The courage of idiots

Fucking fuck John Derbyshire.

Fucking fuck Nathaniel Blake.

And fucking fuck all of the mindless gun loving zombies that delude themselves into thinking that more guns would solve the problems of gun violence.

How dare these cretins impugn the courage of the students, faculty and staff at Virginia Tech, as they face the trauma, shock and loss brought about by this violent tragedy. Indeed Mr. Derbyshire, it is easy to say things. It is entirely another matter to do things while under fire.

Neither of these crawling idiots seems to have given the least thought to the circumstances involved in these shootings. Derbyshire has this to say, "Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad."

First off, a handgun doesn't need to be very accurate at close range. It just needs to hit the victim. Second, the fact that Derbyshire can't hit shit on a range, under controlled circumstances tells us nothing but that Derbyshire sucks. There are 32 bodies on slabs that would argue that the killer was indeed much better with his weapons than Derbyshire is with his. Third, I invite Mr. Derbyshire to face a .22 wielding shooter to prove out his theory that it isn't that bad. Hell, for safety's sake, instruct the shooter to aim for the legs. Then Derbyshire can tell us all about how it isn't so bad having a shattered knee, how the gouts of blood from a severed artery are just kid stuff, after all it was only a .22.

Here's a hypothetical or two:

- Shooter opens the door steps inside and opens fire. People scream and seek cover. It's a classroom, there are desks and backpacks and a clutter of chairs to contend with. As friends and peers fall wounded and bleeding a hero emerges from the crowd and charges toward the shooter, tackles him, disarms him and subdues him. There is much cheering and rejoicing.

- Shooter enters the room and opens fire. The unbelievable shock of just the deafening report of a firearm in an enclosed space disorients the students as they seek cover. Should a person rise to charge the shooter they have to cover perhaps only six or ten feet. The floor is covered with a chaotic mix of bodies either hit or hiding, overturned chairs, jackets, books and bags, to say nothing of the slick blood spilled by those closest to the shooter and most likely to have been struck by the first rounds. Upon rising, the would be hero presents the largest target in the room, the closer the hero gets, the larger that target becomes. Noble dead hero get an extra moment of prayer at the memorial.

- Shooter moves from room to room wreaking havoc. Pistol packing hero no. 2 steps out of another class, down the hall, to end the spree, fires on the shooter and takes him down. At the same time, a gun toting professor springs into action, steps into the hall, sees a body (the shooter) on the ground and another young person with a gun in their hand. No time for questions, hero down. Police arrive, see two young people bleeding out on the floor, the professor turns toward the police, gun in hand. Bye-bye tenure.

- All kinds of people on campus are packing. Shooter arrives and opens fire, all the guns come into play and we have crossfire. Forensic investigators spend days checking ballistics to figure out just who managed to shoot who. Stray bullets rip through doors, windows and people moving erratically in the confusion and panic. Yeah, that's the fucking answer then, more guns.

Given the bizarre passion that America has for firearms, it is unlikely that even the strictest of gun control legislation will have much effect. There are hundreds of thousands of guns of every description on the streets and in homes across that great nation. With the enormous political and economic clout of the gun lobby, there is virtually no likelihood of strict gun control measures being passed. Perhaps if America spent a fraction of it's personal weaponry budget on mental health care and education, a few of these incidents might be avoided. While stricter laws might prevent new weapons from hitting the market, there is little to prevent the guns already on the streets from falling into wrong hands. Prohibition just drives the price up and creates a lethal black market.

None of these speculations will do anything to assuage the grief of the families, friends and peers of the victims of this latest rampage. And the vulgar ravings of creatures like John Derbyshire and Nathaniel Blake are a slap in the face to those grieving and a vile fucking insult to the memories of young people, whose lives were snuffed out by a psychotic young man.

What do you call 200 Blogging Tories at the bottom of the lake?

A good start.

Yes, that joke is old and lame but, frankly, there's no other way to look at it but that the BTs are the most worthless collection of partisan imbeciles imaginable. And I say this with great respect for worthless, partisan imbeciles everywhere.

Readers of this blog know I pick on the BTs on a regular basis, and for good reason -- a depressing number of them are either idiots or hideously dishonest hypocrites. (Go on, ask me for examples. Make my day. Seriously.)

It borders on creepy how the BT collective -- and I mean the entire collective -- can, in unison as if they've all been sent the same memo, decide that a particular development is simply not newsworthy and that they're not going to mention it. At all.

Case in point, of course, is the recent international incident involving the nine-year-old Canadian boy who was tossed into a "family detention center" in Texas. Now, you'd think that the BTs, being the pro-child, pro-family crowd that they are, would be all over that story like Steve Janke on Cindy Sheehan's private parts. You know, standing up and ... what's that phrase they use again? ... oh, right: "Getting Things Done for Canadians."

And you'd be wrong, as you can see from the handy-dandy Blogging Tories search engine, where you see just how terribly concerned they were about this story. Yup, all of two hits (provided I'm using that search facility correctly), with one of them by BT Backseat Blogger making fun of the situation, and the other by a BT who is simultaneously a member of the Progressive Bloggers of Canada, so that doesn't really count.

So do they just not give a shit? Of course not. One can safely assume that, as soon as that story broke, they quickly examined it for its political/ideological value, just as quickly determined that it had none, and moved on.

Imagine, however, if they could have somehow pinned the blame on the Liberals. OHMIGOD, the anguished shrieking would still be going on. However, since blame could not be assigned, the collective reaction was, well, utter indifference, and everyone could safely return to making fun of David Suzuki.

The most recent example of this, naturally, is the total lack of BT interest in the exploding shitstorm regarding the purge of U.S. attorneys by that sleazy little Hispanifascist Alberto Gonzales. It's hard to downplay how big a story this is, and yet ... and yet ... oh, yawn.

Of course, nothing says that the BTs have to cover breaking news south of the border but, given their perpetual love affair with all things Bush, one would think they might spare a blog post or two to at least mention it. After all, they don't seem to have a problem keeping an eye on, oh, Hillary Clinton. Or Nancy Pelosi. Or Al Gore. But rampant criminal behaviour that might very well bring down a sitting U.S. attorney general? Ah, nothing to see here. Move on.

Of course, you get the most entertainment value when you can pick on specific BTs and their posts to show their overwhelming hypocrisy, like this one by Celestial Junk's "Paul" from back in 2006:

Bush Done-it # 12 345 756

Finally, after 12 345 756 attempts at finding a charge that would stick, the international “progressive” class may finally have found a Bush Done-it that will bring down the Bush administration. Impeachment, if not criminal charges are in the air.

From the Plame-game to colluding with the 911 hijackers , Bush has managed to elude his detractors time and time again. Armies of leftist sleuths numbering in the hundreds of thousands have been pouring over damning documents (primarily MSM sources) uncovering Bush lies, Bush manipulations, Bush warmongerings, Bush inanity, Bush blunders, and outright Bush attempts at forming absolute GOP rule within the United States of America. Now, finally, they may have nailed the bastard down.

It has been recorded, on video, that George Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, GROPED, German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the recent G8 summit. In a lecherous move more akin to RAP ass grab, Bush Done-it.

Whooooeeee (as Jim Bobby would say), that Paul is one funny, funny guy. Of course, though, once you've invested the time in dissing all that anti-Bush sentiment, you kind of have a moral obligation to cover the real news when it happens, dontcha think? You know -- to be "fair and balanced." Yeah, you wish.

Perhaps the funniest thing about the Blogging Tories is their hypocrisy when it comes to whining about liberal media bias and, more specifically, news outlets that give you only "half the story". Because if you got your news only from the BTs, you literally would not know about the attorney purge scandal down south. At all. As not one of those biased hacks has seen fit to write a single blog entry on it.

The BTs are not alone in this deliberate aversion of eyes from unpleasant news, of course. Pop over to the right-wing, hacktacular "news" site Pajamas Media and search the main page for any mention of the name "Gonzales". Good luck. (Amusingly, Fred Beamer wannabe Steve Janke is a member of both the BTs and Pajamas Media so his bad news avoidance circuitry must be working overtime these days.)

In any event, I don't think I've told you anything you didn't already know. But, really, there comes a point where you get thoroughly tired of hearing these useless wanks whining on and on and monotonously on about liberal bias when their entire lives are defined by the circle-jerk echo chamber in which they live, and if it doesn't suit their dishonest, ideological agenda, well, it just ain't news.

I'm quite sure that's a tolerably pleasant lifestyle if that sort of thing appeals to you. But it sure does explain the howling ignorance, doesn't it?