Wince!!

Just in the past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of high-profile Austinites in the news, and first of all, I must say... I apologize. Please don't judge the rest of us based on a few big-time stinkers.

The first embarrassment is Alex Jones. You may have heard some of his bad crazy on the topic of guns via the rant on Piers Morgan. The Young Turks provide the highlight reel below. This is some really far out craziness:


Alex Jones is an Austin-based conspiracy theorist of THE most wild-eyed over-the-top variety. His website is InfoWars and his shows are called Prison Planet TV. His product is massive paranoia, and a lot of people are buying that nowadays.

The other local chaff is Lance Armstrong. He lives not even a mile from my commuter road. The level of excitement, admiration and inspiration that he brought to people with his amazing performance on the bike - coupled with being a cancer survivor who established a force for good such as the Livestrong Foundation - it was amazing. There have been plenty of athletes disgraced by steroids before, and we are all getting used to that kind of disappointment. I went through that whole Mark McGwire roller coaster when I lived in St. Louis, same kind of thing, but the added cancer-related part of the story elevated Lance to a much higher place in the public's eyes.

Some Livestrong participant/supporter postcards displayed.

Plus, he was just so damned convincing in the lies that most people refused to even entertain the accusations as anything more than mean-spirited jealousy... until they just wouldn't go away, the wheels started to come off. Trouble is, he didn't just wreck himself, his fall injures so many more - folks who really don't need anything else beating down their hopes and dreams.

This is being written the night before the 2-part Oprah confession is revealed, and I am interested in what he is going to say. My prediction is that along with his confession he will point the finger at everything else possible, and I do believe that professional sports are highly poisoned by power, money, cheating, and absolutely wrong-headed priorities. Truly.

Gated hell

I wonder if the pro-gun fringe thinks that these children should have been armed in order to defend themselves?

Mom kills her 2 kids.

El alma de Tucson

Crystal Frontier is reportedly Gabrielle Giffords' favorite song. On her Facebook page, she lists Calexico as the music she likes, and astronaut-husband Mark Kelly has listened to it as wake-up music while on the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Rep. Giffords and Calexico's Joey Burns are mutual admirers, and he talks about their association here on NPR. He also talks about some of the local Tucson memorial/vigil events that took place after the shootings.

The song lyrics are deeply reflective of the issues of an Arizona border town, and things become more and more complex along with growing frustration, hatred, racism, desperation, and just enough hope to keep all those wheels turning... for better or worse... on all sides.

Marco's shadow falls on the door
to the 7 Lost Cities of Gold
finds a raven's head and rattler's tail
dead in his tracks, this Godforsaken soul's
unwanted here and his ghost lingers for years

Amalia's face hides behind the mask
sweating on the TV factory line
that smile on her face is starting to crack
while welding back the pieces of shattered heart
that's scattered out here, with the ghosts of her peers
searched for her lost child along the river of tears

At the end of the working week
when drunken worlds meet
both sides keeping a close eye
for a break in the line here... on the Crystal Frontier

Blood spills out on the streets
and bodies are missing for weeks
both sides keeping a close eye
watching the bullets fly here... on the Crystal Frontier

Ramon tightens up his leather belt
and slips through a hole in the fence
he can get you anything you want
might cost you a life, might cost you
the whole price of freedom here...on the Crystal Frontier

Pandora's Box of hate and violence

And Charles Manson didn't actually kill Sharon Tate and the others. Still got convicted of murder.

The Last Day

Look well to this day
For it is life
The very best of life.
In its brief course lie all
The realities and truths of existence,
The joy of growth, the splendour of action,
The glory of power.
For yesterday is but a memory.
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived
Makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day.

Ancient Sanskrit Poem

This was read aloud at the memorial service today. It was a day we thought about those who are still with us, and how much we would miss them if they were gone. It was hard to watch others in great pain of the kind that may never heal. It was good to hear others share their memories aloud. We reminisced afterwards over a late lunch and a bottle of wine, then spent the evening curled up on the couch with some favorite TV episodes, a fire, and Henry the cat - who is, thankfully, still with us too (and the company of a 19 year old cat is a rarity).

I think it was a day well-lived.

This song was played today by the same guitarist (only 26 years later). It sounded very much the same. It's called "Song For Life."

I hope this is the craziest damn thing you read today

While Screaming Bible Passages, 'Ugly Betty' Actor Kills Mother With Samurai Sword (with video)

MSNBC: A neighbor told WPIX that he heard a man shouting Biblical passages "like repent, repent, repent."

Brea, 31, was later taken into custody, WPIX said.

The New York Daily News reported that Yannick Brea, 55, was stabbed repeatedly with a sword. WPIX reported that she was found decapitated.

Religion and insanity: deadly mixture.

Irony

[LINK] The author of "More Guns, Less Crime" was scheduled to speak at the UT law School tonight, an event that must now be postponed because a man firing an assault weapon on campus ending up shooting himself in the Library. They are still looking for a possible 2nd suspect or involved person, and all events on campus have been canceled.

The lecture was hosted by Libertarian Longhorns, the UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, the UT Objectivism Society and the UT Federalist Society.

Jeff Shi, president of UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, was quoted saying

"I don’t want to comment on any political aspects of this, I hope everything turns out well and the only casualties are the bad guys."

What a day...

The big story that was all over the news today - the nut who burned down his house, left a note in his car saying he'd planted a bomb at the airport, and then flew his plane into an office building - happened just about a mile from where I work, and a much shorter distance from where MrB used to work. I disagree with those who say this wasn't an act of terrorism.

Some choice quotes from this kamikaze "patriot" and how he intended to shake up the system by martyring himself and taking the Feds (and some collaterals, he had to know) with him to Hell. These are from his suicide note/manifesto:

But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change.
...
...
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.

I was working in my windowless office at the time it happened, and didn't hear a thing. It's very insulated in there, can't even tell if it's raining.

I left work for a doctor's appointment for a case of tennis elbow that has been paining me for a month now. The doctor's office was just as close to the crash site as my office! The doctor gave me a cortisone shot *right* in the elbow. It hurt. But it starting hurting a lot worse when I got in the car to drive home. ow!! I had actually considered driving by the site to get a look, or maybe running an errand or two, but it was not to be. I've been one-armed and crabby all evening - waiting for the tylenol to kick in - and obsessing over this helluva day.

Endangered species in a can

Saw this story about an animal wrangler who was gored to death by a rare deer that was being loaded into one of those exotic game hunting ranches - a place where animals are gathered from all over the world, and confined on the premises to be killed for "sport." It's a canned trophy hunt of the most barbaric kind.

This particular ranch is a favorite of some celebrities, including Ted Nugent, who will be attending a Huntbash there this winter that will cost the participants $3,500 per person (can Sarah Palin be far behind? Or Dick Cheney?). I am really turned off by people who enjoy killing, but this is not even hunting... they bring the animals into an area and the customer kills them, cuts off the head (and/or skin) to mount on the wall, proving to all that humans are superior to lower beasts. Cowardly and sickening. It's not about food.

What I am really shocked about is the the deer, called a barasingha, is on the list of endangered species! How is it that people are allowed to hunt an endangered species?

The animal itself also died from the exertion of the attack - but it already had a death sentence on it anyway.

Guns are U.S.

A very limited roundup of recent "you can pry it from my cold dead hands" news.

[LINK] A father shot and killed his 5 children and himself because his wife had decided to leave him. The father had been put on a parenting plan by state child welfare officials in 2007 after a "minor assault" on one of the children. Several weapons were found in the home.

[LINK] A man shot and killed 13 people and himself at the American Civic Association, probably because he was upset about losing his job and because he was having trouble learning English. The victims were thought to be randomly selected.

[LINK] In Pittsburgh, after a man argued with his mother over a dog that was urinating in the house, when she called the police to have her son removed from the home, he shot and killed 3 police officers.

[LINK] A woman with a history of mental illness shoots her 20 year old son in the head at a firing range, and shoots herself.

[LINK] AP reports that 53 people died have during mass shootings in the USA during the last month, including the nursing home slaughter, a traffic stop bloodbath, and the man who shot his 2 children, 3 relatives and himself at a housewarming party.

cartoon by Pat Bagley

Fast Draw Fast Food

[LINK] The NRA likes to say that guns don't kill people, people kill people, but sometimes if you happen to have loaded guns around you might just kill someone over a fast food hamburger, as has happened twice within a month's time in St. Louis.

More gun craziness

Like many of you, I'm disturbed by the whackjob who decided to shoot people in the UU church in Knoxville on Sunday. Nobody is yet revealing what they think his reasons are. According to this HuffPo story, based on a neighbor's testimony, the guy was ticked off at Christians. I can understand that much of it, but if that's his motive this is ironic because Unitarian Universalism is NOT Christian. It is creedless and openly welcomes Christians, Jews, Muslims, Pagans, Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, Atheists... and doesn't require conversion of any kind. That's one big reason that I am a UU and attend nearly every week. Atheists are a small percentage of the membership, just as they are in the population in general, but they are included. If the guy wanted to target fundy Christians, he couldn't have been further off. The Christians who attend there are very liberal and open-minded in their beliefs. I am married to one of them. [note: see update at end of post]

From HuffPo: The church promotes progressive social work, including advocacy of women and gay rights. The Knoxville congregation also has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

Karen Massey, a neighbor to Adkisson, told the Knoxville News Sentinel about a lengthy conversation she had with Adkisson a few years back in which she told him her daughter had just graduated from a bible college. She said she was surprised by his reaction when she told him she was a Christian.

"He almost turned angry," she told the newspaper. "He seemed to get angry at that. He said that everything in the Bible contradicts itself if you read it." She also said Adkisson spoke frequently about his parents, who "made him go to church all his life. ... He acted like he was forced to do that."

They have found a multiple-page handwritten letter in the man's car that they are calling a "manifesto", but no details on its content have been revealed. The investigator has said that his intention was to kill everyone, and not just a particular person.

From the Knoxville News: A Knoxville Police Department investigator was observed Sunday briefing Knox County Criminal Court Judge Kenneth Irvine Jr. on the letter.

The investigator, who could not be identified, was seen in the lobby of the Knoxville Police Department Safety Building while in the process of securing a search warrant for Adkisson's white basement duplex at 1919 Levy Drive.

The investigator told Irvine that in a subsequent interview with Adkisson, the suspect had said he entered the church Sunday morning with the intent of killing everyone inside, although he denied having specifically targeted any children.

The kids in the church at the time of the shooting were performing scenes from Annie Junior.

Tennessee Valley UU

UPDATE: It's now being reported that the church was targeted because of its liberal views.

Bad crazy gun news

Item #1

[LINK] A woman was trying to kill mice with a .44-caliber Magnum revolver while were running across the floor of her small travel trailer. She dropped the gun, which fired when it landed on the floor. The bullet went through her knee, hit some keys hanging on a man's belt loop, tore through his pants, grazing his groin and stopping in his coin pocket.

Item #2

[LINK] An Oklahoma church has postponed plans to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle to a teenager as part of an annual conference. Last year, they did give away a gun at the event, but this time it was postponed, not because it's a damn stupid idea or anything else that makes sense. It was postponed until next year because the Pastor running the event broke his foot and couldn't attend. Here's a quote from the Youth Pastor

“I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out and kill,'” said Ross . “That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”

Ross said the conference isn’t all about guns, but rather about teens finding faith.