Well, Darn
I was going to talk about reasonable gun control today, but I guess we can’t because it not the right time, being as how we’re all upset right now.
May 24, 2014 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized
I was going to talk about reasonable gun control today, but I guess we can’t because it not the right time, being as how we’re all upset right now.
Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.
My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.
I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.
A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.
This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.
I’m sorry, but unless it’s in my neighborhood, my reaction has become, “Again?” Because it’s just again and again and again and not enough people care to make a damn bit of difference. If gunning down a bunch of little kids in their school doesn’t stop it, I don’t see that anything will.
1And exactly where were the good guys with guns? Other than the police, probably hiding in corners crapping their pants.
2Another troubled man with access to guns and ammo. Apparently there were warning signs, but not enough was done to prevent mass murder. Not enough is ever done, by parents, law enforcement, gun control, government. Anybody else feel helpless?
3I feel helpless because the Second Amendment is the American religion, and whether rich or poor, people seem to prefer this “manly” religion over the “wimpy” ones that promote peace and love.
4I watched his video describing what he was going to do to all the blond bitches who had sex with other men, but never him. A 22 yo virgin with a fixation on sex and a total failure in the social scene. Too bad he wasn’t self-aware enough to realize that if he could not get a date, ever, then maybe there was something wrong in his approach and personality rather than something wrong with everyone else. That said, no one who is mentally ill will ever be able to be self-aware, thus setting the stage for something horrible like this premeditated mass murder of his college mates. So sad on so many levels! There is no way that a person this off-kilter should have been able to access guns, but it does happen all the time. My heart goes out to the families of the victims for sure. Time will tell if he had a supportive family or one that helped shape his distorted view of reality.
5To paraphrase Tom Tomorrow, the battle over gun control is over. The NRA won. The occasional mass murder is the price we all have to pay for that victory.
6Not giving up yet Ralph. Not NOT **NOT**
7I am determined to honor the memory of these various victims of random senseless misdirected violence by working to bring it to an end. Scr*ew Wayne laPierre (the Peter? The DI*K?!) and his army of ammosexuals (thanks PKM, like it lots!) this just makes me dig in harder. Think England during the Blitzkrieg; I will NEVER give up trying to stop this sh*t, never, ever, NEVER!
Here’s the Texas law where you can have Rambo arrested for while prancing around like the boobs they are! Once they start getting arrested and paying fines/jail time maybe they just walk around their property pretending to be someone they’ll never be!
defined by Section 250.001, Local Government Code;
(8) displays a firearm or other deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm;
Here’s the full code:
8http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.42.htm
What difference does it make WHY he felt compelled to kill people? If he didn’t have such easy access to firearms, this wouldn’t have happened. All kinds of people have all kinds of “issues”… including being virgins at age 22. Unless they have a gun though, they’re unlikely to shoot people though.
9If you have to have a few drinks before you can function in your day, everyone will agree that you have a problem and need help.
If you have to have a pill or injection to get from one day to the next, everyone will again agree that you have a problem and you need help.
If you have to carry a gun in order to feel safe, you have a problem, and you need help.
I’m getting tired of saying this, but here it is again, and I really do mean it: My condolences to the family and friends of the victims. And I wish the wounded a speedy and full recovery.
10The shooter in this case was described as having Asperger’s Syndrome. Well, bleep! Asperger’s is not paranoia. And it is thoroughly treatable. Usually an Aperger patient has someone in their lives that they talk to on a daily basis. Aspergerites by the very nature of the syndrome do talk and they do gripe about what they are feeling. they can be taught how to deal with the slings and arrows of society and lead peaceful, productive lives. Apparently this patient was seeing a whole handful of therapeutic people. Would like to know if any one of them ever told this guy that everyone feels dissed about something at some time during their lives but they have the good sense to get over it. when they feel dissed they can do something else to work it off such as a game of pool, golf, swim laps, work out at the gym but not lay hands on a gun and commit murder. Aspergerites are usually very high IQ. They can get the picture once its explained and possibly even modeled for them. Next question: who dropped the ball here? This was actually preventable.
11Remember this: The gun fanatics vote. Every election. All of them. And they vote a very specific way. These people vote. http://truthaboutguns-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/449x497xScreen-Shot-2014-05-20-at-8.33.33-AM.png.pagespeed.ic.pTz7eYu-yT.jpg
Until the rest of us vote. Every election. All of us. And in a very specific way — refuse to vote for any politician who has taken money from NRA — these people win. These people http://truthaboutguns-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/449x497xScreen-Shot-2014-05-20-at-8.33.33-AM.png.pagespeed.ic.pTz7eYu-yT.jpg win.
12Excellent comment, Edward Starsmith, ” My condolences to the family and friends of the victims. And I wish the wounded a speedy and full recovery.”
As for the NRA, how many more tragedies must there be before the ammosexual fascists grab a clue? Seriously, can you not defend yourselves with a simple six shooter or anything short of military grade assault weapons? Personally, I prefer something really loud, when racking a round. Gives the miscreant an opportunity to leave peacefully, after fair warning.
Most people don’t object to the NRA members owning guns, we object to your weapons of mass destruction. Dubya couldn’t find any WsMD in Iraq, while he missed them right under his nose in the good ol’ US of A. Not to mention his VP, Mr Gun Safety Not.
Dumb accidents? That is a head scratcher. Can anyone name a smart accident?
13Today a lot of people in Austin spent FOUR BLINKIN’ HOURS getting trained on every conceivable item involved with how to help people vote in a public election. On the way home, my friend Ola and I stopped at Strange Brew, possibly known to some of you, because we were starving. At the next table, there were a whole bunch of guys from I’d say 20 to 50, drawing. Btw, that is an excellent way to let off steam. It was all beautiful work.
I was admiring the various fantasy drawings and software where appropriate. Then i recalled what I’d been doing. I went over and said, “Have y’all voted?” No. “Are you registered?” Yes. “I’ve spent four blinkin’ hours getting trained so YOU could vote.” We had a very interesting conversation. The outcome was, one said “We feel helpless and hopeless.” Another one said “Why should we? You’ll do it.” I said hey, I’m 74; don’t you think it’s time for some young folks and new ideas? and they did. So I said PLEASE VOTE and PLEASE GO HELP AT THE COORDINATED CAMPAIGN FOR TWO HOURS A WEEK. Maybe they will. They all agreed that Louie Gohmert was an amazing embarrassment to Texas and that we don’t want the Koch brothers to run the country. They also shook my hand which I thought was a good sign.
I also got an unexpected phone call from a friend who said “I want to volunteer.” I said ??? She said she’s tired of Perry being governor. So we’ll be talking. So GO TALK TO WHOEVER CROSSES YOUR PATH. Nurses. Waitresses. Fix it folks. Artists and musicians. Make a stink about crazies with guns or whatever you are reasonably annoyed about. I love y’all.
14p.s. Thanks for helpful comments about Aspbergers. They have to be convinced to change and they generally are very difficult, so any small sign of improvement may get more credit than we’d generally give. Families may not want to believe that the person is capable of doing horrible things. That could be a long discussion.
15PKM, the NRA doesn’t care how many tragedies we have to endure. Until we start shooting back, we can’t even get their attention. They are not opposed to gun violence, they are opposed to gun regulation.
Peace is the problem, war is the solution. Domestic or foreign, republicans hate peace. How else can they perpetuate the culture of FEAR without constant violence? Regardless of the politics of the shooter, the politics of the gun is strictly republican.
16Marge Wood, today my “top 3” are the nuts with guns, people who don’t vote or vote against their own interests (aka the uninformed voters, and my ultimate frustration, the evil Koch brothers.
Love it the David and Charles are having a case of the sads that a spotlight is being shined on their Kochroaches. For two MIT graduates, they should ask for their tuition money back, as they sure were not educated. Our political system has always been fragile. America, the experiment in democracy, needs a solid Democratic Party and a Progressive Party to keep them honest.
Back to the old white boys Koch buying elections at every level of government, fracking, polluting and piling up their money, leaving the mess for we the taxpayers to clean up. If there was a God, their bank should be on fire and they would be on their way down for a conversation with Satan.
Following your example, Marge Wood. Jane and I do a lot of hiking with her dog. Whenever we meet new people, we do our best to express to like minded folks who love the wilderness why it is so important to vote, contact our elected officials and do what we can to make a difference.
Jane handles the e-mails to respond and sign the petitions that flood us to send Congress a message. Any election and our entire family haunt the local senior center to drive folks to the polls.
BTW President Obama hit it out of the park today. “So when you hear a false equivalence that somehow, well, Congress is just broken, it’s not true. What’s broken right now is a Republican Party that repeatedly says no to proven, time-tested strategies to grow the economy, create more jobs, ensure fairness, open up opportunity to all people.” http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2014/05/president-obama-takes-it-to-republican.html
BTW FWIW Why young people prefer Senators Sanders and Warren is that they speak to the issues with ‘fire in their bellies.’ President Obama does so occasionally, but he really is too nice sometimes. Also developing a respect for Congressman Elijah Cummings for his containment of that criminal idiot Issa.
We youngsters are eager for change, before the planet throws all of us innocents where the Koch brothers deserve to be. Thought “Hillary 2016” was to be a take your medicine moment, until a blogger I respect made the argument for “suck it up, buttercup.” My mind is open, sort of, despite the fact I would prefer a non-corporate sponsor candidate. Tack left Sen/Sec Clinton, tack left. We young’uns will learn to love you.
http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2014/05/warren-would-be-great-nominee-but-not.html
17Ralph Wiggam, those crazy old fools in the NRA are too stupid to breath. Wayne being the prime example. He’s off in outer space without an oxygen supply. So many in the NRA are too st00pid to realize they are the useful idiots who promote the gun manufacturers obscene profits.
NRA – unpaid lobbyists for the gun manufacturers. Grounding the freedumb in reality is a challenge worth discussing. I’m all ears, because I know no cure for st00pid (willful ignorance), unless we make it a felony.
18If an organization put guns in the hands of anyone who would take one or buy one or steal one, and made sure the only way to take those weapons would be to pry them from their owner’s cold dead hands, in any other situation that group would be considered a terrorist organization.
In 20 or 30 or 40 years people will look back and wonder how the NRA managed to so thoroughly infiltrate American society, like the KKK before them, and slavery prior to that.
My sympathies to the victim’s families, friends and neighbors.
19Headline in The Times of London: “Six Die in Killer Virgin’s Rampage.” He’d be so proud.
20Rick, “In 20 or 30 or 40 years people will look back and wonder how the NRA managed to so thoroughly infiltrate American society, like the KKK before them, and slavery prior to that.” Yeah buddy, but what can we do to put the MIC, NRA and Koch brothers and their criminal corporate cronies on a diet?
The Fox Fear Factor is energizing the basest of the base low information voters. We can do as Mrs Bankston and Marge Wood suggest. Vote, vote, and get out the vote to uproot the corporatist shills. Take a stand in 2014, so we are not scratching our heads next year or decades later.
As a start, President Obama and Homeland Security could place Rupert Murdoch on the ‘no fly’ list, after the next time he visits his country. We have the internet, until we don’t. But we also need a real Fourth Estate dedicated to the facts, instead of their corporate sponsors.
Meh? I’ll vote, and I’ll vote hourly by staying off the corporate media cable channels.
21Rhea, just speechless about that headline.
A better headline would be: “until mental healthcare in the USA improves, we need to insist on gun owners being responsible for their weapons.” We insure our vehicles, homes and health. Would it be too much to require permits, registration and insurance from gun owners? Major demand, make the owners KNOW where they last left their gun.
Congress critters like Mitch the proven wimp to the NRA need to be voted out. In excess of 70% of us want gun regulations. We need to take our ballots to combat their bullets.
22You know, it is not a sin to be a virgin. I know some nice folks who believe in virginity before marriage and they are just fine with it. It is a sin to try to destroy something or take something that doesn’t belong to you, whether it’s money or land or governments or lives.
Nobody here has mentioned the fact that the murderer’s parents helped make a movie of HUNGER GAMES, the slightly futuristic story of how teenagers killed each other for the entertainment of the super duper rich. I’m sure the disturbed guy saw it. No comment.
Global climate change is also discouraging young people. We have to help them have hope.
Since everyone’s here, I’m posting this for your thoughts about where Texas is now and what can we do about it. Talk about sad.
23http://texaslsg.org/texas-on-the-brink/
p.s. Hugs to all of you who are speaking up wherever you are. Thank you.
24Watching the youtube, I was picturing how awful and horrified his father must feel seeing his son’s deep hurt and anger.
His speaking in the video seemed almost like he was playing a part.
I’m so sorry he didn’t get the help he needed.
25Listening to Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Lovely music on Youtube.
26And the Republicans want more guns and less mental health care.
They should be the first in line for mental health care.
27Mr. Martinez has hit the nail on the head.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/24/ucsb-shooting-guns-nra_n_5386873.html
Craven politicians, and the NRA are equally to blame.
28I may have said this before here: Who’s the greatest long-term threat to this country, past, present and future? Al Quaeda? Taliban? Russia/China? Etc?
29IMO, it’s ruppert murdoch because he controls so much of the media. And this clever sob gets away with it because he has puppet minions who front for him while he controls the strings like roger ailes.
The nra, tea party, et al, are instruments being used by those behind the curtain to obtain control over the populace; eg, shift in wealth. If they can control water and food, ……..
Apparently drive-by stabbing is too messy and slow. The NRA have/has calloused hearts. A hundred million deaths mean nothing to these people as long as their perceived 2nd amendment rights are protected.
30van59, great comment! The facts are the facts, yes the crazies will kill, but given assault pistols or rifles, even the lousiest of shooters will have optimum ‘success.’ Latest failure to be circumvented by practical law had 3 automatic weapons and +400 rounds.
2nd Amendment circa 18th century was speaking to the weapons of their day basic muzzle loaders. The 2A does not apply to weapons of mass destruction. Want to hunt? Be a man or a woman and learn to bow and arrow.
Want to hunt people, time to un-RayGunize and find them a safe home to keep the rest of us safe.
Ronald Reagan, worse for the USA than Hitler was for Germany. Republicans loves them some Ronnie. Time to educate America on that stupid, silly, senile president.
31Asperger’s phooey. That’s a common excuse now given for geeks being misogynistic bullies. And since I’m the mother of a full-on autistic man, who is NOT rude to women and girls, and does NOT think women owe him attention, praise, and sex, and I’ve met a lot of people on the spectrum over the years…this is not about the killer’s being on the spectrum, but about the culture–not just in the US but worldwide–that thinks women exist for men’s pleasure. Much as I also dislike the gun culture that says you’re only a Real Man if you’ve got firearms displayed, it’s not just about guns being available either. He killed at least one person with his BMW. There are other weapons used.
It’s about entitlement. It’s about the notion that women “owe” men attention, approval, affection, and obedience, and that men’s anger is a natural, normal, inescapable result of women behaving badly (i.e. refusing to please the “alpha male” in front of them.) Women are routinely insulted, harassed, groped, threatened, assaulted, and killed because some guy thinks he’s not getting what he deserves by virtue of having a Y chromosome.
That misogyny is deep in the world’s human system; in this country it results in the public, the media, law enforcement and the courts (e.g. that judge in Arizona) blaming women for what men say and do to them. In a neighboring town, some years back, a high school teacher had the teenage boys in the classroom hold down a female student and tape her mouth shut because she spoke without permission. That’s the kind of example boys see and hear about growing up–that it’s a man’s job to control women, to compel them to listen and obey. (The teacher was defended by other teachers, including women.)
And as it is a cultural norm, the men who then act on it are not “disturbed” or “mentally ill.” They are “carefully taught” (as the song in South Pacific put it) to hate and to fear…enculturated differently, they would not treat women like that. Bringing up a boy–on the autism spectrum or not–to respect women as real humans requires a heckuva lot of work, but it can and has been done. It requires monitoring what the kid hears from other sources (especially the internet, which is virulently misogynistic over much of it, actively promoting rape and other violence against women.) It requires specific teaching that boys have no right to a girl’s attention or approval–that they have no right to express their disappointment as anger at her, making it her fault. Gun control will not stop male violence against women. Cultural change will.
(And yes, I still want sensible gun control, but men attack women with fists, pipes, chains, knives, chairs, baseball bats, automobiles…etc.)
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