I am now up to two packs a day. Of gum. I also paid $400 for “the shot” because I hate to suffer (as do those around me). I’m sure I’ve managed to be relatively unpleasant for the last week, though. I tell you what, that shot will knock you on your ass for the remainder of the day. I think they use heroin, or something…

Image from CNN.com

Have a nice weekend all (well, except Paris, your weekend is gonna suck).

Reading between the lines, it appears that the “medical issue” is that she won’t eat the food served in jail. So much for her statements of:

“I’m going to come in here, I’m going to do my time, get it over with, and I’m going to show the world who I really am.”

and

“I’m really scared but I am trying to be strong. I hope I’m setting an example to other young people.”

Paris, you showed the world who you are all right, and you have set an example to be sure. It’s “If you can’t do the time, don’t eat the food.”

Bush has already told Cheney to tell Libby to eat nothing…

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3
]]> http://irishitinerant.com/2007/06/06/dublin-bike-couriers/feed/ http://irishitinerant.com/2007/06/05/when-are-we-going-to-learn-about-guns/ http://irishitinerant.com/2007/06/05/when-are-we-going-to-learn-about-guns/#comments Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:45:42 +0000 mark http://irishitinerant.com/2007/06/05/when-are-we-going-to-learn-about-guns/

It’s been well over a month since the Virginia Tech massacre. Nothing here has changed much – I can still head down to the pawn shop and pick up a gun. Easy, no worries.

I should point out that I recently got rid of my handgun. It was my way of no longer being a part of that culture. So, now I’m a convert, much like one who has quit smoking and then tries to guilt any remaining smoker friends. A lot like that, except I have not quit yet…

Shortly after the massacre, the governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine stated “To those who want to make this into some sort of crusade, I say take this elsewhere.” Really Tim? Where should we take it? Why should we not talk about the gun culture that is consuming our own nation?

The logic here is simple. If you remove the guns, deaths due to guns will decline. If you ban hammers, there will be less nails pounded. What is so magical about guns?

“If you outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have guns”, says you.

That’s a valid enough point, and certainly what folks like the fuckwits at the NRA would have you believe. But is it true? Over the years, I’ve seen pieces of propaganda pointing to Australia and the “huge” crime wave that followed their relatively new gun control laws. Like this one:

From: Ed Chenel, a police officer in Australia.

Hi Yanks,

I thought you all would like to see the real figures from Down Under.

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by a new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars.

The first year results are now in: Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent, Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent; Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent!). In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. (Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not and criminals still possess their guns!)

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since the criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in “successfully ridding Australian society of guns.”

You won’t see this data on the American evening news or hear your governor or members of the state Assembly disseminating this information.

The Australian experience proves it. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note Americans, before it’s too late!

Snopes pretty much picks the above “letter” apart as mainly statistically flawed. You see “Ed” is a bit of a moron that could not argue his way out of a wet paper bag. You can read the entire thing here if you want.

But, I’m saving the best for last. Even after reading the Snopes commentary, the co-worker that sent me this article remains convinced that the Snopes data supports increased gun ownership. This guy is a gun freak and has an entire room in his house dedicated to his gun collection. I’ll let you be the judge.

My personal thought is that my co-worker should not be allowed out of the house with as much as a dull pen knife as he obviously has the intellect of a couch. These are the people campaigning against gun control.

You should be scared.

In just a few minutes, we heard that another aircraft had hit the same place. What the fuck? At that point, TV channels began changing, phones began ringing, and all hell broke loose. As you know, later that morning, all aircraft over or inbound to the US were ordered to land at the nearest suitable airport. We had planes, passengers, and crews everyfuckingwhere.

In the months that followed, life changed a lot. I was grounded from my part-time flying job due to airspace restrictions, and the pace of work picked up tremendously at the airline. There were Secure Cockpit Doors to be installed, aircraft weaknesses to be identified, new procedures to be developed, etc. See some pilots thought it might be a good idea to do one thing, and we had to convince them to do another (sorry, not going to elaborate here). I can remember sitting in the cockpit on a number of flights with a crash axe in my hand. The axe was supposed to be embedded in the skull of any would-be cockpit intruder.

The portion of the comment regarding industry and politicians was inspired by the farewell address of President Dwight Eisenhower in 1961. From wikipedia:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Is anyone going to argue that we have arrived at exactly the situation that Eisenhower warned against? A significant percentage of special forces operatives are private contractors. Ditto for many of the folks that perform logistical tasks for the military. Ask any soldier, and they’ll have a story of a contractor doing a similar job to their own in Iraq or Afghanistan for 3+ times the pay.

In short, the more profitable war becomes, the more we’re going to see of it.

On being scared - many would not have it any other way. Not to sound too “black helicopter”, but fear is an excellent means of control. Hermann Goering (remember this infamous Nazi?) had the following to say:

“…it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. … All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”

Did terrorists attack us? Yes. Is fear being used to perform acts that we might otherwise not go along with? Yes. I do not believe that our gov’t knew of, or in any way assisted with, Sept. 11, 2001. However, it has allowed them to do some things without Joe Public even batting an eyelid. The Iraq War, Patriot Act, illegal surveillance, etc.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I had to get this out of me. If I were to try and paraphrase all of the above, it would probably sound a lot like “Fuck you Noel, shove it up your hole.”

I feel better now.

The good news - I keep my job and can probably squeeze ‘em for more moola next month.

The bad news - I keep my job and it will pay me more, making my quest for self-employment increasingly difficult.

Sometimes life is hard, ya know?

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it .

Me: “What?”

Warehouse guy: “See you next Tuesday!”

What the fuck over? Maybe you won’t see me next Tuesday. Or even Wednesday. Maybe I’ll take vacation and not even come in at all that week!

See, that’s the problem with the guys in the warehouse. They’re a right bunch of cunts.

[Update] Texting me with “CU Next Tuesday” also not funny.