Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Planet - April 21, 2013

American Angst
The Boston Marathon bombing has troubled the perceptions of many. Though there's been a sane discussion on the sitehere, the news of that day was filled with false reports and ridiculous speculation. CNN decided they had the scoop; "a man with dark skin was arrested."  Though retracted, for part of the day the thought that was implanted in white America's head was once again be afraid of the dark skinned human. While commentators backed off the "arrest," they still left us thinking for hours that yes, another possible terrorist attack had occurred.
Though know one knows the why yet, endless speculation produces useless distraction for people with nothing better to do. Get a life.
Glenn Beck's faithful are waiting for Monday, when their favorite clown will once again delve into conspiracy nonsense. Useless, except as an example of how simple minds don't work, Beck explains how the injured Saudi student is part of the Muslim Brotherhood who is working in cahoots with the Saudi government and secret Muslim Barack Obama. Time to try impeaching the president once again.
Though foolhardy, this man makes money by deceiving the public. Rhetoric like this should be compared to the old example of yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater. We all know that a small percentage of Americans will believe anything, and more than likely they own a few firearms and know how to use them. This type of nonsense endangers all of us.
Beck wasn't the only one of course. Initial responses from Red State, Pamela Gellar and the New York Post, all blamed Muslims for the attack. Possibly the worst was FOX pretend news commentator Erik Rush tweeting about Muslims;  "Yes, they're evil. Let's kill them all." 
Basically all the current media fools jumped on the bandwagon with horribly inaccurate comments.
Gun Groupies
Even thought slightly buried by the bombing in Boston news, the failed bill to make background checks necessary before one can purchase a gun should remain firmly in the public eye. There have been many responses to the failed legislature, but once again the comedy channel has the only shows that make you realize how inane the debate is.
Stewart and Colbert in recent weeks have brought up the following thoughts. When it comes to magazine size, a conservative, (paraphrased), response was "why ten, why not nine or eleven?" Insinuating that any limits would seem to be haphazard at best. The response from the Comedy Central titans was something to the effect of "Yeah, why set a speed limit at seventy, why not sixty or eighty?" Why? Because you guys were all elected to make laws and that is what laws do, set limits. If you don't want to make laws, why are you in the legislature?
Even better, Stewart's response to the argument that "stopping legal citizens from purchasing guns won't stop criminals from getting them." What an odd response by conservatives. The thought that any type of even minor gun laws being passed is "criminals will still get guns why law abiding citizens cannot." Well, criminals steal, kill, etc., and we have laws for that. Maybe anarchy is what they are promoting. No laws on anything? Back to the speed limit analogy, screw that 70 mile an hour speed limit, criminals don't obey it. Press the pedal to the metal and drive spectacularly!
No matter. No laws protecting the populace will have any support from our elected Representatives. Senators and Congressmen who only take orders from people with deep pockets, and only pretend to listen to you when they need a vote.

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