Wait - That Means They Lied?

From Center For American Progress:

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and its allies in Congress frequently claim that gun violence is highest in places with the toughest crime laws. But a new study from the Center for American Progress (CAP) suggests something closer to the opposite is true — the states with laxer gun laws tend to be the ones contributing the highest shares of national gun deaths and injuries.

While many factors contribute to the rates of gun violence in any state, our research clearly demonstrates a significant correlation between the strength of a state’s gun laws and the prevalence of gun violence in the state. Across the key indicators of gun violence that we analyzed, the 10 states with the weakest gun laws collectively have a level of gun violence that is more than twice as high—104 percent higher—than the 10 states with the strongest gun laws.

Color me un-fucking-surprised.

hat tip = Democratic Underground 

Meet Jane Crow

A while back, I did a post walking myself towards the logical extremes we can expect by re-criminalizing abortion.

I imagined the scenario of a chance encounter with a female acquaintance, noticing she was pregnant, hearing a certain negativity in her conversation about the prospects of having her 4th child, and then wondering what my responsibilities would be if I met her again much later, and it turned out she'd "miscarried", tho' she didn't seem awfully upset about it, which would then make me wonder if she'd taken some kind of illegal action to terminate her pregnancy.

As a loyal subject of The American Empire, am I expected to report my suspicions to the police?

Well well well.  Turns out my little imaginings weren't nearly as goofy as I tho't.



Politics and Salesmanship are practically the same - they're both about getting somebody to go along with your idea; or to do something voluntarily that they're not actually obliged to do.

If you wanna get anywhere in Sales, you have to learn a technique called the Turnaround.  It's where you take a perceived negative and turn it into a positive.  In the video above, Lynn Paltrow nails a great Turnaround by saying (paraphrasing here) that when you Person-ize the fetus, the effect is that you've de-Person-ized the mother.  You can't raise the fetus to Full-Fledged Citizen unless you downgrade the woman.

(paraphrasing again): We hear lotsa noise about the point when a blob of cells becomes a person, but we never hear anything about the point in her pregnancy that a woman can be legally required to stop being a person.

Fucking brilliant is all that is.

So we have the very powerful argument that you can't possibly support Criminalized Abortion from the position of Small Limited-Power Government.

We also have the 1st Amendment argument that says you may have strong feelings about the "sanctity of life", or about the "moment of conception", but here in this country we don't take anybody's spiritual teachings and turn them into law

And now we have a couple of points from an Equal Protection angle - in order to confer rights on the Unborn, you have to take them away from the mother.  And you don't get to enact laws that apply only to women but not to men.

It's Like This

OK - I'll go thru it one more time for ya.

Philosophy is like being in a dark room, looking for a black cat.

Metaphysics is like being in a dark room, looking for a black cat that isn't there.

Religion is like being in a dark room, looking for a black cat that isn't there, and yelling, "I found it!".

Science is like being in a dark room, looking for a black cat - with a fucking flash light.

Everybody got it now?

Today's WTF

Sometimes, politicians and their PR guys and the PACs and the Lobbyists just make shit up, say it on TV, and it passes into what the Press Poodles are selling us as "the truth".

"There's a growing number of scientists who dispute AGW."

"Brand new fresh lava from certain active volcanoes tests out at 3.5 billion years old, so we have to throw out all forms of Radiographic Dating."

"The American people are with us on this."  (Whatever "this" happens to be at the time - and also happens to be conveniently unverifiable)

Some of the greatest bullshit ever spewed at us has come from the NRA, which has enjoyed a truly amazing 40-year run as the best of the best of the best - all in service of imposing a minority view on society.  There has been no marketing idea more brilliant than using the 2nd Amendment to bring the entire weight of the federal government to bear on all of us just to ensure the continued wellbeing of a narrow commercial interest.

Don't ever forget that the NRA does not represent your rights as a citizen.  The NRA is in the business of keeping Gun Manufacturers profitable.  And btw - your "rights" are whatever the fuck they feel like telling you they are.

But anyway, just saying something over and over is a tried-and-true method for making your shit stick, but if you really wanna do it right, you'll also need to take steps to keep "the other side of the story" from popping up at inopportune moments.

From McClatchey:

Each year, lawmakers quietly tuck language into spending bills that restricts the ability of the federal government to regulate the firearms industry and combat gun crime.

It’s the reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can’t research gun violence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can’t use data to detect firearms traffickers and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can’t require background checks on older guns.

Since the late 1970s, more than a dozen provisions have been added to must-pass spending bills with no hearings, no debate and no vote in a way that’s designed to circumvent the usual legislative process.

Coin-Operated Politicians are the rule, not the exception.  We have to figure out how to break down this system of corruption before it gets so bad that the only thing left to do is to burn it down.

Today's Wingnut

That should prob'ly be "today's best blog post headline" - from Wonkette:

LOUIE GOHMERT: IF YOU LIMIT THE NUMBER OF BULLETS IN A CLIP, POLYGAMISTS WILL GAY-MARRY YOUR DOG

Mr Gohmert, if you please:

In fact, I had this discussion with some wonderful, caring Democrats earlier this week on the issue of, well, they said “surely you could agree to limit the number of rounds in a magazine, couldn’t you? How would that be problematic?”

And I pointed out, well, once you make it ten, then why would you draw the line at ten? What’s wrong with nine? Or eleven? And the problem is once you draw that limit; it’s kind of like marriage when you say it’s not a man and a woman any more, then why not have three men and one woman, or four women and one man, or why not somebody has a love for an animal?

There is no clear place to draw the line once you eliminate the traditional marriage and it’s the same once you start putting limits on what guns can be used, then it’s just really easy to have laws that make them all illegal.

Wonkette's summary (as usual) is just too too - y'know - too.

So we should never limit how many bullets can be in a murder-death-kill machine, because freedom, but we SHOULD limit how many people you marry to exactly one opposite sex person, because freedom. Is that right? We have no idea. Let’s try it another way. If you limit the amount of bullets people can cram into a magazine, then you can’t limit people from marrying friends, neighbors, the dog, and some birch trees en masse? Wonket is in favor of this tradeoff! Less bullets, more group marriages! (Though not with dogs because setting aside the ewwww factor, sexytime with the unable to consent is not cool. We’re sort of neutral on if you want to sex up a tree though.)

Today's Pic

Welcome to America - this is where Freedom lives.  And when taken to it's logical extreme (which is what we've been demanding for a good long time now), it ends up meaning you get to do whatever the fuck you want - which in turn translates to:

don't drink the water, don't breathe the air, and don't eat the food.

Enjoy your stay.

Death And Taxes

What does the federal budget actually look like?

Andrea Seabrook explains:


I'm having some trouble finding a good zoomable image of the poster, so you'll have to buy the thing if ya want it.  (it's just the way of the world, sport - get used to it)

Here's an OK version from 2007-08 tho' - just to give you a taste. (from Information2Share)

Order from Amazon for less than 20 bucks:

Today's WTF, Part 2

Almost forgot - I guess I got so carried way yesterday with my righteous indignation over veterans having to jump thru flaming hoops to get their bennies that I overlooked one of the truly shittier aspects of the story of American Veterans having to jump thru those flaming hoops just to get the help they've already earned.

So here it is:

Something like 4,000 US Veterans use a gun to commit suicide every year.

About a dozen per day.

That's almost one every couple of hours every day.  They kill themselves with guns.

They have to stand in line for 6 months or 9 months or a year or more trying to get treatment for the kind of disorders that lead people to take their own lives, but they can all buy a gun with no problem at all.

That's pretty fucked up right there.

Today's WTF

From The Economist:

IN WAR, it is said, there are no unwounded soldiers. Bombs that shatter bones also batter brains. Even on the periphery, war afflicts men with aching joints, ringing ears and psychological damage. Imagine, then, the human damage wrought by over a decade of battle.

America does not have to. Its wounded warriors are now seeking help in record numbers. Nearly half of its 1.6m soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have asked for disability benefits from the government. (Just 21% filed similar claims after the first Gulf war, according to estimates.) With ageing veterans of earlier conflicts also seeking more help, America’s disabled-servicemen population has increased by almost 45% since 2000.

 --snip--

Nearly 1m veterans are now waiting. On average it takes the VA about nine months to complete a claim. In some big cities the average delay is over 600 days. Those who appeal against a refusal usually wait two years for a resolution. Mr Obama entered the White House with a promise to fix the system, but waiting-times have increased considerably on his watch. Even the navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden says he is waiting for his claim to be processed.

But, hey - let's not let all that ruin our day or anything.  In fact, we should look for something heart-warming and sentimental to keep us from thinking too hard about how fucked up all this is. So here's the story about a dog named Lemon Pay who was mutilated by bad guys in a Mexican drug gang:

A dog named Pay de Limon (Lemon Pay) runs, fitted with two front prosthetic legs at Milagros Caninos rescue shelter in Mexico City, on August 29, 2012. Members of a drug gang in the Mexican state of Zacatecas chopped off Limon’s paws to practice cutting fingers off kidnapped people, according to Milagros Caninos founder Patricia Ruiz. Fresnillo residents found Limon in a dumpster bleeding and legless.

After administering first aid procedures, they managed to take him to Milagros Caninos, an association that rehabilitates dogs that have suffered extreme abuse. The prosthetic limbs were made at OrthoPets in Denver, Colorado, after the shelter was able to raise over $6,000.
(Reuters/Tomas Bravo)

So we send people to fight and to bleed and to die in a coupla of really stupid wars, and when they come home broken, we fuck them (and/or their families) around for a year or two while we complain about how expensive and difficult it all is.

But somebody finds a fucked up dog and holy crap, dude - better get on that one right away cuz y'know - the Mexicans can pay us in cash up front and everything.

And Jesus wept.

(ed note: really hoping the dog story isn't an April Fools thing - that would really mellow my harsh)

Today's Dead Kids

Posted: Mar 31, 2013 4:07 PM EDT Updated: Mar 31, 2013 4:07 PM EDTBy Associated Press

MIAMI - (AP) - A four-year-girl is dead after being shot while sitting in a car, and detectives are investigating whether another young child fired the gun.
Miami-Dade Police report Rahquel Carr was shot in the upper body Saturday at about 6:10 p.m. She was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital where she died.

Det. Roy Rutland says the girl was waiting in a white Mercedes-Benz with at least two other children when she was shot. All the children are believed to have been under age 10.

Rutland says the handgun was located and fired from within the car. An adult was standing nearby outside.

The Miami-Dade Office of the State Attorney is reviewing the case to determine if charges will be filed.

--and--

Posted: Mar 31, 2013 7:43 PM EDTUpdated: Mar 31, 2013 7:43 PM EDT
By WKRG Staff

PRICHARD, Ala - Breaking news out of Prichard tonight where authorities say a toddler was shot and killed on South Fairford Drive.

The child, a 4-year old boy, accidentally shot himself in the chest.

His parents rushed him to USA Children's and Women's Hospital where he died.

We're told the boy and his parents had just come from Easter Services at church and were visiting with family when the accident happened.

News 5 will continue to follow this story and will pass along updates as they are made available.

You could say these 2 incidents probably aren't prevented by Background Checks and a Ban on Semi-Autos and Hi-Capacity Ammo Clips.

But incidents like these can be prevented by making guns less accessible, so maybe just making people go thru a little more hassle to get a gun makes this shit a little less likely to happen.  Ya gotta start somewhere.

The "New" GOP

Gotta love it.  There actually are some Repubs who're aware that the core of their party has degenerated into a fetid blob of Dixie-whistling left-over Confederate dead-enders;  people who have to be told straight out not to use terms like "wetback" (Rep Don Young, R-Alaska); and so apparently, they're being tutored in the finer arts of - uhm - whatcha call it?  Political Correctness?  Yeah, I think that's it.

Let us all take a brief moment to revel in the pure snicker-fucking of lots of wrong-side-of-every-damned-issue politicians.

Ok, good. Let's move on and let Dr Maddow guide us thru this latest GOP Cluster Fuck.



Mm-mm good.

And here's the full list from the piece at The Hill:

"When engaging in conversation or doing an interview on immigration reform:

Do acknowledge that 'Our current immigration system is broken and we need to fix it'

Don’t begin with 'We are against amnesty'

Note: Most everyone is against amnesty and this is interpreted as being against any reform.

"When talking about a solution for the millions here without documentation who could qualify to get in line first with a temporary visa, then legal residence and finally citizenship:

Do use the phrase 'earned legal status'

Don't use the phrase 'pathway to citizenship'

Note: This has a different meaning and can denote getting in front of the line to get citizenship – this is not true. Most Republicans and Democrats, along with 70% of Americans, support a fair system by which those who are undocumented can come forward, register with the government, pass a background check, pay a fine, learn English and get legal status first – that is earned legal status, not automatic citizenship.

"When addressing securing our borders:Do use the wording 'enforcement of our borders includes more border patrol, technology, and building a fence where it makes sense'Don't use phrases like 'send them all back,' electric fence,' 'build a wall along the entire border'

"When talking about immigrants:

Do use 'undocumented immigrant' when referring to those here without documentation

Don't use the word 'illegals' or 'aliens'

Don't use the term 'anchor baby'

"When addressing amnesty and earned legal status:

Do acknowledge that the true meaning of amnesty is to pardon without any penalty

Don't label earned legal status as amnesty

Don't characterize all Hispanics as undocumented and all undocumented as Hispanics

"When broadly addressing reforms:

Do acknowledge that President Obama broke his promise and failed to propose any immigration reform for five years, while using this issue as a political wedge

Do talk about the issues you support like overhauling the bureaucratic visa system, creating a viable temporary worker program, a workable e-verify system, and border security

Don’t focus on amnesty as a tenet of immigration reform

Don't use President Reagan's immigration reform as an example applicable today

Note: That legislation was true amnesty; in addition, border security, fixing our visa system, and a temporary worker program were parts of the reform which were never implemented."

And finally - "Hey, all you culturally hot romantic and totes cool wetbacks - Thanks for sneaking into America to pick our food and clean our toilets for us!  Luv ya'll - vote Republican!"

Defending Amina

Proof once again that ya gotta be careful with the whole Rights Thing - if some folks get the rights they're entitled to, before ya know it they're all gonna want 'em.

So anyway, in the last several months, we've seen the story about a kid in Afghanistan speaking up in favor of education for women and being nearly shot to pieces for her trouble; then we got the one a few weeks ago about the Islamo-Fundies coming down on a young woman who dared go against her father's choice of a suitable husband or some such nonsense; and now there's this about a young woman somewhere in Tunisia who really just wants the Theocrats to leave her the fuck alone already.

19 year old Tunisian Amina who posted a topless photo of herself bearing the slogan “my body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone’s honour” has been threatened with death.

Islamist cleric Adel Almi, president of Al-Jamia Al-Li-Wassatia Tawia Wal-Islah, has called for Amina’s flogging and stoning to death saying Amina’s actions will bring misfortune by causing “epidemics and disasters” and “could be contagious and give ideas to other women…”

We, the undersigned, unequivocally defend Amina, and demand that her life and liberty be protected and that those who have threatened her be immediately prosecuted.

On 4 April 2013, we call for an International Day to Defend Amina.

As a well-conditioned American consumer, I readily admit to hearing a bell whenever  somebody runs a little T & A at me; and to being kinda transfixed by the the visual prospects of an actually-naked real-life non-PhotoShopped female human.  So on that one (very important) level I'm like 'Yeah - OK - throw me some jiggle, and I'll follow you anywhere'.

But this isn't about the usual crapola of small-head-thinking or forbidden fruit or any of the standard moralistic bullshit.  It's also not about American First World Feminism bitching about self-loathing and self-objectification; and it's not about showering pity on some poor soul - "oh look at how she has to degrade herself just to make a point; isn't that awful?"  It's not about anything but having the guts to stand up for yourself.

It's about "by any means necessary".

People will be free; they'll do it for themselves when they're ready; and it's best for all of us if we try a little harder just to stay the fuck outa their way.

Today's Movie

A morality tale, and a peek at the need for bread and circus as an empire begins to collapse.



If you watch this movie, you'll need something sunny and happy and cuddly afterwards - you've been warned.

The Esteemed Mr Pierce

From Charlie Pierce at Esquire:

The problem, of course, remains that the president is dealing with a Republican party in which Johnny Isakson is now a "moderate." That is his problem. Our problem is that the conversation over dinner is almost guaranteed to center completely on the proposition, "How much pain ahould we inflict on people who are not us?" The fact that the American economy has almost completely surrendered to corporate oligarchy is not likely to come up.

Every time I think about what's happening - especially what's going on in this "new economy" - I can't help but remember the observational acuity of Yakov Smirnoff: "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."

Music

And though you try to justify the meaning
Of the note you sent this evening
To my door you're not deceiving me

Well, I'd have thought that you'd have known much better
Sending 'round an unsigned letter
Facing me would be much better now

Is it just that you can't face the future with me
Can't you tell me to my face?
You just took the coward's way to say goodbye
How would you feel here in my place?

And now I know my love is lost on you
And nothing you can say or do
Will turn my head around the other way

I'd have thought you'd have the decency
To come and tell the truth to me
Instead of telling lies your eyes betray

Is it just that you can't face the future with me
Can't you tell me to my face?
You just took the coward's way to say goodbye
How would you feel here in my place?

Tell me to my face you're leaving now
Tell me to my face that you're leaving now

And though you try to justify the meaning
Of the note you sent this evening
To my door
you're not deceiving me

Well, I'd have thought that you'd have known much better
Sending 'round an unsigned letter
Facing me would be much better now

Is it just that you can't face the future with me
Can't you tell me to my face?
You just took the coward's way to say goodbye
How would you feel here in my place?

Tell me to my face you're leaving now
Tell me to my face that you're leaving now