Achieving Gun Control: Exploiting The NRAs Unavoidable Implosion
The extremist position the NRA leadership takes in opposing virtually all gun control regulation, along with its associated anti-diversity rhetoric, has placed it at odds with the majority of gun owners, including its own membership, as welll as an increasingly diverse America. It is only a matter of time before politicians will find it necessary to distance themselves from the organization to keep or achieve political office. A multi-pronged political approach now exists that can compel lawmakers into taking action to curb gun violence in America.
Gun Rights Fatal Flaw: Attacking American Diversity
Although individual groups representing blacks, Hispanics, and women have called for stricter gun control measures in the past, none of them have carried enough clout at the polls to effect legislative change. But what we just witnessed in this past general election is a game changer.
A Certificate of Conception
“If the law is going to say that individual life begins at conception, it behooves those who hold that position to think through the radical expansion of state authority (and diminution of women’s autonomy) that necessarily follows.” Aaron Astor
North Carolina’s “Abomination”
Protect marriage? It is high time that we protect one of our most cherished founding liberties, our First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
LGBT Discrimination and Amendment One: A Compilation
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free and civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes”. Thomas Jefferson. A compilation of articles from this site about NC Amendment One and discrimination is provided.
In Defense of Same-Sex Marriage
“A government cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.” US Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun
The Common Denominator of Right Wing Policy: Lost Lives
Politicians on the political right continue to pursue multiple areas of policy despite the well-documented, often substantial, and unnecessary loss of American lives associated with those policies.
Calling Them Out By Name
With the Tea Party and the Christian Right rapidly losing ground in public opinion, Republican Politicians have to walk a fine line in motivating an important element of their base without alienating the middle. But when prominent politicians, for political purposes, lend their support to a summit backed by entities whose lies and language foster hate crimes against a segment of our citizenry, it is time to call them out. By their stature and mere presence, these politicians have given sanction to bigotry and assistance to persecution thus betraying their duty in governance. And for what purpose? Look no further than the cause of the anger fueling the Occupy Wall Street movement. It is time we stop the manipulation of bigotry and fear for financial and political gain.
Discrimination and Job Creation Just Don’t Mix
In defending their tax policies that largely benefit the wealthiest, Republican leadership claims that it is protecting our ‘job creators’. However, Republican legislators certainly paid no heed to dozens of job creating CEOs who expressed their opposition to discriminatory legislation that could only negatively affect economic growth and job creation. Although Tea Party elected officials may say that their focus is on smaller government, recent research has shown that the rank and file of that movement are more concerned about social conservatism, especially a desire to see religion play a prominent role in government.
Under Attack By The Religious Right: Our Establishment Clause
The NC Constitutional Amendment that would prohibit same-sex unions is more than a civil rights matter. It represents nothing short of an assault by the Religious Right on one of our most cherished founding liberties, that of religious freedom through the separation of church and state by our First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. This article further explores the claim that America was founded as a Christian Nation, and examines whether the Bible should be considered an infallible source upon which to base law.
Recent Posts
In Defense of the Assault Weapons Ban
The finding that the AR-15 rifle was being actively selected for premeditated indiscriminate mass killings in 2012 fundamentally changes the debate regarding Senator Feinstein’s Assault Weapons Ban. Not only does this finding take this weapon and mass shootings beyond anecdotal observations, it has predictive value. We now know with certainty that there will be another horrific premeditated and planned mass killing involving this weapon or another having similar rapid fire and high capacity capability. And it will be difficult to defend against as we cannot predict the timing, the venue, or the selected targets. It is clear that both the weaponry and background checks on all buyers should be addressed to reduce the opportunity for, and carnage of, future premeditated indiscriminate mass shootings. This should become a fundamental part of the upcoming debate on the Senate floor. Should meaningful gun control legislation fail in the Senate, for those senators who opposed there is little doubt that some would have swallowed a ‘poison pill’ regarding their political career.
Selection of the AR-15 Rifle in Premeditated Indiscriminate Mass Shootings
A total of four independent, premeditated and indiscriminate mass shootings occurred in the latter half of 2012. There was no connection between the shooters and the victims, and no reason was established in the selection of victims other than inflicting mass casualties. An AR-15 rifle was the weapon used in all four of these events. The odds of this particular weapon being selected for all four of these independent events simply by chance was estimated to be less than one in a million using two different approaches. The intentional selection of this firearm is additionally supported by the behavior of all four shooters. It is felt that this finding fundamentally changes the assault weapon debate. It is not that this weapon was simply being used at these events, there is little if any doubt that it was being intentionally selected as a weapon of choice in those premeditated indiscriminate mass killings. As this weapon is being actively sought for these events, leaving it unregulated and expanding public availability could only increase the opportunity for its use in future mass shootings of the nature we witnessed in 2012.
The Problem with Congress? Look No Further Than the Gun Debate
With 11 of the 18 Senate Judiciary Committee members benefitting from gun lobby financial contributions, the impartiality of both their opinion and eventual votes is drawn into question. The Newtown incident has laid bare, as no other has in the past, the inherent conflict lawmakers face regarding their obligation to legislate in the public’s best interest versus special interest pressures that threaten their ability to retain office. This current debate has morphed into something larger than regulating the gun market. It provides clear evidence that our Congress needs to fundamentally change the way it operates.
Featured Article
The Year the GOPs Con Game was Exposed
The GOP’s decision to reinstate tax cut policy in 2001 exposed their hand. It was not about deficit reduction, growing the economy, or job creation. It was about ideology and, no doubt, special interests. It was a backdoor approach where government revenue was cut in an attempt to curtail spending on popular programs they otherwise could not take head-on. This while obstructing the work of Congress, spinning a web of deceit about the benefits of their policy, and weakening our country’s financial standing. It’s time to play hardball during ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations and force them to be specific about what spending cuts they are talking about to offset the tax benefits they wish to preserve for the wealthiest. They wouldn’t have the nerve.