A time to grieve

Those who know me, will know my stance on gun control. In light of the recent massacre I won't debate that issue. I don't feel now is the time for politics. There will be plenty of time for that in the days an weeks to come.
Everyone is looking for answers in this madness, a motive, a logical explanation. The sad fact is that rational minds cannot comprehend the evil twist that happens in the minds of people that do such things. Soon we will be privy to every bit of information about the shooter. I will not add to his fame by mentioning his name. I feel that this will only honor a evil madman. I have seen a Facebook post allegedly by Morgan Freeman 

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations  sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem."

I'm not sure if these are actually his words but, I agree with them. We need stop publicizing every detail and making these people famous. We need to be more involved in our children's lives. We need to get away from saturating these kids with images of violence, blood guts, gore and mayhem. Let them be children! 

They have a whole lifetime of horrific events ahead of them. Turn of the TV, turn of the video violent games and be a parent. Everyone wants the quick fix, the easy answer. There are no easy answers, you can't pass enough laws to prevent these events from happening. Connecticut has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Yet these laws didn't stop evil from visiting. 

I understand that anger is one of the stages of grieving and there is a lot to be angry about. But what we don't need now is knee jerk reactions and political posturing. What we need is time to grieve, heel and take a good look at ourselves and society and determine how these horrors can be prevented.   

  

To my fellow Republican's

Since Tuesday night I have read and listened to Republicans whine, snivel and gripe about Obama's re-election. It's done, it's over, there is little we can do at this point but prepare for the worst. So, stand up get involved and hold our government accountable for their actions.

 We didn't lose the election because Obama had a better base, because the evil media beat up Romney. We beat ourselves! We can't keep taking the next guy in line and run him and hope it works. Romney couldn't get the nomination in 2008, what the Hell made anyone think he really had a chance this time? 

Laura Ingraham made this comment; 

 "If you can't beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down, start new, with new people. Because this is a gimme election, or at least it should be, Election after election, we hire people who have lost previous campaigns, who have run campaigns that have failed, who have messaged campaigns where the message fell flat, and they keep getting re-hired." 

I agree, it's time to get rid of the "go along to get along"and the same old tired leadership. I can't tell you how sick I got of hearing Karl Rove say "321, 321" and try to B.S. his way through the election night. They call him the "architect", I'll tell you, I wouldn't use a cardboard box he designed. Dick Morris is another one "I study polls for a living and I promise you Romney will win by a landslide". Really Dick? Did you really believe this or is this what you knew would get you a paycheck from FOX? I'm no expert, I don't have a degree in politics, statistics or polling, but I knew it would come down to voter turn out and we had over 3 million Republicans that didn't turn out. 

It's time to get rid of the people that are in this to line their pockets and clean house. How many of your heard John Boehner say Tuesday "President Obama's rel-election is not an open mandate for new taxes"? Then on Wednesday that spineless waste of flesh agreed to $800 million tax increase. He said that they are "ready to be led". This, from the man who is the most powerful Republican in the country. This, from the man who is the "leader" of the Republican party. Really Mr. Boehner you need to be led?  You are the speaker of the house!! You should be leading not waiting to be led!! 

Everyone has bitched and complained about the mainstream media and how they pandered to Obama. People, I got news for you, Ronald Reagan never got a break from the media and he won by a landslide not once, but twice!! I don't blame the media, they have been bought and paid for. I blame the Republican party for betraying it's ideals and principles. Every election they "rich old white guys" try to refit a candidate that they can mold the party around. How about we try a candidate that fits the principles of the party? How many more decades are we going to run Bob Dole?

We now have a turd sandwich and we're all going to take a bite!! I am preparing for the worst, I expect sometime in the next 6-8 years for the economy to crash through the floor and cause a depression that will make the last look one like an ice cream social. 

There are no more Wyatt Earps

It's been a while since I've blogged, but over the last couple of days I've heard a lot of people talking out their ass!! Since the news broke about the terrible shooting in Colorado, I have heard one person or another say "if someone else had a gun in there, they could have stopped him". I want to go on record as saying BULLSHIT!!
While I am a proponent of the right to carry and feel that every law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry. Believing that even a well trained civilian, engaging in a pitched fire fight with a heavily armed and armored madman would have changed the outcome is naive at best. James Holmes went into that theater intent on killing as many people as possible. Having said that look at the preparations he made.

• Armament - when he was arrested he had a;

                  AR-15 rifle with a 100 round drum 
                  Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun with an 8 round magazine
                  2 Glock .40 cal. pistols

• Body armor - when he was arrested he was wearing-

              Tactical ballistic helmet capable of stopping or deflecting most handgun and some small rifle bullets
              Tactical ballistic vest, depending on what kind of protection plates these are capable of taking a hit
               from all hand guns and most rifles.
              Throat, crotch and shin protectors, although not bullet proof they can deflect shrapnel and blows
               from objects and people.
               Military grade gas mask

Essentially he was geared up the same as a S.W.A.T. officer. As I said earlier a heavily armed and armored madman. He was physically impervious to most handguns unless they could get a face shot. 

So, here you are in a dark theater, your trusty Glock, H&K, Sig , whatever your weapon of choice on your hip. Suddenly, something goes bang and there's smoke clouding the the theater you can't see, your chest is tightening and it's getting hard to breath.You're coughing and gagging from the smoke/tear gas. A second or 2 later some guy has made the entire auditorium a free fire zone. You decide to stop him. Adrenalin has doubled or tripled your pulse, you can't see because of the smoke/tear gas, you're sweating profusely and your hands are shaking like a leaf. People are screaming, some are trying to escape, some are trying to hide. There are muzzle flashes from his gun that destroy what little night vision you have. But, you're going to be a hero, so you grab your gun and try to acquire a target, through the smoke, your shaking hands and your own terror. You touch of the first round, maybe you missed him, maybe it hit his body armor, either way he doesn't stop shooting. You fire again, same result, again, nothing, now you have his attention and you are now in a fire fight with this madman and you're losing!! Because you are out gunned, out armored and your sidearm is having no effect. Mean while the entire auditorium is in pandemonium, you're now fighting to stay alive and to Hell with anyone who happens to be in either of your line of fire.

The NRA and several other groups are using this tragedy as an opportunity to rally people to the right to carry. "Because one armed citizen could have saved everyone". The scenario I describe is more accurate than movie versions of the good guy bad guy fire fight. So again to anyone who believes having someone in there with a gun returning fire would have saved lives I say again BULLSHIT!!