Gun Shows: Breeding Grounds For Right Wing Extremist Views

25 Nov

Las Vegas is an attractive destination for all sorts of expositions; with its abundance of convention space as well as the shows, gambling and adult entertainment. The weekend of November 2-3, 2013 was no different. This was one of the three Rocky Mountain Gun Shows, held each year in Sin City. Based out of Salt Lake City, held at The Southpoint Hotel, the show attracts a heavily conservative crowd with self-professed Libertarian values. In other words, these are not just gun collectors, these are radically right-wing ‘patriots’ wishing to stockpile weapons and ammunition. After all, President Obama is ushering in the End Times, and what better way to prepare for the battle between good (gun-toting, Republican patriots) and evil (any Democrat or supporter of liberal causes) than to arm oneself to the teeth.

I thought it was a a great opportunity to get a look into the minds of these folks by asking what they thought of the Second Amendment, Obama and guns in general.  I wrote down some questions for a friend working at the gun show and, not surprisingly, she found a few folks more than eager to share their opinions on these topics.

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More guns does not equal more security

Tables and tables of ammunition and powerful weapons fill the ballroom where folks can come and sell their guns and purchase others with only a minimum of scrutiny.  The NRA and GOP seem to follow the same playbook, through their magazines, talk radio and internet publications, they provide stock answers to typical questions.  I must mention the questions were geared to comply with the mindset of the typical gun show attendee.  Here are just a few examples of the marching orders they receive from NRA-sponsored sources. It’s no surprise, these gun shows are a hazard to a functioning society as they legitimize armed insurrection against a democratically elected government.

The first question:  I am concerned we are becoming a nation of big government.  Are you afraid our gun rights will be revoked? 

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Millions of rounds of ammunition

  • The government’s mindset is control.  (except the government has not passed one new gun-control measure)
  • The only thing keeping big government in check is the (proliferation) of guns. (Can the average citizen seriously compete with a Hellfire Missile or a Stealth Fighter Jet?)
  • Crime rose in Australia 300% after revoking gun rights.  (crime did not rise more than any other year in 1997, the year of the gun buyback)  
  • The anti-gun groups hated the Bill of Rights (how in the hell could they possibly know that? The guns at the time were muskets and bayonets)
  • The Second Amendment was designed to keep the government in check.  (The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”  This means owning a firearm is designed for the purpose of forming a well-regulated militia. With the help of Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (R), the NRA successfully marketed the second amendment to suit the greed of the gun manufacturers for whom they answer. He helped form the NRA-ILA, 
  • Gun owners often compare gun deaths to other causes of death. They feel baseball bats and cars are valid comparisons to gun deaths.  
    Since some people have been beaten to death with a baseball bat and many have perished in auto accidents, why don’t we remove the right to use these items as well? Last I checked, there are millions of Americans who play baseball and millions more who somehow manage to drive every day without intentionally running someone over.  This is a ridiculous comparison since a firearm is brandished only to render lethal force to harm and/or kill someone.  

 Next question asked: Why would an average citizen need a semi-automatic weapon? 

  • Naturally, the first response was ‘self-protection.’  A family must protect themselves from home invasions.  Because when you want someone dead, they’d better be really, really dead. 
  • The media is giving these weapons a “bad name.”  This statement is laden with so much stupid, I don’t know where to begin.
  • If you want to go hog hunting, you can kill many more hogs in a shorter amount of time.  Apparently, wild hogs travel as a family unit, rarely seen in large groups of that would justify 3 rounds a second.  If you need a semi-automatic weapon to kill hogs, you must be feeding a large village.  Don’t we have supermarkets in America?
  • Every gun owner needs to have proper training on each gun they own as each gun has unique features. That statement unfortunately omits the thousands of untrained children who find a firearm and accidentally kill or injure someone.  

Finally, most folks refer to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat Party,” which is an insult started by Senator Joe McCarthy to make sure they implied the party was anything but democratic. Every gun owner interviewed at this show said they were afraid the “Democrat Party” was interested in grabbing their guns.

It completely blows my mind how people think a Black President hasn’t sparked a resurgence in gun violence.  When Right Wing Hate Radio encourages people to forget about calling 911 and try to handle emergency matters on their own or by urging listeners to take up arms against their government, we will most assuredly see an uptick in gun-related homicides. They are pathological psychopaths and they are a danger to society. The acquisition of lethal weapons by an angry, bitter segment of the population surely won’t result in a peaceful, logical society. Simply consider the George Zimmerman types who frequent these gun shows and what they have in their personal arsenal. Hate groups have doubled with the election of President Obama peaking at an all time high in 2012.

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Media Scrutiny Of Obamacare Is Downright Excessive

29 Oct
HHS Sebelius and POTUS

HHS Sebelius and POTUS

Lately, every newscast opens with the Healthcare.gov website “disaster.” From Fox to MSNBC, no newscast can resist relishing in the difficulties the Obama Administration has experienced with the launch of the website.  The costs of the site have been conflated by over $534 million, as if this president regularly spends with the reckless abandon of his predecessor, George W. Bush.  Not once this week have I heard anyone mention that the 40+ Obamacare repeal votes have cost American taxpayers a grand total of $54 million.

It seems as if so many in the media are just waiting for the first black president to flub up and each news outlet wants to make sure they are the first to point out any and all missteps. CNN even has an Obamacare website navigation clock which replaced the Debt Ceiling Deadline and Government Shutdown Clock, designed to magnify the inefficiencies of the site.  How dare there be problems with a website designed to coordinate fifty states with thousands of insurance companies!

No one is denying the problems the website has had.  But remember, it’s a website, it is not the entire system.  It will be fixed.  But seldom do we hear of the preexisting conditions that have been eliminated by the revolutionary program.  Seldom do we recall three-fourths of the medical bankruptcies (which account for 60% of all bankruptcies in the U.S.) were filed by those with insurance. Seldom does anyone interview one of the thousands of Americans that have benefited from the Affordable Care Act.  Why is that?  Perhaps because the media gave a pass to George W. Bush; as expectations were so low of this man of very mediocre intelligence?  The Bush-Era Tax Cuts received a fraction of the negative press the Obamacare website has received upon their onset in 2002.  By comparison, there was a significantly greater outrage expressed when President Obama extended the Tax Cuts in 2010.  In order to renew jobless benefits during the holidays, the President was put between a rock and a hard place much to the dismay of many of us Americans, especially those of us who are fiscally literate.  Unfortunately, the decisions of the Commander in Chief are not always black and white, especially where millions of vulnerable Americans were concerned.

It doesn’t seem to matter how excessive the expenditures of the previous administration were, nor what the GOP Teaparty-controlled Congress incurs.  The Bush-Era Tax Cuts amounted to $1.8 trillion that we will never see again.  The recent shutdown cost taxpayers around $24 billion according to Standard and Poors estimates, but the blame on the Ted Cruz-led Teaparty was minimal by comparison to the harsh critique levied upon Kathleen Sebelius and the President.  Tomorrow we will see unprecedented scrutiny of our Health and Human Services Secretary during the hearings because, apparently, this is the greatest scandal to befall us in our nation’s history.

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The Secret Strategy Driving Republicans Today

25 Oct

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Odds are, most Americans have never heard of Dominionism or Reconstructionism. This extreme form of Christianity is much more common than most realize, but as a general rule, most (not all) don’t publicly proclaim their radical religious views. Reconstructionists believe that Christians alone should control civil government, conducting it according to Biblical, not secular law. Two of Dominionism’s best known devotees are Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.

This philosophy is not new to the American political scene. America was extremely affected by the fundamentalist Christians via George W. Bush, who favored faith-based programs and sought to deny schools funding if they taught anything but abstinence-only sex education. This theology gives an insight into the view of today’s GOP: a polarized Christian society where the poor are afforded no protection from the wealthy who can do as they please simply because of their financial stature. Bigotry, misogyny, and slavery are just a few of the Old Testament concepts embraced by these prominent Republicans.

The Dominionists seek to control the Seven Mountains of society which are: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion. If you can have control over these seven areas, you can shape and control whatever takes place in nations, and even the world. Just like the Old Testament dictates, women and foreigners are second class citizens and homosexuality is “sinful.” Most Dominionists are still sympathetic to the Civil War defeat of the Confederacy and see nothing wrong with human rights abuses in the Antebellum south.

Both Cruz and Paul along with RNC Chair Reince Priebus, were publicly blessed and anointed, with the laying-on of hands, by Dominionist Pastors, at the July 19th-20th 2013 Iowa Renewal Project pastors’ gathering held at the Des Moines Marriott Hotel. Cruz was labeled the de facto leader of the GOP and the October 1st shutdown showed the nation he is that influential. Their obsession with the acquisition of wealth is quite antithetical to that of their “Savior,” Jesus Christ.

The constitutionally mandated wall separating church and state is completely obliterated by Seven Mountain Dominionists. Designed to “bring the spoils of war to the priests”, thus helping to bring about a prophesied “great transfer of wealth”, from the “wicked” to righteous gentile believers, this morally bankrupt way of thinking and acting is justified by the supposition that it’s divinely mandated. These extremist theocrats actually believe they are chosen by god to impose their selfish agenda. Much like billionaire Sheldon Adelson and LDS Bishop, Willard Romney , these guys truly believe they are the Anointed Ones. You can be certain the obsession with the impending Rapture will ensure a type of governance where the consequences of inconsiderate behavior do not factor into policy decisions. Dominionist Michelle Bachmann has claimed we are in the End Times. A religious test was omitted intentionally by the Founding Fathers because they foresaw the dangers of mixing religion and politics. Ted Cruz and his devotees embody their worst fears!

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Religious Nuttery and Political Hypocrisy: Crazy Teapartiers

15 Oct 20131021-095529.jpg

These are dark times indeed. To punish America for having the audacity to elect a black man TWICE, the GOP will try to deliberately ruin America’s economy. The Democrats are pragmatically trying to avoid economic disaster while Republicans sing funeral songs like Amazing Grace praying instead of governing. Senator Ted Cruz still believes shutting down the government was a good idea. Their abject hypocrisy and ignorance are stunning.

It was rare for a person to surface who embodies the appalling hypocrisy of a self-proclaimed “god-fearing” man and the deliberate ignorance of the “Christian” homeschool movement. The Reagan plan to defund the crap out of education is coming to fruition. There’s now a whole generation of ignoramuses. A consortium of this type of cretin has created the 113th Congress, a willfully ignorant group who vociferously oppose reason, logic and facts. These self-important monsters could easily topple our great nation if we don’t expose their insidious objectives. Governing by crisis is the chosen method of these TeaParty troublemakers. They exist only to serve their gigantic corporation CEOs. The most noteworthy of these asshats is Greg Collett, a devout Mormon from the great state of Idaho, who is running for state office in 2014.

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Clearly, anyone who is a staunch member of the Teaparty has obvious contradictions abound. The grassroots organization is funded by hate groups like The Heritage Foundation, who want to take our country “back” from that Black guy who dared to win two presidential elections. Collett goes a bit further. Obviously a Romney supporter, Greg prohibits his children from consuming GMOs, the signature products of Bain Capital’s Monsanto, a company Romney helped make into the industry giant it is today. Collett proclaims, “I avoid all refined sugars and corn syrup, enriched flour products and other processed foods, GMO products, and foods that have unpronounceable ingredients”. Naturally, he won’t research who’s responsible for assailing our population with these harmful products. This is common for Teapartiers; they rail against things they don’t quite understand. That’s why this man hates government. He doesn’t understand it.

Government is force, and using government to force men to do good works takes away the agency of man. When government is used to take money from one citizen and give it to another (even for a seemingly good cause) it simply amounts to legal plunder, making government, and those that support it, the criminal.

Like 20% of Oklahomans, Greg Collett is a staunch advocate of homeschooling, as there’s just not enough Brigham Young in our history. An educated populace whose curriculum is decided by anyone but the Teaparty Right Wing is their biggest enemy. Even though the Heritage Foundation and Romneycare comprise the basic format of “Obamacare,” the Teaparty cannot support it because their racist objection to all President Obama’s policies coerces them to take drastic action to oppose it.

In Collett’s mind, government is bad and only the LDS Church can force people to be kind. His ten children are expensive to care for. Collett’s kids are all on Medicaid. But he opposes government interference with healthcare. He believes our government is far too secular and his interpretation of the supernatural should be adopted by all. Of course he throws in concepts like tyranny, children are a heritage from god, ending funding for public education, Communist Manifesto, and the jewel of all, ‘I am against National Parks, but I visit them.’ This is a dangerously stupid man who throws out red meat for the Teaparty base.

Greg Collett is running again in 2014 for the position A, district 11 of the Idaho House. He’s lost twice before, receiving 25% of the vote in 2010 and 34% in 2012. The public should be outraged anyone with such a convoluted worldview could possibly win an election. The views he has stated reveal he thinks we live in a theocracy, rather than a democracy. It’s unfathomable how anyone –be they Mormon, Lutheran, Catholic, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Buddist, agnostic, or atheist– could vote for this lunatic. The Teaparty has undoubtedly shown how they revile government and will do anything to sabotage the institution.

LDS zealots like Collett and unstable, narcissistic Dominionists like Ted Cruz have proclaimed God tells them how to legislate. Ironically, they protest vehemently against Islamist theocratic regimes while behaving exactly like these misogynist lunatics. These people must be stopped, as they are the ones who shred the Constitution at every opportunity.

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High Voltage Fun: A Year Cruising with the Volt

15 Oct

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My Chevy Volt, the cute little electric vehicle with a gas engine (for those longer treks) has reached its first birthday. I traded in my gas-guzzling import for this domestic diva last October.

Factoring in a fuel average of $4.00 per gallon, my maintenance cost has been $160 in fuel and $120 in electric costs. The tax credit I received in my 2012 return puts me comfortably in the black for my first year of Volt ownership. I simply plug it in whenever it’s parked in my garage with the standard 120V charger that came standard with the vehicle.

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Generally, one charge provides roughly forty miles of driving. However, I’ve learned to be a better driver and often get more than the forty miles per charge. By maintaining the green energy ball (in the right side of the display) at a centered locale, the driver can maximize the efficiency of the Volt. The torque of the electric power is very impressive and I have no trouble easily merging onto any road.

Since purchasing my Volt, my sister also decided to enter the world of EVs. She drives a Volt as well, trading in her Prius six months ago. She has spent a total of $26.00 in gas since she bought her Volt and is very satisfied with her car. On the downside, we both agree the trunk could be a little more conducive to comfortably placing heavy items. Other than that, it is simply a wonderful car.

I drove my Volt to California once, and the trip accounted for about half the total fuel I’ve used. I simply don’t need to closely watch fuel prices as I only get gas about 3 times per year. It’s always fun to go to convenience stores, and drive past the pumps, going inside for a drink. My five year old plugs the car in sometimes and often asks, “you don’t need gas, mommy?” I tell him this (electric plug) is our gas and someday we may not need the dirty fuel which has caused far too many wars. Hopefully this will be a reality. I do know one thing for certain; I’d never go back to a gas only car. Never.

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Ted Cruz: The Intellectual Teapartier (and Other Oxymorons)

28 Sep

Everything about the TeaParty is not only antithetical to its stated purpose, but soaked in irony. With his faux filibuster, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) displayed a level of conservative narcissism not seen since Family Ties, a sitcom which humorously portrayed a teenage Republican whose ambition rivaled the 1980′s Wall Street hero, Gordon Gekko. The Greed is Good concept was new and had yet to be associated with today’s massive income inequality whose seeds were sown during the 1980′s.

Social welfare, healthcare and workers’ rights were unpalatable to the Moral Majority and Reagan’s presidency marked the beginning of the end of the Middle Class. Unlike today’s society, where this economic group is almost an endangered species, we could poke fun at a selfishly capitalist conservative teen. In 2013, this would not only be unfunny, but offensive as well. Ted Cruz has embodied the worst traits of a group ruled by the id and unfettered by the superego. Millions of struggling Americans are facing Third World problems while TeaPartiers denounce them as lazy and undeserving. This is a party that believes it is ethical to take food out of poor children’s mouths while overcrowding ERs with millions of uninsured citizens. Often condoning religious dogma to supersede the teaching of science while denouncing equal rights legislation, the TeaParty is hell bent on returning to the Dark Ages. The fact this megalomaniac, Cruz is the head of this AstroTurf group shows just how insidious they are.

As impolite as it sounds, science-denying Teabaggers could aptly be called morons, but deeper analysis points to a new idea in governance: standing firmly on the principles of the oxymoron. The double entendre is the unintended consequence of Teaparty policies: gun safety, compassionate conservativism, Texas textbooks, and TeaParty intellectual. Ted and his fans are basically a group of “oxymorons” mismanaging government and holding the nation hostage. If the Founding Fathers represented the culmination of the Age of Enlightenment, this merry band of misanthropic malcontents are the denouement of democracy and the inception of anarchy. It’s funny how they claim to be patriots while being the most politically destructive force since slavery and the Confederacy in the mid-nineteenth century.

Gun Safety

Statistics show states with looser gun laws are far more deadly when it comes to firearm fatalities. Thanks to the NRA and their perversion of the 2nd Amendment,  sensible legislation is an impossibility.  True to form, the Canadian-born Rafael Cruz has championed all things harmful and dangerous, as his A+ NRA rating demonstrates. After a staggering number of mass shootings, Cruz continues his crusade to eliminate the most minuscule regulations, failing to protect the most common victims of gun accidents, children. Naturally, the idea of guns marketed for children is not at all surprising for a man who raved about Ashton Kutcher and Duck Dynasty in his 21 hour faux filibuster.  Cruz and his TeaParty terrorists have repeatedly legislated in favor of the death-machine manufacturers. Responsible gun ownership and safety is really just a way of justifying corporate profit over human lives.

Compassionate Conservatism

The GOP and its insanely right wing TeaParty claim to be the party of “Christ.”  The Golden Rule doesn’t apply to a Congress who voted to cut $4 billion per year from the very poor while granting millions in farm and oil subsidies.  Conservatives have hijacked a New Testament quote stating “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”  (Thessalonians 3:10)
to mean only those who work hard should eat, condemning children, the elderly and the handicapped.  Jesus preached tolerance and charity, according to the scriptures.  Selective charity is certainly not divine.  Ted Cruz, whose father is a minister, legislates contrary to the teachings of his god.  Ted idolizes the late Senator Jesse Helms who proposed eradicating the Equal Rights Amendment and was a huge racist.  Cruz actually said, we need 100 like Jesse Helms in the Senate. Shameful.

Texas Textbooks

Many of our public schools rely on textbooks printed, largely, in Texas.  This would not be a problem if Texas legislators, especially those favored by the TeaParty, weren’t concerned with changing history and science.  Not only have they sanitized history to rename the slave trade The Atlantic Triangular Trade, they also rename capitalism the free-enterprise system to mask the evils of a system based on exploitation of labor.  Texas also has inserted the ridiculously unscientific theory of Creationism to supplant the teaching of evolution.  The TeaParty is proud of religious mythology, so much so it is on a par with proven science.  The idea of any educational tools originating in a state so rooted in convoluted logic is as ridiculous as the TeaParty deciding anything of importance.

Teaparty Intellectual 

When Cruz emerged on the national scene as a member of the 112th Congress, he was a rare find, an Ivy League-educated debate champion. Bragging about the Libertarian principles he so espouses, he has moved the party so far right, no possible compromise could ever be reached. Thanks to this intellectual we are literally minutes from the first government shutdown since 1995, a move denounced by many prominent members of his party. Taking the hard line, ‘if you fail to defund Obamacare we will not agree to any budget deal’, is not a popular stance among the more moderates like Rep Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rep Peter King (R-NY) who are willing to compromise with the occasional sane members of the GOP. Ted Cruz has a very unsavory reputation which leaves many unhappy with his techniques of intimidation to pass his extremist ideology. Senator John Cain referred to Cruz as a f@&kin dick which was the most endearing statement to emerge from McCain in quite some time.

Paralleling the infamous Joe McCarthy with Senator Cruz not just in political paranoia, but actual physical resemblance makes this guy even more appropriate as the leader of a political hate group disguised as anything but. So now, as I finish this article, the federal government is officially closed. This petulant toddler of a Senator has achieved a shameful milestone in TeaParty obstructionist history.

Update: October 17th, the government is open, Teabagger-incurred crisis averted but with a severe blemish. Teaparty-Americans were able to provide another oxymoron. They were protesting the closure of national monuments with the folks who closed the government, while donning Confederate flags. It almost makes your head spin.

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America is Anything But Post-Racial

10 Sep

The quest for equality and civil rights in America is more challenging than ever, despite electing Barack Obama. Just as the South still hasn’t given up on winning the War of Northern Aggression (otherwise known as The Civil War), the fight for equal rights and fair treatment of all Americans is ongoing. Unlike the days of Eisenhower, where moderate Republicans set the agenda, the racist fringe of the GOP is much more comfortable with bigotry and white supremacy, bragging openly about their disdain for our President. Country Star, Hank Williams, in 2012 said (at a county fair), We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S., and we hate him. This hate-speech was followed by thunderous applause, even though none of his assertions were true. Fringe groups are no longer the minority of the GOP, they set the agenda. They set the tone. They aren’t going away. The Teaparty has assured that racial discrimination is here to stay.

Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing ― Barack Obama. More than anyone, the President has understood this tenet, simply by the obstructionism he has faced since taking office. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, so all my life, I should be seeing the racial tension in this country improving, but this is quite contrary. The most egregious example of racist hate is often uttered by Ann Coulter. The Conservative pundit and known hate monger, said Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin is making a monkey out of President Obama. Anyone familiar with the GOP shouldn’t be astonished this woman is still respected in Conservative circles. The party that embraces the (white supremacist hate group) Stormfront endorsed Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky makes no effort to hide their objection to civil rights. Ex Secretary of Defense and known war criminal, Donald Rumsfeld, had the audacity to call our President the “So-called Commander-in-Chief.” His CiC is a convicted war criminal, so his disdain for Obama is a stab at the legitimacy of a Black Commander-in-Chief.

The disrespect for African-Americans is not exclusive to members elected or appointed to high office positions. Distinguished Public Servants like Susan Rice, Van Jones and Eric Holder are not the only ones victimized by this new racist chic that predominates Conservative attitudes in America. A North Carolina Restaurant actually asked a large party of black patrons to leave because one of the white customers felt threatened by the party of twenty-five which is absolutely stunning in 2013. Not to be outdone, a church in Charlotte, NC. insisted only whites greet patrons at the door. They apologized ex post facto for their Whites Only sign, but the damage was already done.

Discrimination continues with our children of color as well in the form of prejudice toward African-American hairstyles. A seven-year old African-American girl, a great student by all accounts, was told her dreadlocks were an unacceptable style for attending her Tulsa, Oklahoma school. Right here in Las Vegas, thirteen year old Brinley Middle Schooler, Margaret Bates was told the blond color at the ends of her braids are an unacceptable color for an African-American. Sparking potential riots, the school recalled the discriminatory comment towards Margaret and amended the policy to include only naturally occurring hair colors for any person of any color. The clarification came too late, as it was obvious the racial prejudice the school has embraced.

With the obvious racial injustice expressed by the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, our nation is at a very dangerous and volatile point when it comes to civil rights. The sinister trend these cases of discrimination are creating is surely not how we are supposed to be evolving as a society. The Republican party is obviously not geared toward inclusivity, and those intolerant of civil rights and mutual respect for one another will eventually be singled out as unacceptable.

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