September 2012 Monthly Shooting Report

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) whose data comes direct from hospitals, there are 88 people killed by firearms each day, 603 during a week, and 2,612 monthly.  The Nasty Jack report, with sources exclusively from the media, will obviously reflect smaller numbers than the CDC, but with dates and locations

Sept. 2012 came in lower than August in all categories, most significant was the drop in the number of shootings; a total of 113.  Deaths by firearms were only 7 less but the wounded were down 106.  Even with decreases, monthly deaths were still 70, and 159 were wounded in 229 shootings.  TOO MUCH!  Notably, the two largest cities in the country in states with some of the most stringent gun control laws, New York and Los Angeles, had only one incident each.

Chicago is still suffering from its gang warfare but there was some relief in that there were 4 less incidents in September than August.  And Phoenix, Arizona, the capital of loose gun control, had a total of 7 incidents, leading most every other city even close to its size.  There was another mass shooting during the month in Minneapolis, Minnesota where a gunman killed five including himself and wounded four others.  The grim statistics just keep piling up.

Gun control in the crosshairs

Yet, not a mention about gun control by the President or Republican contender Mitt Romney in last week’s debate.  Nor was there a question raised on that issue by seasoned debate host, Jim Lehrer.  I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the NRA’s mythical hold on this country—mythical because the public has been showered with lies against sensible gun control convincing naïve Americans gun rights have an absolute protection from the Constitution, which is not true.

Therefore, we had no dialogue over one of the most important dilemmas this country has ever had, which is the death of innocent Americans from firearms that are available to anyone to take anywhere.  Here are the numbers for September:

DATE	CITY/STATE	DEAD	WOUNDED	SHOOTINGS
9/1/2012	Chicago, IL	2	15	17
9/1/2012	Oklahoma City, OK	0	4	4
9/1/2012	Seattle, WA	1	0	1
9/2/2012	Coolidge, AZ	1	0	1
9/3/2012	Baltimore, MD	1	6	7
9/3/2012	Chicago, IL	0	2	2
9/3/2012	West Union, WV	3	0	3
9/4/2012	Chicago, IL	2	0	2
9/4/2012	Sanford, NC	0	1	1
9/4/2012	Tucson, AZ	1	1	2
9/5/2012	Chicago, IL	1	4	5
9/5/2012	San Bernardino, CA	1	0	1
9/5/2012	Yuma, AZ	1	0	1
9/7/2012	Louisville, KY	1	1	2
9/7-9/8/12	Chicago, IL	2	9	11
9/8/2012	New York, NY	4	1	5
9/8/2012	Oakland, CA	0	5	5
9/9/2012	Wichita, KS	0	2	2
9/11/2012	District Heights, MD	1	0	1
9/11/2012	Greensboro, NC	0	2	2
9/11/2012	Holbrook, AZ	0	2	2
9/12/2012	Chicago, IL	1	4	5
9/12/2012	Phoenix, AZ	1	0	1
9/13/2012	Jackson, MS	0	2	2
9/14/2012	Chicago, IL	2	8	10
9/14/2012	Kansas City, MO	1	1	2
9/14/2012	Phoenix, AZ	1	1	2
9/14/2012	Richmond, VA	1	1	2
9/14/2012	Shreveport, LA	0	1	1
9/14-9/16/12	Chicago, IL	6	23	29
9/15/2012	South Bend, IN	0	1	1
9/15/2012	Tempe, AZ	0	3	3
9/15/2012	Trenton, NJ	0	2	2
9/16/2012	Myrtle Beach, SC	0	1	1
9/16/2012	Pomona, CA	0	1	1
9/16/2012	South Bend, IN	1	2	3
9/16/2012	Yuma, AZ	0	1	1
9/17/2012	Indianapolis, IN	1	1	2
9/19/2012	Pomona, CA	1	0	1
9/20/2012	Phoenix, AZ	1	0	1
9/20/2012	San Jose, CA	0	2	2
9/21/2012	Miami, FL	1	0	1
9/21/2012	Phoenix, AZ	1	0	1
9/21/2012	Phoenix, AZ	1	1	2
9/21-9/23/12	St. Louis, MO	0	7	7
9/21-9/23-12	East St. Louis, IL	3	2	5
9/23/2012	Baltimore, MD	0	1	1
9/23/2012	Bullhead City, AZ	1	0	1
9/23/2012	Greensboro, NC	0	1	1
9/23/2012	Kannapolis, NC	0	2	2
9/23/2012	Phoenix, AZ	0	3	3
9/25/2012	Lakeside, CA	0	3	3
9/26/2012	Clarksdale, MS	2	2	4
9/26/2012	Lincoln Heights, OH	0	1	1
9/26/2012	Richmond, VA	1	0	1
9/26/2012	Stillwater, OK	1	0	1
9/26/2012	Tucson, AZ	1	0	1
9/27/2012	Los angeles, CA	1	0	1
9/27/2012	Minneapolis, MN	5	4	9
9/27/2012	Tulsa, OK	1	0	1
9/28-9/30/12	Coffeyville, KS	2	2	4
9/28/2012	Chicago, IL	2	6	8
9/28/2012	Phoenix, AZ	1	0	1
9/29/2012	Chicago, IL	0	4	4
9/30/2012	Erie, PA	1	2	3
9/30/2012	Jackson, MS	2	0	2
9/30/2012	Philadelphia, PA	1	0	1
9/30/2012	Syracuse, NY	1	7	8
9/30/2012	Winter Springs, FL	2	1	3
		70	159	229

Mr. President…nice guys finish last

Mitt Romney was the winner in Wednesday night’s debate hosted by Jim Lehrer because apparently Barack Obama left his debating skills back at the White House.  Obama was constantly looking down at the lectern with an expression I could not define, nor is it one I have seen from him in earlier debates.  If he was pre-occupied with his 20^th anniversary, which was Oct. 3^rd, romanticists might forgive him a bit, but hard core political analysts are anything but romantics.



Jim Lehrer, Debate Host

I don’t think it was that because the Commander in Chief can separate himself from his personal life when the big decisions are necessary, as he has shown before.  He was described in the media as “less than engaged” and “lethargic,” at times rambling through issues and facts like he has before.  In one report the President’s performance was described as a “far cry” from when he was on the campaign trail first running for office.  So where was Obama Wednesday?

To begin with, he let Romney come on strong in the very beginning, as he was predicted to do, and take over the debate literally from his first words.  CNN said, “The crucial and tone-setting first 30 minutes of the debate belonged to Romney.”  As an example, the President should have hammered more on Romney’s tax plan that refuses to raise taxes while making deep budget cuts in areas like education, with no specific clue to where revenue will come from.

But here’s what he said on Thursday the day after the debate: "If you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth.  So here's the truth: Governor Romney cannot pay for his $5 trillion tax plan without blowing up the deficit or sticking it to the middle class. That's the math."  Something he did mention a couple of times on Wednesday but not forcefully enough.

And I was astounded that Obama never refuted Romney’s repeated claims that the President would cut $716 billion from Medicare, inferring that it would come out of benefits to retirees.  In fact, Obamacare makes this cut from insurance companies and hospitals, not beneficiaries, and in many cases involves cost-saving measures.  Medicare Advantage recipients will be affected by reductions but that is a private plan, by choice, not through the government.

You can see a complete transcript of the debate here.

Not only did Romney start with the strength of his convictions—although many probably won’t stand a fact-check—he continued showing a confidence that just didn’t seem to be there for the President, except at certain times.  Mostly it was missed opportunities like the $716 billion remark above, but from more recent gaffes by Romney, Obama didn’t challenge the challenger with his comment about the 47% of Americans who thought they were “entitled” to benefits.



Mitt Romney-Pres, Obama

Yet another miss, not bringing up the Romney Bain Capital fiasco when outsourcing jobs was mentioned.  How about just why Romney refuses to release additional taxes from the 2 years already released?  Obama should have been more prepared to show exactly why Romney will have to raise taxes on the middle class when refusing to raise them on the wealthy.  And what about the latter.  Any one of these could have put Romney on the defensive.

At times I thought Romney looked flushed, reminiscent of the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960 when Nixon looked very tired and sweated profusely,  Romney suffered from neither of these but the redness in his face seem to come and go, coming on while Obama was talking then lessening when he was at the helm.  Barack Obama just seemed detached from his surroundings while Romney was speaking, which could account for his lack of attacks on Romney untruths.

Who gets the Pinocchio award?

In a couple of fact-checks, Seniors will pay less under Obamacare rather than Romney’s claim they will pay more.  Obama’s administration did not create 5 million jobs as he spoke, but rather 4.4 million, but with a net gain of 125,000 jobs during his administration.  Romney said health care costs are going up, which they are, but they are rising under Obamacare at the slowest rate they have in 51 years.  If you are interested, go to FactCheck.orghttp://www.factcheck.org/.

There are two more Presidential debates and one Vice Presidential debates still to go, and the whole picture will no doubt change somewhat with each meeting of the candidates.  I did a post recently, “The debates may not make a difference but we’ll watch them anyway,” which addresses whether Presidential Debates have changed the course of the elections over the years.  In most cases, no, but with Romney’s Wednesday strengths, Obama must find himself before Oct. 16.

Missing was to question the candidates what they would do about gun violence and more firearms regulation.  Lehrer was asked by top gun control advocates to do this but not even a mention if it might be coming up in future debates.  And my final thought, Romney did not beat the President in this debate, Obama beat himself.  I am still curious why it happened.  What are your thoughts?

GOP tries to “Swift Boat” Obama…again

They tried it in August when a gang of Republicans, including the Tea Party of course, charged the Obama administration with “leaking details of sensitive  national security operations and of using the mission targeting former al Qaeda leader bin Laden for political gain.”  The Hill also reports that Dem. Senator John Kerry of Mass. said this holds a “striking resemblance” to the “Swift Boat” attacks on him in 2004 orchestrated by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT).



John Kerry and swift boat crew

They tried it again on Tuesday, the eve of the first Obama/Romney debate held yesterday.  This time they used the “racism” approach claiming that an address given by the then Sen. Barack Obama in 2007 made comparisons between the aid that Katrina victims received and those received from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attacks, implying they were not equal. 

Speaking to a mostly black audience, he said that race relations still had a long way to go in the United States, claiming the divide most severely has an impact on impoverished parts of the country.  The implication here being the squalor in which many blacks lived in the 9^th Ward hard hit by Katrina, which didn’t receive equal attention.

So far it is hard to argue with anything Obama said.  And then it ricocheted around the media with CNN coverage from Lou Dobbs to Paula Zahn.  But four years later CNN Senior Political Analyst and National Journal Editorial Director Ron Brownstein exclaimed it was old news, still in the archives of most news organizations.  Brownstein citied the fact that it was covered by Fox News as well as discussed by conservative Tucker Carlson.  And then dropped.

Must-see video exposing Republican conservatives backing current "Swift Boat" ads:

In Obama’s speech he mentioned the Stafford Act which requires local and state governments to match a certain percentage of federal funds for emergencies.  Obama criticized the feds for not waiving the matching funds in the aftermath of the Katrina catastrophe.  He stated the Stafford Act was waived following 9/11, as well as after Florida’s Hurricane Andrew. 

Obama then commented, "What's happening down in New Orleans? 'Where's your dollar? Where's your Stafford Act money?' Makes no sense. Tells me that somehow, the people down in New Orleans, they don't care about as much!"

9th Ward after Katrina

Still can’t find anything to disagree with.  Following Katrina the government did move to expedite assistance spending $19.1 billion in just Louisiana.  The 9^th Ward of New Orleans suffered the most devastation and took the longest to recover.  Katrina hit The Big Easy in August of 2005 and it wasn’t until 2009 that there was some serious rebuilding going on. 

In March, 2012, however, the New York Times reported that "the neighborhood {9^th Ward} has become a dumping ground for many kinds of unwanted things." and "it no longer resembled an urban, or even suburban environment. Where once there stood orderly rows of single-family homes with driveways and front yards, there was jungle."

Not enough?  The 2012 “Swift Boaters” decided to tie the knot by regurgitating the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue, resurrecting Obama’s former association with this Chicago pastor which has long since been debunked and laid to rest by the national media.  In both cases, Katrina and Rev. Wright, it is pathetically obvious that the desperation of the Republican Party to get Mitt Romney elected is at the highest possible level.  Karl Rove to the rescue, only it didn’t work this time.



Yes, it can work

All during this 2007 address, “Obama called for more investment and job training in poor communities and minority-owned businesses. His speech was targeted to his audience and tailored with themes of ‘hope’ and ‘overcoming obstacles’ that are traditionally heard in black churches.”  He finished with, "America will survive. Just like black folks will survive. We won't forget where we came from. We won't forget what happened 19 months ago, or 15 years ago, or 300 years ago."

Still, no argument.

Boyce Watkins, founder of yourblackworld.com said, "We have to remember that we live in a country that has for 400 years been poisoned by the psychological disease of racism and it doesn't take much to spark that back up."  Ron Brownstein added "this is an intensely racially polarized country," and that race plays a part in both the election and governing.  But it doesn’t have to turn into racism.