Fuck the NRA

You might think that “spokesman for the National Rifle Association” is the toughest job in PR. You might be wrong. At least once a year, and several times in bad years, reporters reach out to the NRA’s Andrew Arulanandam and ask him whether the gun lobby has anything to say about the latest massacre. Arulanandam says basically the same thing, every time.

After the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 people: “The NRA joins the entire country in expressing our deepest condolences to the families of Virginia Tech University and everyone else affected by this horrible tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.”

After the Feb. 14, 2008, shootings at Northern Illinois University that killed six: “We think it is poor form for a politician or a special interest group to try to push a legislative agenda on the back of any tragedy. Now is the time for the Northern Illinois University community to grieve and to heal. We believe there is adequate time down the road to debate policy and politics."

After the April 3, 2009, massacre at a Binghamton, N.Y., immigration center that killed 13: “Now is not the time to debate politics or discuss policy. It's time for the families and communities to grieve.”

After the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting spree that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six: “At this time, anything other than prayers for the victims and their families would be inappropriate.”

After the July 20, 2012, massacre at an Aurora, Colo., theater that left 12 dead and 58 wounded: “We believe that now is the time for families to grieve and for the community to heal. There will be an appropriate time down the road to engage in political and policy discussions.”

The “appropriate time” never arrives. It’s an ingenious communications strategy, one that removes the NRA from stories about the latest national outrages. When the outrage fades, the NRA returns in full flush. Just a week before the Newtown, Conn., shootings, Arulanandam told a reporter that the NRA was “planning for the worst” and had “told people to plan for gun bans and a Supreme Court stacked with anti-gun judges.”

So the NRA says publicly "pray for the victims" ...and privately whispers to its members: "Obama's gon' come fer yer guns". What bravery.

Clue to the clueless: when even NRA members like Joe Manchin and Joe Scarborough say that it's time... it's time.

Sadly, the White House is still pussy-footing around.

When asked at Monday's press briefing about the gun lobby's influence on potential action, White House spokesman Jay Carney responded, without specifically mentioning that lobby, "I think we all recognize that this is a complex problem and there are obstacles to taking action coming from a variety of places. What the president hopes is that everyone steps back and looks at the situation that has to be addressed and thinks broadly and thoughtfully about how we can move forward."

Jay Carney, you will recall, parroted the NRA's "now is not the time" line in the immediate wake of the tragedy.  With fiscal incline talks at a delicate point, I doubt whether Obama is going to be using his bully pulpit half as effectively as James Dobson. Even after Gabby Giffords was nearly killed -- as several others were, including a member of her staff, a 9-year-old girl, and a federal judge -- the DOJ did not follow through on tightening up the loopholes associated with background checks because the 2012 election was coming.

The Giffords massacre happened in early 2011, almost two years before last month... and in the wake of the Tea Party shellacking in 2010. So there was no courage to be summoned for gun control no matter what.

That's despite the fact that much of the worst gun carnage in this country has occurred on Obama's watch. From this fascinating list of twelve, here's #4: of the 11 deadliest shootings in the US, five have happened since 2007. And that doesn’t include last Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. The death toll stands at 28, including the shooter and his mother, making it the second-deadliest mass shooting in US history.

And the NRA responds by taking its Facebook page down. Their response to Newtown -- just like their fellow travelers at Fox and elsewhere across the country -- is to hunker down. Ride the storm out. Wait to fight another day.

Fuck all of these cowardly so-called leaders. Every last one of them that refuses to take action to stop this bloodshed. If Australia can do it, why can't we?

Are the people of this great nation as worthy of brave politicians as the Aussies, or not?

The NRA is a pasty-faced domestic terror network -- you can't call them a cell when their cells are all over the country --  operating out in the open and thoroughly corrupting our legislative process. They need to be classified as domestic terrorists, and they need to be prosecuted as such.

Too bad nobody has the stones to do that, though.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance sends its deepest condolences to the people of Newtown as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff says that the voters have done a pretty good job of imposing term limits on the Legislature.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger asks when is enough enough? What is it with sick white boys?

Governor "Fetal Pain" finally called the special election in SD-6, and some candidates jumped in and some are staying out. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the latest.

It's unlikely that the candidate of the"middle of the road" business/corporate interests for Texas House Speaker, aka Joe Straus, will lose. But Democrats should have some fun with the contest anyway: In race for Speaker, Democrats should stir the pot, says WCNews at Eye on Williamson.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme was surprised to find out that RedState hates Texans for Lawsuit Reform, too.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about the real St. Nicholas. He might have had a hard time in Texas as he was against the death penalty.

You can end Rick Perry's land grab.

As mentioned previously by BlueDaze...

Every twelve years, most Texas state agencies undergo a process called the sunset review, during which the public can weigh in on the performance of the agencies under review.

The Texas agency tasked with pipeline oversight -- the Texas Railroad Commission -- is currently under review, and Tar Sands Blockade is calling upon the Sunset Advisory Commission to demand the 83rd Texas Legislature provide immediate relief to property owners who have been bullied and defrauded by TransCanada and other pipeline companies through the Railroad Commission’s nonexistent oversight.

Tar Sands Blockade is collecting signatories to our statement below regarding Eminent Domain Abuse and Tar Sands Fraud to deliver them in person to the Sunset Advisory Commission’s Public Testimony hearing on Wednesday, December 19 in Austin, TX.

Please sign on to the following statement by filling out the short form here. 

Because as it stands, Rick Perry is coming after your land. The last time it was a giant toll road, this time it's a dirty-fuel pipeline, next time it will be one of those or maybe something else.

But he's coming for it. Unless you stop him, and you don't need a gun to do so.

Sunday As-Funny-as-Possible-Given-the-Circumstances

Now is not the time.

It's too soon since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to have a rational discussion about gun control in this country.

(H/T to Top Conservative Cat)

Please note that Nick Anderson's cartoon below was drawn almost two years ago. Here is his most recent, in response to yesterday's atrocity.

Why is it that conservatives don't believe that restricting handguns will deter killing, but restricting abortion will deter abortions? (H/T)

Governor finally calls SD-6 special election

For Saturday, January 26, with the filing deadline on December 27 and the early voting period from January 9-22, per Harvey. The Chron reveals another contestant...

A fourth potential candidate, Rodolfo "Rudy" Reyes, said he intends to announce his candidacy on Friday.

That embedded link tells little about Reyes, but a cursory Google search turns up his website and curriculum vitae including a stint on the League City council. Reyes has no obvious political party affiliation that I can find. I suspicion he is a Democrat, which is going to make it even more likely that RW Bray -- who got 30% of the vote against Mario Gallegos a month ago -- and one of Sylvia Garcia, Carol Alvarado, Reyes, and Maria Selva make it to a runoff election. Tea Party Republican Bray may well lead the primary field, but there's no chance he wins a runoff.

Garcia laments in her response to this news that the seat will be vacant for "10% of the session", but I don't understand her math. It seems more like two months, or roughly a third of the 2013 legislative session (a runoff election can't occur, by my calendar, before the end of February or first of March).

That's a legitimate concern with the Senate having one less Democratic vote, giving Republicans a two-thirds majority. So until someone gets sworn in, the Senate can pass whatever it likes -- vouchers, "fetal pain", etc. That one vote (previously regarded as Wendy Davis of Fort Worth) barely kept the 2011 session from being more egregious than it already was.

If you wondered why Rick Perry slow-walked this, that's why.

Susan Rice, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel

Rice withdraws.

"If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly—to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities," Rice wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama, NBC News first reported.

Good. The hell with that crony capitalist.

But the new Secretary of State won't be John Kerry, and not because Democrats don't want Scott Brown 2.0. It's probably because Kerry would be unlikely to sign off on Keystone XL.

“No senator since Al Gore knows as much about the science and diplomacy of climate change as Kerry,” said David Goldwyn, an international energy consultant who served as Clinton’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs. “He would not only put climate change in the top five issues he raises with every country, but he would probably rethink our entire diplomatic approach to the issue.”

When I saw Kerry speak here in 2007 on his book tour for This Moment on Earth, it was obvious that he gets it with respect to climate change. He and Obama do not agree that "all of the above" is necessary for what is no longer being called energy independence but energy security.

Nope, the FNG is going to be ... another Republican. Because, you know, Democrats are doves and shit.

Former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has emerged as the leading candidate to become Obama’s next Secretary of Defense and may be nominated as soon as this month, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

==========

Update: Yes, I know the difference between Defense and State... and yes, conflated the two here. But since John Kerry is going to get the job, and he's the guy I wanted all along... I still win. But I'll leave the following grafs in so you can read them and and know that I occasionally get something wrong. Hey, you already know not to believe everything you read on the internet, right?

==========

So what if Obama looks like a pussy? No, seriously. I don't care how weak Obama appears, as if he folded to the conservative attacks on Rice or how much the Republicans gloat about it. The bad part is that Hagel is no friend of the environment.

To me, this deal has always been more about KXL and less about who might be best with their diplomatic skills to keep us out of another war. Hagel is a small bone to throw to the rabid-dog GOP who will look like hypocrites if they oppose one of their own.

Oh, wait...