December 16, 2012

Bringing race and economic class into the Newtown discussion

Lost amidst all the sorrow we rightly feel for the many victims of the Newtown Massacre is the reality that innocent children have been the victims of random shootings on an almost weekly basis here in Los Angeles since I've lived here (1994 and thereafter). These children are predominantly black or Latino and lower-class and, aside from the brief mentions on local news broadcasts, have never occasioned the 'stop-the-presses' full-blown meltdown that the Newtown massacre seems to have engendered.

And yet no one on DU would say for one moment that the lives of those black and Latino children are one bit less precious than the lives of the child victims of the Newtown Massacre.

I'd like for DU to understand that this type of violence that makes victims of children has long been a staple of minority neighborhoods here. I live in a racially mixed neighborhood in Los Angeles (Ladera Heights) and I can tell you for a fact that the black and Latino children I've met here (some of whom live in my building) are just as cute, precious and precocious as the children who died at Newtown.

I mention this not to criticize DU, nor to besmirch the memories of the victims of the Newtown Massacre. Maybe I'm just asking myself where the media coverage and the outrage was when the children of South Central LA were being gunned down. I can't help escape the feeling that there are some racial and economic class biases at play here. And that the public outpourings of grief and outrage themselves reveal some deep societal dysfunctions.

December 15, 2012

Thank you for the compliment - I accept it with a heavy heart. My wife

has been waxing profound in the last 24 hours:

"A society that consistently wages war creates a violent atmosphere that is bound to inform the behavior of its citizens."

December 14, 2012

All the money that has been squandered on security and law enforcement

since 9-11 and these security pimps can't secure or protect shit.

My wife just said that all the money that was spent on security should have been spent instead on mental health services. I can't agree more.

ETA: On more mature reflection, all the money that was spent on the security and military pimps is a reflection of this society's mental illness.

December 14, 2012

How low will ABC go? One of its correspondents just

breathlessly informed us all that "many parents in Newtown are having an early Christmas tonight."

Not one mention that this society is so completely and totally fucked in the head. That message wouldn't mesh with the ABC\Disney message of schmaltzy SHIT!

December 6, 2012

Samuel Jackson takes on the "Fiscal Cliff":

December 3, 2012

Why don't the DU Admins create a Rape Forum for all the rape

threads, such that victims of past sexual violence coming to General Discussion don't have to interact with rape threads and thereby relive their experiences? If the Admins want to avoid hurting anyone's feelings, they could call the Forum 'Human Sexuality' or some such plain-vanilla label.

That way, those who wish to discuss whether women fantasize about rape or not can have at it but victims of past sexual violence don't have to see the issue debated.

I mean, really, it's a matter of common decency. I'm not a victim of rape, but I feel really badly for those who are bumping into the ubiquitous threads in General Discussion. I understand they can 'trash' threads but there are so many threads now that I think one has to ask whether victims should have to use the 'Trash thread' function just to avoid reliving painful memories.

I'm really sick of this, you can probably tell, and not because I'm a prude. I'm just sick of seeing one thread after another in GD centered around the issue.

Thanks for letting me vent.

November 26, 2012

Now that the giddiness over Obama's victory has somewhat dissipated, can we get back

to confronting the difficult challenges ahead?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xmwPKm33klQ

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="

?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Um, this video was shot by a 7th-grader. From the mouths of babes, eh?

November 21, 2012

What kind of a country lets 1 out of 5 of its children live in hunger? This

country does.

I am appalled and speechless with rage.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poor-kids/

November 14, 2012

Serious question about Benghazi and Rape-publi-scum: what exactly

are they alleging that Obama either did or did not do?

I have not been following the issue very closely and I have been having a difficult time figuring out exactly what it is that has sparked all the grandstanding and poutrage. It seems like many of the DU threads about this presume a baseline context of understanding which I seem to have missed.

Leaving aside the near certainty that Rs are ginning up outrage merely for the purposes of weakening Obama, what exactly are they alleging that Obama did or did not do that was so wrong?

And, corollary, what is the refutation to what they allege?

I'd like to have a better understanding of the issue for battling with the Fucktards on FB and Yahoo.

I guess I need a primer that takes me through the issue. Thanks in advance.

November 13, 2012

If at first you don't secdee . . .

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Thanks to my wife for bringing this to my attention. My wife says "All my ex-es live in Texas. So adios, m-fers."