Tuesday, August 17, 2010

In the Shadow of Columbine

POSTED BY JHW22

On April 20, 1999 two boys entered their high school loaded up and ready to shoot in a town called Columbine.

On May 1, 1999 the National Rifle Association held it's annual meeting in Denver, CO approximately 20 miles from Columbine.

Victims were still in the hospital. Parents were still looking into bedrooms that were just as their children left them 11 days earlier, never to return. The grief was raw. Time had not yet had a chance to pass for families suffering the shock and despair of violent deaths of their loved ones. Colorado did not want the NRA meeting in the shadows of their grief.

The N.R.A., which is fiercely opposed to sensible gun laws, has urged its members to attend as a show of unity, if only for a day. On a purely emotional level, this is an insult to grieving families and to a city still shaken by tragedy. Mayor Wellington Webb bluntly told the group last week, ''We don't want you here.''
The NRA derided the desire that the meeting not be held so close, so soon:
Heston waved to the crowd from the dais with gritty determination and what appeared to be a dead raccoon stapled to his head. He began his opening remarks by addressing Mayor Webb's request that the NRA not "come here. We don't want you here."
The crowd booed at the mention of Webb's name, and one attendee shouted out, "Get out of our country, Wellington Webb!" much to the amusement of the crowd.
Today, almost nine years after the horror of September 11, famous members of the NRA say it's too soon, too close, for Park51/Cordoba House, a community center, to be New York City blocks from where the Twin Towers once stood.

But if 11 days was soon enough for guns, shouldn't nine years be soon enough for community?

6 comments:

Broadway Carl said...

Unfortunately, Jennifer, if I were to think like the intolerant, the answer to your question is, "No."

No amount of time and no amount of distance between Cordoba House and Ground Zero will be long enough or large enough to let the community center stand without protest, bigotry and, mark my words, incident.

I am expecting something horrible to happen at Cordoba House once it is built, no matter where it may be eventually erected.

Such is the state we are living in the these "United" States in 2010. When elected officials are too cowardly to stand up for Constitutional rights (I'm looking at you, Harry Reid) I can only assume that the regular Joe will continue his/her faux outrage because that's what organizations like Fox News tell them how they should feel.

The most ironic thing about theses so called "Constitutional Conservatives" I find appalling is the idea that they want and expect limited government except when it comes to our own bodies and our Constitutional rights when it doesn't agree with them. Yet they find no contradiction in their beliefs.

vicki said...

BC, to find contradiction in their beliefs, they would have to think, wouldn't they? My sense is that they just react - if the rules don't please us, change the rules. In other words, as we go along, let's just interpret the rules so that they reflect our position. After all we are the real (??) Americans and it's our country!

I hope/pray that in the end your prediction of an 'incident' never materializes, but given the consistent irrationality of these people and their penchant for aggression and 2nd Amendment rights,I won't be suprised if it happens.

vic said...

By the way, what did you guys think of the Vanity Fair article by Todd Purdum, 'Washington, We Have a Problem'? It was a long read, but I found it to be one of the few 'unbiased' pieces I've read on the Prez recently.
I don't know how to link, but I think this might get you there if you haven't read it yet.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/09/broken-washington-201009?printable=true&currentPage=all

Broadway Carl said...

Thanks for the heads up, Vicki. I started reading it this morning on your recommendation on the way in to work.

Anonymous said...

When will the NRA be declared a "Terrorist Organization"?

jhw22 said...

@Anon, Apparently, and this is only based on what I hear from the crazies, terrorists are only Muslims. So unless the NRA becomes a Muslim-dominated institution, they can't be considered terrorists. Or so the crazies say.

Jennifer

 
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