It's true!

A coworker listens to Rush Limbaugh.  And is also a fat loudmouth.  Coincidence?

To be fair, he is decent most of the time, and means well.  He just gets caught up in the mess that is demagogic conservatism, and spouts off.  And I can get into reasonable discussions, and disagreements, and differences of opinions. And I ignore most dumb comments.  But I can only listen to stupidity so long before I have to speak up and correct things.

The other day he said "Nancy Pelosi said the government creates jobs."  I said I doubted it, and that he shouldn't believe anything Rush says.  "No, I heard her say it on Rush's show!"

Well, I knew she wouldn't be a guest on there, but maybe she said something like that and they quoted her out of context?  Not that they'd ever do anything like that... So I did a little research, which included reading transcripts of the Dimbulb show- have you ever been to his website?  I still feel dirty.  And she did say something like that.  During the 2010 debates over extending unemployment benefits, she said "Unemployment benefits are one of the fastest ways to create jobs."  And guess what?  She's right.  Oh, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but that dose of cash does create some jobs, and preserve others, and is a short-term boost.  This, according to the CBO and to a couple of other studies.  See what happens when you do a little research and think for yourself?  Amazing.

The moral is: don't let a fat, drug-addicted, hypocritical asshole do your thinking for you.  (And I can prove every one of those things is true about Rush Limbaugh.)  Don't let anyone do your thinking for you.  Listen, check into things, think for yourself.

More Ray

I posted a few of Ray LaMontagne's love songs last week; here are some others of his that I particularly like.



Trouble- You've probably heard this one on a commercial. In fact, I knew the song from there too, without knowing or even wondering who it was.



 Meg White



All The Wild Horses



Empty



You Can Bring Me Flowers

The best thing that ever happened to me

Last spring I met a woman I thought I'd have a few fun dates with, exploring the sights of our fair city.  We've hardly been apart since.  Last week I proposed to her.  On Valentine's Day, because I'm sappy.

My sweetheart is the nicest person in the world... to me.  She can be more bittersweet, or even bitter, toward people who are jerks.  In fact, she is awesome to behold when she gets going.  She blogs too, and inspired and motivated me to start this blog.  I had been thinking about it for several years, even writing some things for it, but didn't think it was worth doing.  She showed me how cool a blog can be, and I've gotten to know her better through hers.

You know how some people are acquaintances, good people but not someone you're particularly close to?  Then, rarely, you find others you click with right away.  Who feel like old friends the instant you meet.  She's one of those.  I wasn't expecting what I found in her.  She's everything I could hope for, and so much more.  She's smart, and a smartass.  Goofy and serious.  A hot book nerd.  A realistic optimist.  Tender and strong.

I love her for who she is, and she loves me for who I am.  We won't change each other, we will grow together.

Valentine's Day Ray

My sweetheart introduced me to Ray LaMontagne. I'd never heard of him, but was immediately awestruck by his music and lyrics. As with most musicians I like, I have too many favorites to pick a few songs. I'll do another post about him later. Here are some of his love songs that touch me, and remind me of her.

Hold You In My Arms


Winter Birds


Let It Be Me


You Are The Best Thing


You are the best thing that ever happened to me, sweetie. It's cliche, it's a song lyric, but it's true...

Grateful for love

You know there will be a few posts about the Grateful Dead on here.  Maybe essays, maybe just songs about varying topics.  This is just the first one, and since it's coming up on Valentine's Day let's play a few Dead love songs.  Well, songs about love; they really didn't have many typical love songs, just as they had few typical hits, or typical songs about anything.  We'll get into that later.  For now, a few that make me feel warm and fuzzy...


Built To Last- good advice



If I Had the World To Give



They Love Each Other



Believe It Or Not

Protip

Pay attention to the kind of advertising is on a show or channel, and you'll know what kind of people watch that show, or at least who is being targeted.  Lifetime, Discover, the Military channel, whatever.  All different audiences, all different ads.  Recently I was listening to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck on the radio.  The ads on there... were aimed at fucking morons.  People who will buy anything.  Seriously- some of the most obvious scams out there.  Huh.

A short quiz

1) Do you believe that 47% of the country are leeches?

2) Do you believe that background checks at gun shows are the same as disarming the nation?

3) Do you believe that raising taxes slightly on the wealthy is the same as socialism?

4) Do you believe "no compromise" is a good way to get things done in politics?

5) Do you believe your religion should be everybody's religion?

6) Do you believe "24" and other TV shows are good guides to the real world?


If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you're an idiot.  Oh, I'm sorry, that was mean.  What I meant to say is, then you're a member of the Republican party...

Can you feel the hate?

Social conservatives: I respect, and even share, your desire not to marry someone of the same sex.  I don't respect or share your desire to impose your beliefs on others.  Don't want to marry a guy?  Fine.  Don't.  But don't tell others not to.  It's none of your business.  And don't give me that "you're imposing the homosexual agenda on us" crap.  I won't tolerate intolerance.  See what I did there?  There's no equivalence.  No one's making you marry someone you don't want to.  But you are keeping people from marrying who they want to.  And it amazes me that people who say they support "family values" are so opposed to families.  Loving families, who want to be together.  But you don't support them.  It boggles my mind.  And if you're a real American, you will support others' rights and freedoms, not impose your narrow views on everyone.

As with others who opposed human rights, and who just lacked general decency, you will be looked back on with a mix of disgust and incomprehension.  How does it feel to be on the wrong side of history?

Up In Arms

Here's an example of how I am too liberal for my conservative friends, and too conservative for my liberal friends: gun control.

Gun control has been on most peoples' minds lately, as it always is after a shooting spree.  And, as usual, there is overreaction on both sides.  Despite the desire to do something, anything, to try to prevent more deaths, there doesn't seem to be much we can do.  The suggestions from Obama are a start, and I think we at least need to see if we can keep clearly mentally unstable people away from guns.  I think an assault rifle ban would be pointless, because it wouldn't help much.  It didn't seem to help much before.  I do think people who want assault rifles for home defense are fooling themselves.  My brother was in the Army, was a platoon leader, etc.  Hunted, had guns.  But he knew an AR or AK was almost useless in a real-life home defense situation.  You want a pistol or shotgun.  So these folks are either stupid, or want to play army man.  And folks, if it comes down to you versus the real military, you are going to lose, even if you have an AK.  And even the illustrious Ronald Reagan said that an AK-47 is "not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home."

I just don't see any advantage to pushing for stricter gun control right now, despite the noise from the left. I think there are more pressing issues.  But as usual, reaction from the right has been more extreme, more vicious, less truthful, and just plain more stupid.  Because why let facts get in the way of a good story?  People shouting about Obama's 23 points as if they were a declaration of martial law.  People saying "don't take my guns!  No gun control!"  Guess what?  No-one's taking your guns.  And we already have gun control.  And we need it.  There should be regulations, background checks, etc., to keep felons and people with serious mental issues from easy access to guns.  Yes, they can still get them if they really try.  But nothing is perfect.  As a society, we just do the best we can, using commonsense rules.  Maybe more training.  Maybe deeper background checks.  The question is not gun control vs no gun control.  It's tinkering with laws we already have.  No, it's not the time for a revolution.  Calm the fuck down.  Some regulations are necessary: on free speech, guns, whatever.  It's called real life.  Don't make a mountain out of a molehill.  This stuff is being proposed, not enacted.  Some will be enacted, some won't, some will get watered down. It's a Republican Congress so a lot of the stuff you hate won't get in there anyway.  Relax.  Take your finger off the trigger.  Don't be a jerk.

Now let's get to the primary source here, the Second Amendment.  2nd amendment activists: please interpret it for me.  The whole thing, including the militia clause.  Because anyone who actually reads the thing (I know, reading is so 20th century) can't miss the fact that it's all about militias.  "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

So that first clause is the reason behind the second clause, yes?  One, therefore the other.  So we need to keep it in mind as we think about the amendment as a whole.  Which is odd, because I NEVER see that first clause in NRA material, NEVER hear about it when I hear gun rights folks talk about the 2nd amendment.  But it was clearly important to the Founding Fathers, because they put it in.  In fact, it's the only amendment that includes a purpose.  So, assuming the Founders were smart, assuming we should take their intentions into account, maybe we ought to pay attention to that clause.  The guys at the Constitutional Convention didn't put the militia phrase in just for fun.  Remember, this was 14 years after Lexington and Concord.  And the Constitution was to replace the Articles of Confederation, which were considered weak.  But there were concerns about centralizing too much power.  In other words, I think the states wanted to be sure they could keep their militias.  And even in the second clause I hear echoes of militias: "keep and bear arms."  Not "hunt," not "defend your house."  They were talking collective defense.  Bearing arms.  Again, remember the 'shot heard round the world' was fired when the British were trying to confiscate militia arms caches.  The states were making sure they could keep their militias.  They didn't want a standing army (which we ended up with anyway.)

Now, in 2008 Supreme Court said that the 2nd amendment does guarantee an individual right.  That was almost 220 years after the Constitution was adopted, so you gotta wonder...  But okay, that's where we are now.  They also pointed out that regulation of individual firearms was fine.  Which I think is the whole point.  Some regulation is necessary, without overly restricting the right.  It's a safety thing: Guns don't kill people, but they make it MUCH easier to kill many people.

I don't think we ought to ban guns.  Most people who have them are careful, safe, and stable.  I might even get one soon.  And the amendment was written in a time when most people had a gun in their house, often even the same gun they used in the militia.  So I don't think the authors were trying to tightly restrict guns.   I think it was assumed that people would have them; but I know for a fact that it was not assumed that there would be no regulations, because even back then there were rules about them.

So let's all calm down and talk about this, using facts, not made-up crap.  Not something you heard or saw Rush or Glenn say.

Whew.  That was fun.  I might need to do more "position papers" like this on big topics.  And I'm sure I'll revisit this one sometime.


Here are a few things I read recently while thinking about this; obviously it's been on my mind a long time, so a full list of references is impossible.

Wikipedia's entry on the Second Amendment- gets into the legal details

Understanding the Second Amendment- because, you know, there are other rights that aren't limitless too

Snopes- Reagan AK quote

More facts please- rebuttals to the common gun rights nuttiness

Obama's Executive Orders- Calm down, folks

Some Constitutional Amendments Are More Equal Than Others- In fact, there are more than just the 2nd.  Who knew?