Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The NRA is a domestic terrorist network

And should probably also be prosecuted under the RICO predicates.

Some residents of the Connecticut community devastated by December's school shooting said they're outraged over robocalls they've received from the National Rifle Association only three months after a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Newtown residents said the automated calls from the NRA began last week and urge people to tell their state legislators to oppose gun control proposals. Some also said they received postcards from the NRA supporting gun owners' rights.

"It's ridiculous and insensitive," Newtown resident Dan O'Donnell told Hartford-area NBC affiliate WVIT-TV, one of several media organizations to report about the robocalls. "I can't believe an organization would be so focused on the rights of gun owners with no consideration for the losses this town suffered."

A message seeking comment was left Monday at the NRA's headquarters in Fairfax, Va.

And a Happy Easter to you too, Wayne LaPierre.

"I received one of these," Newtown resident Christopher Wenis wrote on Facebook Thursday afternoon. "I was insulted and offended." Wenis told The Huffington Post in an interview Friday night that in the 36 hours since he first posted his response, he received two more robocalls from the NRA, one later on Thursday night and one on Friday evening.

"I've got a 5-year-old son who went to preschool on the Sandy Hook Elementary School campus," Wenis explained. "And this was a really hard week for me on a lot of levels. These calls were the very last thing I needed."

Wenis said that he called the NRA twice to request that his name be placed on a "Do Not Call List" -- first on Tuesday and again Thursday. He said an NRA phone operator assured him he would be removed from NRA call lists. But the calls kept coming. By Friday night, Wenis said, he was desperate to be left in peace. 

These twisted shitstains are laughing out loud about all the publicity they're getting, just as they leered when they concocted the plan.

“As a tactic, I think it’s backfiring on the NRA,” said State Rep. Dan Carter, a Republican who reps Newtown. “Most the of the calls that have come in have been pro gun-control.”

Connecticut’s outraged senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, demanded that the NRA “cease and desist” said the gun group “stooped to a new low.”

“Put yourself in the shoes of a victim’s family member who gets calls at dinnertime asking them to support more assault weapons in our school and on our streets,” the senators wrote in a letter to NRA chief Wayne LaPierre.

“In a community that’s still very much in crisis, to be making these calls opens a wound that these families are still trying hard to heal.”

There is just no sewer too low for LaPierre and the NRA to slither into.

Once again for the record: I fully support both the Second (and the First) Amendment. I am a longtime gun owner but have never been a member of the NRA, and never will be. Among the various legislative proposals under consideration by the few sane members of Congress, I would support legislation registering my guns in a national database without a trace of the Neanderthal paranoia about the government having that data.

And when tools like Ted Carnival Cruz say, "what part of 'shall not be infringed' don't you understand", my response is: What part of "well-regulated militia" don't YOU understand? It should have been Dianne Feinstein's response as well.

There is only one way to deal with bullies, and that's to demonstrate an equivalent amount of resistance to them. They do not, will not ever understand anything else.

No negotiations with terrorists.

Update: I should have mentioned that Jim Carrey nailed these thugs dead to rights, which prompted some goon on Fox to erupt. That was as predictable as the next NRA fundraising appeal featuring 'Cold Dead Hand'.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Tipping and Tooting, Part II

(Part I is here.)

Tipping and Tooting, Part I

In continuance of the theme associated with tipping your server and saving the world...



Next, Part II: What is the proper tipping etiquette when the server involved passes gas... horribly?

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance always roots for the underdog regardless of the bracket effect as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses the latest threat to voting rights at the Supreme Court.

Lightseeker provides some insight in the phenomenon that is Dan Patrick. Check out Education and a Tale of Many Patricks over at TexasKaos.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme knows the greedy corporate types want a guest worker immigration deal, not real, humane immigration reform.  

WCNews at Eye on Williamson points out that the "bidness" community in Texas needs some GOP moderates to get Medicaid expanded in Texas: Medicaid expansion showing fault lines in Texas GOP.

A mundane piece of Washington bureaucratic paperwork may have a great deal of influence in future US-Cuba relations, as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observes.

Neil at Texas Liberal took a picture of a mining pit as he was flying from Los Angeles back to Houston. Neil has not been so active at Texas Liberal of late, but will be offering up a new website within the next few weeks. This website will be called NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Salud Today praises the city of San Antonio's pre-kindergarten initiative.

The Rev. Dr. Cindi Love writes about her experiences at Equality Texas Lobby Day.

Texans for Public Justice reveals who the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from the payday lending industry are.

Offcite describes a project by Rice University students and staff that seeks to reinvent libraries and increase access to knowledge in the developing world.

ProPublica isn't a blog, but its report on the UT anti-affirmative action lawsuit now awaiting a SCOTUS ruling is a must-read.

Better Texas Blog says that more funding is needed for retired teachers to be self-sufficient.

Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon says that if current conditions continue, Texas will experience its second-worst drought ever and worst since the 1950s.

Texpatriate reports on the term limits bill that passed out of the Senate.

Texas Leftist tells the truth on school funding.

Texas Watch says Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has to go.

Texas Vox explains the Public Utility Commission sunset bill.

Burnt Orange Report highlights the sad state of reproductive freedom in Texas.

And finally, Doctor Nerdlove shows why the selling of masculinity is a bad deal for all of us.