Thursday, December 06, 2007

Omaha shooter shoots some people.

More reasons to thank the baby Boomers, the stupidest generation in American history, for their legacy of moral confusion.

Yesterday, eight people were murdered in Omaha. The media won't use the term murders or massacre. They'll use terms like shooting or incident. They won't call the murderer a murderer. They opt for shooter instead. This reveals a ton about the media none of which is good.

The media won't describe the Omaha murders as such because that's a value judgment. Thanks to the Age of Stupidity ushered in by the Baby Boomers in the 1960s, terms like murderer or killer are not used. Moral relativism rules the newsroom.

The term shooter focuses attention on the gun, not the killer. The media has values and one of those values is guns are evil (a term they won't even think about using for the murderer). To push their agenda, the media uses shooter to bring attention to the gun. This is an odd use of language considering we never call someone who kills with a knife a knifer. But the media isn't anti-knife, they're anti-gun.

What may be the worst thing the media does with newstories like this is they include the killer in the death tally. This is a fairly recent development in news coverage and it's an ugly development. Nine dead in Omaha shooting. The headlines should read eight massacred in Omaha. This is sickening. If you were a family member of one of those slaughtered by this piece of filth, how would you feel about including him on a list of the victims? I'm still upset that the monument to the students and teachers murdered by the Virginia Tech killer includes the killer! If I was friend or family to any one of those students I'd deface the monument. No joke. I would literally try and damage or destroy the monument.

The sad thing about this is if the killer had walked into an animal shelter and shot eight puppies, he'd be called a lot worse than murderer by the media. And more folks would be outraged nationwide. Don't believe me?

Mike Vick.

Monday, December 03, 2007

My big problem with Mike Huckabee.

First off, I don't expect perfection from public officials. Second, unlike many conservatives and Republicans, I do not believe the field of potential nominees on the Republican side is weak. I see just the opposite: It's the strongest field of nominees in my lifetime. Think about it: America's Mayor (Giuliani), one of America's greatest war heroes (McCain), two highly successful governors (Romney and Huckabee), and a star of the screen both big and small (Thompson). It is an all-star line-up, in my opinion, even though you still have the nutters in the race as well (Paul and Tancredo).

But with my admiration of the Big Five candidates, I also have problems with each--major problems. It won't stop me from voting for the Republican nominee because, let's face it, the Democratic side is weak. If the Republican field is the Major League Baseball All-Stars, the Democratic field is a Triple A ballclub with no true pitchers, one guy in the outfield (left fielder Dennis Kucinich), and no catcher at home plate.

The focus of this post is the one major problem I have with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee is surging in the polls. I genuinely like the guy and he is not a big government Republican like many on the right claim. However, he is for a national ban on smoking in public places. Frankly, I find that position sickening both from a moral perspective and a scientific perspective; smoking is a legal substance that doesn't hurt anyone but the smoker (excepting it does aggravate allergies and asthma). Seems Huck has bought into the second-hand-smoke-causes-cancer nonsense. Mike, organizations like the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Association, and the truth.com folks cannot cite a single example of someone dying from second-hand smoke (I mean, they occasionally attempt to cite examples but in the few examples cited--three people to my knowledge--each has been dismissed as unverifiable or non-existent). If tens of thousands of Americans are dying from second-hand smoke each year, don't you think it's kinda odd that major organizations like the ones I mentioned cannot name even one person who has died because of second-hand smoke? C'mon, Mike. I know Huckabee's intentions are good but his position on this issue smacks of totalitarianism, a defining attribute of the left.

I know what you are thinking: If this is the only thing Joe can find wrong with the guy, he'd make a pretty good president.

And you're right.