Category Archives: Current Events

Creating A Separate Justice System For Terrorism Is A Very Slippery Slope.

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Some Teapublican leaders are calling for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be treated as an “enemy combatant”, removing him from our traditional justice system and subjecting him to a military tribunal. Although this may be tempting to some, it is the slipperiest of slippery slopes.

Tsarnaev is an American citizen. He has the same right to a trial by jury as other accused terrorists and murderers, such as Timothy McVeigh and Jared Loughner. To treat him otherwise is to say that some American citizens are worthy of trial by a jury of their peers, and that other American citizens are undeserving of their constitutional rights.

This is the ultimate class warfare.

If we are to start down that path with Tsarnaev, where do we stop? Should all those accused of mass murder be denied a jury trial? Should jury trials be reserved only for natural born citizens? Should all naturalized citizens accused of crimes be turned over to the military?

The very act of declaring Tsarnaev an “enemy combatant” would undermine the bedrock of our justice system – that all citizens are equal, and that all citizens are innocent until proven guilty.

A Little Perspective On The Boston Bombing Suspects.

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Before Americans get all high and mighty and resume the same Islam bashing that followed 9/11, we should remember this:

Islamic terrorists no more represent Islam than the Westboro Baptist Church represents Protestantism. They no more represent Islam than pedophile priests represent Catholicism. They no more represent Chechnya, Russia, or immigrants than they represent boxers, wrestlers, lifeguards, jazz pianists, and medical students.

Their violent acts were not the result of a national decline in “moral” values, a permissive society, or of violent video games. And, no, Fox News Channel, hate radio hosts and Tea Party Parrots…they certainly weren’t encouraged or permitted by the Obama administration.

They were obviously intelligent and talented young men who were angry, confused, misguided and possibly used. No one knows their motives for sure, but we should not blame others for their violent actions.

Suddenly, Budweiser Tastes A Lot Better!

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I’m not a big beer drinker. But I’ll treat myself to a cold one a little more often now…and it will definitely be an Anheuser-Busch product. That’s because Adolphus Busch IV just resigned his lifetime membership in the National Rifle Association.

It seems Busch was upset over the NRA’s refusal to listen to its members who support universal background checks. In his resignation letter, he wrote, “The NRA I see today has undermined the values upon which it was established. Your current strategic focus clearly places priority on the needs of gun and ammunition manufacturers while disregarding the opinions of your 4 million individual members.”

I don’t know if Busch has been a large donor to the NRA, but his resignation has made news and is an obvious embarrassment to an organization that fraudulently purports to represent hunters and sport shooters. Instead, it has ignored the wishes of its membership in order to kowtow to the greedy and murderous wishes of our nation’s gun manufacturers.

So thank you, Mr. Busch. This Bud’s for you!

Government Of The Gun, By The Gun And For The Gun.

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You probably thought our government was “of the people.” Not anymore. The NRA, the Republican Party and the Tea Party Parrots have changed that. When gun-lovin’ senators decided to filibuster a bill that would expand background checks on gun sales, they went against the will of 90 percent of the people.

It’s now abundantly clear who these politicians represent, and it’s certainly not us. They have chosen to represent the minority over the majority. They have chosen gun manufacturers over citizens. They have chosen campaign donations over lives.

To show exactly how far this nonsense has gone, in Arizona, the Teapublican-controlled legislature recently passed a bill making it illegal for cities to destroy guns collected as part of gun buy-back efforts, guns seized in crime investigations, even guns used in murders.

No gun shall meet its end before its time!

People, on the other hand, are treated much differently. These same Teapublican legislators have literally voted to withhold Medicaid from the poor that would have saved lives. As a result of the legislators’ decision, a number of people were allowed to die prematurely…people who could have been saved by a simple operation.

Of course, Arizona legislators have also refused to reconsider the death penalty, even in the case of the severely retarded, even when there are serious questions of guilt.

But, in Arizona, all guns will live to shoot another day; maybe even another innocent person; maybe you!

We Pledge Allegiance To The Gun Manufacturers Of America.

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Today, the gun lobby-owned Teapublicans in the US Senate filibustered a bill calling for expanded background checks. As a result, the bill failed on a vote of 54-46. It needed 60 votes to break the filibuster of rootin’, tootin’, shootin’ Teapublicans.

So the Teapublican senators would rather allow criminals and the mentally ill easy access to guns than risk angering the NRA and gun manufacturers!

These are the very same senators who were outraged (outraged, I say!) that the ATFE allowed a few guns to slip across the border in an attempt to get at the leaders of Mexican drug cartels who were using Arizona’s lax gun laws to purchase them through straw buyers. They were outraged by that, yet they’re seemingly unconcerned that thousands of felons and criminally insane will be allowed to continue to purchase military-style guns and ammunition through gun shows, the Internet and person-to-person sales without so much as a background check!

How many more mass murders will it take for our nation to take gun safety seriously? How many more drive-by shootings? How many more innocent children and young adults will have to die?

Nearly 90 percent of Americans are in favor of expanded background checks, including a majority of NRA members. It would seem that the only Americans against such sensible measures are criminals, NRA leaders, gun manufacturers and Teapublican politicians. (And it’s increasingly difficult to tell these groups apart!)

Everyday Terrorism In The US.

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To take nothing away from the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, our nation faces a far more deadly form of terrorism every single day.

At latest count, the Boston bombs cost 3 lives and 180 wounded. That’s a horrendous toll and I cry for the victims and their families. But gun violence claims 32 lives every single day! Yet there are no news specials on those victims. No 24-hour news reports. No press conferences. No grilling of terrorism experts. Most of those deaths are treated as little more than a statistic.

Since the murders at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, there have been nearly 2,500 gun deaths! But there has been little effort to stop them. Indeed, the NRA and many politicians are arguing for business as usual. No bans on certain types of weapons. No bans on large capacity magazines. No expanded background checks.

The nearly 2,500 gun deaths have been overshadowed by the Boston tragedy, pushing the debate over gun safety to the back burner.

The one bill that may actually reach the floor of the US Senate for a vote is likely to be filibustered by Teapublicans despite support from nearly 90 percent of Americans. Even if it does pass, it is already so watered down as to be of little help. It would expand background checks to most gun shows, but leave a loophole so large you could drive a semi-truck full of assault weapons through it. That’s because the bill, as it currently stands, would exempt gun sales between friends and family members from background checks. And it would exempt sales at rural gun shows if there is no licensed gun dealer nearby.

So if I’m a criminal looking for a gun, I could still buy one from a “friend” on most any street corner in America. Yeah, that’ll work.

Does Wayne LaPierre’s Advice Also Apply To Bombs?

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Following the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, NRA Exec. VP, Wayne LaPierre said, “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.”

So after the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, will Mr. LaPierre make a similar statement about bombs? Of course not! Even someone as crass and callous as LaPierre would recognize the absurdity of such a claim.

Why the difference?

The answer, of course, is money. LaPierre and his very lethal lobbying group do not represent bomb manufacturers, so there’s no profit motive. Neither do LaPierre and the NRA represent cutlery manufacturers, so you didn’t hear them call for arming everyone with knives after the recent stabbings in Texas.

Therefore, it’s fair to ask, “Since LaPierre’s gun strategy doesn’t apply to all violent attacks, why should we listen to him at all?”

“We Can’t Afford That Anymore.”

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We hear it all the time. There’s no money to improve our schools. There’s no money to rebuild our infrastructure. There’s no money to ensure that our citizens have access to food and medicine. There’s no money to care for the mentally ill and the homeless. There’s no money to give our veterans the care they deserve. There’s no money for pensions and retirement benefits.

The US is broke…at least that’s what Teapublicans want us to believe.

So what happened? How did we go from the richest, most powerful nation on Earth to a nation that can no longer afford the things that our citizens value most? For starters, our economic ills are the result of two costly wars, the unparalleled expansion of government immediately following 9/11, an expansion of Medicare drug benefits and the Great Recession that began as the result of unfettered gambling by the so-called “too big to fail” banks.

But none of those causes have been as devastating as runaway greed, the off-shoring of jobs and money (it’s estimated that wealthy Americans, including Mitt Romney, and US-based multinational corporations have stashed trillions in off-shore tax havens), subsidies for large corporations, and tax cuts intended to benefit the very wealthiest portion of our populace.

Following World War II, when we could afford to build things, our top individual tax rate was 91 percent for those making more than $200,000 per year. The capital gains tax was 25 percent. And the effective corporate tax rate was 50 percent.

Compare those rates with today’s: The top individual tax rate is now 39.6 percent for those making more than $400,000. The capital gains tax is 15 percent. And the effective corporate tax rate is 17 percent (that is, if large corporations pay any taxes at all). In fact, some large multinationals now have a negative tax rate!

See the problem?

For most working Americans, wages have stagnated over the past 40 years, while worker productivity has skyrocketed, along with incomes for the wealthy. Most Americans are working harder and earning proportionately less…if they’re lucky enough to have a job! And the only answer Congress (at least the Teapublican portion of Congress) has for these problems is to cut spending, to protect tax cuts for the wealthy, and to cut taxes for corporations.

Speaker Boehner, Minority Leader McConnell and the rest of the Teapublicans in office want to “starve the beast.” They consider investment and compromise dirty words. And they steadfastly refuse to agree to one more dollar of revenue.

To relate that to family finances as Teapublicans are so fond of doing: It’s as if parents, faced with growing credit card bills, decided to give up food for their children in order to cut their work hours!

Yes, we have to cut government waste and be efficient with our spending. But there isn’t enough fat in discretionary spending to eliminate the deficit and still meet the needs of our growing population. We already have seen that with the sequester cuts, and they’ve only just begun. If we want to reduce our nation’s debt without destroying our fragile economy, we must find new sources of revenue.

At War With Ourselves.

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Not to diminish the loss and sacrifice of those fighting in Afghanistan, but America’s most lethal war is internal.

All of our wars since 1776 (and there have been far too many of them) have resulted in the deaths of 1,171,177 soldiers. But since 1968, 1,384,171 civilians have lost their lives to gun violence in America! Of course, that number is growing every day. For what purpose? So some wannabe “freedom fighters” can own a lethal collection of weaponry intended for military use?

If you’re one of the paranoid, anti-social nitwits who see tyranny around every corner, I have some news for you. The government isn’t coming to take your revolver, shotgun and hunting rifle. The black-shirted UN troops aren’t coming, either. And your neighbors aren’t coming for your stash of food, guns and gold.

Only a very small percentage of Americans are murderers, muggers, robbers and thieves. And the only reason they have guns is because you and the NRA are too damn paranoid to allow the government to institute sensible gun safety rules.

Because you feel it’s your constitutional right to arm yourself to the teeth, straw buyers are able to walk into any of the nation’s more than 58,000 gun stores and buy assault rifles for drug cartels. Because of your paranoia, gangstas are able to buy an array of semi-automatics from gun shows without even passing a background check. Because you want to think of yourself as a real-life Rambo, felons and children are able to buy guns on street corners throughout America so they can shoot innocents and each other.

Truth is, If you’re so paranoid that you fear universal background checks and restrictions on some types of weaponry, you are as responsible for gun deaths in America as those who actually pull the triggers.

That must make you feel very proud.

The Underworld Of Homelessness.

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Out of sight, out of mind. That’s how most Americans deal with homelessness. So it’s not surprising that a few homeless people in Kansas City created an underground camp. They dug a series of tunnels which they ventilated with PVC pipe…a creative way to get out of the weather and out of sight of the good people who dislike seeing them huddling on the streets and dumpster-diving for food.

Of course, once the authorities discovered the tunnels, it was all over. The homeless were handed some materials about local services and sent packing. This is how we deal with the homeless today. “How horrible! We feel so sorry for you. But you can’t live here. Now, on your way!” This happens, not just in Kansas City, but in every city and town in America.

Homelessness is a serious and growing problem in our nation. It’s time we find serious solutions.

Tearing down the camps and handing the homeless flyers is no solution. Many of the homeless won’t live in shelters. They understand that the shelters offer no real security. They often don’t know if they’ll have a bed for more than a single night. Families are often separated. Many can’t stand to sleep in a large room full of snoring people. Many don’t like the religion that is pushed on them by the shelter owners. Many just want a quiet place to themselves.

So many of the homeless seek to take care of themselves. (Isn’t that what most Americans want to see…personal responsibility?) They find out of the way places for shelter; in camps, under bridges and overpasses, by railroad tracks, even in tunnels. When they’re discovered, the police usually tear apart their camp, destroy their meager possessions, hand them some literature about services and transport them to another suburb or town.

Out of sight. Out of mind…

When is America going to finally admit we have a problem? When are we going to realize that a single catastrophic event could put any of us out on the streets? When are we going to understand that the homeless are our neighbors? They are the chronically unemployed, the addicted and the mentally ill. Many are veterans who couldn’t adapt back into polite society after witnessing and participating in our far too frequent wars. Many are families displaced by greedy banks who foreclosed their homes.

Imagine the talent, wisdom and potential that are going to waste on our streets. It’s time to stop shoving these people aside; time to look them in the eyes and find ways to help them help themselves.