Dreams Of Noise

Horrible. When the hell is this going to end?

Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) has a new Official campaign bumper sticker:

If babies had guns they wouldn't be aborted.

I don't even know what to say to that. I just don't.

I haven't been having the best day.

• First, of course, came the NRA's repugnant ad (and their remarkable bullshit response to everyone's disgust).
• I'm waiting for a callback from a U-M clinic (no big, about a procedure I'll have next month).
• I'm trying to wrestle with writing some, y'know, music.
• A woman who was my housemate back in the late 80s passed away, and we were never close and I hadn't seen her in years but now I'm the only survivor of that household.
• And then goddamn Rush has to open his yap:

  You know how to stop abortion? Require that each one occur with a gun.

HOW CAN SOMEONE EVEN THINK LIKE THAT?

How can someone say shit like that? Is this truly the normal level of discourse?

I know, I know: It's Rush, it's talk radio, it's the right wing, blah blah blah. I shouldn't let myself get crazy over it. But, dammit, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to become a halfway decent human being, and I think I made it, and I try to maintain it and not be an asshole, and then this unconscionable motherfucker continues to get fucking stupid wealthy by saying things that simply should not even be thought of -- not because they're heretical, or challenging, or out of step with some mythical mainstream, but because they're unfathomably vile.

It sickens me to call him part of my tribe. But he is. Perhaps I'm not part of his, but he's still a human being, and I will not descend to his depths and dehumanize him.

But GOD this day is for shit.

Possibly eight -- the police say the suspect was "put down", and he was for sure shot. Utterly horrible, and condolences to the friends and families of the victims.

I was going to jump off on some rant or other, but, fortunately, the comments at Yahoo News kept me from working too hard at it.

Naturally, they start off with some equating of Sikhs with Muslims (Sikhism and Islam are nothing alike), and then there's "they might as well have shot Christians", because of course Christians are so much better than mere Muslims, and some stuff about If Only The People In The Peaceful Temple Had Had Guns Because You Never Know Etc., which I'm getting damn sick of because it's straight-up blaming the victim for not being macho enough, and and and.

At least a substantial number of the comments were of the "What's up with all these crazy people? Why does this happen?" variety.

Because maybe, just maybe, eventually enough of them will put fucking one and one together, and we might get a combination of sensible gun laws and affordable mental health treatment that might curtail some of this shit.

But, right now, for all the people who can't figure out whether the victims "deserved" to be shot because they were Sikhs, not Muslims... for all the people who can't figure out that Sikhs are in fact not Muslims... for all the people who want goddamn guns in churches and temples....

How about: They were people, just like other people, and how about we all try not shooting other people?

ETA: More in-depth coverage from a Milwaukee local at dKos, and a justifiable rant by Cartoon Peril.

ETA2: ... and an enlightening essay on crime rates vs. perceptions of our safety at Political Animal.