Victor, so great to hear from you!
I don’t know where to begin on the current state of insanity in the U.S. Let’s see, maybe guns is a good place to start. Gun sales are reported to have risen noticeably since Obama was elected. Some of this was probably just the usual paranoid insanity of the NRA gun nuts. Some are convinced that Obama means to take their guns away. If that were true, what would be the point of buying more? But of course these new guns, along with all the others they possess, could be hidden for use when the government tries to take over their guns. When you suggest to these nuts that their rifles, pistols, and even AK 47’s wouldn’t be much use against the weapons the government could employ they either look blank or argue they should be allowed 50 caliber machine guns and even howitzers and tanks. As one of them put it the other day, “if you can tow it behind your pickup it ought to be legal.” Who can argue against such logic (insanity). As near as I can determine Obama has a perfectly sensible approach to the problem of guns, recognizing the difference between the needs of rural dwellers and inner city gangs and etc. He has never suggested taking away everyone’s guns. But nothing is sensible when it comes to the NRA.
I read today that the Supreme Court is going to take up the legality of detentions. I assume this includes the detentions at Guantanamo. Somehow it seems to me it’s a bit late to be taking this up? I mean, some of these people have been detained for almost eight years with no charges brought against them, no rights of any kind, and so on. In any case, if past experience is any guide, there is no reason to believe that Bush/Cheney would release them, no matter what the Supreme Court decides. I fervently hope that Obama, as one of his first acts as President, will close this evil place and provide some decent and legal solutions.
Related to this is an article today in Smirking Chimp by Sherwood Ross, “U.S. and Allies Tortured Kids in Iraq Prisons.” This is a report so shocking and terrible I could barely force myself to finish it. If there is any truth to it at all, even the smallest nugget of truth, those responsible should be immediately arrested and tried for crimes against humanity. I have no reason to believe this is not true, but I keep telling myself it just can’t be true, it’s too horrible to be true. But as our beloved Rumsfeld put it, “stuff happens,” and as Cheney said, “we may have to go to the dark side.” Monsters all, and they should be treated as such.
Now the U.S. has admitted that yes, we did kill 32 civilians in another airstrike in Afghanistan. It was still another wedding party. I guess these Middle East wedding parties are easy targets as we seem to be really good at taking them out. But what the hell, with remote controlled drones it’s just like playing Nintendo. Besides, it we let them marry they’ll just breed and produce more people who will hate and despise us forever. Remember that good advice from our American Indian exterminations, “nits make lice.” Is it any wonder that the Afghans and Iraqis want us the hell out of their countries, and that we have lost any moral authority we might have ever claimed to have? When the President of Afghanistan has to beg our President-elect to please stop killing civilians you know we have reached the bottom of the pit of immorality (or is it maybe the top of the pit?).
Finally, there is the claim that Medvedev is “challenging” Obama by threatening to place short range missiles near the Polish border. This raises a question in my mind as to just who is “challenging” whom. We are the ones that are threatening to place our missile defenses in Poland. This might be reasonable if we had a missile defense system that actually worked, and if there was any reason to believe the Iranians were going to attack us with missiles (in Poland?), even if they had such missiles. The Russians interpret this as a threat to them, rightly so as near as I can figure out. This is an even more realistic fear on the part of the Russians as we have expanded NATO around their borders in spite of having promised not to do so, and are continuing to try to expand. This is similar to the situation in Georgia. It has now been established as fact that Georgia started the hostilities, almost certainly with the approval of the U.S. This was a clear challenge to Russia who more than met the challenge, but it is not an example of Russian expansionism as is being claimed. Obama is reported to have had a telephone conversation with Medvedev. Let us hope some more sensible policy will eventually prevail.
Life is a journey
forever towards the west
and the setting sun
Morialekafa
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8 comments:
M...I am eternally grateful to my fellow citizens for electing Obama so that this BushCo evil will soon come to a screeching halt. Would that the whole mess of them be sent off to the Hague to be charged for war crimes.
Old irrelevant Professor,
I'm new to your blog. I'll have to go back and reread it from the beginning to see if you express similar outrage at Islamists using mentally handicapped people as living bombs against civilians and sawing the heads off of non-combatants while they are still alive. Or is your ire solely reserved for wrongs committed by citizens of the United States?
On second thought, it's Veteran's Day and I've wasted enough time on you already.
Some are convinced that Obama means to take their guns away. If that were true, what would be the point of buying more?
Well, Professor, if you'll permit me: Had Congress actually renewed the AWB four years ago, rather than letting it sunset, one would have seen the same spike in sales, prior to it getting to the White House (remember, Bush allowed as to how he would sign the thing).
So it's pretty much the same reason as ever, sir: That the King (any would-be king, of whatever stripe) may know that there are places his writ does not run. ;-)
Normal human behavior is to get something if you think it will not be available later. Get gas if the price is going higher. Do not bother with fillups if the price is going lower. You just fget enough.
AWB was past once and Obama said he wants an AWB bill. He has the House under gun grabber Pelosi and a majority of the Senate.
It is logical that this will happen once he is power. So get your guns now while the NICS info is destroyed after 48 hours rather that left in the database to find out who buys the guns.
We can store and hide guns, they do not go bad like milk.
With ammo and longarms stored, if the worst happens more can be obtained.
This is notice that the American people do not care to be unarmed. The government will not intimidate us.
Plus why should not urban black folks have the same civil right of the white rural folk?
Gee ... nuts with AKs, pistols, and rifles have held out for five years against the US military ... In Iraq. And it looks like they are going to win.
If the government comes for my firearms, they will discover an empty house and no forwarding address ...
"Cold dead hands"? Nope. Google Asymmetric Warfare sometime, perfessor.
Are you sure you're a professor of anthropology? Your own field of study should tell you that no matter the disparity in weapons technology, a sufficiently numbered and determined opponent can bring even the most elite down. Even assuming 100% compliance within the military the military would be outnumbered by a horrific amount. In order for the .gov to 'win' it would pretty much have to be willing to condone the wholesale slaughter of civilians and the use of nukes. Thus of course depriving itself of a citizenry to govern.
Wow morialekafa, you sure pulled the wingnuts out of the closet on this one. The part that really gets me is not the bit on guns, it's the insults about being a professor. Hmmm, makes me wonder if all wingnuts have such blatant abhorrence of professors, no matter what the specialization. I wonder if they all aupported Palin....
Granted, anthropology is one of the social sciences, and it is not a hard science, but even so, it is still imperative for one who holds out such credentials to the public as being a retired professor to at least rely on proper facts, argument, and proof of arguments. I see only unproven rantings in this article. Perhaps the retired professor has spent too much time preaching to like-minded acquaintances and has forgotten the necessity of proving one's point.
"...usual paranoid insanity of the NRA gun nuts."
You are accusing an entire class of persons of being paranoid and insane. Upon what factual basis do you make these assertions? Are you licensed to practice medicine in Idaho? Do you normally make overbroad generalizations about classes of people? You know what they say about people who use stereotypes! (NOTE: Do you you see the joke?) Do you feel that you are superior to others or specially gifted? When people challenge your arguments (or lack of arguments), do you feel persecuted? When people challenge you, do you want to cut them off and exclude them from dialog?
Surely you realize that the USA is not composed of a single monolithic culture. Who are you to judge the mores and values of a cultural subgroup within the USA? HOW DARE YOU! Do you not believe in cultural relativism? Your prejudicial and judgmental attitude towards a subgroup of Americans seems to be a strong indicator that you do not believe in cultural relativism. Upon what self-righteous foundation do you presume to judge others? How is your view of culture and society superior to those you presume to judge?
"Some are convinced that Obama means to take their guns away."
He does mean to do just that. Actually, the Obama campaign site and change.gov site were quite clear that they intend to ban whole classes of guns based upon a fictional relationship between weapons and crime. The tone of your writing is designed to imply that anyone who reads and accepts Obama's own promises at face value is somehow failing to see reality as it really is. Are you arguing that Obama is lying? Otherwise, your argument makes no sense.
"If that were true, what would be the point of buying more?"
I can tell you this very clearly. People are not buying weapons with the expectation of turning them over if they are banned or outlawed. They will be used to defend against judgmental bigots and oppressors.
"He has never suggested taking away everyone’s guns."
Oops. Now you are changing your story in mid-stream. Originally, you made it sound like Obama was not going to take anyone's guns, and anyone who thought that was not seeing reality. Now you are saying that, in fact, he is going to take guns, but you have shifted your argument to say that he is only going to take some guns. Are you intentionally arguing in circles?
"But nothing is sensible when it comes to the NRA."
Uhh... Actually, the only lack of sense I am detecting is in the writings at this site. Also, you have failed to state what specific policies of the NRA are not sensible, and upon what factual basis you make such an assertion? As such, this statement is an unfounded assertion.
Have you considered taking rhetoric 101?
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