and Jane M. Swift."
AP: "A Chicago-area transportation agency on Wednesday alleged that some of the nation's largest and best known companies including AT&T, Sears Holdings Corp., Verizon and Target are running 'sham' offices as part of a scheme with two small northern Illinois communities to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in Chicago and Cook County."
AP: "Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf and his security team pushed past policemen and sped away from a court in the country's capital on Thursday to avoid arrest after his bail was revoked in a case in which he is accused of treason. Local TV broadcast footage of the dramatic scene in which Musharraf jumped into a black SUV and escaped as a member of his security team hung to the side of the vehicle. He sped away to his large compound on the outskirts of Islamabad that is protected by high walls, razor wire and guard towers." CW: luckily, Obama has seen to it that Dubya will never have to hide out behind barbed wire surrounding his Crawford ranch.
Reuters: "Ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ordered to be transferred back to prison from a military hospital on Wednesday on the recommendation of a medical team after he appeared fitter at his aborted retrial."
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Reader Comments (20)
I'm so glad you posted the New Zealand vote. I saw it elsewhere on the web shortly after the Senate killed gun control and was reduced to tears wondering if we will ever again have such a moment in one of our legislative houses.
Following yesterday's Senate non-vote, I might be changing my mind about guns.
If possession of a firearm does indeed gift the owner with a load of courage he or she might not otherwise possess, I'd suggest nearly half of our Senators might serve the country far better if they began "packing" immediately. Or if such a constant and visible sign of their innate pusillanimity would make the poor dears uncomfortable, perhaps application of a testosterone patch or two in the privacy of their penthouse might, I say might, do the trick.
Only two ideas, but I invite others to come up with more. God knows, the country needs 'em.
If anyone else wants to keep a list of the assholes who voted against universal background checks for gun purchases, here it is:
Senators who voted against universal background checks for gun purchases:
Alexander (R-TN); Ayotte (R-NH); Barrasso (R-WY); Baucus (D-MT); Begich (D-AK); Blunt (R-MO); Boozman (R-AR); Burr (R-NC); Chambliss (R-GA); Coats (R-IN); Coburn (R-OK); Cochran (R-MS); Corker (R-TN); Cornyn (R-TX); Crapo (R-ID); Cruz (R-TX); Enzi (R-WY); Fischer (R-NE); Flake (R-AZ); Graham (R-SC); Grassley (R-IA); Hatch (R-UT); Heitkamp (D-ND); Heller (R-NV); Hoeven (R-ND); Inhofe (R-OK); Isakson (R-GA); Johanns (R-NE); Johnson (R-WI); Lee (R-UT); McConnell (R-KY); Moran (R-KS); Murkowski (R-AK); Paul (R-KY); Portman (R-OH); Pryor (D-AR); Reid (D-NV); Risch (R-ID); Roberts (R-KS); Rubio (R-FL); Scott (R-SC); Sessions (R-AL); Shelby (R-AL); Thune (R-SD); Vitter (R-LA); Wicker (R-MS)
For a moment today, I was proud of our President. Obama, without aid of teleprompter or written speech, spoke his heart in the Rose Garden--next to Gabby Giffords and Newtown parents. He was compassionate, believable and kind hearted--the person for whom I thought I was voting--both times.
And, corny as it may have been to others, I was touched by Joe Biden's tears. I think they were real. These two men are so much more intelligent, humane and authentic, than American could have gotten had we voted in MittWitt and Paulie Ryan, or any other Republican crazoids!
Once more proud to be a Democrat. (-:
I felt that the background checks "compromise" was a sop intended to shut us up, so I have mixed emotions about its rejection by the Senate. Count me among those who want real gun control in this country, not the wishy-washy stuff currently being debated.
However you interpret the Second Amendment, it was written in a society that was mostly rural; many Americans lived along frontiers with not-always-amicable neighbors. It has been pointed out that the well-trained militias were a nifty way to track down and return slaves to their masters.
Today, our society is far more urban, and the frontiers that exist in the minds of those who wish to build fortresses in the Idaho hills are those planted there by charlatans who prey upon the mentally weak. When Rick Santorum inveighs about the blah people (see, don't even need quotation marks any more), he represents a proud American tradition that was celebrated by Barnum.
In our current circumstances, encouraging unlimited ownership of guns is insane, not to put too fine a point on it. Here is an entry from the Wikipedia article on gun violence in Great Britain. The "1996 atrocity" to which the article refers happened in Dunblane, where "[t]he gunman, 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton (b. 10 May 1952), entered the school armed with four handguns, shooting and killing sixteen children and one adult before committing suicide."
From Wikipedia:
'After the 1996 atrocity, legislation was introduced in 1997 to prohibit, with some extremely specialised exemptions, pistols of all calibers and "Small firearms" with a barrel length of less than 30 cm or an overall length of less than 60 cm.'
The result? 'The United Kingdom has one of the lowest rates of gun homicides in the world. There were 0.07 recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, compared to the 3.0 in the United States (over 40 times higher) and 0.21 in Germany (3 times higher).[4]'
In a modern urban society, for most who own them, guns are an indulgence. Oh, and by the way, I have as much right to feel threatened by the proliferation of guns as others have the right to feel threatened by the government that just isn't coming to get them, no matter how many fantasies they spin. Guns will kill people today. No sign yet of the black helicopters.
For the past days I have been awash in sadness and fury. Someone yesterday seemed to think Akhilleus was going over the top in expressing his vociferous anger and frustration, but I welcomed it. What can you do short of sending poison pen letters to those stubborn congresscritters except rant and rave. Luckily there are those that aren't giving up and will continue to fight the good fight. I dug out something George Kennan said years ago:
" For Americans to see ourselves as the center of political enlightenment and as teachers to a great part of the world is unthought-through, vainglorious, and undesirable…this planet is never going to be ruled from any single political center, whatever its military power."
I think he got it right. But I agree with Kate's comments re: Obama and Biden: Their response was real and was exactly what was needed.
And after the bombing in Boston the response by that city's responders is something we can be proud of. That very same day another bombing occurred in Iraq, an almost daily occurrence for them, with its people screaming that no one is doing anything for them.
Apologies for my over the top rant yesterday regarding the defeat of a very mild form of gun control.
This whole issue makes me so crazy.
@ Akhilleus -- No apology necessary!
@ PD Pepe -- You are right on the money with your comment. The action of both of my Senators from Nebraska is shameful, heartless and gutless. But not unexpected as they have never shown any thoughtfulness or bravery on issues of importance. We just have to keep on with thoughtful pressure and also continue to shreek at the TV when this crap keeps coming up!
P.S. Best news of the day: The exposure of the error of that nifty team of E-CON omists, Reinhart & Rogroff–- sounds like a vaudeville act with slides and ladders–– by a graduate student is just too delicious for words. I remember them well from the first big budget go around in 2008-09.
AK: As long as you don't take it out on your dog who sits under your desk you are good to go––in my book, anyway.
The Boston bombings, whomever responsible, brought me back to the lyrics of one of my favorite hip hop songs by the artist Talib Kweli. While I imagine most of you aren't hip hop fanatics, maybe I can convince you of its merits with this song. The vision of America he evokes, while perhaps controversial, is absolutely pertinent while we search for those responsible in Boston. A battle between good and evil yes, but even more so, a battle for America's soul:
Talib Kweli-The Proud
While not directly related, the failure of our spineless politicians to pass even the slightest legislation regulating gun and ammo purchases days after the bombing says quite a bit about the sad state of affairs we find ourselves in. I realize the bombs were probably homemade with materials we can all find in our local stores, and no one (that I know of) was actually shot, but the events are intrinsically linked.
The day after the bombing I had some interesting characters on Facebook claiming that THIS is the reason we shouldn't regulate guns. (Disclaimer: I hail from Brownbackistan). If only more guns had been there, they would have sniffed out the bomber and shot him/her dead on the spot! The presence of guns would have deterred the (wo)man from even daring such a cowardly act. And by being locked and loaded they could have protected themselves and their loved ones.....
These people actually believe these things. This nostalgia of control and safety guaranteed by the mythical powers of well directed cold steel. Such adulation of the gun makes it appear to be the all encompassing tool, the modern day Swiss army knife. The instant problem solver. And oh so vital a tool in this modern day battlefield with thieves, robbers, zombies, aliens, and the guvernment planning to do you harm every second of the day.
This deification of the gun combined with the rhythmic drumbeat of fear practiced by the right has led our society into a dark territory, where even enormous public will cannot overcome the shrills of the extremists. On gun issues, democracy is dead. And it's these events like the Boston bombing that further entrenches this extremist minority, proving their point that guns are the only guarantee of safety in the anarchy of modern civilization.
This is a time of deep reflection of where we want to go as a society. Ricin being sent through the mail, the defeat of any possible gun legislation after the Newtown massacre, the complete disregard of social and economic inequalities, the radicalization of the right, the attacks on the Voting Rights Act, the shameful treatment of our nation's children (our FUTURE) via Charles Blow, the impunity of too big to fail/jail institutions, the blatant lies of Iraq, the never-ending war in Afghanistan, and now Boston.
Cowards in the Senate have made the country less safe and validated violence as not just a norm, but as one condoned and supported by sycophantic solons in suits and ties.
What will they say after the next massacre, because as the sun rises and sets there will be more deaths? Would all of those doomed to die by gunfire be saved had these worthies voted with a semblance of morality rather a glance at their re-election warchests? Of course not. Those who complain that gun control won't save everyone and won't put all criminals behind bars are simply being intellectually dishonest (or stupid).
But if it can prevent a Seung-hui Cho or an Adam Lanza from gaining access to automatic weapons and murdering innocent citizens including children barely older than babies, then yes, they should have voted for it. But the NRA and their ball lickers in congress will have none of it. Children must die so Wayne LaPierre can wank his tiny pecker at night thinking of how many more weapons will now flood the country.
A number of thoughtful commenters here on RC have shared their experiences with weapons and my sense is that the most conscientious of gun owners would have no problem with background checks. As Jack pointed out, the second amendment was written for a much different country. Those for whom guns have always been part of their existence, especially for hunters, as a cultural icon, have a much different relationship to weapons, much greater respect, and most importantly, much more experience at handling them. In the 18th and 19th centuries, gun ownership for most Americans was simply a necessity. They knew how to properly handle and care for weapons. They used them regularly. The cowboys to whom the NRA now appeal, have little respect and little to no practical experience handling weapons. And since weapons are now modernized and more powerful, inexperience can be deadly. Ask Trayvon Martin.
And don't forget. More Americans have died from gunshot wounds than all those who have died in American wars. According to Politifact, roughly 1.17 million Americans have died in all wars since the War of Independence. That's almost two and half centuries. About 1.38 million Americans have been victims of domestic gun violence. Since 1968. That's mot even fifty years.
But who cares about statistics and facts and little things like life and death when there's money to be made?
Well, I'm just yapping on now. These are all old arguments. The NRA has won again. The forces of murder and money have won yet another battle.
Until we have lawmakers with morals and balls enough to tell the merchants of death, "enough, already, assholes", we'll lose plenty more of those battles. Even if we have 100% polling numbers declaring a desire for gun control. And we'll lose plenty more lives.
Money talks. Everything else disappears, especially in the eyes of greedy, amoral scumbags. What will they say after the next massacre? "It was a sad but one-time incident" another one.
Ask all those senators what they value more: the safety and lives of innocent Americans or money and power.
We know the answer.
President just finished his address at the Boston Interfaith Service. It was lovely and soaring. I was struck by the fact that it could be about the defeat of gun control and his allusions to evil doers ( my words not his) were easily metaphors for the pathetic pukes who voted in their interest and against supporting massacres. I hurried to write this down from the President's words so I wouldn't forget in (reference to the doers): "stunted individuals who would destroy instead of build." What a perfect description of the pro-gun slime. I sincerely believe that many people will make the connection in the President's words today. It won't be politically correct to point it out for a few hours.
I want to weigh in on the whole mental health question in re: guns also. First, if the discussion brings more money to people who need treatment that's a very good thing. However in terms of controlling access to guns, its a trail that leads to nowhere. The majority of people afflicted with mental and emotional illness are not violent nor are they even diagnosed. Even were they diagnosed as mentally ill, do we now have a national registry for everyone who has ever taken anti-depressants or anti-anxiety agents? HIPPA. California rap sheets, list 5150 holds as a part of the criminal records, because law enforcement individuals place the 5150 hold. The vague but scapegoating rhetoric about controlling access to guns by the mentally / emotionally is ignorant. Clinical test that predict violence in the mentally ill are not reliable. Predictions of violence that are most accurate are related to crime like factors as previous violence, age at first violent act, nature of violent act. Who gets to decide which disorders qualify as predicative of violence. Do gun dealers eyeball a customer and decide if they're mentally ill. Jeebus. The route to eliminating massacre via mentally or emotionally ill individual is dancing on the head of a pin. Isn't ironic that the gun lovers screaming and spitting about their "rights" does not extend to the rights of the mentally ill. Sort of the difference between an actual loaded gun and maybe sorta a tiny fraction of the rest of you who might get a gun. I'm surprised that you don't have to be a registered Republican and NRA member in order to own a gun. Liberal, with progressive features will soon be added to the DSM as a diagnosis.
Oh and Go Ahkilleus. You speak for me.
Akhilleus, are you kidding? You were on fire and it warmed my heart!
Thanks for the support, everyone. I really don't want to come off as a progressive version of a talk radio drooler, but to see such an important issue dismissed so casually by bought and paid for smirking cowards and the media that support them and their gun lobby masters is infuriating like you read about, hence the acrimonious philippic.
46 senators have proclaimed their lack of belief in the democratic process; that debate is bad for the health of a nation. That is a pity because Manchin-Toomey deserved to be debated and defeated. The NRA and gun-nuts in general have shot themselves in the foot for nothing. I could not vote for M-T because that would mean:
Accepting the NRA definition of the 2nd amendment.
Prohibiting a "gun registry" even if it only entailed recording firearm serial number and purchaser ID. Immunity from civil liabilities for gun dealers.
M-T is an insult to intelligence and if you really believe it would do anything to implement or enforce gun purchaser checks you haven't read it. You cannot enforce a law regarding transactions when there is no record of those transactions and it boils down to he said/she said. The only loser in this filibuster is the NRA. The only winner is the American people.
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/18/boston_aftermath_brings_out_americas_worst_prejudices/
http://www.juancole.com/2013/04/imaginary-reporters-imagination.html
The above links show how low we can sink. I have two Muslim friends whose safety I worry about whenever something like Boston happens.
With all the concern on the part of NRA types and conservatives bemoaning the minimal hit their privacy might take should anyone dare to ask gun purchasers for background information, one would think that a much larger potential invasion of privacy bill would put their noses equally out of joint. But it doesn't. Surprised?
Mike Rogers, (R-Michigan), has successfully rammed through a bill with the appropriately cryptic acronym of CISPA (Careful, I Spy on People everywhere in America). Okay, that isn’t really the name of the bill but it should be. So the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (you mean they couldn’t get the word “patriot” in there?) has been passed by the House (including a fair number of knucklehead Democrats).
But when Rogers says “…this isn’t a surveillance bill…” you know that that’s just what it is. It allows your internet provider and anyone you do business with online to share your information including reading through your e-mails and online purchases without you knowing about it. And not just the federal government. Rogers' bill allows providers to share your information with "any other entity" which means, as I read it, pretty much anyone who asks. And guess who else benefits from this bill? Why, MRS. Rogers.
That’s right, Kristi Clemens Rogers, who works in the surveillance industry, and her present and former companies stand to make a killing with this bill. In her most recent gig she secured a $10 billion dollar contract with the State Department. That's right, kids. Ten BILLION. Think there's money in this thing? But isn't that, like, conflict of interest? Why no, how could you ever think that about a member of congress? Especially a Republican! Shame on you.
Not only that, but this law automatically overrides any state or federal law already on the books regarding surveillance of private citizens. Whatever happened to Republican concern for states’ rights?
So, to sum up, Republicans, who have been howling like banshees about privacy issues surrounding the relatively small (but potentially dangerous) number of Americans purchasing guns, are completely unconcerned about a bill that puts every American’s expectation of a certain level of privacy right in the dumpster. (And we're not just talking about a the minimal background check asked for by the gun control people. This will allow strangers, unbeknownst to you, to go through EVERYTHING whenever they feel like it.) Plus, their standard concern for states’ rights go right in that same dumpster. AND to top it off, the wife of the sponsor of the bill makes a killing.
Could it get any better? They get to read your e-mails, go through your stuff and get handsomely paid for it. And practically nobody calls them on it. Ain’t it grand?
I can spy on you and my wife gets billions. Cool, ain't it?
All this to protect FREEEDOOOOMMM and SECURITY. I'd point out what Ben Franklin says about such people but it wouldn't make any difference.
In reading Juan Cole from Barbarossa's link, this really stuck in my craw:
..."Then Wolf Blitzer, refusing to take King’s hint that he didn’t want to say the words “Arab” or “Muslim,” asked if the person on the videotape could be heard speaking with an accent.
That was the low point. They were hinting around about Arabness or Muslimness, using skin color and accent as euphemisms. (Never mind that these are actually inappropriate markers for either group of Americans). King seems to have been told more of that kind of thing by his Boston PD source but, in his one piece of wise caution for the day, declined to retail further racist rumors. Blitzer can’t possibly be so naive about surveillance cameras as to think that they have audio. The question was a loaded one."
My conclusion:
John King is an incompetent reporter.
Wolf Blitzer is a bigot--a mean-spirited, racist asswipe
No wonder CNN's ratings are in the toilet.
@Kate Hudson; Perhaps because I'm not native, but when I was in Boston, I thought every one spoke with a strange accent.
@cowichan's opinion:
Just a thought. Though I agree with you about the legally enforceable provision (or lack thereof) in M-T, I believe symbols have their own substance, and for that reason are often important simply for what they represent. In this case, the proposed legislation carried with it the notion that the country's elected representatives recognized and were willing to do "something" about the flood of undocumented weapons sold to equally unexamined buyers. Had the Senate passed the bill, it would have conveyed what for me would have been a welcome message. That it did not also said something about the state of our politics. Time will tell what symbolic weight the bill's failure carries and who will have to bear that weight. My hope is that it will turn out to be some of the senators who blinked, not even more innocent citizens whom those senators failed to represent.
And I hope you're right that the NRA lost something. They may have. They do seem to be losing in the court of public opinion, but they are far from running out of money and congressional influence.