Shame on you Washington DC…Open Thread
Posted: April 17, 2013 Filed under: just because | Tags: Background Checks, NRA 28 CommentsThis is on the front page of Huffington Post:
On its front page splash, The Huffington Post blasted the Senate for voting down a measure to expand background checks.
Part one of the splash contains 30 victims of recent mass shootings — from Newtown, Conn., Tucson, and Aurora, Colo. Part two is full of pictures of the Senators who voted against the measure.
This is an open thread….
Dakinikat here with apologies to JJ for stepping into her post but I just love when this happens … ty sky dancers! wtg!! Notice that we have the top 100 honors in three AREAS!! Top 100 politics! Top 100 US politics and TOP 100 WORLD politics! Think this is the first time we’ve hit a triple!
Sima
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
fiscalliberal
grayslady
Minkoff Minx
mablue2
NW Luna
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Banjoville is getting hit big time, our power is going off and on and internet and satellite is intermittent. I wanted to post a link to those women who hollered shame on you in the senate today, but don’t have time. see you when storm passes
Stay safe, JJ.
Take care, JJ.
We got strong storms last night. Hello, Spring!
This is for Dak: On the 49th anniversary of the first Ford Mustang, the millionth Mustang rolls off the assembly line.
Suspect in ricin letters has been arrested. He’s from Tupelo, Mississippi, Kenneth Curtis. Heard on MSNBC. That’s a pretty common name. I hope there aren’t a bunch of Kenneth Curtis’s in Miss. on Facebook. CNN in bound to post pictures of the wrong one.
This is sickening. They are cowards. I am a teacher and I had to go through a background check and finger printing to teach. Parents and anyone that wants to volunteer to help with a school function must be cleared and go through a background check as well. Common sense would dictate at least the same standards be used for anyone purchasing a gun. Sanity does not seem to exist in the minds of the Senate Wimps that voted this legislation down!
They didn’t even get a chance to vote on the bill. They failed to defeat the Republican filibuster. I blame Harry Reid.
You should see what I had to go through to work for the FED, and of the banks I worked for and the casino I worked for … they obviously CARE about money … people not so much
88 people killed a day are just the price for their misguided notion of the second amendment
Four Democrats voted against the amendment: Baucus, Begich, Heitkamp, and Pryor. Shame on them!
I have sent my letters to all four democrats, and it wasn’t pretty. Shame on them. As I watched our President, our fellow citizens, parents, fathers/mothers, it just about brought me down on my knees. I’m pissed, and I intend to let everybody know.
Hey, my daughter is moving, and renting a new place, you ought see the schitt she has to answer for a background check, including 10 people who know her and her history………..wtf?
I am sick over this vote. Not even background checks? Seriously. I am just sick to my stomach.
30,000 people die every year of gun violence and they do nothing … EVER … but watch how they’re ready to suspend the constitution and habeas corpus over even a sniff of a “brown skinned” people that may or may not speak with accents …
Peter King is already talking about violating rights of people by proposing more security at sports events and it’s completely based on who he thinks the perpetrator is …
Did anyone hear the President speak? I heard him and then a million things happened and then I had to go out to dinner so I didn’t get to check in here. I have never heard a President speak so frankly and eloquently. He was on fire. No teleprompter, just speaking from his heart. It was righteous indignation, high dudgeon, with a call to arms thrown in for good measure. Today I was proud of my President.
I agree. It was very powerful and he was clearly angry about it. On this issue, there is no dispute he’s in the right place all the way.
You would think they would just look at Gabby Giffords and think ‘that could be me”. How can they look at Gabby Giffords and vote against all these measures to protect people from people with guns??
Please don’t get me wrong, but the Manchin/Toomey bill wasn’t anything to cheer about if you support stronger gun regulations. I know someone here posted links about it in the past couple of days but, frankly, I’m too lazy to try to find it. Here’s a MoJo story that lists 10 reasons the bill would make the NRA happy (despite the complaining they’ve done about it): http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/background-check-compromise-senate-nra
Sorry to say but as long as the NRA has most elected officials by the short hairs, they ain’t gonna vote to save people’s lives by passing common sense restrictions on purchases, semi-automatic weapons or the size of magazines. Loss of power & prestige as an elected official vs everyday people’s lives? Easy choice for them: power & privilege win out. We have to face facts – they don’t give a flying fk about real people.
And yet the bastards still killed the bill. We have to ram something through just to chip away at them.
According to the MoJo piece, the NRA initially supported this bill then changed their minds. Chris Murphy of CT was just on Rachel’s show. He was terrific. He’s angry (dare I say he’s pissed?) yet he’s still hopeful. And he talked about taking this to the 2014 elections. Maybe (fingers crossed) there will be a silver lining to this. Maybe (please) those folks who haven’t written or called their senators will speak up. Maybe more people will tell their elected officials that this IS NOT OKAY with them. Maybe, just maybe, this is what will finally get folks off their asses and off their couches & they will stand up for common sense gun laws aimed to protect people instead of gun manufacturers.
Cannonfire has a good blog up on the identity and story of the Ricin letter guy:
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-ricin-attacker-claimed-to-have.html
Bizarre but all possible.
UPDATE: EMS Director Says 60 To 70 Dead In West Explosion
This looks like a really bad one.
Dallas News coverage
It’s just one thing after the other this week. This is horrendous!
OMG.
It looks like party identification is not of value any more. Congress needs to fear being primaried. It gets complicated, but I am starting with Gabby Giffords http://americansforresponsiblesolutions.org/ – could I suggest that they need numbers first to get attention. Then money in a focused targeting effort. For example targeting Mike Johanns is useless as he is leaving the Senate.
Contributing $5.00 gets identification of your support builds numbers – money can follow later to buttress their targeted program.
People up for election the next cycle are the most effective targets People in next cycle need to fear getting primaried in the next cycle.
Sorry – minimum contribution is $10.00
The vote yesterday was infuriating. But it’s not the end, only the beginning.
The NRA leadership may be pounding chests this morning, crowing about what a great ‘victory’ this is. But they will rue the day. If anything, this shines a harsh light on the reality in DC, where legislators are ruled by money and lobbying groups. Not by the concerns or welfare of the American public, 90% of whom supported the legislation. There’s no place to hide for the legislators who caved, lied and pandered. Frankly, Rand Paul, the GOP’s latest darling, should be tarred and feathered for suggesting yesterday morning that the Newtown families were mere PROPs in the debate. These people have no shame, no decency. They lie, twist and distort for their own perverted ideology. It’s time to call them out for what they are.
Btw, big time congrats on the triple play, SkyDancers! Well deserved.