News and Current Events - 2012

[oilgun]

How do these brain-dead idiots get elected?!

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs" and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.
[...]
"People say ... where was God in all of this?" Gohmert said. "We've threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God's name, they're going to be jailed ... I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html?

[oilgun]

NRA Tweet: Pro-Gun Group Sends Out Unfortunate Message After Aurora Shooting:

American Rifleman @NRA_Rifleman
Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?
20 Jul 12

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/nra-tweet_n_1689862.html

[AZ.bbm]

Needless to say that the outcome would have been vastly different had the ballsy driver been brown of african-american. 

-I don't doubt it. 

[AZ.bbm]

How do these brain-dead idiots get elected?!**

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs" and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.
[...]
"People say ... where was God in all of this?" Gohmert said. "We've threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God's name, they're going to be jailed ... I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present."

**I'm thinking, ' "Judeo-Christian" MONEY' is how  they get elected...

[AZ.bbm]

Is this jerk still around?  Why doesn't she shut her lousy stupid mouth?  It surely has been proven many times how ridiculous  she and her mouth are.  Anyway, it seems as if they all are a bunch of warmongers.  

It sounds just like the cheney/bush et al lying statements.

kathy    
p.s.  Just a thought re C. Rice: another of the cheney/bush crowd - all of them - and their lying statements.

--Yes, her swan song was the pronouncement about the star chamber murder of an American citizen, Kamal Derwish, by her CIA thugs. "It doesn't raise a constitutional issue."

Apparently, she never studied the Constitution -- there are things in that document about the right to live and breathe.

[AZ.bbm]

First Military Base Same-Sex Wedding Held
By Erin McLaughlin | ABC News – 4 hrs ago…

Two men became the first same-sex couple to marry on a military base when they held their wedding ceremony last month at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

Tech Sgt. Erwynn Umali and his partner, Will Behrens, married June 23 on the base where Umali, an active member of the Air Force, had been stationed. It was a decision that would have been unthinkable just nine months ago, before the law requiring them to keep their relationship a secret was repealed.

"We asked [about holding the ceremony on the base], and they were very open about it, but [said], 'No one has ever asked us this question before,'" Umali said in a Facebook chat hosted by Slate. "We did not get any push back from the base or leadership. All they asked was that we be patient because this was the very first one."

Both men say this positive reaction is the same sort of response they have gotten since going public with their relationship to Umali's peers in the military. After Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed last September, Umali decided to open up about his relationship with Behrens.

At a farewell luncheon hosted for him on his military base before he left for a special assignment, Umali came out in a very public way. In a speech in front of 40 fellow airmen, he thanked his partner and fiancé. His fellow airmen responded with a standing ovation, according to Slate.

About 150 friends and family attended the ceremony, which was officiated by Evangelical Lutheran Church Navy Chaplain Kay Reeb.

Not everybody has been so accepting of their relationship, however. Both men grew up in strict religious families. Behrens' parents don't approve of his homosexuality, and Umali's parents in the Philippines are still struggling with his homosexuality.

Both Behrens and Umali were previously married to women, and both have two children, all of whom were at the wedding.

"One thing that we know and want to show our kids is to be true to yourself and love everyone no matter what," Umali said. "This is a victory for us because our kids still love us and we love each other and that is what they see."

The family of six all went to Disneyland after the ceremony.

Despite their civil union, the federal Defense of Marriage Act means they don't have the same legal rights as heterosexual married couples, something they say they would like to see changed.

"It is our goal to see equality, but we also know that our country is not quite there yet," Behrens said. DOMA prevents Umali from extending his military heath care to Behrens' children, and when Behrens' visits Umali on base, he still needs a guest pass.

For now though, the newlyweds are just happy to be able to live their lives in the open, beginning with sharing a first kiss and a first dance in front of their family and friends at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Behrens in a tuxedo, and Umali in his Air Force uniform.

"I never thought I'd be able dance with a man like this on a military installation," Umali said.

"We fully understand we are going to have more battles, however, they only make us stronger," Behrens said. "We have gone through a whole lot already and we are ready for the future and to push forward."

-That last bit is so important -- we tend to get lulled into complacency when a stride toward freedom and equality is made. For example, when BHO was elected president, some people rejoiced, thinking that maybe, just maybe, prejudice and hatred had finally been superseded in America..?!

[AZ.bbm]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pentagon-to-allow-service-members-to-march-in-uniform-in-gay-pride-parade-for-first-time/2012/07/19/gJQAu24ywW_story.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-military-pride-idUSBRE86I1OI20120720

If only the rest of the country could handle integration of openly gay people as well as the United States Armed Forces. So proud to be a veteran I could just bust!

-Me, too, Fritz, me, too! 

[doodler]

How do these brain-dead idiots get elected?!

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs" and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.
[...]
"People say ... where was God in all of this?" Gohmert said. "We've threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God's name, they're going to be jailed ... I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html?

It occurred to me earlier today that this kind of thing... a lone gunman attacking a crowd... didn't use to happen in the good old days. If some nut job opened up on, say the folks at a church social in, oh the early or even late 1800s, he would have been dead before he got off all 6 shots.  Don't know where God is in that, but there is something to be said for packing heat.

[Tony_]

  Local news had an interview with someone from here that was wounded in the Colorado shootings.  It's hard to believe how interconnected the world is.  People in those theaters from all over.
 It's still hard to register the event itself.  And the people there......in shock.  One victim, speaking on CNN, said he was already having delayed stress, and the reporter told him they had started counselling.
 It's been a very, very, sad day, casting a pall over everything.  Reminds me of that Norway massacre, more than anything else.

[killersmom]

Bringing this forward for those interested:
It is in the Newsbox as well.

Dave posted this on his facebook page:

FYI I'll be on TV several times today, grim subject. Andrea Mitchell, Hardball, Sean Hannity & BBC.

Mod From Linda:
Just a few more detail from Dave in an e-mail so you know where the shows are broadcast.

i'm booked so far for Andrea Mitchell Reports (MSNBC) and Hardball With Chris Matthews (MSNBC), Hannity (Foxnews), and BBC's primetime current affairs show.

Video from Hardball with Dave.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/48264283#48264283

Video interview of Dave on Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mitchell-reports/48261685

Video with Dave on Hannity on Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/index.html

Video of UP w/Chris Hayes on MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979738/vp/48268676#48268676
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979738/vp/48268676#48268685
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979738/vp/48268676#48268691

NY Times Op-Ed piece by Dave:

The Unknown Why in the Aurora Killings - Don’t Jump to Conclusions About the Killer

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/the-unknown-why-in-the-aurora-killings.html?_r=1&smid=tw-share

[Lyle (Mooska)]

but there is something to be said for packing heat.

Instances where others have had guns in these situations normally show that people aren't
always sure who the gunman/men are and more innocent bystanders get shot.  I saw a
program where there was surveillance footage of something like this and they showed a
guy (not the gunman) who took out his gun and shot at the actual gunman. Someone
who was walking into the building who had a gun immediately thought HE was the shooter
and started firing at him.  He missed and shot some other workers.  That's something else
to be said for packing heat.

[doodler]

Right.
 

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Right.
 

   

[kathy]

Too early?! The first thing his mother said was she wasn't surprised.

She even stated "I'm sure you have the right person".   What???

What kind of family is this?

kathy    

[morrobay]

I hate the way the media makes this, and all disasters, into a way to get ratings and make money.  Brian Williams went to CO to do interviews, like no one else is qualified but him, and I know at least 1 major station is doing an hour-long report in primetime tonight.  I don't want to witness the misery of the victims up close, and the stations will do it for ratings.  I won't watch any of it.

I have seen what I need to see, I don't need to see any bloodstained shirts to know that it really happened.   I heard the story and don't feel the need to know any more about this guy. 

As for the victims, I'm very sorry for them and wish their families would be left alone, but already some family members have been interviewed.  I will never understand how people want to be on TV so bad that they will stand in front of a camera and answer inane questions from a slimy reporter after just losing someone to a random, senseless, violent death. 

I wish there wasn't such a market for this kind of thing, but their ratings will soar tonight.  I won't be adding to them.