other voices

Beastly Behavior

Fireworks are cruel torture

Albuquerque Illegal Fireworks Gave Horse a Coronary
        ON THE FOURTH of July, people in our South Valley neighborhood seemed to think it was OK to buy lots of illegal fireworks, and they put on quite a display. We watched our horses closely that night and noticed our older mare was quite distressed. The next day her coat was covered in salt, but we simply thought it was dried sweat from her nervousness over the fireworks.
        Two days later she collapsed at our feet in a violent seizure, not able to breathe in or out. She was covered in sweat and had tears streaming from her eyes. She was in obvious great pain. It was horrific to watch. She survived that episode but had another episode in the trailer the next day as we attempted to take her to the vet. We never made it out of the driveway. The vet informed us that she had undoubtedly had a cardiac event that led to the secondary pulmonary issues. Her heart simply could not take the strain of her anxiety over the sights and sounds of the "patriotic" fireworks. Although still alive and on medication to ease her breathing, she will not see another Fourth of July.
        For those of you who believe it is OK to drive to another county and buy lots of illegal fireworks because chances are good the sheriff’s office won’t catch you when shooting them off, it’s not. And if you believe that your displays don’t cause any problems, they do.
        ANN HOUSE

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Talk of the Town

media

Hear! Hear! Gun Nuts Safe but Never Secure

Law Struggles To Keep Up in Arms Race
By Winthrop Quigley
Journal Staff Writer

Even though some gun owners believe Barack Obama or other conspirators are on the verge of dispatching the military to disarm us all, ours really is a nation of laws. The tradition and culture underlying that reality is what makes the United States strong, not its armament. The law of the land, per the Supreme Court, is that Americans who can pass a background check have what appears from the Alito decision to be a virtually unfettered right to own firearms. Civil and military authorities can be relied upon to respect that decision.

        The old arguments probably won’t stop, but the court has rendered them moot. It is now pointless to say that if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns. Guns can’t be outlawed. It is immaterial to say that guns don’t kill people; people kill people. The court has ruled that guns are a constitutionally protected fixture of our society, so if people choose to kill people, guns can be part of their armory.

        This leaves us with yet another technological complication the framers of the Constitution could never have anticipated. The musket that George Washington was familiar with took 10 to 30 seconds to load. It had very limited range, and its accuracy was problematic. The thug’s weapon of choice (because there wasn’t much choice) when I was a kid in Cleveland was the Saturday night special. If the thing didn’t jam or blow up in your hand, the round it fired sometimes didn’t have enough kick to break a car windshield.

        Robert Reza, who killed two people and himself and wounded four at Emcore, was armed with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun capable of firing 13 powerful and accurate rounds in less time than the most skilled minuteman needed to load a musket once. With today’s technology, the most inept gunman firing into a clutch of people will almost inevitably hit someone. Statistics suggest that people aren’t any more inclined to violence than they ever were, but technology has made the few people who are so inclined far more successful at violence than ever before.

        Technological realities inevitably lead to political conundrums.

ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: Law Struggles To Keep Up in Arms Race

Mine

20 26 Years Ago Today

[Originally written 7/20/04. I think I got it right, then.]

It was 20 26 years ago today that I arrived as a new resident of Albuquerque, of New Mexico, of the Southwest, Atzlan, the Four Corners and the Rockies. Praise be.

I sometimes think of this as my second life, although it may be my third or more. Strictly speaking, my first life was from birth to six in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawai’i. I have few accessible memories from those days (I look forward to old age dredging up more), but I can’t help but feel that living in a mellow multi-cultural paradise had to be a good start. Let’s call that my gestation.

In which case my first life took place in the area of Washington, DC — in and around Alexandria in Northern Virginia, to be more precise (accent on the northern, eliding the whole Virginia-thing — we considered ourselves in a separate state from Dixie).

Those 23 years were a great life with great friends. I can’t begin to do them justice here. And, unlike Death, moving to New Mexico didn’t end the things that matter. I hope it made my heart a little bigger that it might reach across the miles.

This life is … well, I don’t want to jinx it. I’m not really superstitions, but I am a devout Ironist. I know trouble is inevitable, I just don’t want to look back at this blog entry as the turning point. So, let me just say I’m grateful to the Universe for leading me here (and its agent, Merri Rudd).

I live in a state where people step outside when it rains; where we talk about that last rain and the next. Where people stop to watch the sunset, or a hawk or roadrunner. Where you can look at mountains 100 miles away or next door. A state where the calendar is set by the smell of roasting chiles, a thousand hot air balloons, a million luminarias/farolitos. Where the wind may drive you mad, but the weather changes hourly. Where people who have been here for 10,000 years were gracious to people who arrived here 500 years ago, who, in turn, were gracious to people who arrived here 150 years ago, 20 years ago, today. That generosity permeates everything. Thank you, New Mexico. May you walk in beauty forever. mjh

PS: It is also the 35th 41st anniversary of the first step on the moon. Ah-Ooo!

!status updates

Hot times

mjh played volleyball with the temp well over 100 degrees. Great games, or did I hallucinate that? Now thin clouds flash with lightning and a neighbor asks, “is it just teasing us again?”

NADA - New American Dark Ages

The Company They Keep

Regarding yesterday’s mjh’s blog — The Asshat of History: Ugh. This guy is as bad as you would imagine.

Be sure to read EJ Dione regarding what the NAACP is really saying about the Madhatters.

E.J. Dionne Jr. – What the NAACP is really asking on racism within the Tea Party

Here’s what Ben Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, asked of the Tea Party during a speech at the civil rights group’s convention in Kansas City, Mo.: "Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them and their actions. We will no longer allow you to hide like cowards."

The NAACP is doing what conservatives have done for decades in demanding that liberals and progressives separate themselves from left-wing extremists who trashed America, burned flags and praised foreign dictators. The racists are the Tea Party’s flag-burners. It’s fair to ask the democratic left to condemn extremism. It’s fair to ask the same of the democratic right. (Note the small "d.")

When I reached Jealous by telephone, he went out of his way to emphasize that his group is not making a blanket charge of racism. "We have never called the Tea Party racist," he said. "We know there are black Tea Party members, and we want black people to feel comfortable taking leadership positions in all parties in this country."

But speaking of Tea Party leaders, he added: "We’ve seen the signs, we’ve heard the slurs, and all we’re asking is for you to act responsibly and say there’s no space for bigots in the Tea Party."

E.J. Dionne Jr. – What the NAACP is really asking on racism within the Tea Party

And, Yes, there is racism in the Tea Party movement.

ThinkProgress has produced a short video demonstrating the vile racism that has been exhibited at some Tea Party events:

DENNIS: The Tea Party does not focus on the pigment of people’s skin. […]

TEA PARTY ACTIVIST1: He’s too black to be President.

TEA PARTY ACTIVIST2: I’m a proud racist, I’m white.

TEA PARTY ACTIVIST3: Afro-Leninism! Coming to you on a silver platter, Barack Hussein Obama!

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams