Why do gun nuts always call themselves patriots? Here are comments posted under Pete Borden's nearby post by "Patriot D," who no doubt wears a tri-corn hat over his or her tin foil hat when he or she attends Tea Party shindigs. I've added some commentary for the enlightenment of the reader:

 

"It is not surprising though for me to see so many comfortable "Americans" (if you disagree with Patriot D, you aren't a real "American") so willing to surrender their power of freedom, liberty and subjugate themselves... all in the name of safety (let's see, government-ensured safe cars, safe food, safe medicines, safe airliners, safe highways...). Those reading this need to be able to identify the real threats to America (you mean like people who think assault weapons with high capacity magazines should be banned?) and refuse to allow your life to be micro-governed so everyone's entire life is perfectly safe. Imagine what that set of laws would be. Where will it end? What would life be like? (I don't know...maybe you should ask the parents of the kids slaughtered in Newtown, Patriot D). Life is about responsibility and accountability (Then why don't you identify yourself and take responsibility for your words?).

Perhaps it is the strict gun laws that cost those poor children their lives. (Um, we don't have strict gun laws. That's the problem.)

What if the principal was armed? Instead of rushing the shooter unarmed or choosing to hide in closets, someone could have eliminated the threat immediately. But unfortunately, no. Being law abiding good citizens, they were unarmed and unprepared and are now victims for it. This horrible incident proves that good people obey the laws and bad people don't. Why tie the hands of good guys and put them at the disadvantage? (You sound just like the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. What a coincidence)

I for one want the good people to ALWAYS be well ARMED. Who wouldn't? They're the good guys! The laws we have clearly don't work on bad guys. (Then why did New York City, with strict gun safety laws, have a record-low number of homicides in 2012?) The issue is about individual BEHAVIOR and individual RESPONSIBILITY. These tragedies are not the fault of some inanimate object like a gun. The gun doesn't think, make decisions, or act. (Maybe you can explain why Adam Lanza's momma, one of those aforementioned "good guys," had assault weapons in her home along with a son she knew was deranged. She evidently had no trigger locks on the weapons or a gun safe to lock them in.)

The PEOPLE need to hold these criminals accountable and the punishments need to be severe enough to deter behavior. (I agree. Make sure they can't get their hands on military style assault rifles and high capacity magazines. Ban 'em!)

Remember folks... this country is about WE THE PEOPLE. Do not allow yourself to be ruled by a government. America wasn't found on the pretense of a ruling government, America was uniquely founded based on a ruling people. Stand up and BE STRONG. (Yep. Tea Partier).

In America since 1776, THE PEOPLE RULE... therefore the PEOPLE KEEP THE POWER! (Power to the people, right on!)

So we can add 26 more to America's gun violence body count, this time, 20 first graders and seven adults mowed down by another reclusive lunatic. And its becoming so frequent, we're all becoming inured to it.

 

I wonder how many Americans were annoyed Sunday night when NBC cut away from the 49ers-Patriots game to broadcast President Obama's remarks at the memorial service in Newtown, Connecticut?

 

Last Friday, it was the same footage we always see: grim faced first responders and panicked parents rushing to the scene; surviving school kids shivering in terror, and another police chief trying to make sense of the insane.

 

Those first graders thought they were safe in their Sandy Hook classroom, no doubt giddy over the approaching Christmas holiday; baking cookies with mom, wrapping presents with dad, sledding with their friends. Then the shooting started, their little bodies cut to pieces by high powered bullets shot from a semi automatic assault weapon with a 30-round magazine.

 

These are the images we need to see, not the sterile, "here-we-go-again" footage we're accustomed to and, yes, indifferent to.

 

Let's see those victims so we all know what bullets really do. Let's be as shocked and sickened as those first police officers on the scene were at the sight of those dead babies and the women who gave their lives trying to protect them.

 

What's that? You don't think it's appropriate? Guns don't kill people? What about your Second Amendment rights?

 

Columbine. Virginia Tech. Tucson, Aurora. Now Newtown. Innocents slaughtered with weapons that should have never been in the hands of their maniac killers. Do the rest of us care enough now to enact sensible gun control laws? Is our outrage, at long last, enough to finally tip the scales?

 

Or will we just change the channel again.

By now, the phony outrage expressed by conservatives, reactionaries and tin foil hat wearers has become passe. There's always some nefarious Obama plot afoot to aid the terrorists and undermine America. 

A great example appeared recently in the MDJ when another blogger/columnist condemned the Obama administration for not providing enough security at the Benghazi, Libya consulate, where four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed in a terrorist attack. 

The writer deliberately or unknowingly left out a crucial fact: House Republicans cut the Obama administration's request for security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the GOP lawmakers, who included Paul Ryan, that the cuts would be "detrimental to America’s national security.”

In 2009, House republicans voted to cut $1.2 billion, including funding for 300 diplomatic security positions. If Paul Ryan's budget is passed, another $400 million would be slashed for embassy security.

As part of the kangaroo court he's conducting in the House to lay blame on the Obama administration, GOP Rep. Darrell Issa (who voted against State security funding along with Ryan) released sensitive documents that have put in danger the lives of Libyans helping the CIA. 

Sen. John Kerry said, "It's bad enough that it's becoming a political sideshow presumably driven by the calendar...but even worse is that in their rush to make news they've exposed Libyans who were working side by side with America."