Observations on Guns

The more I thought about what I wanted or needed to say about guns the more notes I had and the greater the threat of some massive post that made no sense to anybody. I decided I would break it into two parts. There is just too much swirling around in my head so first I'm going to get out some basic "facts" about why I think about guns the way I do. Maybe in the end it will be that long awkward post broken in two but I have to start somewhere.

At times it is a very emotional issue for me, at other times very fact based, which is very hard to explain to some people. Before I go any further let me get this out of the way, it has to stop. Every year more Americans die in this country from gun violence than died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Yes the second amendment guarantees the right to own guns but that right shouldn't override the most basic of Jefferson's rights, the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When the Constitution was written muskets couldn't hit the side of a barn from 100' and there was no such thing as a semi-automatic musket. Does the second amendment give me the right to a nuke? I don't think so, so why a semi-automatic assault rifle with a hundred round magazine? Nobody needs to go to Cabella's for armor piercing bullets to go duck hunting. It's just insanity.

I grew up in a small town ruralish county in Pennsylvania, a state which has more NRA members than any other state other than Texas. In the fall the thoughts of a large part of the state doesn't turn to Penn State football but to hunting. Pennsylvania has more hunting seasons than I can remember. Small game, deer, bear, archery, and musket come to mind. All my uncles hunt and my dad does too although I always had the feeling he hunted more to be with his brothers than for any other reason. I love my uncles but I argue with them all the time and doing that has taught me two things about gun control. Like global warming it's just a bad term and if there is ever going to be a rational gun policy in this country it has to soothe the very real, if somewhat irrational, fear of rural Americans that somebody is going to come and take there hunting rifles.

For years I owned gun, a completely legally purchased and licensed hand gun. My one uncle taught me how to shoot it, took me to a safety class, and often took me to a shooting range where, to be brutally honest, I quite enjoyed shooting it and did much better than hit the side of a barn. Why did I enjoy it? Have you ever played a shooter computer game? If you have you and enjoyed it you understand even if you don't want to admit it to yourself. It's the same feeling just a 'real' feeling and not a 'virtual' one. Beyond that I wont get into it because it's one of those no win emotional issues of the gun debate. One extreme will say I'm evil because I enjoyed firing a gun and the other will say I'm bad because I got rid of my gun to prove a point.

Why do some people react with near hatred of the right when it comes to gun control? Because they have to deal with people like Texas Governor Rick Perry who yesterday told a wingnut meeting that teachers should be able to carry guns. Then there is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who thinks a mass shooting in an elementary school is the natural result of taking god out of schools. If his god is that spiteful it would allow twenty children to die to prove a point I'm so glad I don't believe in it. As for the National Rifle Association I'm not sure I can discuss them, least at the national level, without a touch of loathing. There answer to everything seems to be more guns. Guns in school, guns in church, more guns everywhere as if 300 million weren't enough.

But now it all comes down to one simple fact, twenty small children died in a way nobody deserves to die. As I wrote somewhere last Friday, what does it say about a country when it kills its children?

So you can see that, even when I'm trying to not be emotional, when it comes to guns in America emotion is never far away for anybody.

Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas

Saturday night "Saturday Night Live" paid tribute to the victims of the Newtown shootings with a rare serious opening by the New York Children's Chorus.

"Silent Night"

link

Observations 12.17

Last night President Obama made a speech at a prayer vigil in Newtown, Connecticut. It was a good speech, maybe one of his best, or maybe it was just the moment. Either way it was the best I have ever heard on the subject, again maybe the moment. One thing I didn't realize until today was that he made the entire speech without even once using the word that the speech was primarily about. He never said the word gun ....

"This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know they are loved and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?

I've been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change. Since I've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings, fourth time we've hugged survivors, the fourth time we've consoled the families of victims.

And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and in big cities all across America, victims whose -- much of the time their only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We can’t tolerate this anymore.

These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."

You can read the entire speech here.

Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas

A Festivus for the rest of us.

n. An alternative to the crass commercialization of Christmas, typically celebrated on December 23. It involves The Airing of Grievances (telling your family and friends all the ways they have disappointed you during the year) and does not end until the Feats of Strength (pinning the head of the family) are accomplished. A plain, metal pole is used in lieu of a Christmas tree, because decorations (such as tinsel) is distracting from the true meaning of the holiday.

link

Sunday Observations 12.16

The past few months I've had some fun with the petitions on the White House website. Who wouldn't have some fun with secession, death star building, imaginary countries? At the moment there is a very serious petition you should take a look at; We Petition The Obama Administration To: Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress. At the moment it has 113,000 signatures or four times what is needed for an official response from the Obama Administration. It's very short, only five sentences, and you can sign it here.

That's all I'm going to say about guns at the moment. I had a few notes for today but now they all seem relatively unimportant as I look at them. The wingnuts made a big deal of President Obama planning on spending Christmas in Hawaii and thought he should cancel those plans if there is no fiscal deal. Petty as hell because they know damn well, as Joe Scarborough noted, he was born there. Some of us are lucky enough to be born in Hawaii and some of us aren't. I wouldn't mind spending Christmas on Kee Beach with lights in the palm trees and a Corona in my hand but I don't see it happening anytime soon. The wingnuts probably think the President should be spending Christmas in Nairobi.

Meryl Schenker, ZUMA Press

Here is a little something to remind you that even after the past few days there is always something to make you smile about life. Last week I posted a photo of Larry Duncan and Randell Shepherd, the gay bears, getting their marriage license in Seattle. Last Sunday the two were married in Seattle's First Baptist Church. While not religious at all the two said they wanted a church wedding because as Larry said, "Enough people have told me, ‘God hates fags,’ I want someone in a church to say, ‘God loves fags,’ to have that stamp on it." No word on where the happy newlyweds spent their honeymoon.

I did something yesterday I have never done before, went into a Japanese bookstore. If for whatever reason you ever want to feel totally lost in the world I suggest a Japanese bookstore. The most awesome looking books you'll ever see but I have no idea what they said.

Finally Jesuit Father Jose Funes, the head of the Vatican Observatory, assures us the Mayan Apocalypse is not going to happen this week. In L'Osservatore Romano he published an article in which he emphatically states the Mayan calender is 'irrational' which is something I'm sure a Jesuit priest would know something about.

I have to go now, seems hell is calling ....

Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas

Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra, Chinese turkey.

link

Observations from the Window 12.15

Gun control is that subject I try and stay away from, probably the only issue where you can be seen as too extreme by both sides of the argument, but after twenty children were slaughtered yesterday I really can't do it anymore. Be warned that post is on its way but this isn't it.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may sometimes be a bit full of himself, imperial is word thrown around in the city, but at times he is the most rational politician in America. Maybe that comes with having a personal fortune large enough to say fuck you to any group he cares to. Honestly he may be the one non-Democrat I would like to see run for president, one I would seriously have to think about voting for.

What follows are Bloomberg's words after yesterday's Connecticut shootings, italics are mine ....

"With all the carnage from gun violence in our country, it’s still almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen. It has come to that. Not even kindergarteners learning their A,B,Cs are safe. We heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are hearing it again. For every day we wait, 34 more people are murdered with guns. Today, many of them were five-year olds. President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown. But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem. Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough. We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership – not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national response. My deepest sympathies are with the families of all those affected, and my determination to stop this madness is stronger than ever."

The madness has to end.

update - Sometimes simple is the best, at left is Google's poignant homepage since the Newton shootings.

Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas

One of my favs, I was going to save it for Christmas Eve but given what happened today ....

"Imagine"

link

Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas

"Good night, Santa. Good night, Mrs. Santa's sister."

link

Observations from the Window 12.13

Last night was the 121212 Concert for Sandy and it wasn't bad. I'm quite sure my dad enjoyed it much more than I did, he told me so. I grew up listening to that music with my dad and so much of it really is timeless. Clapton, Pink Floyd in everything but name, and the Stones will always be the Stones even if they look like they escaped from a wax museum for the night. One thing I didn't need to see was Roger Daltrey's almost seventy year old bare chest. Really I was never a fan of The Who and that sight didn't change my opinion in the least. My thought is the concert could have used some younger performers and less Kanye West, but that's just me, it raised $30 million in just ticket sales.

But I didn't set out to write a concert review here. As always I have something else on my mind.

While we were watching I had my eye on twitter even though I had told myself I wasn't going to tweet the night away and just retweeted phone numbers and the like. Still I can't stop myself from looking and as the night went on one segment of humanity slowly began to irritate me. I did a good job of keeping my thoughts to myself, until now.

Occupy Sandy and Occupy Sandy New Jersey have done a lot of good since the storm and I don't want to take away from that at all. They have done such a good job that a one point FEMA actually shipped supplies to them to distribute. To their credit they stayed away from ideology last night, just thanked those that had donated to OS, and said where to be today if you really wanted to help. I can't say the same for some members of Occupy or the 'official' Occupy twitter account. I should add I have no idea who runs that account now or how many have access to it.

To me when the recovery costs are in the hundreds of billions of dollars it doesn't much matter where the money comes from. There is no right or wrong way to help, just helping is what matters. Yes people are needed in the neighborhoods to 'hands on' help but that doesn't make those people any better than corporations or celebrities that donate money, supplies, or just their time and name to the cause. All those supplies Occupy handed out were paid for by somebody, they didn't just magically appear in Brooklyn. You could say that Chase donating is all a PR stunt, or as Occupy calls it "disaster capitalism," and you might be right. So be it. Somebody who likes Chase will like them whether or not they give and I doubt their giving will make anybody think better of them. Personally I would take the money from the devil herself if I had to so if they want to donate I have no problem with it. It's less they have to hand out in bonuses this year.

To publicly say that Chelsea Clinton should rip down mildewed drywall if she really wanted to help does absolutely nothing for anybody. It all just smells of the holier than thou sanctimonious attitude I hate about the far right and that's turning into a major problem with politics in this country. Until people accept the fact that we are all in it together, that neither side is totally right about everything, we are just screwed. I don't see that happening any time soon.

I'll finish with a tweet from someone I have since stopped following, "Charity is a bullshit illusion. It has to be said."

No it didn't.

Observations from the Gallery 12.12

Just a quick post because on Sunday I mentioned a Charles Bukowski quote that was popular on my tumblr, "My soul is sadder than all the dead Christmas trees of the world." I thought it suggested people weren't all in a happy holiday mood but it seems a few days can make all the difference. Today they rediscovered a Tolstoy quote I had originally posted months ago ....

"If you want to be happy, be."

At the same time you may have noticed today's date is 12.12.12, Speaker Boehner is doing his best Nero impression, and North Korea has a satellite in orbit. Taken together the three make me wonder if the Mayans may have indeed been right.

And where have you gone NHL?

12/13 update - NBC News reported this morning that the North Korean satellite seems to be "tumbling out of control" and I don't think the were referring to the tumblr blogs. I just wanted to say ... heads up!

Observations 12.11

Tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden is the 121212 Concert benefiting Hurricane Sandy relief through the Robin Hood Relief Fund.

The current list of performers includes the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Roger Waters, Alicia Keys, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton and Bon Jovi. Also appearing Susan Sarandon, Chris Rock, Kristen Stewart, Quentin Tarantino, Brian Williams, Jessica Chastain, Chelsea Clinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart. Expect the usual array of 'surprise' guests, maybe a certain Governor from Jersey.

The concert will be broadcast on 34 U.S. TV networks including AMC, Encore, Fuse, HBO, Showtime, Sundance, and VH1. A full list of networks, radio stations, and streaming sites is here. The "Concert for New York City" after the 9-11 attacks was broadcast on just one network, VH1, and raised $32 million.

"12-12-12" The Concert for Sandy Relief

link

Observations

by  Kate le Roux

"This Happened."

Photo at left and words tweeted by Dan Savage after he and Terry Miller were officially and legally wed in Seattle, Washington earlier today. I don't think I need to add anything.

Sunday Observations 12.9

I'm going to start with a quick warning. The Eagles won a football game today, the Mayan apocalypse is upon us.

For possibly the first time in my life I have three biographies started. Now I've often had three books started but never three bios, I hope I don't get anything mixed up. I guess that isn't possible with these three books; Ted Kennedy's True Compass, Keith Richards's Life, and Salman Rushdie's Joseph Anton: A Memoir.

Not sure if it's a sign of the times or what but at the moment one of the more popular quotes on my tumblrs is this from Charles Bukowski, "My soul is sadder than all the dead Christmas trees of the world."

I don't want to be totally depressing on a Sunday evening but this week I saw a good article in Forbes about sex trafficking which it says is now a $32 billion a year industry worldwide. I'm not going to get into it, the article isn't long if you want to read it, but I wanted to share this line. It's one of those things that is so obviously true but evidently isn't seen that way in this country. "Legally, they cannot consent to sex with an adult, so the use of the term “child prostitution” in the media is misleading. In any other context, this would be considered statutory rape."

A few days ago I said that there was a lot going on in the art world this week but I have yet to finish that post. One of the major things was the ribbon cutting at the new Louvre-Lens museum which will officially open later this week. The museum will contain over 300 works from the Louvre. The other thing was the Art Basel show in Miami. A funny geek thing happened this morning that relates to the Miami show. I was reading a Le Monde article about it and hit the tweet button which than said it was posted. It hadn't so I tried again with the same result. Turned out something in the french name of the culture section was telling twitter it was a direct message so it wouldn't send it.

Finally Ash's line of the week, "If you are going to call yourself a painter you really need to paint."

Truth.