Tuesday, April 17, 2007

jane smiley sums up things so well- i will let her do it.

guns and absolute power

6 comments:

DivaJood said...

"I would like the right wing to admit that guns are not "good" and that the right to bear arms is not an absolute virtue and that the deaths in the US caused by guns are at least as problematic, philosophically, as abortion."

She really, clearly, identifies the right wing's hypocrisies with that statement. While I don't believe yesterday's massacre on the Virginia Tech campus is political, in some ways it has to open up the discussion about guns again. One of the weapons he had was an assault gun. Bush allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire. And so the guy walks into a classroom and opens fire.

Were is the sense in all this?

billie said...

diva- i don't know. i don't think that there is any. the right is fighting for an america that never existed and the left wants everyone to feel good about it. meanwhile, the populace is shooting each other while our cities crumble around us and our children go hungry. we can't lay that all at the feet of 'w' but it is certainly an indictment of the right that we have had rethug majority for decades in one branch or another and the country has fallen into ruin with an assist from the left. you can't be a do gooder if you have nothing yourself- morally or financially.

Aaron A. said...

Guns don't kill people,
they just make it much much easier.

billie said...

ahh- 'guns don't kill people. people kill people.' was that charlton heston? there are issues that this country has and will be having that no one wants to face. my buddy dan calls it 'the third rail.' just because we bury our heads in the sand doesn't mean that the issues aren't still there. yes- people kill people. with guns. with politics.

Peacechick Mary said...

I hadn't gotten to Jane yet, today. I will go there immediately. Thanks, Betmo.

The Future Was Yesterday said...

Gun Control. God, this was being fought over when I bought my first 800/13.4 modem. I've lived in a state where nobody can have a gun, except criminals. I now live in a state where damn near anybody, and I do mean anybody, can have fifty guns if they want them. You can carry them out in the open, to church, to the bar.....

There was one commonality in both states: "Gun control", as defined by not letting anybody have any, did not make one bit of difference!, because criminals do not apply for their gun permits like we do. "Gun Control" is screwing for virginity. "Criminal Control" is the name of the game, and our leaders can't do that, so they blame it on us....and guns. Horseshit! There is in fact less minor crimes, i.e. breakin's, holdup's, etc. here, because everybody knows everybody else might be packing heat. The major crimes? Absolutely no difference from the "No guns, Oh God they are terrible!" Tee totaler states.