Republican campaign tactics have seemed to lack a certain gravitas of late, but it wasn’t until they began to resort to outright mockery that said tactics began to look particularly desperate. It honestly seems as if McCain’s camp has been able to find so little with which to hang Obama, that they’ve opted, instead, simply to employ easily refutable arguments premised, apparently, on the hope that no one will watch or read the news. Ever.
So unless you’ve been living under some sort of judiciary rock, then you know the Supreme Court ruled today 5-4 in favor of overturning the 28-year-old Washington D.C. ban on hand guns. This, of course, is a wonderful day for gun enthusiasts, proud NRA members, and the generally ornery. As for the rest of us, it seems much remains to be seen. While the NRA begins filing law suits all over the country to overturn past judicial rulings which imposed limits on gun rights, it seems worth considering, just from a general common sense perspective, exactly why the court ruled in this manner, and just what it means.
First of all, the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. Without delving too deeply into the history books, we can, at least, recall that a number of realities of daily life have changed significantly since that time. Most notably, perhaps, the fear amongst individual states that the Federal government would overstep their bounds and violate the basic tenets of Unification. This stark reality was reason enough for Americans to seek and secure the right to own guns in some manner, whether or not you understand the Second Amendment to be referring specifically to a militia or not. Desperate times demand desperate militias.
In 2008, the above seems at least overly romantic, if not downright preposterous to my lily-livered arse. The government has systematically overstepped it’s bounds a legion of times in the intervening 207 years, and yet the only offense ever deemed worthy of revolt was when they tried to put a stop to slavery. Props to the North for having some guns of their own lying around!
Still, since the Civil War ended in 1865, most of us seem to have begun expressing ourselves through political mechanisms or largely peaceful resistance. Though we certainly faced our share of struggle throughout the late 19th, 20th and now 21st centuries, that revolutionary spirit now seems, for the most part, like something from a bygone era.
Everyone who doesn’t fall into the above two categories, which by current estimates amounts to roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, for some reason fails to arouse the sort of fundraising enthusiasm evident in the National Rifle Association (or even your average criminal defense lobby). The experience for this population at the center is a rather murky one, and it is sadly rather hard to quantify the effect of the American love affair with guns as it relates to them.
Certainly gun deaths affect family members and friends who don’t fall into categories 1 or 2 above. Certainly the facts support the notion that guns make violent encounters more violent and more potentially life threatening. Certainly in neighborhoods where gun violence is prevalent, the climate of fear for non-gun-owning residents is also a very real phenomena, though it is probably one of the toughest realties to quantify. Given this, it’s no surprise that average folks will opt to draw some anecdotal conclusions about the recent Supreme Court decision. My conclusions follow:
1) Washington D.C. is and was a very violent city. 2) Between 1976 and yesterday, it was, at least, safe to assume that anyone carrying a gun in D.C. was a criminal. 3) Many other cities throughout the country have not outlawed handguns, yet they continue to enjoy demoralizing crime rates. In most of these cities, by my last check, the gun-owners, have not mobilized and brought their firearms to the aid of the innocent citizenry in their municipalities. 4) D.C. will now join those cities where it is NOT safe to assume that a person carrying a gun is a criminal. Also, it will be safe to continue assuming that there will not be an armed citizen revolt against criminals in any city. 5) Maybe this all adds up to a net wash, but I think policing gun crimes just got a little more difficult, and it will just get worse.
To sum up, while I would love to pick a fight with the NRA, that is not my intention. In fact, based on my recent NPR listening, it sounds like the guys (yes, only 10% are women) who love their hunting rifles and home protection pistolas, are really not the key problem. Still, while I’m no Antonin Scalia, I find ZERO resemblance between the current pro-gun movement and the early Americans for whom the Second Amendment was written. Instead, the public face of the NRA appears to pursue their agenda with a dogged selfishness which seems to come at the expense of the safety of ALL Americans.
To co-opt a little quote from George W. Bush, I say, if you’re a gun owner who is not part of the solution, then you are either anecdotally or implicitly part of the problem. I say, the Second Amendment addresses the rights of militias, so why the hell aren’t you guys mobilizing your guns and man-power and working for us? I say, as long as your Second Amendment rights are being re-affirmed and expanded, then you owe the rest of us something in return.
You’ve been granted a great victory on this day, so get moving! Get out there and kick some ass with those awesome guns of yours! I’m sure we’ll all feel safer knowing you’re out there.
Either that or I suppose we can dredge up the tired-old argument that a conservative Supreme Court might actually have some dilatory effects on society as we know it.
“The passing of Tim Russert throws into high relief this country’s lack of steadfastly reasonable and fair reporting.”
I got home from a show at Glasslands late last night and ended up watching an in memoriam show for Tim Russert featuring Tom Brokaw, James Carville, Mary Matalin, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Gwen Ifill, Mike Barnicle, Betsy Fischer (Executive Producer of “Meet the Press”) and Maria Shriver (who, I’m sorry, is one of the scariest-looking people alive today).
Obviously, I never knew Tim Russert personally, but my sense of him from his show and from what others have said about him is that he was truly an exceptional person, immensely respected and hugely influential. Russert was principled, curious, intelligent and unafraid to ask real and difficult questions and to expect real and complex answers.
Few journalists demand accountability from politicians or press them for answers instead of evasions, but Russert’s genuine interest and faith in politics and in people garnered him not only respect from people all over the political spectrum, but also goodwill and trust. According to his friends and colleagues, he was fiercely loyal and rejoiced in other people’s successes.
“Meet the Press” drove the news cycle and set the bar on reporting. If a fraction of news sources in the U.S. cleaved to that level of integrity, research and honesty, I wouldn’t have to watch the BBC World News to find out what’s happening in my own country.
James Carville did not actually cry (on camera) but he got very choked up. So did Brokaw (I’m pretty sure he cried when the camera cut away). So did Mike Barnicle. Mary Matalin was definitely teary-eyed, and at one point you could see a crumpled tissue in her hand, but what got me the most was how James Carville, one of the craziest, hardest, wiliest consultant-pundits ever, held onto her hand so tightly looking simply devastated. The outpouring of emotion Tim Russert evoked, who he was, what he did and what he stood for, was really moving.
I always scoffed when people mourned the death of Princess Diana with near-religious fervor. I suppose they identified with her or felt sorry for her. I do know she did a lot of good work towards eradicating land mines and with AIDS patients, but honestly people, she was not exceptional, because other people have done the same or more. She was famous for her pedigree and marriage, and the attention she received for her admirable charitable work has been inaccurately remembered as the impetus for the adoration lavished upon her.
Tim Russert was truly a force for good in this country, an example of civility and meaningful dialogue in a country overrun with pre-packaged sound bytes, empty rhetoric, macho posturing, pissing contests and shouting matches. I know this entry may seem overly effusive or exaggerated, but if nothing else, the passing of Tim Russert throws into high relief this country’s lack of steadfastly reasonable and fair reporting.
Tom Brokaw called Tim Russert “authentic” and in this day and age, that’s one of the highest compliments a person can receive.
Tim Russert, most beloved host of “Meet the Press”, died this morning of a heart attack at age 58. He will be sorely missed as his was one of the few voices of reason in the media.
This is, hands down, one of the great moments in punditry. And since we’re gonna keep hearing about this subject of appeasement at the hands of plenty more talk radio buffoons and 527 groups targeting our man Barack, a little refresher course seems timely:
You can find the time table here. I have to say, I could really use $600 because it’s basically already spent before I get it. Either I pay down my hardcore credit card debt or I get to put a crown on my root canal. Whatever I do with the monies will be fun-tastic.
It’s great that the U.S.A. is borrowing money from other countries so it can give money we don’t have to poor people. How about just a permanent tax break for people who earn less than $40,000 a year? How about that? How about not taking 50% of our Christmas bonuses? Hmmm?
Dear Government and IRS: you guys are dicks.
Government types need to figure out how to spend our tax money better (more efficiently) and we, the people, have to stop living beyond our means. No more $100 Nikes for people barely making their rent. No more credit card companies issuing credit lines to dogs and toddlers. No more buying shitty gizmos to open your cans of Chef Boyardee or crazy diet pills that fuck you up or coffee tables with dolphins and waves holding up the tops or ground effects for your El Camino. No more suing someone because you drank shampoo and now all shampoo bottles everywhere bear labels asking you nicely to please not drink the contents. No more Nanny State. No more reality TV. No more pandering to the lowest common denominator.
“If the O’Reilly Flip-Out video is not longer available it’s because CBS took it down.”
This video has been making the rounds, but it really sums up Bill O’Reilly in his entirety for me: inflexible, unpoised, afraid of change and insecure to the core. In the clip, he’s supposed to say that a Sting video will play them out, but has no idea what that means.
This may be the first time I have had even the tiniest inkling of respect for Geraldo. I believe this more than atones for the Al Capone’s vault debacle:
“I’m feeling a little nostalgic for a time when we didn’t yet know how shitty things were going to be….”
This aired a month before the Iraq war began. I know this is old news, but I’m feeling a little nostalgic for a time when we didn’t yet know how shitty things were going to be, when we could only guess at it.
The language Brian Kilmeade uses perfectly sums up typical right wing belligerence; this kind of verbal obfuscation and unmitigated arrogance has stymied this country for eight years and contributed to a national inability to hold a meaningful dialogue with someone with an opposing viewpoint. Please note his insistence on the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Highlights from “Real TIme with Bill Maher” Okay, we’ve got Janeane Garofalo, Salman Rushdie…and Rob Thomas?!?!
Lastly, the sound is out of sync on this but Maher makes some excellent points about organized religion so I’m going to post it anyway. For the record, Maher has always struck me as awfully smarmy and arrogant and I really hate those qualities in people; though it seems in this day and age that arrogance is now needed simply to stand one’s ground:
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