July 2012 – Page 6 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Problem of Collective Action

Joe Huffman has a great post on redefining the no-win situation:

I can only think of one course of action that would apply in most lone-gunman mass shooting cases: EVERYONE on the scene channel the inner Super Hero, Marine, mama grizzly, Todd Beamer, or whatever amps up their kill instincts to 11, and as a group do a mass â€œcharge the ambush!â€ with the express intent of taking his screw-cap off, ripping off his arm and beating him to death with the bloody stump, or stopping him in any way possible.

A primary difference, I think, between this scenario, and Flight 93, was that the folks on Flight 93 had time to communicate with their fellow passengers and coordinate a response. In the movie theater shooting, there was no time for that, which I think is the problem with collective action in a situation where there’s no time to communicate and plan. I’m certainly not going to charge an armed man and just hope some people join in. I’d need to know at least a few other people are game.

But overall, I agree with Joe with this point, “This sort ofÂ training and mindsetÂ MUST start in the schools.” Recently a friend who is a schoolteacher was up visiting, and I was relatively appalled they do regular cower and hide drills in schools these days. I offered her some advice on what to do if someone actually does get into the classroom, but if the schools are going to prepare for the extremely remote possibility of mass shootings, passivity is not what they should be teaching. Passivity will get people killed.

The Unreliable 100 Round Drum Magazine

A Jennifer pointed out, it actually saved lives. If he had stuck to the standard 20 and 30 round magazines, a lot more people would have likely been killed. We keep telling our opponents that magazine capacity is not the end-all-be-all of lethality, and that many factors play into it. Something they don’t seem to want to accept.

Chick-fil-a Controversy Manufactured by Media?

I came across this link which suggested that the entire controversy over Chick-fil-a and gay marriage was ginned up by the media. It included a link to the original source of the conversely, and being partial to making judgements based on original source material, I decided to read it.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Dan Cathy is opposed to gay marriage. His religious values would practically guarantee that. But I do have to admit the context in which he was speaking sounds more like heterosexual marriage rather than gay marriage:

It began as a college scholarship and expanded to a foster care program, an international ministry, and a conference and retreat center modeled after the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove.

“That morphed into a marriage program in conjunction with national marriage ministries,” Cathy added.

Some have opposed the company’s support of the traditional family. “Well, guilty as charged,” said Cathy when asked about the company’s position.

“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.

He’s speaking here of the WinShape Foundation, which has a program that is described thusly:

Truett Cathy‘s middle son, Don “Bubba” Cathy, and his wife Cindy, also head up efforts to minister to couples in strengthening their marriages. The retreat center offers several special events for couplesâ€”ranging from couples who have healthy marriages to couples who are actively considering divorce. The program seeks to promote healthy marriages and families.

If the claim that in this context, Cathy is speaking of heterosexual marriage, I buy it. But I think it’s a stretch to suggest that “biblical definition of a family unit” would ever include a gay family in the minds of the Cathy family, and as the Wikipedia entry notes, WinShape has given substantial funding toÂ Eagle Forum,Â Focus on the Family,Fellowship of Christian Athletes,Â Family Research Council,Â Exodus InternationalÂ and the Marriage & Family Legacy Fund. Since the controversy, it seems WinShape is agreeing to get out of the debate on gay marriage, and leave the political arena. For a business, this is wise.

So while the media may have ginned up a controversy from this one article which nowhere mentions gay rights or gay marriage, it’s a fact that the WinShape foundation has given money to causes that oppose gay marriage. As for the controversy, I think Popehat said it best in this “Eat Less Totalitarianism” post:

Menino could use his bully pulpit to call on Bostonians to reject Chick-Fil-A if they come to town. He could call for social opprobrium on Chick-Fil-A and its affiliates and even on its patrons. He could organize protests and marches and letter-writing campaigns. He could carry a sign in front of Chick-Fil-A saying “BE LES BIGOT” if it opens. But if he says he’ll use the coercive power of government to retaliate against Chick-Fil-A for views he doesn’t like, he’s totalitarian.

Read the whole thing.

Some in the Media Speak Out

The Investors Business Daily laments gun free zones. The OC Register editorializes against bringing back the Assault Weapons Ban.Â E.J. Montini is a columnist for The Arizona Republic, and he laments our post-massacre routine:

Eventually, however, [the media will] figure out, as I did in Edmond all those years ago, that the best thing they can do for a grieving community is to leave town.

I couldn’t agree more.

Quote of the Day

Says James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, in regards to the complaint that there’s no debate on gun control:

When people find it necessary to demand a “debate” or complain about the absence of same, it usually means they’re frustrated because thereÂ isÂ a debate and their side is losing.

Word. Hat tip Instapundit.

Chris Christie on Political Grandstanding

He might not be the 2nd Amendment’s best buddy, but I do give him credit for speaking out on the politicization of tragedy:

“People were just killed over the weekend,” he said. “Can we take a deep breath before politicians start sending out press releases? Can we allow the people to be mourned appropriately by their families before you have opportunistic politicians out there trying to make political points in an election year?”

[…]

“I’m not going to get into the gun control issue while these people are still waiting to be buried,” he said. “And it may not offend you or bother you, but it offends me and bothers me.”

Decline of Mental Hospitals

Clayton Cramer takes a look at the capacity of our mental health system, and notes that even recently, there’s been a precipitous decline. I’m guessing this is because states are running out of other people’s money and turning mental patients out onto the street is an easy way to save money. One interesting thing to know would be to understand how mental health services compare in Europe. I don’t think you can use cross country comparisons to draw absolute and firm conclusions, but I do think they can be useful.

“Did you all fit in one Suburban?”

The protest at NRA’s Federal Affairs office in DC looks pretty sad to me. I particularly like that they had to put a person there with a sign pointing out that they were not, in fact, protesting a popular bar. I count 11 people, two of which I know for sure work for gun control groups. According to their Facebook page, they had 31 signed up to go and 12 maybes. That’s dedication! Only about 1/3rd of those motivated to click they’d be there bothered to show up. As one person on Twitter put it, “Did you all fit in one Suburban?”

A Lack of Faith in Obama’s Response?

I haven’t been able to follow much news since Friday because I’ve been behind the wheel of a car for hours on end every day. However, I just loaded up HootSuite to see this tweet:

pool corrects: Romney camp raised 10 million over the last 2 days (yesterday and today) not 10 day

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 23, 2012

Um, I might venture a guess that it means some constituencies around the country don’t have much faith in Obama’s response to the issues of the last few days. It seems to be a perfect storm to prompt a few groups to action.

Gun Owners: We’re a given. Gun owners are worried about what kind of gun control may be headed our way. Bloomberg was out of the gate with demands for more gun control before many on the East Coast had even tuned in to the morning news. The typical anti-gun leaders have been all over the media calling for more action. Don’t even get me started on the crap on social networking sites – celebrities wondering why guns are still legal at all in America and some pretty hateful comments from political activists. Most pundits agree that it’s not going to happen, but we need to see what they are going try rally support to ban.

Conservatives of All Stripes: Thanks to Brian Ross, everyone who has any opinion that maybe the country’s financial house could be in better order with less spending was attached to this plot inaccurately. The fact that a major media outlet would allow a reporter to go on the air with such a patently false and poorly “researched” assertion cemented in the minds of many voters that the media will go to any length to discredit a conservative message. The fact that Brian Ross still has his title of “Chief Investigative Correspondent” when he clearly is not capable of seriously investigating even the simplest of facts before going to air with such slander against a private citizen only adds fuel to the fire.

So, the great irony in this situation is that Obama might not actually have to do a thing in order to motivate the GOP base and GOP-leaning voters for Mitt. His base and perceived surrogates are doing a great job at convincing voters to flock to the other guy if this fundraising haul is any indication.

Finally Back Home

Bitter and I went on a last minute trip down to Nashville, Tennessee in order to help Bitter’s mom scope out a new condo she was thinking about moving to so she can be closer to the grandkids. The place looked pretty good to us, so she signed the lease, and will be moving down there in a few months. Unfortunately, the drive to Nashville is considerably longer than the drive to Roanoke, but we’ll manage.

We did manage to stop briefly in Knoxville, the Blogger Capital of the World, in order to have lunch with SayUncle. Apparently Robb was up that way with his family, coincidentally, but we didn’t manage to catch him. It seems all bloggers are drawn to Knoxville at some point, and we’ll certainly be passing through more often now that Bitter’s mom is moving to Tennessee.