Another month, another mass shooting. This one killing ten in an Oregonian community college, and hardly anyone bats an eye. Welcome to the new normal.
President Obama summed it up distinctly..."Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it ... We have become numb to this,"
Every time a new mass murder is inflicted upon our fellow Americans, the President takes the podium and does what he does best...speaks from the heart. he berates Congress, he berates the powerful gun lobby. He berates our nation in comparison to others...that's right, the leader of the free world...our leader, berates the country that elected him...unheard of. But Obama repeatedly does so after shootings -- saying Britain and Australia, for instance, had passed gun control laws to prevent new massacres.
"We are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people," Obama said. "We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months," (editors note: this marks 294 mass murders in the U.S. this year alone) Obama said, and hammered Congress for even blocking the collection of data on shooting incidents. "This is a political choice that we make, to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones."
I agree wholeheartedly to his message. Maybe common sense gun controls would not have prevented this tragedy, or the one at Columbine, or Aurora, or Sandy Hood, or Virginia Tech....but if they could have...if they could have and our lawmakers did nothing...they have blood on their hands.
I could understand if Obama has given up. Given up pushing for gun control with a GOP controlled Congress in bed with the powerful gun lobbyists. I get it. You would be flailing away for a fools folly mission that certainly would come to an anticipated early death. But if he could have gained some ground, gained some traction, negotiated some small measure of reform by sending Congress a barrage of bills to change the laws...if he stood by his convictions and pushed legislation towards Congress until their expense accounts bled...if he could have made even a modicum of difference, and gave up...then there is blood on his hands as well.
It's not a matter of intelligence...everyone agrees we need gun reform...common sense gun reform. The problem is Washington progressives have given up. They have lost themselves...lost their ideals, lost their integrity. They have become a feckless, gutless collection of cowards.
And not one of them...not even one of them has the gumption, the convictions or the courage to stand up and scream to the hills that this must stop. The willingness to put it all on the line, stand on the Senate floor that once heard patriots like Douglas, Webster, Lincoln, Calhoun and Clay...and wake that body up. Wake them up with the hard cold fact that the current Congressional inactivity...or apathy towards these mass murders is inexcusable. They sit blithely by while our fellow Americans are gunned down without a tear. Page one today, page two tomorrow, forgotten next week.
I've had enough. I bet you have as well. I'm old enough to know what this country stood for once, and has now become. And Congress sits by scared shitless...that if they so much as suggest that maybe, just maybe we should find out if someone is a felon, on the run from the law or just plain old bat shit crazy before selling someone a weapon...they will lose votes, then I say the hell with you. You feckless, gutless coward.
I urge them to stand up. Stand up for something...hell, stand up for anything...anything other than the people stuffing your pockets full of re-election money for gawd sakes. Pretend you have something inside. Some caring, some empathy for your constituents. Maybe even a muffled voice deep, deep down inside that a human life is worth more than a vote, or a campaign contribution. Many of you claim to be pro life...here is your chance.
If you have had enough...vote your conscience. I urge you to stand up as well. Voice your dismay. Maybe someone will be listening. I have had enough...how about you?
And that's my world...the "World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading. Sorry for the shouting.
