{pic by Big Dubya}

Now, I don’t know much about what you might call “knowledge.” In fact, it’s probably safe to say that I know less than nothing when it comes to history, politics, economics, science, and all those other fancy subjects that liberal university-type people think are so important. But one thing I do know is that this Obama administration and this Democrat Congress are socialist. It’s not that I really know what the word “socialism” means, mind you. I mean, I know it’s like what they have in China and Russia and Cuba and places like that. It’s kind of like when a Big Government takes your money and spreads it around to everyone—sort of like the Feds do with Medicare and Social Security, except that I like my Medicare and Social Security, so don’t mess with them. But I don’t want anything else like Medicare and Social Security because that would just be too socialistical. I’d be against Medicare and Social Security, too, if we didn’t already have them and I didn’t already like having them…

But that’s not the point. The point is that people on the T.V. and the radio like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter tell me that Obama and the Democrats are socialist, and I believe them. It’s kind of like accepting that my 1978 edition of the New International Version of the English translation of the Bible is the Word of God. It’s something you just have to take on faith, and asking for proof kind of ruins the whole thing. I mean, demanding “proof” that the Bible is the Word of God is pretty much proof that you’re an atheist, right? So demanding proof that Rush and Glenn and Ann are telling the truth about Obama being a socialist is pretty much proof that you’re a socialist.

I just know what I know, you know?

I am brimming over with ill-defined pride and faux patriotism—and nothing you say could ever change my mind.

I am an All-American Fool.

{pic by tread}

In an indication of just how gun-crazed U.S. society truly is, a recent story on CNN states that “gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures.” This comes not in response to any specific gun-control legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill (there is none), but reflects a general sense of paranoia fed by Right Wing pundits such as Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck, who have repeatedly warned their well-armed fans that the Obama administration is on the verge of seizing their beloved weapons. Some of their more delusional fans, like Pittsburgh cop-killer Richard Poplawski, have taken these gun-seizing conspiracy theories just a little too seriously.

The most revealing quote from the CNN story comes from a gun dealer in Colorado, who said that “the minority of our customers are stockpiling ammunition; the majority are standard shooters buying what they can.” This raises the intriguing sociological question of what it means to live in a society where so many people possess firearms that there is even such a thing as a “standard shooter.” The Brady Campaign, analyzing CDC statistics, provides a concise numerical answer:

• 30,694 people died from gun violence in 2005, including 12,352 people murdered; 17,002 people who killed themselves; 789 people killed accidentally; 330 killed by police intervention; and 221 who died, but their intent was not known.
• 69,863 people survived gun injuries in 2007, including 48,676 people injured in an attack; 4,291 people injured in a suicide attempt; 15,698 people shot accidentally; and 1,198 people shot in a police intervention

Or, as the Violence Policy Center succinctly puts it:

“Firearms are the second leading cause of traumatic death related to a consumer product in the United States and are the second most frequent cause of death overall for Americans ages 15 to 24. Since 1960, more than a million Americans have died in firearm suicides, homicides, and unintentional injuries. Public health research has shown that firearms violence is directly related to firearms availability and density. What separates America from other Western, industrialized nations is not our overall rate of violence, but our rates of lethal violence—which can be directly traced to gun availability.… Most Americans are surprised to learn that most gun deaths are not homicides, but preventable suicides. Even in homicide, the vast majority stem not from criminal activity, but are the result of arguments between people who know one another. Less than eight percent of all gun deaths are felony related. The most common scenario for homicide in America is an argument between two people who know one another.”

In the final analysis, this is what the self-proclaimed defenders of the Second Amendment are actually defending: a never-ending epidemic of preventable homicides and preventable suicides. It is a far cry from the right “to keep and bear arms” as part of a “well regulated militia.” It’s societal self-destruction.