He should learn that sometimes simple is better, as Congressman Jeff Flake showed us with this statement:

On the one-year anniversary of the Tucson shooting, we mourn those who were lost, continue to pray for those who were wounded, and take solace in the fact that out of tragedy, our spirit as a community, a state, and a nation has been made stronger.

Montini might have learned not to condemn as complicit individuals who had no connection to the event what-so-ever. He chooses instead to refocus the blame on political ads, which is exactly the muddy thinking that lead to Sarah Palin being demonized as making Gabriel Giffords a target. Instead, despite the preponderance of evidence that has come forward to show Jared Loughner was neither politically motivated nor aware of Palin’s “target map”, Montini chooses to stick with the meme that fits his political agenda. An agenda that finds any words of disagreement from the Right to be “inflamatory”, and the most vile and threatening words & images from the Left to simply represent “impassioned speech”

He might have learned that in the name of civil rights, we have failed the mentally disturbed and those who may eventually fall victim to them. Instead he dismisses Loughner’s illness and points instead to the “ugly discourse over immigration”, something that had no bearing on the shooter or his life.

He might have learned that public officials, particularly those who try to have an open communion with their constituency, would be well served by some sort of personal protection*.

He might have learned that when law enforcement is tasked with being the only line of defense, a Sheriff who fails to act despite repeated warnings & inquiries needs to be removed from his post. Particularly when the sherrif then proceeds to also blame rhetoric and newly minted laws, despite knowing that his office had willfully dropped the ball on stopping Loughner BEFORE he took 6 lives and altered so many more.

He might have learned that, when a person has shown an undue & uncomfortable fascination with another human (whether ‘famous’ or not), we do them no favors by brushing it off. Better Gifford’s staff had reacted to his letters & videos rather than believe him to be harmless.

Gabriel Giffords was shot for the same reason Rebecca Schaeffer was shot, some screwed up kid from Tucson got fixated on her.

In Giffords’ case, though the fixation was not romantic, the trigger was the same. He reacted violently when she did not respond as he hoped to his perceived relationship with her. He felt she disrespected him and made her pay.

* There was a mention after this shooting that Pamela Gorman, at that time a Phoenix area politician who made national news with a volunteer produced YouTube video showing her firing a plethora of firearms, would not likely have been the victim of such an act. Though there is no doubt a working knowledge of firearms goes a long way to protecting life in the event of threat, sometimes there is no time to act.

From the accounts I heard at the time, Lougher approached Giffords with the gun under his coat. When he was in very close proximity, he pulled it out and fired, first at her head, then at the rest of the crowd. When he ran out of bullets and attempted to reload, he was tackled and subdued. Had that exact scenario played out at a Gorman event, neither she not her constituents would have had time to act prior to that first shot.

What would surely have been different is what happened next, as her crowd would more likely be armed – and more likely practiced with their weapons. No one is suggesting a bunch of folks would have, or should have, started firing at Loughner immediately. That sort of reaction might have made an already chaotic situation even worse. However, responsible gun owners who carry for self-defense practice scenarios that require an intelligent assessment of the environment – for instance, in the midst of a crowd.

What likely would have been different is the ability of an armed man to get through the crowd and close to the candidate. A group of 2nd Amendment enthusiasts would also be more likely to be aware of their surroundings, more likely to be alert for threats, more likely to notice a gun, and more likely to be willing to act to stop someone before the day turns deadly.

{Still need to find some links for the facts in this post, if you have ‘em handy, drop them in the comments}

UPDATE: Warner Todd Huston takes NPR to task for the same offense: Falsely Blaming Giffords’ Shooting on Uncivil Political Rhetoric

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Taken into Custody: The War Against Fatherhood, Marriage, and the Family is a book I have not yet read, but I have heard the author speak in interviews and I know his story well.

By allowing the “State” to determine the rules of marriage, you also grant them control of divorce. By allowing the “State” to determine the rules of divorce, you are guaranteeing that profit, power & control will take precedence over common sense and expediency…and decency.

So called Family Courts have become instead anti-Family courts. A divorce proceeding can be brought by anyone (in a majority of cases, the wife) for any reason (or no reason at all). Divorces are always granted, there is no chance of contesting the action anymore. “No Fault” has increased the incidence of divorce exponentially. The unwitting victim, who may have been blindsided by the action, is then at the mercy of a court system with very few checks OR balances.

Many a man has had his children ripped away from him, had his income garnished, thrown out of his home, even been thrown in jail. Is there any other court system in the U.S. where a person can have everything taken from them without ever even having a wrong alleged?

Should a woman desire to inflict even greater pain and hardship on her former mate, she need only claim abuse; of her children, of herself, of the most heinous kind. Should the father have the resources to fight such allegations, he may eventually clear his name – but there is NO penalty to the woman for making such claims. The big winner is a court system that has collected outrageous fees requiring an innocent man to prove his innocence against unsupported charges brought by a woman with literally nothing to lose by smearing her husband. Too often anger and greed lead these women to ignore the pain they inflict on their children and a man they once at least claimed to love, and the anti-family court system rewards them for it.

We are at a point where the reasons for matrimony and procreation being sponsored by the state have evaporated. Women no longer need to be protected by the corrupt and bloated bureaucracy, men are no longer the sole bread-winners, both parents should be given equal consideration in custody arrangements.

I have written extensively in the past about the scourge of paternity fraud, a problem exacerbated by the circus that we refer to as “Family Court”. No support agreement should ever be entered into without a paternity test – or an informed decision by the father to waive such proof. The court should not be bankrupting men to pay for children that aren’t theirs, born to women they may not have even met.

I have written about the need for any couple considering marriage to execute a pre-nuptial agreement. Other than enforcing that or a standard nuptial contract, the government should NOT be involved when a couple decides to enter Holy matrimony.

We don’t need a Constitutional amendment to “protect” traditional marriage, we need only to remove the government and their profit motive from the equation altogether. If churches want to marry a couple of consenting adults, let them – but don’t expect or require consent from the state. If a couple of consenting adults want to enter into a civil contract of commitment, let them – but don’t expect or require consent from the state.

In short, the state should no longer participate in the forming or dissolution of any marital union in any of its forms. I’m sure the divorce lawyers can find some other specialty that will require their special skill-set.

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I’ve been watching Suburgatory because I knew so much of the cast to be funny in other projects, and have found the lead actress to be adorable. Most of the cast, in fact, is practically perfectly picked. However…

The snotty character of Dalia is not. She is supposed to be an anorexic teen-age girl, but she looks like a thick, 30 yr-old transvestite (“not that there’s anything wrong with that“) Every time she is on screen, the scene is blown for me.

Perhaps the problem is make-up or wardrobe…or lighting. But I’m pretty sure it is a casting issue on this one.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, I am not saying she is fat. She seems to be just the right weight for her size. However, when the script repeatedly refers to a certain group of girls as anorexic, makes explicit mention of how they “stay under 80 lbs”, you can’t cast an Amazon as their leader. It doesn’t work.

This man is running for the highest office in the land, he has a long resume of production & success, he is spelling out a specific plan to fix the economy*, he is consistently polling at or near the top of a crowded field…

And the only thing the “news” anchors care to ask him about is the color of his skin, or whether he is a traitor to others who share his skin tone.**

I said before that Obama was the antithesis of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream; he was judged only by the color of his skin, any attempt to suss out the content of his character was soundly rejected. (Which Obama and his supporters encouraged, screaming racism at any question of his experience or competence)

Herman Cain is withstanding a great deal of actual racism in his bid for the presidency, other than taking the bait re: Perry’s lodge, he has done a good job of bringing the subject back to what really makes him tick – and it isn’t his skin tone.

How about we treat skin color as we would hair color or height; a distinguishing feature, sure, but one which has no bearing whatsoever on how a person thinks or feels. Lets judge the individual on his merits, not his melanin.

This is something true Conservatives already know.

* Whether Cain’s 9-9-9 plan is the right plan is not germane to my point.

** Don’t even get me started on the “celebrities” who say he is not really black because of his success & beliefs, or that any Republican who supports him does so because they are racist

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Tried to stop at the Chase Bank at 19th Ave & Northern, but they had apparently just been robbed. Building wrapped in caution tape, police cars, crime response unit, TV news crew.

Tried to stop at the Chase Bank at Christown. As I turned onto Bethany Home, a firetruck came barreling towards me ~ responding to a big accident in front of the mall.

Wrong clothes, wrong place, wrong time. Not real excited to see what is coming next….

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This is how their visit went:

*crash*
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”

A few more steps, *crunch*
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”

A bit farther, *crinkle*
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”

Over and over, all around the store. Step, step, step – *crinkle, crunch, crash, boom*
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch nuthin?”
“yaa”

I wanted to go up to her and say, “Lady, he clearly knows you said it – perhaps you should explain what it MEANS!”

Are we really at a point that we allow the government to drive people out of their homes because they aren’t consuming power generated by the state? Are we really to believe that a man who has lived in the middle of nowhere, a full 10 miles from his closest neighbor, has generated nuisance complaints? Perhaps Quentin Tarantino, who used the man’s church in his Kill Bill movies, could step up and get these people some help.

All they want to do is continue to live on the property they own.

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No, I don’t believe the taking of an innocent life by an individual who finds that life “inconvenient” to be on a level field with a society choosing to enact the most severe punishment on an adult who has been found guilty of committing a crime so heinous it requires the harshest sentence.

You want to equate children to criminals, lets make it more fitting.

“How can those pro-abortion folks not be in favor of lethal injection for every person arrested for a criminal offense that might result in a prison term? What with over-crowding & budget cuts, any additional prisoners would be terribly inconvenient for us”

I find criminals very unwanted. Sure, being arrested doesn’t mean they are guilty; but they certainly aren’t as innocent as those babies are.

UPDATE: How about this – you have to wait to perform an abortion just as long as it generally takes to carry out a typical death sentence, with appeals & such. After 20 or so years, if you still feel that child deserves to die, you get him or her to accompany you to a clinic where a ‘doctor’ will perform one of these so-called “humane” procedures.

First off – the tip came from a psychic. Yes, a psychic called the police and they went to investigate based only on that evidence. Oh yeah, and they first went to another property where they found nothing – and the psychic called back to tell them they went to the wrong place. So they went back out – based on a tip from a psychic.

Let that sink in.

When law enforcement arrived at the second home, they found what they thought might be blood on the back door and residents who were “uncooperative”. You know what? The cops show up at your door and want to do a search because they got a tip from a psychic, I would imagine you would be less than hospitable, too.

The blood was easily explained by an earlier incident that the local police were aware of – a suicide attempt by an AWOL soldier, who was then placed into a military psychiatric hospital in Killeen. The sheriff’s department had a report on file.

Somehow they convinced a judge to issue a search warrant based on that ridiculously flimsy evidence – psychic tip, dried blood.

During the entire ordeal, major news outlets were reporting that a mass grave had already been uncovered. A mass grave with 25-30 dismembered bodies, many of them children. Not blogs, not Twitter – MAJOR news outlets that pride themselves on their credibility. (As @ExJon said: Prediction: Within 10 minutes, reporters who fell for a psychic’s claim about a mass grave will start calling Palin stupid again.)

Comments on the story on most news sites I visited, as well as the one radio host I heard mention it, overwhelmingly blamed the death toll on our unsecured border with Mexico, on Mexicans, on D.C.’s unwillingness to stop the flood of illegal immigration.

First – just stupid on it’s face. Yes, the drug war and illegal immigration have both resulted in some tragic violence, but not every gory crime scene in a southern state is connected to crimes in Mexico.

Second – the location of the supposed carnage is a city to the north & east of Houston. A very long way from any Mexican border town. C’mon people – get some perspective.

(Sorry, rambling, stream of consciousness while watching TV)

UPDATE: From The Houston Chronicle Wait, what? Texas sheriffs now acting on tips from psychics?

In his “apology”/admission, Rep Weiner says the intended recipient wasn’t to blame/had been unwittingly brought into this/didn’t deserve the negative attention (something along those lines, not in the mood to track down the quote)

So, either she was flirting and/or sexting with a man she knew to be both married and in the public eye, and therefore does deserve a portion of the blame…

Or, Rep Weiner just decided, out of the blue, to send a picture of his junk to some random chick he was following on Twitter, in which case – Eeeeewwww! And CREEPY. And potentially illegal?

Either way, countdown to her appearance in Playboy: 15, 14, 13….

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