Re: HLA is productive

From: Beth (BethStone21_at_hotmail.NOSPICEDHAM.com)
Date: 10/15/03 

Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:06:21 +0100

Frank Kotler wrote:
> sinewave wrote:
> > ,______________________________________ \ / | |
> > |_________________,----------._ [____] ""-,__ __.../ /' -=====
> > (_(||||||||||||)___________/ "" / / |
> > `----------' [ ))"-, (w| |
> > "" `, _,--....___ |
> > `/ """"
> >
> > LOL. nice shotgun Annie! by the looks of it, a mossberg 500
pump-action
> > 12- guage "persuader". IMO one of the finest pumps ever made:
milspec
> > with dual extractors and action bars.
>
> How do you get Mossberg 500? Does the thing actually eject to the
left?
> Definitely pump-action. The unmistakeable sound of a pump-action
cocking
> is well known to potential "bad guys". I'm thinking of recording it
and
> distributing it on CD to folks who want security, but don't actually
> want a gun in the house... (Beth?)

Kayla Rolland, aged 6...

---------------------------------

911: Geese County 911?
TEACHER: I have a student at Buell School that has been downed.
            I need an ambulance immediately.
911: Where is the child that's been shot?
TEACHER: Right here, on the floor of my class.
            Oh God, please! She's getting white.
911: She's getting white? Is she breathing?
TEACHER: Yes, the little girl is getting white.
911: Is she breathing?
TEACHER: No, she's not!
911: Where is the child that shot her Ma'am.
            Do you have any idea?
TEACHER: He's in the office.
911: He's in the office?
            Where was she shot?
TEACHER: I can't tell. I'm too scared to turn the body.
            Please Lord! Please Lord! Please Lord!

---------------------------------

[ Transcription of actual 911 call made ]

Here's a picture of this dead 6 year old girl:
http://www.visionfusion.net/kayla_rolland/kayla2.jpg

The bullet passed straight through her body...

Her favourite food was pizza...she liked teddy bears and Barbie
dolls...she played kick ball...and always attended Sunday school every
week...sharing a joke or two with her friends...

Her life ended within a half-hour after being shot...

She played with her friend, Ashley Mallory, in the backyard...swinging
on a pink swing set...to swing high enough to see over the patched
roofs and the Tom Sawyer-like white pickett fence...swinging high
enough to touch the sky...

"At least I'll be able to see her in Heaven. When I saw her on the
news, I knew it was Kayla and I started to feel sad. I'm pretty sure I
might just think I'm playing with her in my mind. I don't know why
somebody would kill her. I'll just pray and thank God that I didn't
die."

[ Ashley Mallory, aged 7 at the time this was spoken, Kayla's best
friend ]

Kayla attended Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Flint,
Michigan...right up until she died there...the Beecher Community
School District, covering Buell Elementary, has more than 87% of its
students living below the official poverty line, according to federal
estimates...her family were only of modest means - a small home in a
working class neighbourhood, opposite a boarded up house, that sold
for less than $10,000 when the family moved away to Princeton street,
probably to try to escape the constant reminders of their little
girl - but she was deeply Loved...

"Oh...oh, yeah...there were people from all over America that wrote
and called and
sent mail and...they wanted this little boy [ who'd shot Kayla ] to be
hung from the highest tree...I mean, there was such an undercurrent of
racism and hate and anger...it was ugly..."

[ Arthur Busch, County Prosecutor for Flint, Michigan ]

---------------------------------

     BRETT
    I just want you to know how sorry we are about how fucked up
things
    got between us and Mr. Wallace. When we entered into this thing,
we
    only had the best intentions --

As Brett talks, Jules takes out his gun and SHOOTS Roger three times
in the chest, BLOWING him out of his chair.

Brett has just *** his pants. He's not crying or whimpering, but
he's so full of fear, it's as if his body is imploding.

    JULES (to Brett)
    _OH, I'M SORRY. DID I BREAK YOUR CONCENTRATION?_

---------------------------------
[ Pulp Fiction script ]

Now, I know some of the counter-arguments already...so, let's save
some time...

There are between 600 and 700 gun deaths of children under 14*
annually in America...whereas, for comparison, there are around 1000
children in the same age range who drown annually*...do we ban
swimming pools, then, as they are responsible for the deaths of more
children? And what about cars? Deaths caused by vehicles is a massive
killer...about the biggest one - for all ages - that's non-health
related like heart diease or cancer...do we ban all automobiles?

[ * Figures taken from a _pro-gun_ website making the case _for_ gun
ownership, just to be 100% absolutely sure no-one can accuse me of
rigging the statistics because I'm _accepting_ the figures - be they
biased or not - blindly of those arguing against me...the numbers have
no effect on the underlying argument, you see...so it doesn't matter
which ones you want me to quote... ]

No; And here's why...vehicles are not primarily weapons...they
transport people and goods around, serving an _invaluable_ service and
function (in a country as big as America, for example, having no
vehicles at all with such vast distances to be covered would literally
grind an entire nation to a halt)...the vast, vast, vast majority of
these deaths are entirely _accidental_...someone losing control or a
child running blindly into a road...trying to run people down with a
car is not going to be a serial killer's first weapon of choice...

Swimming pools are a luxury, true...but they are not designed for
drowning small children...on the contrary, young children can learn to
swim, which may help to _save_ their lives from drowning...or conspire
to allow them to save others who are drowning...responsible owners
should, of course, take all steps...a fence around the pool, covering
the pool, draining the pool, supervising children as they swim,
etc....the drownings here are, again, almost all _purely
accidental_...

The world is, unfortunately, not a safe place...accidents can and do
happen...and they are capable of taking someone's life...

On the other hand, home owners are buying their Mossberg 500 as
"security"...if someone trepasses into their home, then they have
purchased this product to fire at the trepasser...it is a weapon...its
primary design is to kill humans and / or animals...in purchasing it
for your security, you are accepting that you may be called upon to
use it and seriously injure or kill someone with it...you may not want
this to happen but, then again, you don't want people to break into
your house either...it may happen regardless of your own
wishes...implicitly the purchase of a weapon for "security" is an
acceptance that you may have to take someone's life in order to
protect your family and your property...the Second Amendment is your
right to be armed ready to kill...it is literally a licence to kill,
albeit under particular circumstances (that is, if someone stands over
the boundaries of your home and you shoot them, it's first degree
murder...they take one step onto your lawn and you can then start
firing your shotgun...it's your "right" to do so...this mild
contradiction in American law - that a single step takes you from the
most heinous crime on the statute books to something "reasonable"
that's a "right" all can enjoy - no wonder American paper boys and
girls _throw_ the newspaper and the mail (UK: post) is delivered to a
box on the edge of the property...you daren't risk walking up to the
door to actually post it - more conveniently for the home owner -
through a letterbox in the door)...

Oh, one minor point...you do realise that the Second Amendment has no
age clause or mental illness clause or anything? Strictly, if you deny
a 12 year old from "bearing arms" then you are infringing their
constitutional right...and the same goes for someone who's got a known
sociopathic illness and is certified irresponsible...it is unlawful
and treasonous to do so...check the wording yourself...it merely says
"the people" and that's what 12 year olds and sociopaths are
too...plus, it's always a bit dodgy to be quoting this amendment
because it starts with the words "A well regulated militia, being
necessary to the security of a free state...", which is NOT what we're
talking about here...lone gun owners are not a "militia"...it's only
because of the very loose wording - the same loose wording that
actually means it's unconstitutional to deny a 12 year old or
certified deranged madman any form of arms - that it can be twisted to
justify it...the Second Amendment was written specifically to deal
with a particular problem in the past...the "Wild West" was unruly and
only just technically over the verge from "total anarchy", as the
systems of law and military defence were not in any way mature...

The original Bill of Rights, for instance, only gave men the vote and
there's a later amendment, as times changed, for everyone to get the
vote (actually, there's more than one amendment to the amendments
about this...it wasn't just women who were originally denied the
vote)...but, sure, you can also quote that one out of context -
ignoring the rest - and use it to stop a whole host of people voting,
in exactly the same way you can drag up the Second Amendment, ignore
the history of why it's there, ignore that times have changed since,
ignore that it opens on specifically stating "militia", etc....sure,
you can do that...just like I can shoot a Chelsea pensioner between
certain prescribed times because every nation has its bizarre anicent
laws that should have long since been removed but no-one ever got
around to doing it...

Unfortunately, the ***-up was an amendment to forbid further
amendments...oops...so, tell me, if, in the future, it becomes cheap
and easy for people to arm themselves with weapons that have immense
destructive capacity, then you can't stop someone firing a ballistic
missile onto their own lawn and, well, taking out a city block or two
with it...nope, it's their "constitutional right" to do so...really,
it says "bear arms", NOT "own guns"...so, why not buy a
rocket-launcher to defend your home? Or you could release some Sarin
gas at the paperboy standing on your lawn...or how about parking a
tank on your driveway? And if you don't mind the mess, why not stab
the trepasser over and over repeatedly with one of those Navy Seals
SOG knives because they're never going to bother you again when you've
decorated your porch with their entrails, are they? That's "arms"
too...or would these things _puncutate what you're actually doing_ too
much that you'd lose that sense of intoxicating "I am God" power from
it? Would that make the thrill of it all lose its sweet taste? Does it
inconveniently bring home that there's a very thin line here indeed?

[ Iraq gets attacked because one of its people - Saddam - "may" have
been "thinking" about some ballistic missiles...perhaps...yet, it's a
"constitutional right" for every American home to not just contemplate
it but, if you've got the cash, you can install that missile defence
straight away..."self-defence", right? These "neo-cons" aren't even
seeing these people - or the French or Germans, for that matter - as
even human or deserving of rights, are they? That's why they couldn't
put any Americans into the Guantanamo concentration camp, by the
way...it basically infringes almost every single right in the
Constitution...but, of course, the Bill of Rights only has
"jurisdiction" on American citizens - so they get shipped off for
their constitutionally guaranteed speedy, fair trial with public and
media scrutiny - and on Cuban soil, state laws don't get in the
way...really, this is as _CYNICAL_ as you can get in finding every
single "loophole" possible to avoid their _obligations_ to American
and international law...call them "illegal combatants" so the Geneva
Convention doesn't apply as it's worded for "prisoners of war" (of
course, this is bullcrap...because Bush has declared this a "war",
right? And they are _prisoners_ of that war...they _are_ "prisoners of
war"...but they are denying this because they know the second they
admit that that's what they are, they'll have to operate within the
laws...open up the concentration camp for "inspections" and to NGOs
and so forth...so, if it's all peachy perfect - though, by the way,
the "sensory depreviation" we _know_ they've used regularly on these
prisoners _DOES_ count as "torture" under international laws that
America is signed up too...in fact, shall we even be precise here and
point out that it's exactly the sort of "cruel and unusual punishment"
that the Constitution protects American citizens from? But, yup, the
Constitution and Geneva Convention doesn't apply..._because they made
sure it wouldn't, by hook or crook_...though, there's NO EXCUSE on the
Declaration of Human Rights breaches _now on-going there_...because
that applies in all instances without exception and America is not
just a signatory but were a leader on it and, the nature of it is
clearly a sort of "Bill of Rights for all world citizens" that America
was the inspiration for it...

But, no, let them carry on...I mean, it's only "justice" to have a
concentration camp specifically for children, where none of these
_specifically foreign Muslims_ (I don't need to draw the parallel, do
I? You already know which other religion and hatred for foreigners
were targetted before) are actually charged with any crime at all and
there's absolutely no accountability, public scrutiny or anything
applied, where every means has been taken to find "loopholes" around
legal obligations...so that the military can operate as accuser,
kidnapper (taking people without permission from foreign soil is
actually a crime), jailer, torturer, judge, jury and executioner
without the American public - or anyone - being able to be able to see
that "due process" is being applied...in fact, they do anything and
everything - contradictions have already appeared in their
justifications - to avoid their human responsibility to demonstrate
that this is, indeed, correct... ]

I do understand, you know...I've had a handgun in my paws and fired a
blank...yup, Frank, that sound of the barrel cocking _does_ carry a
satisfying sound to it...those who've been paying attention have noted
me talking about Kung Fu films and directors like John Woo, who Loves
his guns that all his characters always carry two of them (the old
Lara Croft "double guns" thing is originally his trademark - John Woo
likes to turn his fight scenes into "ballets" - very carefully
choerographed like "macabre dances" (now stolen by films like the
Matrix...and Quentin Tarantino does it in "Kill Bill" but he's
forgiven because he's a film nut and, thus, his stuff is "tribute"
with reference (Uma's Bruce Lee suit, for example) and used with
respect in context, not just swiped when no-one was looking) - and the
two guns are counter-weights...you know what I mean? Even if you just
imagine having two guns in both hands, then you automatically start
moving them in synchronisation and it's very much like the "ballet" of
those martial arts poses...it just looks damn good on the screen to
watch - that got "loaned")...I Loved Quentin Tarantino's stuff and am
really looking forward to "Kill Bill" (not seen yet ;) because he's
going to have proper martial arts stuff...all that fighting on wires
stuff...hey, it's not my favourite type of game or anything, but I've
giggled as I've launched one of those bouncing grenades in a Quake
game and blown up a player who had absolutely no idea that I could
even see them...blah-blah-blah...

It's not like I'm squeemish or anything...in fact, as I Love to watch
those oriental films, horror films, Buffy, the Matrix, Tarantino films
and that sort of thing, I'm probably more psychotic and
blood-thirsty - in a virtual sense - than the "average"...

But you have to draw a distinction...yet, I know that's not so easy to
do...I knew a guy who had got himself a gun and he'd brought it to
show it off (he was just old enough to get one and we were all a bit
younger...you know, a bit of a sad git showing off to kids younger
than him how "hard" he was)...loaded with blanks only...and, yeah, he
had "fun" pointing it at people to see them squirm because he was
having some sick "fun" in not bothering to mention that it was only
loaded with blanks...firing once in the air to prove it was the real
deal and then waving it around...when he finally admitted they were
just blanks, everyone was suddenly like "give me a go! Give me a
go!"...and, sure, though not quite that enthusiastic, me
included...you know, just to find out what it's like...actually, not
to0 dissimilar from a similar incident where I "didn't inhale"...that
same "buzz" of something new and slightly "dangerous" and cool...

It's intoxicating...just like drugs...and this "denial" that a
weapon's primary use is to _kill_ and that having one is an implicit
acceptance of possibly having to take someone's life with it and
stuff, really is amazingly familiar as "denial" to protect the "buzz"
feeling...

Come on, it's as transparent as anything that this glorification of
the sound of a barrel re-loading and the calibre and capacity and
everything...it's the "in the gang" stuff of the older kid showing the
younger kids how to make a "hand bong" (not wanting to encourage it in
any way, you put two hands together and make a small "chamber" and
then put the joint between the fingers and suck it into the
"chamber"...the increased smoke and mixing with oxygen makes it
stronger...this, though, is an episode from a misspent youth...I don't
go near any such thing anymore...mug's game 100%)...

And I recognise the "denial" from knowing a kid who I grew up with who
eventually became an alcoholic...taking pills for his kidneys _before_
he was even officially old enough to be buying drink (and, remember,
it's _18_ here, not 21)...watched the entire slippery slope...the
"tricks" that are used...had to learn to spot the signs because he did
once or twice just flare up into throwing fists at other people, to
know when I might have to duck and back off or cool him down a
bit...how serious alcoholics are _amazingly good_ - it defies belief
at times - at appearing sober when they've just drunk enough to floor
any normal person...

You see, Annie my dear, I'm not some "innocent angel" who's only had a
white-bread experience of the darker elements of life...not that
there's an ounce of pride to be taken from that at all...this ain't no
pissing contest and I'd be bound to lose, most probably...but I know
what's involved and have read the pro-gun arguments and have studied
the Bill of Rights and so forth...and, no, the presence of guns
themselves does not necessarily mean people will get shot...sorry, I
know you'd Love to just pull out some "ignorance" or "you have it
easy" or whatever argument to dismiss me in a single wave of the
hand...but that's just simply _avoidance_..._very characteristic_ of
"denial"...

But, in the end, it does boil down to a few simple points...if you
don't have a gun then you can't shoot anyone...if you do have a gun,
then its primary purpose is as a weapon to shoot and potentially kill
people...and, yes, this isn't a perfect world, so accidents will
happen or someone will break through the protections, whatever is
done...and, yes, the cat is out of the bag...so, what works here and
elsewhere - that criminals are _rarely armed_ because they are
actually _only_ arming themselves as a means to get away with their
crimes and know that _YOU_ (and the police) are armed so they try to
simply even up the odds - can't be easily undone in a culture so
immersed in owning weapons, that's built up this MAD (Mutually Assured
Destruction) Cold War-like stalemate between criminals and home
owners...it's too late for America - and even Britain (our stuff _is_
on the increase, as our drug dealers are starting to copy American stu
ff like drive-by shootings with automatic weapons, which were once
totally unheard of) - to ever get back to the levels Japan enjoys
(stupidly low...amazing for a culture that has a brutual feudal past
and violent martial arts all through their culture)...

But understand one thing...you are joking about Kayla Rolland and all
the other 750 to 900 under 14s who will die this year...you are
glorifying a weapon, primarily designed to take someone's life from
them...the right you defend is also the right for someone else who's
not as "responsible" as you to be the one to _shoot YOU_...this
"Mutually Assured Destruction" between criminals and ordinary citizens
is exactly as the name suggests, but isn't like the Cold War variety
because people _will_ fire them...every time you defend this "right"
for yourself, you _are_ defending it for that person who potentially
may one day shoot _you_ or someone you know...they don't really live
in the woodwork like cockroaches, you know, they live _in your
neighbourhood_ or coming from a neighbouring one...heck, it's happened
before...people snap...that killer might even _be you_ or someone you
know and wouldn't expect, one day...who knows what the future holds...

"From my cold dead hands!"
[ Charlton Heston ]

What the "chimp fuehrer" above doesn't realise is that's probably
_exactly what will happen_...and the great alternative if it doesn't
happen, is that Mr.Heston shot first and is now a killer, living with
the death permanently on his conscience until the day he dies...and,
no, soldiers and people who've been forced to do this don't actually
seem to take any comfort or that the permanent torturous guilt is any
less because "the sucker deserved it!"...

Yes, I am actually _sickened_ by what I'm hearing here...the
glorification of killing weapons...talk of trying to "persuade" people
to also glorify, reminicent of the junkie "recruiting" youngsters...a
sort of way to justify their addictions by trying to make it
"normal"...the utter contempt for 11,000 people (minus roughly the 100
that happen in other countries to get the figure of what the American
attitude to guns claims extra) who were violently killed by weapons...

Emotional argumentation? Oh, you have no idea how much I'm holding
back so as not to damage my very, very legitimate argument without
tainting them...because, literally, I consider you lot friends and
good acquaintances (heck, even Annie...she _can_ be hilariously funny
at times)...

But, in this context, I don't recognise you...sincerely and
honestly...I don't recognise those same people here...much like I
slowly saw a friend lost to alcoholism until, now, I lost touch
completely and it doesn't effect me so much...because, in the end, the
person I knew effectively died...the body they once inhabited is still
(barely) walking around so I'm told by mutual friends who still see
him...but I ceased to be able to recognise the person anymore...it's
not heartless, really...because the person I knew went and some
stranger - like some bum on the street - that replaced him, I had no
recognition of...no connection to...I miss the person I used to know
totally...but the "dead man walking" with the broken kidneys out there
ain't him...

And, here, I'm getting that same feeling...the same feeling of not
being able to recognise people who talk about helping other people and
do so voluntarily...people who welcome newbies from all over the
world...now glorifying the means to kill other people...give with one
hand, take with the other? I don't completely understand it, I must
confess...it doesn't seem to add up at all..."I will help you and be
nice and welcome you, _until_ you step onto my lawn then I'll blow the
side of your skull off with an 8 gauge!"...

---------------------------------

JULES:
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities
of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the
name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley
of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of
lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance
and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.
And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon
you."

The two men EMPTY their guns at the same time on the sitting Brett.

When they are finished, the bullet-ridden carcass just sits there for
a moment, then TOPPLES over.

All is quiet.

---------------------------------

[ Pulp Fiction script ]

(Not really what Ezekiel 25:17 actually says, by the
way...superficially, everyone thinks that Jules is just saying some
cool *** before unloading his gun into someone...that's what Jules
thinks too..._UNTIL_ the Lord actually lays his vengeance upon
him...by _sparing_ his life and making him _know_ that that's what He
did...because, of course, "vengeance is a dish best served cold", as
the ancient Klingon proverb - that, coincidentally, opens up
Tarantino's latest "Kill Bill", as if to make the point with a subtle
sledgehammer - reminds us)...

Beth :(