There have been a lot of smart things and a lot of stupid things said since the shootings in Arizona. I myself have done some of both. The smartest things I have heard have come from Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow. Even John McCain seems to be channeling his old self and has been seen as the voice of reason. On the flip side there are too many voices to be counted - from Sarah Palin's indignation that she could possibly share even the slightest blame, to radio hosts claiming that the local sheriff wants the shooter acquitted.
There seems to be a lot of lies and damned lies floating around, but I want to address the fear this seems to have put into fuckhead congressman West of Florida. Before the shooting there was a campaign "commercial" up on YouTube that featured his now chief of staff saying, "I am convinced that the most important things the Founding Fathers did to insure my first amendment rights was to give me a second amendment. And if ballots don't work, bullets will." After the shooting it was taken down, but it has since been restored. A new State Assemblyman from New Jersey, Michael Carroll, wrote this past week, "An armed populace is the greatest bulwark of freedom. Our framers understood that, and envisioned a society akin to Switzerland, in which every citizen is armed and responsible for his own defense, and that of the state."
As I've said before, it's as if History is no longer taught in school.
The 2nd amendment does NOT mean what these morons say it means. They are taking the words of the day out of context. Back in the late 1700s we were a foundering nation, having just defeated the British and soon to go to war with them again. We were in territorial disputes with the French, the Spanish, and the numerous native tribes. The 2nd amendment was designed to protect our new nation from those threats - threats that were expected to be around for a long time. The way the amendment is interpreted now is a more recent phenomenon - it's only about 40 years old - and false. Just ask former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren Burger.
The Constitution was meant to be a flowing, breathing document - just ask anyone who was once considered 3/5th of a citizen.. We've amended it several times over the past couple of centuries. We outlawed drink. We brought it back. We gave the vote to women. We gave the vote to minorities. We declared slavery illegal. Quick - how many of you think that the 3rd amendment is relevant in this day and age? How many of you know what the 3rd amendment was in response to?
How many of you know what the 3rd amendment is?
The times have changed and the amendments should change with it. In fact, it was the original intent of the framers of the Constitution to hold a congressional congress every 50 years or so to bring the constitution in line with more current times. We have never done it.
Perhaps it's time we did.
Cheap shots:
By the way, here are Olbermann's own words.
In a perfect world, some people would be going to jail. In ours, I'm not even sure there will be an investigation.
Growing up where I did, the only way I learned about a sizeable chunk of pop and rock music was thanks to the Midnight Special, hosted by this man. I take off my hat.
And because I love you, The Payolas:
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