Saturday, December 22, 2012

If you thought you had heard that speech by NRA President Wayne LaPierre before, perhaps you have. Archie Bunker gave it about forty years ago.

Now you might consider Carroll O'Connor's delivery pretty humorous, and indeed it was written for laughs, however it is not so funny when you compare it to what LaPierre actually said.

Essentially the only real difference between what Archie Bunker said in a sitcom back in the 1970's and the NRA President's speech yesterday is the passage of time and the laugh track.

Also not very funny, but pretty damn ironic is that at the very same time that LaPierre was telling the television audience that "guns don't kill people," and "the only thing that stops a bad guy with gun is a good guy with a gun" there was a guy walking down the streets of Pennsylvania making a mockery of his argument:  

According to local reports out of Blair County, at least four people were killed and five more were injured in a shooting spree near Altoona. The gunman is said to be among the dead, and at least two state troopers were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. 

WPXI's Courtney Brennan says she was told by emergency officials that the shooting suspect "was 'mobile' at one point and went up and down a rural road and shot victims."

You know another thing that made a mockery of what LaPierre said, were the actual facts  of one of the worst shootings in America's history.

LaPierre claimed that if there had been armed officers inside the Sandy Hook Elementary school, that Adam Lanza would never have dared to enter the premises and open fire.

Well tell that to the two officers who were present when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold started massacring their fellow students in Columbine High school. The two gunmen knew the officers were there, yet with superior firepower they simply outgunned them, and continued on their rampage unabated.

I am almost tempted to call the NRA, as it is today, a joke. Not a funny one, but a joke nonetheless,

Especially considering the clowns that populate its board of directors.

Here are a few you might recognize:

John Bolton, George W. Bush's pugnacious Ambassador to the U.N.
Grover Norquist, anti-tax fetishist and the man currently holding the GOP hostage.
Chuck Norris, ex-martial arts superstar and current advocate for putting Bibles in school classrooms.
Oliver North, disgraced in the Iran-Contra affair during Ronald Reagan's second term.
Ted Nugent, old "poopy pants" himself.
Larry "wide stance" Craig
Wayne Anthony Ross, Sarah Palin's ex-attorney and the first person in Alaska history to be refused confirmation as Attorney General.
Rep. Don Young, Alaska's lone Congressman and an individual who once used the term "There will come a day when those who will bite will be killed too, and I'm very good at that!"

However like I said though these are clearly a bunch of clowns, they are NO laughing matter. For they have each done their part to cause great harm to our country and its' people.

And to find evidence of that harm you need to look no further than Newtown, Connecticut.




39 comments:

  1. Sally in MI4:59 AM

    I think it's time we send "The Butter Battle Book" to these clowns, but I'm not sure they have enough brain power to understand the timeless Dr. Seuss.
    Oh and a quote for the day from him: from "Yertle the Turtle"
    "I know up on top
    You are seeing great sights,
    But down at the bottom
    We, too, should have rights."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:41 AM

    Wow, what a staggering list of nutjobs!! I had no idea. Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:59 AM

      My thoughts exactly!

      Delete
  3. Sharing this video everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paul - Minnesota7:52 AM

    Great post, Gryphen. The video nails the NRA speech exactly.

    Also on their list. Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck? I didn't know he was a gun nut. Chuck Norris, yeah, figures. Yet Tom Selleck on that list surprised me (or I'm just very uninformed).

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    Replies
    1. Paul,

      Tom Selleck went on Rosie O'Donnell's show after Columbine to plug a movie, and Rosie went after him for doing an NRA ad. The incident was pretty controversial at the time. Here's a link:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtkgoGY4Cm4

      Delete
    2. Anita Winecooler6:56 PM

      Here is the NRA, a year later, when Rosie did the million mom march.
      Notice how they twist the issue in their favor- what a bunch of cowards!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EzWQE3okZ4

      Delete
  5. Anonymous7:53 AM

    I teach in the public school 2 miles away from the shootings in Blair County, our kids are very upset and the school district has no clue how to deal with this tragedy. We are a community full of hunters, NRA Ballcaps, and guns. The local gun shops are doing a brisk business this morning. Very despressing.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:09 PM

      7:53 Sounds like you are from an area of the USA of which I'd not want to be a part.

      Hunting is good, but only for 'food' as far as I'm concerned.

      Americans are nuts to be purchasing more guns for no other reason than to be armed, stockpile an arsenal and protect themselves against the US government! Give me a friggin' break!

      I have a family member that fits in this group and it drives me nuts hearing him spout off - finally stopped listening to him. Plus, he hates President Obama and is racist - calls him the 'n' word all the time, which really gets my goat!

      Most of these white guys reflect nothing more than building their own egos and being what they view themselves to be - macho men! Barf!

      Delete
    2. Sally in MI4:47 PM

      My husband's family in Ohio is of this ilk as well, although only a few of them hunt or own guns (I think!) But when we see them on Tuesday, they will keep their idiocy on hold, as they know I will talk them down every time. But we now only go for a few hours, spend another few with my savvy 82 year old mom (who voted for Obama twice!) and then head back to Michigan, er, Nazigan.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:27 PM

      No one needs to hunt in this day and age. There are grocery stores on every corner with cheap food for the masses. Hunting only satisfies man's need to kill something. Ugghhh.. we need to evolve beyond this caveman nonsense of hunting. And yes, factory farming sucks, for the animals, but it's cheap food for people and there are other options that are humanely raised free-range for those that want to spend a bit more but hunting is just so 18th century.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous7:53 AM

    From the Huff. Post: Rather than putting an armed guard in all schools, why not put a teacher in all gun stores.

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  7. Anonymous7:54 AM

    I shared this video with my teenage son, who had never seen Archie Bunker or heard of the show. His take? "Sounds just like any teabagger."

    I remember watching Archie Bunker as a child, and back then in the more-enlightened 1970s, it was obvious that Archie was a laughingstock. Today Sarah Palin would be his best friend; he's uneducated, belligerent, shallow, and reactionary.

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  8. Anonymous8:00 AM

    A roundup of the conversation on the NRA and Newtown:

    First Lady Michelle Obama: “Talking to Our Kids about Newtown”

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/12/21/first-lady-michelle-obama-talking-our-kids-about-newtown

    Newtown residents, politicians blast NRA position: 'The most revolting, tone deaf statement I’ve ever seen,' says Rep. Chris Murphy, who represents Newtown in the U.S. Congress

    Says Newtown resident Barnett Parker, 68, 'They are unable to take ownership. It makes me crazy. It makes me freaking nuts.'

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/residents-fire-back-article-1.1225363#ixzz2FnedUYqT

    The NRA's Emperor Has No Clothes

    But this cloak of power was stripped away today at NRA honcho Wayne LaPierre's press conference on the Newtown shootings, revealing the NRA as a lobby with no clothes, or at least nothing but a holster strapped to the ankle (would that count as open carry?). LaPierre's rambling statement on the shootings wasn't really any more more far-out than anything else he's been saying the past few years. ("All of what we know is good and right about America, all of it could be lost if Barack Obama is reelected," he said earlier this year.) But this was the first time many in Washington and across the country had actually focused squarely on him and his organization in a long time, and this newfound focus, combined with the post-Newtown context in which LaPierre was speaking, was enough to make the NRA seem utterly, surreally amateurish and out of touch. You could all but hear the question rising around Washington: We've been letting ourselves be led around by these guys?

    http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/111384/the-nras-emperor-no-clothes-moment#

    NRA Chief Calls for More Guns Everywhere

    The head of the nation's most powerful gun rights organization laid out a vision of a paramilitary America, where citizens are protected by armed guards until they are old enough to walk around with their own firearms on the off-chance they might need to pump a few rounds into a fellow citizen. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said LaPierre. "Would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away ... or a minute away?" Yet outside of video games, civilians rarely stop mass shooters.

    While encouraging Americans to buy more guns—which would enrich the companies that fund the NRA—and station gun-toting guards at all schools, LaPierre declined to support any compromise on gun restrictions.

    http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/12/nra-chief-calls-more-guns-everywhere

    Guns, Smoke and Mirrors

    Seriously, what was the National Rifle Association performing on Friday? I thought it was going to be a press conference. It wasn’t. I really don’t know how to describe it. A soliloquy of propaganda? A carnival of canards? A herding of scapegoats?

    Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.’s executive vice president, blamed gun violence in general, and mass shootings in schools in particular, on everything except for the proliferation of brutally efficient, high-capacity guns and his organization’s efforts to resist virtually any restriction on people’s access to those weapons.

    It was an appalling display of deflection and deception. So much smoke and so many mirrors.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/opinion/blow-guns-smoke-and-mirrors.html?hp&_r=0

    The N.R.A. Crawls From Its Hidey Hole

    Mr. LaPierre looked wild-eyed at times as he said the killing was the fault of the media, songwriters and singers and the people who listen to them, movie and TV scriptwriters and the people who watch their work, advocates of gun control, video game makers and video game players.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/opinion/the-nra-crawls-from-its-hidey-hole.html?hp&_r=2&

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous8:00 AM

    NRA aims at foes, but shoots itself in the foot with LaPierre's statements

    Yesterday showed that maybe another week or month of silence from the NRA might have been better than an attempt to bludgeon the nation into forgetting what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary.

    The NRA didn’t have to concede its core beliefs in order to avoid looking just like the caricature of the heartless gun lobby that its foes talk about. LaPierre could have devoted more time to memorializing the victims, or simply said it’s not the time to rehearse old arguments.

    Yet he couldn’t resist letting loose with a familiar litany about how more guns, rather than fewer, make the country safer. He blamed the creators of gun-free zones for the murders. And, though he opposes registering guns, he wants the mentally ill listed on a national register.

    In another bizarre twist, he spoke as if the killings were the fault of old video games and the entertainment industry — showing he’s ready to throw the First Amendment under the bus to preserve the Second.

    He lectured rather than listened and didn’t even take questions. The result was a public-relations disaster.

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/aiming_at_foes_but_shooting_itself_CoWUncAocGBBnMr4nQLE8M

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  10. Anonymous8:15 AM

    LONELY LANZA: Newtown killer was a tech whiz who could reassemble a computer in 'minutes' but 'never spoke to anyone,' spent time alone in basement with video games and mom's guns

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com#ixzz2Fnmg13J2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sally in MI4:44 PM

      Too bad he didn't stay there.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous8:17 AM

    Gunman kills three in Pennsylvania rampage before dying in shootout with state police

    The gunman, identified by neighbors as Jeff Michael, wounded three state troopers in Geeseytown during a firefight on a rural road.

    Investigators on Saturday were still piecing together the scene, but said it appeared the gunman began by shooting Kimberly A. Scott, 58, as she was putting up decorations for a children's Christmas party at the Juniata Valley Gospel Church.

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/gunman-kills-pennsylvania-rampage-article-1.1225873#ixzz2Fnn8DT8a

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous8:18 AM

    Philadelphia teen threatens school shooting, has two handguns in his room

    Police found two 9 mm handguns in the bedroom of a boy who threatened to shoot people in his suburban Philadelphia high school a week after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pa-teen-2-handguns-threatens-school-shooting-article-1.1225619#ixzz2FnnO7Wwt

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8:21 AM

    TO LIVE AND DIE IN AMERICA

    3 Shot And Killed In Mich... 18-Year-Old Shot Multiple Times, Dies... Man Kills Wife, Teen, Himself... Man Shoots, Kills Own Son... Cops Shoot Teen Dead... Man Gunned Down In Parking Lot... 5 Dead In Spate Of Shootings... 2 Murdered In Philly... 2 Kansas Cops Shot Dead... Shooter Killed... 4 Die In Apparent Murder-Suicide... Ga. Cop Dies From Gunshot... Argument Leads Teen To Shoot Friend... Man Shot To Death...Teen Dies After Being Tied Up, Shot... Man Shot Dead In Street... Drug Deal Leads To Shooting Death... Mother Of 2 Killed In Road Rage Shooting... Man Shoots, Kills Intruder... 1 Killed In Coney Island... Man Dies From Gunshot Wounds... Cops Investigate Gun Death... Shooting Victim's Body Found On Bike Trail... Man Charged With Shooting Own Brother Dead... Man Dies After Being Shot In Chest... Body Of Shooting Victim Found In Pickup... Teen Arrested For Robbery Shooting Death... Man Carrying 2-Year-Old Son Shot Dead... Man Fatally Shot Near Home... Parolee Dies In Shooting... 1 Killed In Buffalo Shooting... Man Shot Dead In Apartment Complex... Street Gun Battle Kills Grandma Bystander... Man, Woman Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide... Woman Shot Dead By Intruder... 14-Year-Old Arrested Over Fatal Gun Attack...Man Found Shot Dead In Parking Lot... Woman Shot In Face By Ex-Boyfriend... 1 Woman, 3 Men Shot Dead... 2 Die In Attempted Robbery... Army Reservist Shot To Death In Alley... Man Shot To Death In Bodega... 2 Shot Dead In Burned House... Man Shot During Break-In... Man Fatally Shot... 20-Year-Old Gunned Down... Man Shoots Self During Police Pursuit... 1 Killed In Baltimore Shooting... Cops ID Shooting Victim... 60-Year-Old Man Shot Dead... Shot Man's Body Found In Vacant House.... Woman Shot And Killed Outside Her Home... Shooting Victim Was 'Trying To Turn Life Around'... Slain Shooting Victim Found In Street.... Driving Altercation Leads To Shooting, 1 Dies... 3-Year-Old Dies In Accidental Shooting... Man Turns Self In After Allegedly Shooting Wife... Man Shot Dead Outside Home... 3 Slain In Separate New Orleans Shootings... Cops Investigate Shooting Death... Man Shot Dead In Ohio... Teen Shot To Death... Man Dies After Being Shot Multiple Times... Man Charged Over Son's Shooting Death...Cops Find 2 Men Shot Dead... 1 Dies In Shooting... Man Charged Over Gun Killing... 1 Shot Dead In Confrontation... Man Charged With Murder Over Shooting... Motel Owner Shot And Killed... Husband Shoots Estranged Wife Dead... Suspect Arrested Over Deputy's Shooting Death... Police Probe Fatal Shooting... Cops Kill 2 Suspects In 3 Shooting Deaths... Man Killed Fighting Back Against Robber... Man Killed In Home Invasion.... Nightclub Shooting Kills 1... Child Brain Dead After Drive By Shooting... Man Charged Over Shooting Of Ex-Wife...Body Found In Vacant House... Teen Fatally Shot...

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/us-shooting-deaths-sandy-hook_n_2348466.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:23 AM

    Meet The Man Leading NRA’s Push For Guns In Schools

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/asa_hutchinson_nra.php?ref=fpa

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:40 AM

    Newtown massacre rifle purchased at same gun shop as earlier kill spree

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/slay_store_repeat_KutF4NfsFWmfJZhIrm8smO

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous8:41 AM

    EXCLUSIVE: Inside the mind of Newtown killer Adam Lanza; he ‘was like a ghost’

    His mother spotted his precipitous withdrawal before he went on his rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School. ‘He didn’t understand why she wanted him to go out into the world. She told me she couldn’t reach him — and she was worried,’ says a family friend.

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/exclusive-mind-newtown-killer-article-1.1223612#ixzz2Fnt8kTyq

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sally in MI4:43 PM

      "She was worried?" And yet, she did nothing to get rid of the killing machines SHE taught him to use, did she? I have no sympathy for the woman. She raised a killer, who was obviously not even remotely close to her. Why did she have all the guns? Geez, if I thought the person living with me was dangerous, the first thing I'd do is get rid of the weapons. But not to nutwings. They have to have their guns, like my grnadson's teddy bear or pacifier..what a bunch of cowards. Only a coward hides behind a gun instead of facing life.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous9:05 AM

    WATCH: O'Donnell Wipes The Floor With NRA Chief

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/22/lawrence-odonnell-nra-lapierre_n_2349965.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew he'd kick ass last night. And he certainly didn't disappoint, did he? Love that guy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:58 PM

      O'Donnell and Rachel are the best on MSNBC. Then Chris, Rev Sharpton and Ed. Watch them all most of the time! Suggest Republicans do the same - to learn something! All are experienced, smart and know what they are talking about - well researched too! And, they apologize if they say something that is incorrect! (Which isn't often!)

      Delete
    3. Anita Winecooler7:07 PM

      He was at his best on that show!

      Delete
  18. Anonymous9:21 AM

    Massive Newtown-Based Gun Group Champions Military-Style Weapons

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/22/national-shooting-sports-foundation-newtown_n_2348465.html?utm_hp_ref=crime&ir=Crime

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous9:35 AM

    To be accurate, the armed resource officer at Columbine high school was outside the school in his car (eating lunch) when the custodian called (?radioed?). There was never any plan at Columbine to scan students for weapons, funnel them into a single entrance or otherwise provide a secure environment. And, at that time and place, it probably seemed reasonable.

    I am convinced that providing armed security at every school, day care, summer camp, etc. is not the answer to the problem of assault weapons in the hands of mentally ill people. But the argument that there was an armed guard at Columbine high school doesn't really forward the discussion much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So none of the new armed gaurs would be having a lunch break?....or on the opposite side of the school when a gunmen burst in?

      At Fort Hood it took 45 seconds for that person to kill 12 people and wound 30...EVERYONE there was armend and trained...the best military in the world so they say.

      Even at this recent incident, by the time an "armed guard"....and he better be dressed head to foot in kevlar and have the same high-powered military weapon , gas mask and clips of ammunition, arrived at the scene it would be all over.

      Military weapons that can fire 100 rounds from a barrel clip in the matter of ~seconds~, armour piercing ammunition, full flack outfits, gas masks and gas bombs the ability to purchase all of this over the internet is lunacy ....and that was what was used in the movie theatre in Aurora...no single armed guard stands a chance against any of that.

      These massacres account for ONLY 1/10th of 1% of the gun violence...EVERY DAY 46 children are shot in the US EVERY DAY 8 of them die, EVERY DAY 36 are left to heal from the wounds of their gunshots...EVERY DAY.

      From 2006-2011 more US citizens died from gun-violence, than in the same number of years at the HEIGHT of the Vietnam war,

      10,000 US lives lost in the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars since 9/11, 2001~~~~120,000~~ killed at home by gun violence

      THAT is the reality of gun violence in the US and the country is behaving like a drug addict.....in COMPLETE denial...

      The US has a HUGE gun problem....not much hope it will ever be dealt with.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:39 AM

      "EVERYONE there was armend and trained"

      This is not true. Not everyone at the Ft. Hood shooting was armed. Most were not.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:50 AM

      Spot on, Martha, and I don't hold out hope either. Too much dinero.

      Delete
    4. "An armed police officer present at Columbine attempted to fire on one of the shooters, but was quickly pinned down by the greater firepower of the shooter's assault weapon. At the time of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the school had an accredited police force with an emergency response team that was described in a report on the mass shooting as "like a SWAT team."

      http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/21/will-media-fact-check-misleading-claims-from-nr/191962

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:22 AM

    Jesus, is there no end to these motherfuckers? These fuckin soulless paranoid dickweasels. Fuckin vermin.

    ReplyDelete

  21. The NRA and those who insist on "their right to bear arms"... CONSISTENTLY leave out the first part of of this constitutional right...the PURPOSE of this right..."A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state".

    The NRA claim because owning guns is a right, they cannot be registered or regulated..BOLLOCKS

    Just like THE most important right in the constitution ~~VOTING~~the federal government can and SHOULD register and regulate guns.

    Regulation should include the types of guns, sale of guns, ammunition, and the amounts of both and the status of gun owners should be revisited on a regular basis.....every 6 months like a class 1 drivers licence.

    If it were as hard to purchase, guns, ammunition, etc...as it is to register to vote..gun violence would drop dramatically.

    As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:
    "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:39 PM

      Now there's an idea...make it as hard to register and own a weapon as the GOP has made it to vote...either we then get a handle on how many guns are out there and who has them, or suddenly, polls will be open 20 hours a day for the two weeks before every election!

      Delete
  22. Anonymous12:06 PM

    So many of their Board Members I would not even cross the street to meet or to listen to hear their bullshit!

    Down with the NRA! We need gun control in the USA. No doubt about it!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anita Winecooler7:15 PM

    "All in the Family" tackled many issues that remain relevant today. I catch it in reruns from time to time, and I wonder why we haven't done more yet.

    Norman Lear was a genius, he blurred the line and pushed the envelope while making us laugh.

    ReplyDelete

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