Randi Rhodes: It's The Guns

Comedian Bill Cosby isn’t afraid to point to the role of the gun in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Cosby said “When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody.” The irony is that a gun turns someone who is otherwise afraid of everybody into someone that everybody needs to be afraid of. And under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, that person doesn’t even have to be afraid of getting arrested.

Around the country, Stand Your Ground laws lead to a sharp increase in justifiable homicide cases. Part of that is because, under Stand Your Ground laws, virtually every homicide is justifiable. It turns out that Stand Your Ground laws end up causing some very blood-soaked ground. Back when we had reasonable laws, there used to be a saying “Use a gun, go to jail.” Now it’s more like “Use a gun, go home.” Heck, in Sanford, Florida, they don’t even have a second part to that saying. Their slogan is “Use a gun. Period.”

In reporting on the awful shootings in Tulsa, a CNN reporter read a quote from a suspect’s Facebook page, and actually said out loud the phrase “F-ing N-word.” That’s not a term you hear on the air, unless you’re watching a live interview with a victim of Tourette’s syndrome. The weird part is that the reporter, Susan Candiotti, didn’t say it accidentally. Before she said the phrase, she warned “Please excuse the language, it’s very sensitive.” Actually, Susan, the language is very IN-sensitive. She says “excuse the language,” and then she says “f-ing n-word.” That’s like saying “pardon me” before knocking somebody unconscious. How do you possible think it’s OK to say that on TV? The only way that phrase is not over the line is if you decide there is no line. Oh, and the video showed a screenshot of the offensive Facebook page, with the phrase in question blurred-out. So I guess you were fine, if you had your TV muted.

Finally, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz says that Republicans are actually rooting for economic failure. Rooting? They’re much more than cheerleaders. They’re actually out on the field trying to beat the economic recovery.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Mike Wallace, 1918-2012...

Read more: http://www.randirhodes.com/main.html#ixzz1ra2ppFBI