Longest War

I had a very difficult time reading this article through to the end. The demented "War on Drugs" that our government has been waging relentlessly for nearly four decades now, has fundamentally corrupted our law enforcement agencies. They are no less dependent on the income stream from illegal narcotics, then are the actual dealers.

 

“The cops, they get federal funding by the number of arrests they make—to get the money, you need the numbers,” he explained, alluding to, among other things, asset-forfeiture laws that allow police departments to keep a hefty portion of cash and other resources seized during drug busts. “It’s a commercial enterprise,” he went on, citing a view shared by many legal scholars and policy critics. “That’s how they pay for their vans, for their prosecutors—they get money from the war on drugs. They put zero dent in the supply."

There would be an outcry in this country if it were reported that Chinese, or Russian, law enforcement agencies were using Juveniles to bait dangerous criminals. Given the draconian drug laws, the cops have an enormous amount of leverage to bring to bear on these young offenders. Who typically enter into these high-risk agreements without the benefit of legal counsel, and frequently end up murdered. This is a national disgrace.

Romney and Bain

Thank You For Not Shooting Me

So, this moron decided he would test the law permitting the open-carry of handguns in Tennessee state parks. To that end he dressed up in camo, and entered a park armed with a Draco AK-47 pistol with a 30-round magazine. As the name implies, this "handgun" is nothing more then a sawed-off AK-47 with a barrel length just barely under the legal 12-inch limit for handguns. Obviously Mr. Embody here studied the law before setting out on his stunt.

Frightened people started using their cell phones to report a man in military gear with an assault rifle in the park. A brave park ranger confronted Embody, disarmed him, and made him lie down while help came. After a few minutes, it was decided that he was indeed carrying a legal handgun, and was Embody was released. Having achieved his immediate objective, Embody then filed a lawsuit claiming that his constitutional rights were violated.

This case has had the remarkable effect of actually uniting people from both sides of the gun control debate. Embody got no support from Second Amendment advocates, who immediately realized that Leonard Embody's foolish behavior has handed a priceless gift to their opponents. What an asshole. It almost makes me wish he had gotten gunned down, but a gunfight would have put innocent people at risk. And no one wants that.

Mobsters and Mormons

When ethnic "gangsters" do business the way that Bain Capital does, they are labeled as "public enemies" and prosecuted. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is running for president. 

The difference of course is that Bain has the rule of law on their side. They do not need to resort to violence to get what they want. Bain can acquire companies, strip them of all their assets, layoff the workers, burden the companies with debt, and then walk away with millions of dollars in profit. This business model is typically described as "venture capitalism".

The mob operates in exactly the same fashion as this video demonstrates. The scale is much smaller of course. Usually, it is a restaurant they take over. But the ends, and the means, are identical. Except for the use of overt violence. The mobsters cannot appeal to the law to enforce contracts the way that Bain does. So, they resort to violence. Otherwise, the business model is exactly the same.

Muddy Waters

They gun nuts are frenetically throwing out one thing after another to muddy the waters, and sow confusion. They are quite good at that, having much experience. It comes from constantly having to defend positions that are basically indefensible. This shooting in Aurora is about as clear-cut an argument for sane gun laws as you will ever find. Yet those opposed to reforming the laws refuse to recognize facts, or even reality. Hence, the widely-repeated comic-book scenario, involving an heroic armed theatergoer, who would have miraculously stopped James Holmes in his tracks. That is, if only the movie theater didn't force it's customers to disarm themselves before attending a show.

Such an appeal, as absurd as it might be, resonates strongly with a lot of Americans who grew up absorbing a popular culture diet chock-full of such nonsense. In particular, men are prone to fantasize about performing a deed so heroic that it would instantly erase all of their feelings of impotent rage. Feelings which stubbornly persist no matter how well-armed they become. All those guns and no place to go. And, as we now know, the only heroes in this colossal tragedy were the men who were themselves unarmed, but sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of those they loved.

Holy Habeas Corpus Batman!

The indications are that the first audience member to announce his intention to sue, is planning on suing the owners of the movie theater, the producers of the Batman movie, and a doctor who is alleged to have treated and medicated James Holmes' before the shooting.

No mention of any plans to sue the gun manufactures though. What about the people who sold Holmes' 6000 rounds of ammunition over the internet? How about suing the clerks at the two stores where he bought the guns? Why not sue the stores themselves? What about all of the accessories he purchased, and used during his killing spree? Shouldn't the people who sold him body armor, a gas mask, tear gas, etc. be held accountable?

Why not sue the state of Colorado, and the city of Aurora? Quite obviously, the respective governments failed miserably in preventing James Holmes from acquiring a deadly arsenal and using it to kill or wound 70 people. I would think a lawsuit against the federal government would be in order as well, on the same grounds.

Why not sue the fucking NRA? Has anyone tried that approach yet? You won't win, but the lawsuit would certainly have more merit then the ones actually being considered. And it would attract some very unwanted attention to the gun lobby. Why not file a class-action lawsuit against the NRA, on behalf of every American who has been impacted by gun violence? Something along the lines of the Tobacco lawsuits.

If the government is not going to protect us, then another approach is needed. And I'm not talking about going to Gander Mountain and buying out their inventory.

High Water Mark of the Confederacy

This reenactment is invaluable for the visual images it provides of the doomed Confederate assault on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. However, a reenactment is exactly what it is. Meaning the film used thousands of men whose hobby is reenacting the Civil War. They were quite convincing in the role of rebel soldiers, albeit perhaps a bit too-well fed looking. The tattered, and very "un-uniform", uniforms that they wore were historically accurate. In fact, their appearance made me think of the quote attributed to some European military theorist who dismissed the American Civil War as bring fought by "armed mobs". The Union troops, on the other hand, were smartly turned-out in their regulation blue uniforms.

I fully understand why the film's producers decided to go with a remarkably "bloodless" depiction of an event that was quite literally drenched in blood and gore. Graphic depictions of bodies being blown apart by cannon fire would have been a jarring counterpoint to the overall mood of the film. Still, that was the reality of the thing. All that metal flying through the air did horrible things to human bodies. But, in the film, all of those bodies hurled up into the air by exploding shells come down fully intact.

Reading the accounts of participants in the actual battle, conveys a much better impression of what was going on as those roughly 12,000 men moved across that field under withering fire, then does this visual presentation. In fact the buildup to the assault is much more effective then the engagement itself. The viewer has that awful feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing what's about to happen to all of those men, but the charge itself is anti-climactic. In my opinion, it could have used a dose of realism.