"Godless Europe" Versus Gun Owning "Christian America"

The Christian hate merchants of the far right and a number of the knuckle dragging commentators that pander to them have been lamenting that the carnage in Aurora, Colorado and making bombastic statements that the killings are the result of America losing its Christian heritage and, god forbid, exhibiting increased tolerance towards gays (a small majority of Americans, in fact, support gay marriage and civil unions).  These claims make for good sound bites, especially when targeted at the simple minded sheep - cretins candidly would be a better description - in the pews.  But if a nation's level of religiosity and its willingness to keep religion from shaping the civil laws are indicators of moral degradation and attendant growing gun violence as claimed by the Christianists and their sycophants, then western Europe ought to be a veritable war zone with victims of gun fire littering the streets.  After all, the level of religiosity and adherence to far right Christian dogma is far lower than in the USA.  But such is not the case.  

Indeed, we see vastly lower levels of violence and gun violence in particular in what the Christianists like to call "godless Europe."   What's the explanation?  It's called gun control and a much reduce number of guns in the hands of those who should not have them.  How big is the difference?  The European nation with the highest level of guns per 100 people (i.e., Switzerland) has roughly half (1/2) the number of guns that are on the streets in America.  And in most European countries, the number of guns per 100 people is closer to one third (1/3) that in the USA.   And the result is that gun violence is much more of a rarity in Europe.  Yes, there was the horrific massacre in Norway, but even then some of the weaponry and ammunition was purchased in the USA and shipped to Norway in contravention of Norway's strict laws.

Thus, the real answer to the problem of gun violence isn't a "return to God," returning prayer to the public schools, or driving gays back into the closet.  No, the real answer is serious, common sense gun control which takes automatic assault rifles and any number of military style weapons off the streets.  Crooks and Liars has some telling quotes from Piers Morgan (who I don't typically follow) on the issue.  Here are highlights:

When you have a young man like this able to legally get 6,000 rounds of ammunition off the Internet, to buy four weapons including an assault rifle, and for all of this to be perfectly legal in modern America, allowing him to carry out the biggest shooting in the history of the United States, that, I'm afraid, means it's too late for this debate, for those people that lost their lives.

So don't patronize me about when we should be talking about the gun control debate. You tell me a good reason why we should not strengthen the law now to stop another young man like him going into a store tomorrow, buying four more weapons, 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet, and killing and shooting another 70 people in America.

[W]e now know this young man legally purchased these weapons in the last two months, and purchased this staggering amount of ammunition -- he purchased a hundred-round drum magazine, allowing him to fire off 50 to 60 rounds in one minute in that movie theater, which is what has led to this mass slaughter and mass gun attack.  Given what has happened today, do you think there is now legitimate cause to press politicians for tougher gun control in America?

It's way overdue. And let me reclarify what I said at the start of this program. I respect the Second Amendment. I respect the average Americans' right to defend themselves in their own homes with a firearm, if they need to. This is a totally different issue that we're talking about today. It's got nothing to do with that right whatsoever.

Pat Robertson Again Shows He's A Bigoted (and Insane) Ass

With regular clock work, resident embarrassment to the Hampton Roads area, Pat Robertson has verbal diarrhea moment. This time the loony Robertson is claiming that liberals back abortion rights to help mainstream lesbians. And people wonder why the Brookings Institute labeled Hampton Roads old, slow and not too bright? With Robertson constantly damaging the region's image, it's no wonder that we have a net brain drain of the college educated and that progressive businesses are not exactly beating on the door to relocate to the region. Robertson's Regent University may afford a means for the non-Bible beater to get a degree through its much more liberal part time student policies (its law school, for example, allows part time attendance unlike Virginia's leading law schools), but the deleterious damage, in my view, out ways any possible positive benefit. Right Wing Watch has the latest on Robertson's batshit crazy bigotry. Here are highlights:
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Pat Robertson has figured out why President Obama supports the funding of Planned Parenthood and believes in a woman’s right to choose: because progressives want women to have abortions as a way to achieve equality for lesbians. While speaking with co-host Terry Meeuwsen of The 700 Club about the recent debate over Planned Parenthood’s funding, Robertson attempted to use “psychological stuff” to rationalize why progressives back Planned Parenthood and “this culture of death.” According to Robertson, progressives want straight women to “abortion their babies” to “put [lesbians] on a level playing field.”
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Meeuwsen: There are lots of government-funded agencies in this country. Why do you think the President picked that one above all else to say, ‘not one penny’?
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Robertson: Well it’s the left; it’s this culture of death. The far-left is livid about killing babies. They want to kill do this, they want to destroy. You go back, and I don’t want to play all this psychological stuff but nevertheless, if a woman is a lesbian, what advantage does she have over a married woman? Or what deficiency does she have?
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Meeuwsen: Well she can’t have children.
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Robertson: That’s exactly right. And so if these married women don’t have children, if they abort their babies, then that kind of puts them on a level playing field. And you say, nobody’s there to express that? Isn’t that shocking, well think about it a little bit ladies and gentlemen.

There Are a Few Semi-Sane Republicans Left

I do not always agree with Joe Scarborough on everything, but I respect him for not always mindlessly following the growing idiocy within both the GOP leadership and the increasingly frightening base of the party. One can be conservative without being a hate merchant and being totally detached from objective reality. Thus it is that Scarborough has begun calling out the rampant insanity in the GOP since he seems to realize that the growing lunacy and talk of violence by the birthers and teabaggers is sending moderates and independents running from the GOP. In an apparent effort to encourage responsible leadership to re-emerge in the GOP, Scarborough is starting a 'conservative honor roll' to reward GOP politicans who condemn the politics of hate. I wish Scarborough luck - I think at this point he's fighting an uphill battle. Here are some highlights from RawStory:

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MSNBC morning show host Joe Scarborough went on the attack against right-wing "hatred" Tuesday and declared he would be putting together a "conservative honor roll" to reward GOP politicians who denounce the rhetoric of commentators like Fox News' Glenn Beck.

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"You cannot say that the President of the United States ... hates all white people," Scarborough proclaimed. "You cannot call the President of the United States a racist. You cannot wallow in conspiracy theories -- as [Beck] did for about a month -- suggesting that FEMA might be setting up concentration camps and going on Fox & Friends and saying. 'I can't disprove it.' ... You can't stir up that type of hatred ... and then say, 'Oh, I'm just a rodeo clown.'"

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Scarborough pointed out that Peter Wehner -- a writer for the conservative magazine Commentary who ran the White House's Office of Strategic Intiatives for some time during the Bush administration -- has declared that Beck's inflammatory rhetoric is hurting the conservative cause.

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His interest in conspiracy theories is disquieting, as is his admiration for Ron Paul and his charges of American 'imperialism.'" Wehner concludes: "[T]he role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now — and will soon flame out." Added Scarborough: "You cannot stir up things that could have very deadly consequences. I was in congress in 1995, I know where this can end."

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"We're going to have a conservatives' honor roll on this show," Scarborough continued, referring to his show, Morning Joe. "And trust me, you want to be on this honor roll. I'm talking to you Mitt Romney, and I'm talking to anybody who wants to be president in 2012 -- you need to call out this type of hatred. Because it always blows up in your face. "Conservatives who don't call him out are responsible," Scarborough said. "I don't care if right-wing nuts get upset with me, that's just the reality."