LaPierre, The Dick

I'm disappointed that the press assembled for Mr. LaPierre's "conference" didn't walk out when they were told that no questions would be allowed. Instead, Mr. LaPierre--and the NRA as represented by him--insulted not only the victims and grieving relatives and survivors of the massacre at Newtown, but all Americans, and particularly the allegedly professional press corps.

It's not surprising, when you consider what Mr. LaPierre's name means. Mr. Dick has indeed been a Dick from the get-go, and has made a fortune on the endless blood-soaked tragedies his efforts to make an archaic constitutional amendment into the foundation of the American Religion of Baal have and will continue to generate.

Lawrence O'Donnell, last night on his show, made the only adequate response to LaPierre's NRA I've yet to hear on the teevee. It's worth a watch:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/22/1173122/-Lawrence-O-Donnell-calls-out-Wayne-LaPierre#


Meanwhile one's mind--if one is rational and possessing some empathy--runs to all the obvious refutations of Mr. Dick's simpleminded thesis--that it takes good guys with guns to defend us against bad guys with guns. Is there even any point in argument against patent absurdity? Who knows. Two of the best short returns I've happened to hear:

1. There were plenty of guns at Fort Hood.

2. There was an armed guard at Columbine.

Mr. Dick should be laughed out of the discussion, forever. If Mr. Obama dares to even invite him to participate in the coming conversation on some congressional effort to make things somewhat harder on those who want to own or buy guns, he's already lost the game. And Mr. Obama should make Mr. Dick's ostracism a matter of policy for those with whom he cares to dialog on the subject of America's insane Religion of Guns. We had a moment of silence at work yesterday. What they really should do is cancel Christmas.

Update: Sunday's appearance by Mr. Dick on the David Gregory Show was a great illustration of how a propaganda master works when confronted with a rube. Mr. Gregory had Friday's O'Donnell analysis to study, but study he did not, instead simply talking earnestly with The Dick, which of course awarded Dick with the mantle of Expert and Serious Person. Expert Serious Dick gave not an inch. Watching every moment of this travesty was too much to bear. Apparently Mr. Dick will be a Standing Member of the Committee to Try To Figure Out the Gun Problem. Since he will operate in a democratic context, there will be no solution. This is of course exactly his goal. We really deserve better from our main stream media.

Here's a simple hypothetical Mr. Gregory might have addressed to Mr. Dick, given that he had Mr. Dick's undivided attention for most of the whole program: "What if, sir, a man devoted his whole adult life to creating a "situation" which turned out to have absolutely dreadful human implications, and what if that man couldn't then fashion--for all his obvious brilliance--any helpful mitigation to these dreadful human implications. Should that hypothetical man, sir, just continue plowing the same furrow, deeper and deeper, while calling it a "solution" to the various passerby who ask what in the hell he thinks he's doing. Or should he, possibly, put the reins down, take the old nag in for a drink of water and some oats, and then sit by the hearth and reflect on how little he truly knows?"

Now that'd be some news. Mr. Dick, I believe, knows full well the moral implications of his life's work. His problem is his class A skill at lying to everyone, and most particularly himself.