Boycott VISA

by Dick Mac

VISA, the credit card company, offers a card branded by the NRA (National Rifle Association).

The NRA promotes and supports unchecked, limitless private ownership of machine guns.  Machine guns are used only to commit mass murder and have been used in all of the recent school shootings in the United States.

One effective one way to stop the NRA is to boycott their corporate supporters.  If we boycott VISA, we send a message that the NRA is unacceptable to us.

Boycotts work - they always work.

#BoycottVISA

What's Grandpa Doing?

by Dick Mac

Some people are really funny.

Comedians tend to be funnier than most.

Some comedians tend to be funnier than other comedians.

Eddie Izzard is a funny man. A funny comedian.

Throughout the history of Western Civilization, the funny people: clowns, jesters, comedians, etc., tend to be the brightest people. They are keenly aware of those around them, what makes us tick, what makes us laugh, what moves us.

Eddie Izzard is most certainly one of those people:








Then there are the stupid people:  Mass Shooting at Colo. Movie Theater, 12 People Dead

In America today, the stupid people have as much credibility as the smart people!  As well they should:  they have guns and they use them!

Sad.

Remember:  guns don't kill people, people kill people.  And monkeys kill people, if they have guns.

Spineless Dishonesty

by Dick Mac

OK, so it's mental illness.

For argument's sake, we will say that the Tucson massacre has absolutely no connection to the violent imagery and language of the Tea Party. We'll say that a registered Republican in Arizona who owns guns has heard nothing in the past year about using gun violence and Second Amendment remedies to change the political make-up of the United States Congress.

That is, we will say that this person lived in a protective bubble of his own mental illness. I say this is quite possible. Mental illness, whether organic or induced by substance abuse, is a real and serious problem.

This is one of the lines being proffered by the Tea Party and their promoters/apologists. It's sad, though, to watch the extreme right-wing acknowledge mental illness as a problem when it suits their needs, but are wholly dismissive of it as an actual problem in our nation. But that's a different story, isn't it!

From Jon Stewart to Bill O'Reilly, talking heads are telling us that it is both sides that are responsible for the violent rhetoric; and I beg to differ. Although we can certainly find isolated incidents of Democrats and/or liberals using gun terms as descriptors, it is folly (bordering on insane) to compare those incidents to the constant, perpetual gun and gun violence imagery used by the Tea Party from signs at rallies to advertisements to actual interviews.

Sure, let's come to an agreement that we will all stop using the language of guns and gun violence in our political discourse; but let's not pretend that both sides of the political divide have been equally responsible for it. That is irresponsible.

One of the most irritating dynamics of all this is the spinelessness of the Tea Party, their supporters and apologists. They have used this tough guy language to set themselves apart from the rest of us; to make themselves seem tougher: tougher on crime, tougher on reform, tougher on budgeting; tougher on protecting our children; tougher on protecting the sanctity of marriage. The Tea Party and those who are exploiting the fervor whipped-up by the Tea Party, have used this rhetoric very effectively. Now that this tough-guy attitude is thrust into the limelight, correctly or incorrectly, the Tea Party and their followers suddenly distance themselves from it.

Oh, we didn't mean that kind of taking-out; we didn't mean that kind of Second Amendment remedy; we didn't mean reload a gun, we meant the other kind of "taking-out" and "Second Amendment remedies"!

One of Palin's minions, a woman named Rebecca Mansour, has actually insisted that the cross-hairs Palin's team placed over twenty Congressional districts during the last election were not actually gun sight cross-hairs, they were surveyor's marks.

WHAT?!?!?! You spineless teabagger! That's your explanation? We are supposed to believe that?

The Tea Party is so tough on crime and so serious about protecting the Second Amendment that they will take a surveyor's level and . . . do what? Measure the height of the terrain on which they plan to build a statue of Glenn Beck? What is the Tea Party going to do with the data collected when using a surveyor's level to measure Arizona's 8th District?

This is typical conservative behavior. They do no have the courage of their convictions. Instead of saying: "My God, we had no idea it would come to this, let's make some changes," they have circled the wagons and started lying (which is what they do best) in an attempt to deflect negative publicity.

The Tea Party apologists would have us believe that mental illness is the reason why the lone nihilistic gunman decided to massacre a group of people, that the violent rhetoric and violent culture promoted by the Tea Party in the past year has had no cultural impact on us, and that a leader of the Tea Party is using surveyor's marks to highlight her point about promoting political change in our nation.

Have a spine! Have the courage of your convictions. I'm not saying that this incident is your fault, per se; but don't insult me by saying that your promotion of gun violence and use of gun imagery is all a big misunderstanding. Don't pretend that you have had no role in raising the level of violent rhetoric in our political discourse. Hold your ground! Have some fortitude. Be strong. Don't slither away like snakes under a rock until the problems go away.

Or do. The true colors of Tea Party Leaders is showing. In Alaska, the ice is yellow. A spineless, dishonest leader is hiding from her own success.

Cowards!

In Aftermath of Shooting: Calls for Security, Civility, at The Wall Street Journal

Palin, Amid Criticism, Stays in Electronic Comfort Zone, at The New York Times

What a Crooked Cross Sarah Palin Bears, at Esquire Magazine

Gilbert Arenas

by Dick Mac

Every now and then an athlete surprises even a cynic like me.

Ron Artest, Roberto Alomar, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, to name a few, gave me pause to think. Here are men who have been given a silver platter from which they can enjoy the world. They make decisions rooted not in their experiences in the privileged class to which they now belong; but rooted in self-centeredness, fear, entitlement, or the such.

Now comes Gilbert Arenas, a man paid $111,000,000 to play basketball for six years - not quite twenty million a year. He had a conflict with a co-worker about a loan that one made to the other. Words were exchanged, and from what I understand they were not kind or reasonable words. The next day Arenas came to the job with four handguns, left them on a chair in his co-worker's area with a note that said: 'choose one' (or something to that effect).

Arenas insists this was all a misguided joke. He never intended to threaten his co-worker, it was just a prank.

I grew-up in the projects, and it was a pretty violent place, and there were guns. Later in life I had encounters with criminals, some of whom carried guns, some of whom did not. Everyone I met who was involved with guns took them pretty seriously. I have never known a person who brandishes his gun as a joke. If a person pulls a gun out in the middle of a discussion, it's not a good sign for the other party.

If there is a conflict, and the other party introduces guns, it is not a joke. Ever.

I have a job. There are rules in the workplace, and weapons are specifically prohibited:

Possession of dangerous weapons, such as firearms, explosives, and knives, is prohibited from Company premises unless they are possessed under the direction of a supervisor as part of an employee's work responsibility . . .

I am willing to bet that Gilbert Arenas' employer has a similar clause in their workplace rules.

This article includes people discussing this as a Constitutional rights issue: Gilbert Arenas, guns and the Supreme Court. Sorry guys: this is a workplace safety issue, not a Second Amendment issue. Anyone who looks to defend Arenas with the 'right of the people to keep and bear arms' argument needs to be exposed as a lunatic. This is neither a Constitutional nor civil rights issue, this is a criminal assault matter, and probably a violation of an employment agreement.

This article includes a photograph of Arenas and his teammates joking about the situation, and Arenas pointing his fingers like fake guns: N.B.A. Suspends Gilbert Arenas. This guy doesn't even take this seriously. He is, at best, a sociopath.

David Stern, the head clown who runs the NBA circus, suspended Arenas indefinitely after seeing this display.

NBA players are famous for disregarding their responsibility as role models. Perhaps it is time we heeded their request to not be held accountable as responsible adults. Perhaps it is time to cancel our season tickets, stop purchasing NBA merchandise, and turning off our televisions when the NBA is broadcast.

Ron Artest turned me off a few years ago; but, I think Gilbert Arenas has finally convinced me that there is no reason to pay any attention to this sport ever again.