No doubt you have all heard of the US Congresswoman, Gabriella Giffords (D-AZ) who was shot yesterday, 8 January 2011. Six others who were shot at her meeting with her constituents have died. The last I read, as many as 19 people were shot. Among the dead are a 9 year old girl and a Federal judge.
Funny, the reactions of people on the web. At many "left" leaning web sites, the "story" is that the shooter, who is in custody, was a Nazi who had read Mien Kampf. Some have even suggested that he was a member, or at least a follower, of the "tea party".
On the "right" leaning sites, they say he was a communist, or at "best" a socialist. They claim he read Karl Marx.
Well, I have read both Marx and Mien Kampf. What does that make me? Back when I read them, I thought it made me curious. Yeah, imagine that, being curious about things and then getting a book or two to read. Yes, to satisfy my curiosity I read. I still do, though now, my reading includes many web sites. You could say that I am still curious, and that is very true. In fact, I hope I never lose that curiosity. It makes for a more interesting life, just my opinion of course.
What really bothers me is that only now, with the shooting of a Congresswoman and the deaths of a child and a judge, do Americans come out to protest.
Yes, we have seen "political" killings in the recent past here in America. In just my own life time I have seen the killing of the Kennedy brothers, John and Robert. Also the killing of Malcolm X and Dr. King. At least four very high profile political killings, right here in America.
The question here is why aren't the people who are so upset about this shooting yesterday protesting the day in and day out killings of innocent children in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan? Where are the protests and outrage over those killings? Or, is it that "we" do not protest the killing of innocent children when those children are killed by the US military? Yes, the death of the young girl from the shooting in Tucson yesterday is terrible. But, is her death that much more different from the deaths of children in the above named countries? How many children do "our" troops kill every day in the current idiotic, useless, damn fool wars of choice that "we" are fighting?
These are very valid questions. It IS fair to make this comparison. The "excuse" that there is a war going on in Afghanistan and the border area of Pakistan/Afghanistan is not valid. Why is there a war there? Because America invaded Afghanistan as a reaction to the terrorist attack of 9/11. The people who planned and carried out that attack were not in Afghanistan. None of them were Afghans. They were mostly Saudis.
Yes, the shooting yesterday is very sad. Consider though, America IS a very violent society. I don't have the statistics, but I would bet that America is either number one, or very close to it, for the number of shooting deaths per year. Our major cities are very violent places. The murder rate for New York city, Detroit, Los Angeles, and other major cities is high. The most popular video games and movies are violent. Death, and in particular, shooting is very popular in the USA.
The president said in response to the shooting yesterday that violence has no place in a free society. OK, I agree, then when is he going to call and end to the damn fool wars of choice? When will the elephant gang call out the likes of Rush, Beck, O"Reilly, Hannity, Coulter, etc and Fox News and "talk"(hate) radio? And I DO lay those folks at the door step of the Republican party as the just mentioned gang are very much right wing/Republican. Of true, the Democrats are also to blame. They should have called for a halt to the hate long ago. Where has our president been since he took office? Why has he not used the bully pulpit of the presidency to call for and end to the hate? The "idea" that it will go away if you ignore it is totally wrong.
BOTH major political parties share the blame for the hate and violence that is rampant in our country. We all need to demand more of our "leaders". Our elected officials need to demand an end to all the hate. NOT with any new laws, we have more than enough laws as it is. What is needed is some honest enforcement of the laws we already do have. The same goes for any new gun control laws. We don't need any, just enforce the existing laws.
We should all email, phone, communicate in some means to our elected officials and tell them that we want an end to the hate and violence that has swept over our country. Remember, these elected officials work for us. If we all let them know that we are sick of the hate and violence, they will have to take notice. When communicating with theses officials, make sure to let them know that we want an end to the damn fool wars also. Killing is against most every religion in the world. America claims to be a "Christian" nation, well, killing is against that religion. It is time for the people of this country who keep telling us all that America is a "Christian" nation to stop the killing. Live up to their own religion or stop telling me that "we" are a "Christian" nation. This goes double for the Congress critters who most all of them make some claim or other to being so religious. Put up or shut up.
We will not end the killing and other violence in America until we stop the damn fool wars of choice. It is time for this country to end the senseless violence that we do around the world. It is time to treat ALL people the way we want to be treated ourselves. Stop the killing. Stop the wars. It is time for all decent people to stand up and shout ENOUGH!!!!!
semper fi
