We Are The Barbarians

What do you know about the guy in the house across the street?

Seems ok? Kinda quiet? Keeps to himself?

All around the world, there are guys across the street. Most of them are ok.

Some of them aren't.

Only in America can that "quiet guy, who keeps to himself" have military style rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

You get angry? I get angry. Everybody gets angry, now and then. Everybody has a bad day, now and then. Everybody probably has a moment, however brief it may be, when they get mad enough to kill another person.

Only in America can someone take that anger, that grievance, that pissed off attitude, that moment of madness, and easily turn it into a few dozen dead....at a school, or a mall, or a concert, or an office building.

Our nation was settled by the outcasts of Europe. We may not have always gotten their best people.
We are mongrels, for better and for worse, in all of our "exceptionalism."

And, at times, that very fact leads to madness.

This entire argument over which guns are permissible under the Second Amendment is proof of that. Unfortunately, in America, money usually trumps common sense.

We are the barbarians.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One...

Guy with an automatic weapon and thousands of rounds of ammunition walks into a...

Hotel. Bar. Schoolyard. Shopping mall. Office. Movie theatre. Government building. Church.

Just another bloody, bloody day in America.

And here's the thing: Apparently we will NEVER see the end of this.

It's part of our culture.

Mass murder is part of our culture. 

Like apple pie and baseball.

One of our cherished national crooks, Don King, is fond of saying "only in America".

"Mostly in America" is closer to the truth.

When this sort of thing happens elsewhere, as it very rarely does, the people of those countries demand action and their governments respond quickly and decisively.

Not here. No, our government sends out "prayers and condolences". All deeply felt, I'm sure.

But nothing will be done.

Because we care less about public safety and public health than we do about the right to bear just as many guns as you can afford. Like Jesus intended...

Listen: Somewhere, somebody is ranting about their Second Amendment rights being threatened.

Well, Fuck them.

What A Sad Country This Is

Every day, in America, people are shot and killed. Every single day.

Sometimes in large numbers.

Men, women, black, white, brown, young and old, straight and gay.

Children, for Christ's sake.

All human beings.

Some of these shootings are "accidental". Whatever that means.

I mean, somebody bought the gun. Was that the "accident"?

Of course, we will never get rid of all guns. Because, uh, Jesus? And that part of the Second Amendment that people like to quote. Not the entire Amendment, not the "well regulated" part.

But what about assault rifles?

No hunter needs what is essentially a military weapon. And no sane person needs one for self-defense.

But apparently some of us still believe that they do.

America is perhaps most exceptional in the weirdness, some might call it madness, of our people.

Therefore, I suppose it should come as no surprise that a lunatic is running for President and no one bats an eye. In fact, his supporters--a proven majority of his party--revel in his lunacy. And rabid gun lovin' is a large part of their lunacy.

I'm constantly reminded that the solutions to some of our problems are really very simple.

And yet we do nothing.

That's what is really sad.

The Year In Confusion

Let me be the first to wish you a Merry...oh...uh...

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year!

Things we learned in 2014:

If you can find a way to restrict minorities and younger voters from voting, you can win elections even with a collection of sociopathic morons for candidates.

The poor deserve to suffer.

Some Republicans are felons, and some Republicans are white supremacists. And I know I might be going out on a limb here, but some are probably both.

In general, dictators have very poor senses of humor.

It's always OK to shoot black men. No ifs, ands or buts. After all, it's one of our Second Amendment rights.

Cops have feelings, too. In fact, they can be downright whiny, pouty, little bunnies when they get their feelings hurt. But they can still get away with shooting you, so watch out! And always do what they say, especially when they're sexually assaulting you.

Unlimited money pumped into elections is exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

A Democrat pretending to be a Republican will always lose to a Republican pretending to be a human being.

The Big Lie, that political tactic beloved by Republicans everywhere, still works.

The law of the land is whatever Antonin Scalia decides it should be at that particular moment. But don't worry, it will be applied as unevenly as possible.

Apparently, Kenyan anti-colonial socialism is the best thing that ever happened to the stock market.

And finally, now that noted semiologist Rush Limbaugh has told us, plainly and with his usual level headed good humor, what color James Bond is, perhaps he could tell us what color Jesus was.

Peace on Earth, Joy to the World, Don't Drink and Drive, blah blah blah...

See you next year.