WilliamPitt

WilliamPitt's Journal

December 30, 2012

A snowstorm in Boston

I have a thing for the trees.

The view from inside:

December 28, 2012

Something to consider re: the published list of gun owners.

Some women buy and register guns because they are being stalked or threatened.

Publishing their names and addresses makes them easy to find if they are hiding from an abusive husband or boyfriend, or if they are being stalked.

This is not just about "gun people."

Josh Marshall: "A few readers have noted that one reason people register fire arms is because they’ve been stalked or have survived some sort of abuse. Publicizing their names and addresses enables the abusers. This seems like a more serious concern."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/as_youve_probably_heard_theres.php?ref=fpblg

December 27, 2012

YES and YES and YES and yeah, baby...Ed Markey to run for Kerry's Senate seat

Rep. Markey To Run For Kerry’s Senate Seat
Pema Levy 2:50 PM EST, Thursday December 27, 2012

Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) will run for the Senate seat expected to be vacated by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) who was nominated to be secretary of state, he told the Boston Globe. A special election to fill Kerry's seat will likely take place in June.

(snip)

In his statement, Markey outlined some of the issues, including energy and an assault weapons ban, that he intends to campaign on:

“With Senator Kerry’s departure, Massachusetts voters will decide once again whether we want a Senator who will fight for all our families or one who supports a Republican agenda that benefits only the powerful and well-connected,” Markey said. “I refuse to allow the Tea Party-dominated Republican Party to lead us off the fiscal cliff and into recession. I won’t allow the (National Rifle Association) to obstruct an assault weapons ban yet again. I will not sit back and allow oil and coal industry lobbyists to thwart our clean energy future or extremists to restrict women’s rights and health care.”

Link: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rep-markey-to-run-for-kerrys-senate-seat?ref=fpb

Bring it, L'il Scottie Brown. Ed Markey will NOM you like so much NOM.

YES.

Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/12/27/rep-markey-run-senate-special-election/1aidfQ9YeNT0xXXPnWuS8I/story.html

December 27, 2012

So many victims.

No, not the people who have been killed by guns. Not their grieving families, either.

The poor, poor people who have to make arguments for why guns are not the problem are clearly the victims in all this.

Don't believe me? Just ask them.

Or better yet, just read DU.

Which hasn't resembled DU in a long, long time.

So many victims.

and

December 25, 2012

All I Want for Christmas...

All I Want for Christmas...
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout.org |Op-Ed

Tuesday 25 December 2012

I want Wayne LaPierre to sit in a room with the families of the victims of the Newtown massacre and explain to them his grand theories on further arming our hyper-armed society. I will not get that wish, however, because Wayne LaPierre is a cowardly blowhard who gives "press conferences" where no questions are allowed.

I want those children to be alive on Christmas morning. I want those teachers to be alive. I want Adam Lanza to be alive. I want his mother to be alive. I want her guns to be un-bought, sitting in a gun store display case gathering dust, forever unloaded.

Early on Christmas Eve morning, a man outside of Rochester set fire to a house and waited with his firearm for firefighters to arrive. When they did, the man shot four of them, killing two and wounding two severely, before killing himself. Because of the gunshots, the fire could not be dealt with, and several neighboring houses also burned.

I want those two dead firefighters to be alive on Christmas morning, those two wounded firefighters to be unharmed, I want the shooter alive, those houses unburnt, and I want someone to explain to me how a man who would set a trap for firefighters by burning down his own house got his hands on a gun, and why that is the definition of American freedom.

I want Wayne LaPierre to be in a roomful of firemen when he announces the solution to problems like this is to arm firefighters. I want to watch what happens next.

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13520-all-i-want-for-christmas

December 24, 2012

You people MAKE ME CRAZY!!11!!1!!!

Don't know what I'd do without you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, live long and prosper.

===

For Equilibrium, a Blessing:

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.

Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of god.

― John O'Donohue

December 24, 2012

"We have to arm the firefighters!!" in 3...2...1...

2 firefighters killed, residents being searched and evacuated
9:56 AM, Dec 24, 2012

At least two Webster firefighters are dead, and three houses on Lake Road continue to burn after a gunman open fired on firefighters who responded to an early morning fire.

There are no active shooters at the scene, according to a news conference held by Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn.

The fire broke out at 5:45 a.m. at 191 Lake Road on the Irondequoit Bay side of the street.

The gunman open fired on the first firefighters to respond, striking one in the backside. Strong Memorial Hospital confirmed another firefighter was being treated, but it is not clear if he was shot or injured in the fire.

The rest: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20121224/NEWS01/312240026/webster-shooting?odyssey=mod&nclick_check=1

P.S. It was an assault rifle.

Merry fucking Christmas.