Wildfires caused by target shooting a complete waste

This is a follow up to last Wednesday’s post, “The epitome of gun stupidity…Arizona gun nut knowingly starts major wildfire,” that recounted five dimwits that went into the Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix, Arizona for a bachelor party that ended up starting one of the state’s worst wildfires in history.  Craig Shiflet, 23, faces 6 months in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both for starting the Sunflower fire that has burned over 18,000 acres.

These gun nuts were target shooting, which has been prohibited for years on BLM property, and Shiflet even used an incendiary shotgun shell, which started the fire, and which is also banned on federal land.  Gun irresponsibility does not get any worse than this, and aside from the alarming trend today of increased shootings resulting in multiple deaths and injuries, we have yet another case of an equally irresponsible National Rifle Assn. (NRA) not taking action.

All this gang of misfits—with Wayne LaPierre at the helm—cares about is pushing for more gun rights to put more guns on the street in the hands of the likes of Craig Shiflet.  The NRA and other correspondingly inept gun rights groups keep telling us that things like this only occur from a small faction of gun owners that are in a minority.  I would like to know exactly what puts Shiflet in the minority; he seems more like the typical gun owner to me.

Although the feds don’t keep records listing “shooting” as a cause. The U.S. Forest Service does make side notes in their records that the fire was caused by “shoot” or “target” and the numbers are not good.  The Forest Service reported that in 2010, 17 wildfires were caused by one of these means, 28 in 2011, and 13 already this year.  And that’s only on land that is managed by this agency. 

What’s wrong with target practice on a gun range?  Especially when there are currently 45 wildfires burning in 15 states.  A gun owner has to have a double-digit IQ—or less—not to understand the danger of firing steel-jacketed or steel-core ammunition that in most cases puts off a spark when ricocheting off a rock, potentially leading to a fire.  Utah is banning this ammunition in favor of lead bullets which unfortunately can be toxic to animals.

One gun owner in Utah who was interviewed was reasonable about the situation, saying, “I certainly wouldn’t want to be responsible for a fire that burned somebody’s house.  I wouldn’t even take a chance with it.” 

But a Utah gun owning grandmother, Yetive Jones, was less committal saying, "I don't think the standards should be any higher for any one person who sets a fire.  Granted, somebody shooting who accidentally sets it off, they're going to feel bad about it. ... But there's nothing you can do once a fire starts."  Spoken like a true gun nut.

Read more here, here and here.

The epitome of gun stupidity…Arizona gun nut knowingly starts major wildfire

Arizona wildfires

This is the kind of gun rights the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has been promoting for years, led by head wacko Wayne LaPierre.  The mentality is to own any gun I want to, use any ammunition I want, and take them both anywhere I want to.  It happened recently in Arizona, actually May 12, the day the Sunflower fire was started near Payson, Arizona, that has burned over 18,000 acres in the Tonto National Forest. 

You would think it was some demented individual that carried out this brainless act but it wasn’t.  It was one of Arizona’s typical gun freaks that has been assured repeatedly by state legislators that the state is his own personal shooting range.  His name is Craig Shiflet, 23, and now he faces 6 months in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.  It was supposed to be a fun camping trip and bachelor party with, of course, lots of guns.  It turned into one of Arizona’s worse fires in history.

Shiflet, and four of his friends left Mesa, Arizona on May 11 for the Sycamore Creek area which is close to Payson.  First they were shooting at targets the morning of May 12, a practice proven to have already started wildfires in Utah and Colorado, and was widely covered in the media.  Duh…that doesn’t apply to me.  It was after this that Shiflet loaded a different kind of shell into his shotgun and fired it at a soda box.

Soon after this, the five certifiables noticed smoke where Shiflet had fired, discovered fire, then tried to stomp it out with no success.  It was then that Shiflet called 911 from his cell phone at 10:18 a.m. the morning of May 12, and the rest is disaster.  And here’s the rub.  Shiflet admitted to prosecutors that he believed the round he had put in his shotgun would shoot out flame or act like a flare gun.  I have heard of idiotic uses of a gun but this takes the cake.  

OK, here’s another ‘you just won’t believe it item.’  There is a warning label on the ammunition that reads: “Shoots 100 feet of fire, setting everything in its path ablaze.  Warning: Extreme FIRE HAZARD.”  Assuming Shiflet doesn’t have the brains to tie his own shoes, you would think at least one of the other four guys would have offered something like ‘this might start a forest fire.’  Is this what the NRA means when it says their members are “single minded?”

Fortune magazine calls Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) a LIAR in his Fast and Furious investigation

BREAKING NEWS

CA Rep. Darrell Issa's  Fast and Furious all lies

The ‘We will do anything, yes anything, to bring down Barack Obama’ GOP movement is not only still running strong but apparently gaining momentum.  Fortune magazine calls California Republican congressman Darrell Issa’s investigation of Fast and Furious a conspiracy.  Katherine Eban of Fortune says the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation was nothing like U.S. Rep. Issa has claimed.”  She has even more doubts about Issa.

Eban surmised that the Fast and Furious event was so different than has been portrayed by Issa that it would be near impossible for him to be so thoroughly misinformed.  The author thinks he is lying.  And apparently the same applies to ATF “whistle-blower” John Dodson who may have perjured himself by claiming under oath all 2,000 guns Issa proclaims went to Mexico came from ATF.  The actual number has been established as five, all under Dodson’s purview.       

Eban comes to the conclusion that the “problem” is Arizona with its loose gun laws making it almost impossible to prosecute those responsible for buying the guns, according to ATF Agent Dave Voth.  Gun runners can do their thing easily in Arizona without fear of prosecution.  As an example, a transient bought 10 AK-47 type rifles, was reported by the gun store to ATF, but because Arizona gun laws are so sloppy, it was impossible to convict the transient.

And the other “problem” in this matter is the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), which threatened to withhold support from congressional leaders that didn’t vote to hold AG Eric Holder in contempt for not releasing privileged documents.  This resulted in 17 wimp Democrats voting for contempt which succeeded in passing.  The NRA charges that Fast and Furious is Obama’s way of instigating gun control because of the required reporting of sales by 9,000 border gun stores.

The question is becoming not when we are going to halt the insane antics of an out-of-control organization that loves its guns over human life, but why haven’t we done something already?  It is hard to understand an American public that doesn’t comprehend the nature of this dilemma.  Innocent people are dying on the streets of the U.S. simply because Congress is too much of a coward to stand up to the NRA, afraid of losing millions of $ in annual contributions.  Pathetic.

Read more here and here.

Supreme Court upholds majority of Obamacare…and just in time

The Affordable Health Care Act has been recognized by the Supreme Court as being constitutional.  The one factor not upheld was requirements of Medicaid expansion within the states.  The Court basically ruled that this involved too many conditions that seemed unreasonable to demand.  Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the majority but took the position that the mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance is a tax, contrary to the President.



Demonstrators for Obamacare



And the reason this decision comes “just in time” is a new report by Families USA confirming that 26,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they don’t have health insurance.  That breaks down to 500 per week, 2,175 each month.  For those of us paying dearly for our insurance coverage, and who are tired of supporting those who elect not to have health insurance, Obamacare rectifies this by making it affordable for this group.

The law’s mandate to buy health insurance was confirmed, but because the fine against those who do not comply is administered by the IRS, Roberts deemed it a tax.  Nancy Pelosi, Obama’s staunchest supporter of the legislation said you can call it anything you want to now that the law is upheld.  Republicans say they will work vigorously to repeal Obamacare and this may pass the House but most analysts say it will never get out of the Senate.

If the Supremes had no other reason to uphold the law, the 26,000 annual premature deaths would be reason enough, although this has no legal grounds.  What the figure does establish is the depth of crisis this nation is in when it comes to providing affordable healthcare to all its citizens.  Another staunch supporter of The Affordable Healthcare Act since it passed is Ron Pollack, Executive Director Families USA.  He said:  

"The fact remains that for the millions of Americans without health coverage, only the Affordable Care offers the promise of access to affordable coverage and to a longer and healthier life."

In the 26,000, above, every state is affected, Vermont with the fewest deaths and California with the most.  The numbers for those without health insurance have a broad range from 21 million to 50 million, and the figure being thrown around most recently is 30 million.  Apparently included in this aggregation is 9.7 million who are not citizens.  In addition to these numbers, an additional study reports that another 38 million have inadequate health insurance.    

Other points in the Families USA Report are:

“…in the past 2 years, uninsured women older than 50 were half as likely as insured women to get mammograms.”

“Low-income uninsured adults were 5 times less likely to get screened for colon cancer in the past 5 years compared to insured adults.”

“Cancer patients without insurance are five times more likely to delay or even skip treatment because of the cost.”

“…uninsured adults are more often diagnosed with advanced stage disease and they are 25% more likely to die prematurely than those with private insurance.”



Stage 4 kidney cancer



As an example of the latter, Frederick and Regina Holliday had no health insurance for 16 years while working multiple jobs part time.  They had 2 small children and paid all the medical bills out of their pocket.  They did not go to the doctor until it was, as they described it, “…couldn’t get out of bed sick.”  Another obstacle for affordable coverage was Frederick’s pre-existing condition of a urinary tract stricture.  In 2008, things started to change.

Regina got a job but they could only afford health insurance for her.  Then Fred got a full time job teaching and they had family coverage.  But it was then that Frederick was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer which had metastasized to his stomach, bones and lungs.  Several months later he died at age 39.  His wife remarked:

“I believe that if my husband had consistent health care during his adult life he would still be alive today,”

Enough said?

It’s time to reboot the NRA

The National Rifle association (NRA) has been around since 1871 and will no doubt be here for at least a few more years.  It started as a reasonable organization, founded for the purpose of teaching marksmanship and gun safety.  It has evolved into a gang of unreasonable lunatics demanding that anyone should be able to own a gun and take it anywhere they want to.  Led by the head wacko Wayne LaPierre, it has power most of us can’t comprehend.



Charlton Heston, one of the original NRA kooks



As a recent example, the NRA has joined up with the GOP in the drive for contempt charges against Attorney General Eric Holder re. Fast and Furious.  They are pressuring Democrats now to join Republicans in the fight to make Holder the first sitting cabinet member to receive such a charge.  Whatever the outcome to Fast and Furious, it is not about the issue but rather the fact that this group of fanatics can bring down such pressure on Congress.

The time has come to stop this nonsense.  I have been reporting on gun violence by documenting the monthly numbers of U.S. shootings, those killed, and those wounded since March.  There was a 37.5 percent increase in gun violence in April over March and another 30.4 percent in May.  June looks to be coming in with another increase and one wonders just how long this country will put up with this before taking some kind of action on gun control.

This has to start by eliminating the power of the NRA that is conducive to the rights of sane gun owners—yes, there are some of those out there—but restrictive of this radical philosophy of guns for everyone, everywhere.  It is time to reboot the NRA.  The term means restart, begin again, in order to correct errors that have occurred.  Precisely what this out of control bunch of extremists needs and the process of change must start soon or more will die from guns.

The excellent gun control blog, Common Gunsense, recently posted an article on the fact that guns are now responsible for raging fires in Utah and Colorado.  It is the result of target shooting, a right that the NRA demands for its members, your rights be damned if it starts a blaze that destroys homes and precious forests.  CG says the NRA doesn’t trust government, adding:

“The NRA wants the minority of folks who own guns and carry guns to determine public safety rather than the people who are actually charged with doing so for the good of our communities.”

Gun control today

Richard Aborn of the Washington Post made this statement, “The debate about guns in the United States has always been between David and Goliath. Last year, the gun lobby outspent advocates of gun control by 11 to 1, or $2.9 million vs. $260,000.”  The NRA is well known for spending 46 percent of donations on fundraising, only 54 percent on charitable efforts while most major 501(c) charities spend 75 percent on the latter.

Aborn continues, “…the United States leads its post-industrial peers with an average of eight times as many annual deaths as a result of gun violence.”  He cites a decrease in gun control support in the United States, comparing this at a level of 52 percent in 1994 with a recent November Gallup poll indicating it is currently only at 1 percent.  The apathy is likely to continue as long as millions of Americans are out of work and losing their homes.

With those figures in mind, the author charges all of us with three factors in taking back control of guns:

Number one, don’t believe it; the battle against violent crime has not been won.  “More Americans were killed by gun violence last year than all American troops who have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.”

Two, “Ninety percent of gun owners support reasoned measures to keep guns from criminals and the mentally unbalanced, bipartisan polls show.”  Gun control and gun rights groups must come to an understanding.

Three, the NRA has successfully worked to prevent government funding for scientific research on the effectiveness of gun control measures.  Aborn says we should look at other countries for the plunging number of gun deaths with reasonable gun control.  You can see an example in my recent post, “Canada laws prove that gun control works.”

Numbers don’t lie and my monthly documentation of gun violence should be a wake up call for all of us, especially those out there I call the “Apathetics.”  You have to care and somehow make a contribution to efforts that put a reasonable control on who owns guns and just where they are allowed.  If not, many of you could be one of my future statistics.

U.S. Supreme Court rules on Arizona immigration law SB-1070…It’s a tie

Well, not exactly.  Although Arizona’s bungling Gov. Jan Brewer claimed victory, here’s what that win will entail.  Yes, Arizona can now require the police to determine if a person is a legal resident, if the individual is being stopped for some other violation of the law.  The cops will have to be very careful about this since the feds will be watching closely for racial profiling.  In all likelihood, if the person has no criminal record, ICE will not accept them for deportation.

And now, following the Supreme Court ruling, the feds rescinded Arizona’s 287G privileges, meaning, law enforcement cannot use the data system to verify illegal immigration, to confirm the status of people that have been stopped.  Broiling Brewer claims that she has checked and found that Arizona is the only state denied this data check. 

The reason the feds give, according to ColorLines, “…the program was not useful in states that have adopted immigration enforcement laws like SB1070.”  The feds will do the same in other states where SB-1070 type laws are in effect.

Blundering Brewer wags her finger again

So let’s look at this fiasco from a practical standpoint.  The state of Arizona has spent millions of dollars—supposedly donated money—and this comatose governor says she and the state are victorious when most of the illegal immigrants  they turn over to ICE will be released and in the process the state will most likely end up with several cases of racial profiling filed by the feds.  In other words, it is business like it was before this whole botched situation started.

It’s Arizona at its best, and the nation has once again had the opportunity to look at the state with disdain with the ridicule soon to begin.  I don’t know about you other progressives out there, but I have had enough and I hope, if we aren’t all banded together by now, the push will start soon to bring out the vote in November and get rid of as many of these conservative radicals as we can.

You can see a list of progressive websites here, and I recommend that you regularly follow Arizona Progress Action for the latest on what is happening on the left.  These posts are directed primarily at Arizona’s problems with an out of touch government and are specifically for the progressive reader.  You can also get involved through the Obama/Biden website for Arizona here.  I urge you to study all these sites for the best way you can participate for the Nov. election.

And I will leave you with these statistics re. popularity ratings in the great state of Arizona.  Public Policy Polling did a recent study to determine just who was the “supremist” in the state between Obama and Brewer.  President Obama came out on top with a 45 percent favorable, compared to the state’s own governor Jan Brewer with 43 percent favorable.  Agreed, it was before the SB-1070 decision but, come on, even two points at that time are an indication Arizona is in trouble.

Militia fanatics still a real threat to this country

Just over a week ago, a leader of an Alaska militia group and one of his peons were judged guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, also having weapons in a plot to kill government officials and law enforcement officers, according to the Chicago Tribune.  Prosecutors indicated that this was yet another example of anti-government action by these radical groups in the last few years.  I did a post on this fanaticism back in May, receiving several scathing comments.

Norm Olson, well-known
Alaska militiaman

I just Googled “U.S. militia groups 2012” and found a startling number of warnings by major news sources that the trend is still very much alive and growing.  Headlines like, “Hate groups, citizen militias surge in U.S.” and “Anti-government ‘sovereign movement’ on the rise in U.S.,” as an example.  The scary part is that in the comments from my last post on this issue, most of those responding thought this militia nonsense was perfectly OK.

There is a site that lists militias by state, here, if you are interested.  As you will see they are situated throughout the country and, God forbid, a scenario where these wackos got organized across state lines and started making trouble as a national force.  This is not fantasy, it is probability that is well substantiated by the actions of those in the above Alaska incident and when blueprinted out could include the potential attempt to take over the U.S. government by these lunatics.

Perhaps one of the most recent examples of a militia threat that could come to fruition was Arizona’s own J.T. Ready who was known as a neo-Nazi, member of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), and founder and head of the U.S. Border Guard, an Arizona militia.  Although Ready focused his hate primarily on illegal immigrants, his racist tendencies could have boiled over into other pursuits. 

On May 2, J.T. Ready killed four family members, including an infant, before turning the gun on himself.  It is this kind of mentality that we are dealing with in radical militias and what makes them so dangerous to our country.   

And while still on Arizona, the legislature recently voted down a state-sanctioned militia bill designed to set up an organization that would support other private militia groups that patrol the U.S./Mexico border.  Jack Foote, a high profile Arizona border-militia leader from Cottonwood, worked with the legislature in writing the legislation.  Foote said, “"We have now washed our hands of our state's Legislature.  Now we are going to do things our own way."

J.T. Ready with
assault weapon

Spoken like a true Arizonan.  This is what Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and ousted state Senator Russell Pearce attempted with the anti-immigration law, SB-1070 that the Supreme Court recently gutted except for one portion.  This defeat could revive action on the state militia bill and cause more conflict between Arizona and the federal government.  Critics of a border militia say it is “extremist in nature.”  The bill would have established a 300-member armed guard on the border.

An excellent review of militia actions in the U.S. is covered in the New Trajectory Blog that starts in 2012 and dates back to 1983.  Once again, the activity is neatly apportioned throughout the country, giving rise to my admonition that we must be on the lookout for some kind of nationalization by these fruitcakes.  This potential, combined with the incessant drive by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) to loosen gun laws is a powder keg ready to blow.

The old adage that one apple can spoil the whole barrel is true when it comes to this kind of organization.  As many of my comments indicated on the former post, there are good militia members out there and I won’t necessarily argue with that.  But the good can be led by a stronger bad, and that is the problem.  A border Arizona rancher who has accepted help from militias said, “Some people can join and have their own agendas.  That gets kind of frightening.”  An understatement.