Cause-->Effect

Bushonomics and Original Sin

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society”
The ex-local rag: In a report released this month, the (Violence Policy–ed.) center found that the shooting deaths of 67 people – including eight law enforcement officers – had been attributed to people holding legal gun permits. In 10 incidents, the shooters also took their own lives during a murder-suicide, and eight were mass shootings with three or more victims. The report covers the two-year period from May 2007 through October 2009, not including the Nov. 5 killing of 13 people in Texas. In that most recent mass killing, Army Maj. Nidal Mali

Thinkers Need Not Apply
Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post on the Republican loyalty oath purity pledge: It’s too bad that “elite” and “nuance” have become bad words in the Republican lexicon. Elites are viewed in Republican circles as “those people” who are out of touch with “real Americans.” And “nuance,” the definition of which suggests a sophisticated approach to understanding (as opposed to “Because I said so, case closed”) has come to be viewed as a Frenchified word Republicans successfully hung

Gamey
From El Reg: Erik Estavillo is seeking $1m (£600,000) in damages, claiming the orc-tastic roleplaying game (World of Warcraft) has turned him into a blank-eyed basketcase who can no longer function in the real world (as the lawsuit itself appears to prove). Having apparently become addicted to rampaging around some made-up mountains clobbering other collections of pixels with big clobbering weapons, Estavillo is calling pusher on the WoW developers, whom he accuses of “sneaky and deceitful practices”. All I can say is, “WoW.”

Last Known Address?
On Waldon Pond, of course. When troopers arrived at the scene (of a loud party–ed.) a number of individuals fled on foot, police said. Trooper Jason Grozier found one of these individuals in the parking lot of the Marlin Market, and attempted to make an arrest, when he was intentionally struck by a vehicle operated by Waldon Remington III.

Return of Beyond the Palin as Kim Kardashia
Katha Pollit in the Guardian: For her fans Palin may be a goddess of vitality and truth, but for everyone else she’s the first political female train wreck, the Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan of the Republican Party. We can’t stop looking. Maybe she’ll confuse Iran and Iraq again! And tell about praying on the phone with Rick Warren while taking a shower! Or write another letter in God’s voice about her baby, Trig! Maybe Palin is cosmic payback for all those nasty jokes about Hillary’s pantsuits and thick ankles, and for the mighty cry of “borrring!&#