What did we learn from Omaha

    This question must be posed after the mall shootings of late. First, we learned that guns kill, and quickly. But, we all knew that.
    Second, we learned that criminals can get guns regardless of how they do it, whether it be through further criminal conduct (theft of a gun), or from friends, or relatives. In the case of Robert Hawkins in the mall in Omaha, Nebraska, he stole the weapon, and AK-47 from his step father.
    Third, we learned that there are a lot of screwed up children, who grow up to be screwed up adults, thanks to our permissive society which allows abortion (murder of the innocent pre-born), pre-marital sex (not only do we  not blackball people who indulge in such behavior, but we think they are great role models; further, we allow that teens will have sex, without marriage, and encourage them through sex education, handing out condoms, and the like), divorce--the single greatest scourge to be allowed by our permissive 1960‘s era hippie society. Drugs, and gangs, have exacerbated the problem with movies which glorify the gangsta way, rappers which expound on the gangsta path, and seem to encourage, rather than excoriate, these behaviors.  
    Further, many of these rappers are responsible for some of the gang violence perpetration, many having been gangbangers themselves prior to their new rapper life. You can take the boy out of the ‘hood, but not the ‘hood out of the boy.
    They, also, through their music, perpetuate stereotypes of girls, and women, as ‘ho’s, and bitches. Respect of others is less than tolerated, with ‘dissing becoming the most pervasive reason to blow the brains of another out. No ones understands sticks and stones anymore, or popping someone in the mouth for saying something stupid (not that this is proper behavior, either). Instead, we don’t pop another in the mouth for fear s/he will draw a gun and shot us. Better to shoot first, and be seen as someone who won’t be a walking carpet, than to iron out the problem with the person, even I this has to be done in a forum such as court, or other.
    In fact, police, courts, and the like, are also places where “the man’ is, and which are not to be trusted, not that the rest of us do not agree that police and courts are no longer where we might find justice. My son had a tooth knocked out in school in a malicious attack, but the courts ruled that the parent(s) of the child responsible could not be held liable for costs associated with tooth replacement, time missed from work, gas, wear and tear on the vehicle when in transport. That the judge may have been friends with the perp’s father didn’t even enter my mind.
    Another thing which has contributed to the lawlessness is the public disclosures by our elected representatives. Their inability to keep their pants on, to allow women, to take advantage of their position, and to accept that such advantage is to be expected. Shame on Bill for allowing a blow job in the Oval Office, let alone Hillary for remaining married to him. The only saving grace for my sanity is that she knew of Bill’s infidelity, and perhaps encouraged it so the frigid fish she is might not have to do the deed with her, now despised, and hated, husband. Besides, she looked at the long term picture, which included a senate seat in NY State, and a presidential bid.
    Which isn’t to say that these two are the only ones. Many of our representatives have been found lacking in morality. A mayor of Washington, D.C., is caught with drugs, and using cocaine. A senator from Idaho is accused of soliciting gay sex in a men’s bathroom in an airport, several Congressmen are arrested and placed in jail for crimes. One from New Orleans, has $90,000 in cash found in his freezer--giving  a new meaning to cold, hard cash--during Hurricane Katrina, which devastated that cities poor areas. Incompetence ensued prior to the hurricane by Mayor Nagin, who is then reelected after he messed up. Further, his violations of civil liberties in the confiscation of (still not returned) firearms from law abiding citizens, leaving them to the depredations of the gangbangers, drug dealers, and others who had not evacuated the city. One senator from West Virginia, who was a former KKK member of high rank, still sits, and still expounds morality in that once austere body.  The Clinton fundraising machine, the Gore fundraiser at the Buddhist compound, point to fraud, and abuse of major proportions. Even when caught, sometimes funds are not returned. How can one expect good, moral behavior from our populace when our leaders are so corrupt.
     So, one thing we have learned is that evil is pervasive, that our leaders do not show themselves anymore moral than the people, and in fact, probably less so if one takes into account the numbers so related in an email that goes around every so often detailing the number of moral, political, and criminal members.
    Then, there are the numbers of laws which relate to firearms. This number started as some small number which primarily prevented blacks from owning, as this would prevent depredations of them, and their communities, by KKK members, and others. Those laws were as bad as current laws, some 20,000 plus, which prevent the law abiding citizens from keeping, and “bearing arms, wherever they go, including shopping malls in Utah, and now Omaha, and airplanes (9/11), which could have prevented as much carnage as occurred. It only takes one alert citizen to save the day. But, our congress, our senate, our state legislatures, constantly, and consistently, side with Law Enforcement unions, whose very reason for wishing more, and tougher laws against gun ownership must be held suspect, given that they benefit from larger police numbers which relate to higher pay scales for the union bosses.  And don’t tell me with the number of crooked cops discovered every year, pervasive in the pre-Katrina New Orleans, that those cops voted as union bosses are going to all be pure hearts. I simply won’t believe you.
    “We, the people” must be allowed our rights so as to prevent, or help prevent, carnage such as occurred in Omaha. It is the least our legislators can do to make the killing field(s) of our streets, malls, airways, etc., even.
Paul Rusin
Holley, NY