Tuesday, February 26, 2013

New Pipe Dreams Cartoon!!!!!









I came up with this cartoon after I caught myself saying the word "black ice" too much in front of my African American co-workers not to be conscious of the way I pronounce it.

Thursday, February 14, 2013














Yep, It's another gun rant. But the silliness from the debate is too irresistible to ignore.

Dumb Memes Continues...

So I hear a lot for gun rights people since Newtown, the gun fanatics are getting desperate and paranoid. I don't blame them. People are starting to realize how dangerous many gun owners are. They're taking a serious look at gun violence and what is causing it. They see that the recent gun rampages have been committed by people who got guns LEGALLY and are appalled at this fact.

The gun fanatics are fighting back by buying more guns and putting out info, false and otherwise saying why an armed society is a safe society. They also have embraced people they think are heroes whom gun control advocates and the mainstream finding appalling.

They make heroes out of people who are good at using guns at what they do best....kill.

Here's a meme that is going around right now...



Why is it dumb? Well, first of all it makes a hero out of a person whose main achievement in life is his ability to kill people with a long range gun without them knowing it. A skill shared by the DC Sniper who was executed for having these same skills. In other words it's not a skill that is admired in civilian life.

Chris Kyle was a man who was in the Navy SEALS and was sent to Iraq to fight in Bush's war against Saddam Hussain. A war of course we had no reason to be in. He was skilled at shooting Iraqis including women who were protecting their country from invaders from a long distance. So skilled and effective he was, He signed up for three more tours of duty. Officially he killed 160 people but he says he killed at least 250. A lot of serial killers say the same thing. But I digress, This guy's a HERO.

The problem was that not enough people didn't know he was a hero. So he wrote a book talking about his exploits. Reality TV came a calling after that and he got on his own show. He became a celebrity among the war cheering gun fanatics around the country. Kyle in his civilian life never strayed from his military ways. He ran a company that provided training for military, law enforcement, and civilians, as well as private security and protection.

So how did he die? Well, He died on the gun range. He and his friend were shot by a man who he thought needed to at a shooting range in order to help him with his PTSD. Another senseless act of gun violence that continues at an alarming rate in this country. Now if only Kyle was armed.......oh wait.

So being armed at a place where everyone was armed didn't save him. And yet he was a skilled marksmen. Kyle probably felt safe in a gun range surrounded by armed people. Then again, He used a tactic many criminals do, Which is to shoot without giving them a chance to defend themselves. Never actually in defense. The meme says he was murdered in cold blood. He was armed. He had a chance. That's not cold blood.

Which brings me to another part of the meme. The part where it seems to be a problem that President Obama didn't mention his name at any time. Why should he? Did Bush mention all the soldiers that died in Iraq by name? Did he mention all those who committed suicide after they came back?

Kyle was a Navy SEAL whose exploits are not meant to be made public. That is military protocol. President Obama mentioning Kyle's exploits would violate that. Also, he died a senseless death by an armed gunman, A military hero if you would while Kyle was armed. Any mention of his death would be a rallying cry for more gun control, the uselessness of getting guns to protect ourselves and the shameful way we're treating our military personnel after they get back from war. The guy needed treatment not guns. I don't think that's what the maker of the meme wants. Kyle made a truly foolish decision that led to his death. Live by the gun, died by the gun.

And foolish decisions led to the death of Whitney Houston. She was a well known pop star who inspired many more Americans with the singing of one song in the 1991 Super Bowl than Kyle could ever hope to inspire in his lifetime. However, She had her demons. She was basically a junkie and died drowning in a tub because of her drug habits. A sad end to a tumultuous life of extreme highs and lows. Many people remember the highs, Including the Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. HE was the one who ordered the flag flown half staff in New Jersey, The state Whitney Houston was born in. It's a common practice to do so in states when a beloved individual dies. President Obama did NOT order flags flown at half staff. That's just a lie put out by the racists who put this meme out there.

Oh, did I offend anyone who is cheering this meme? Sorry, But it IS racist. President Obama gets accused of being a racist all the time, A lot of it based on lies they wish to be true. And this is one reason this meme is racist. Another reason it's racist is that it picks a black woman to contrast the exploits of a white man who they consider heroic. They only mention her death as her life time achievement and forget all the joy she gave to close to a billion people on this planet, The success she had as a performer, The patriotic fervor she inspired when she sang the "Star Spangled Banner" for Super Bowl XXV, and the movie roles that will live on forever. Whereas with Chris Kyle it was a lifetime of achievements which pointed his death as not being in his control to prevent. He helped set up his own death. The unflattering photo of her feeds into the stereotype of a black junkie and is not only racist but sexist too.

And look at the "flattering" picture of Chris Kyle. It's very disturbing to pretty much any rational person who would see it without knowing who it was. It's the "Lee Harvey Oswald" pose with a deadlier gun. A guy who looks like he'll shoot you dead if you let your dog loose and he walked on his property. His arms look like it had a little help from 'roids which may send him on a rage against his neighbors. Many shooters have a picture like this on hand after they do their deadly shooting spree. If Trayvon Martin's killer was portrayed in a picture like this it would be considered out of line. But this... This is the meme maker's idea of what a hero looks like. This is the pictures racists groups use to let people now they're not gonna take it anymore. I found this picture on many web sites when I was trying to locate the origin of this meme. Some of the top web sites in the google search were so racist, It freaked the hell out of me.


Anyway, to wrap up, It would not be in Chris Kyle's interest to have President Obama mention his name. It would only serve to further the call for limiting gun use in this country. Plus, Get your facts straight. President Obama did NOT order flags flown at half staff, It was Chris Christie, A white male Republican.

Ahhh, But these factually challenged memes will continue because right wingers don't let facts get in the way of how they feel except if you get little details wrong about particular guns.