It's more than guns

Especially being fifteen miles from Newtown, I've been getting battered on TV news and all over the internet with both sides of the gun battle (pardon the pun).  Let's start with my thoughts there...I'm with local CT legislators who were not happy with the Connecticut bill because it did not address the entire issue.  Guns are the smaller percentage of what the problem here is.

Back in the 70's the mental health/medical industry were blessed with some medications that would lower the use of horrible options like electroshock and lobotomies.  However, just like with nuclear weapons, psychiatrists thought they had the ultimate answer to mental health.  Yes, some drugs did and do allow some patients to be able to function in mainstream society who might have at least required a visiting professional to look after them in the past.  Some patients were correctly released from institutions thus lowering healthcare costs to municipalities.  When pressured by governments and insurance providers, more and more patients were released to the point that many institutions were shut down.  It is ironic that there was an abandoned complex of buildings in Newtown, until the town started repurposing the property in 2009, that used to be called "Fairfield Hills".  It was the state mental hospital.  

Now we have added HIPPA to the soup which prevents the communication to employers and educators the information that they may be responsible for someone suffering from severe psychological and/or emotional issues.  Yes, I understand no one wants to be stigmatized and the majority of mental health problems are minor and can be regulated in an out-patient treatment plan.  But when we put truly anti-social people into society with little to no monitoring we are putting ticking timebombs into the public domain.

Let's add the factor no one has talked about.  In fact something swept under the table for years and just keeps getting worse every day.  Stress.  What the hell is going on in this country that people are so much angrier, depressed and frustrated that they grab a weapon, run into a crowd, take out as many as they can before the cops show up then kill themselves?  We also have an out of control suicide rate even without the mass killings.  People have no respect for each other.  Sure there were bullie when I was a kid but they were not in the majority.  Most parents raised their kids "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything".  We got in trouble for picking on others.  We also had tight groups of friends we could trust.  Today kids are isolated even in a room full of other kids.   Parents provide cell phones with text and data plans for their children.  They become little spy networks passing information in ways the CIA does.  Anonymity on the internet is easy.  Bullying doesn't happen face to face but on-line.  Parents don't teach kids that being mean is not cool.  Look at the reactions to the sentences for the high school boys who sexually accosted a thirteen year old girl.  Even the media promoted the thought that these strapping football players ganged up on a single pre-teen girl got the raw end of the deal.  "How will this look on college applications?"  "What about their careers?" Etc.  Seriously would you hire someone whose characters are so weak that 1) they can't even deal with a problem as an individual.  They had to round up a pack.  2) Then took this all that muscle to teach their much smaller victim a lesson.  I don't want them on my payroll.

There are forces in this country that have come together to (I believe intentionally) turn it into a pressure cooker.  Medically, educationally, economically and culturally people are being encouraged to force themselves into situations that are counter productive.  Jobs sent overseas so people are under employed.  Consumers inundated with messages about all the things they need to own that they can't afford increasing their debt ratios to impossible.  Schools forced to teach to the test.  Kids told they have to have college educations they can't afford.  They come into the working world with an insane amount of debt.  People can't even get relief from a truly good song on the radio, a intelligently scripted movie or a book written by a skilled author.  Then strike the match with a government that has worked diligently to keep us in a state of constant fear for the past 12 years?  Yep.

So to turning the spotlight on the guns part of this is just another inning of the "bait and switch" game.  You are being distracted from the other part of the problem.  We need to build trust, stop being mean and call out all the contributing factors to this nation on the edge.  Criminals will always be around.  They're going to have weapons and yes they are scary.  But the issue that is on the table is not gang bangers, bank robbers or muggers.  The issues are people who hit that breaking point and take five or more people with them when they decide they can't take any more, couples in abusive cycles who have a weapon in the home and kids who feel so unloved that they seek and find a legally obtained weapon.

While you were sleeping...

...or allowing yourself to be boondoggled, hornswaggled, bullshitted or just scared by the U.S. media and the government after 9-11, things were festering and growing and you let them.


You allowed yourself to give up your civil and personal rights, believing the b.s. spewing from your radio and television or splashed across print and internet headlines.  "You're all gonna die if you don't support illegal acts of violence against a foreign nation (Iraq), allow us to illegally incarcerate a whole lot of people in Cuba, set up "watch" lists for air travel (sadly they're still missing all the bad guys coming into the country), and watch your activity at your local library.  And there's a whole plethora of other rights you gave up because "It's unAmerican to question such things".  HORSESHIT!

To question and call out is the most American thing you can do.  And you should do it.  The government is a bunch of fallible humans just like you.  Because you voted for them does not make them experts on running your life.  Thomas Jefferson said, when he helped pen the structuring of the Republic, it would need a good revolution every generation to keep it on its toes.  Boy are we long overdue or what?

http://www.naturalnews.com/029153_British_Petroleum_Police_State.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The link above shows what happens to freedom of the press when they get scared and allow themselves to be puppets of big business and the government.  They backed off (slacked off).  Sure they got a little bit of nitty-gritty into the public eye about FEMA and the whole hurricane debacle.  Every so often we hear about some governmental indiscretion but for the most part, major media has been publishing what the publicist tell them to.  Wow, wonder how long the fed has had a PR department or at least one that has strong-armed the press the way they do now?  But the point is that now that media has a real piece of meat to sink its teeth into with the Gulf/BP mess, they're seeing the error of their ways for not sticking up for the first amendment both for freedom of the press and the right to petition for redress of grievances.

Starting in the first days after 9-11 I started preaching my mantra of "Retaining the Republic for which we stand before we become the United Police State of America".  Obviously I was a voice crying in the wilderness.  I tried to find a quote this morning but failed.  Something to the effect of not becoming the empire we sought to free ourselves from.  I remember it was from a member of the first continental congress and had to do with the establishment of the new Republic.  But at the end of the day it all boils down to this.  We allowed ourselves to be beat into submission with the constant admonition of our president about being "UnAmerican".  Nary a one spoke up loudly enough in a public forum, myself included, to say "Hey W!  Speaking out is the most American thing about America and questioning our government is the second most American thing to do!"

At the time I did start reading the free press more to learn what was really going on but I did nothing with what I was learning.  I bitched and complained to friends and people around me who would listen and sometimes agree but did we form any kind of protest group?  No.  Did I write letters to my representatives?  Not enough to count and not about the really gritty issues.  I did not call out the passing of the "Patriot" Act or the establishment of Homeland Security.  I have not questions the sending of the National Guard abroad while the regular Army stays here.  I have not demanded at stop to lobbyists or term limitations.  I am just as guilty as the next guy for being "unAmerican"

So here we are.  Government and big business goons muzzling the press.  CNN rages "How dare they?".  Well at least they're finally raging and seeing that if the small media guy gets busted, they're next.  Is it too little too late?  Or will it light enough of a spark under American journalists and their employers to finally say "STOP! Freedom of the press!" and start speaking out?  Will we find out what is really going on in the Gulf and on Capitol Hill regarding BP and when they are going to fix this disaster?  And once the big gash in Mother Earth's belly is sutured and bandaged, will the press continue to stick up for itself?  Will they call out big business for the laundry list of crap they have gotten away with mostly with congress' blessing?  We can only hope. 

In the meantime, I've found my guts.  Sure, I'm just a measly little blogger who only a few people read, but at least I will flex my right to speak freely and demand answers and air my grievances.  President Obama, I voted for you and you have let me down at every turn.  I know you don't run the show but you can get into the House and the Senate and demand that they get their collective heads out of their collective asses.  You can tell the United States what is REALLY going on.  You told me that you wanted to "green up America".  Well you know what?  There's a lot of brown sludge on her beaches that is killing the green and the animals and eventually the people.  How about you start showing me how "green" you are by demanding BP get their asses in gear and fix this shit?  How about you call off the cops, Homeland Security and BP employees who are blocking the press and doing illegal search and seizures?  How about you stick up for THIS country and stop protecting the empire we declared our independence from?  How about you start sticking up for all of our first amendment rights?  How about it Prez?  And press?  How about you join me and grow a pair?  And anyone who reads this blog, how about becoming a true American again and speaking out?