Notes from the Burger-oisie...

Texas Legislature Attempts to Declare the Hamburger as Official State Sandwich

I'm pretty sure this is a fluff piece, a welcome distraction for Austin newsreaders from the dire budgetary straits the Texas Legislature finds itself in.  Author John Kelso certainly treats it as such.  His references to the overall silliness of the topic—which I was sure had come from pages of the Onion rather than the Statesman--are tongue-in-cheek and sparse, the author choosing to descend to the argument’s level and discuss the absurdity of the choice of the Hamburger instead of the Brisket Sandwich, rather than the confounding action itself—that is, a state legislature in crisis voting on an official state sandwich.  Personally, I wish there was a stronger vein of repulsion and civic outcry in the piece, but activism gets to be a bit droll when everyone is yelling about the budget at once, I suppose.  Thusly, articles like this one make it to print or the website.

With this in mind, my main criticism is that the jokes are as campy as Citronella candles, and Mr. Kelso doesn’t seem to care.  Whatever living he carves out of the Statesman’s coffers is surely secured by them on a regular basis.  The subject matter does ring a distinctly Texas-sounding bell though.  How very “Texan” of our legislators to take a little break and finally pin down such an issue. 

Kelso does bring up some good points in the context, however.  Why Isn’t the brisket sandwich being considered as the chief executive portable meal of our great state or indeed the breakfast taco before 10 a.m.?  I would vote for such a resolution, though not at the cost of legislative proceedings. 

Kelso gets his jokes across and I’m sure got a chuckle from someone, but at the end of the day I believe this could have been a much more telling and poignant expose into the ridiculous state of our legislature’s focus than it turned out to be.

In response to the post on Politcs Are Bigger In Texas regarding proposed campus gun legislation...

One of the main points I like to introduce to the gun control debate is that most school shootings, as well as other violent gun offenses, are not carried out by people who have bought, trained on, and legally conceal or carry their firearms.  It may be a more of a right-wing view then one would normally hear from me, but legislation that inhibits the proper maintenance and use of firearms seems to only do harm.  Let me explain... 

 Right now, it is still legal to obtain a firearm, and furthermore a concealed carry license.  Most would find it interesting that it is also legal to obtain suppressors (“silencers”).  It is legal to have these weapons in your homes and in your car (with limitations).  Every single member of my staff at work owns several rifles and pistols, some for hunting, some for tactical use.  There are far more guns next to you at a stoplight than you would probably ever want to realize. 

Yet the “wild-west”, fear-mongering scenario, that if this law is passed that everyone will buy guns, will bring them to campus, and have a shoot-out, has not presented itself.  Therefore, this extreme of the debate is debunked from the start.  The other side of the argument, that a trained and competent bystander, legally carrying a firearm, might effectively neutralize one of these tragic scenarios, has never been proven because people who do own tend not to carry concealed out of fear of criminal prosecution.  Hmm... 

            When you go to the local firing range or gun store, the people who are actively pursuing these endeavors (buying, collecting, researching, using and training how to use guns) are usually gun enthusiasts, ex-military or police and the odd self-defense-case beginner.  When people want to shoot up a school, they do not go through the paperwork and waiting periods to obtain and carry their weapon legally.  They steal or illegally obtain a firearm, walk right through the doors and begin to indiscriminately fire upon the masses.  So logic, to me, clearly sides on the removal of legislation that would inhibit the so-dubbed “hero” scenario.

            A common rebuttal is the tactical nightmare the authorities would face if arriving on scene at a shoot-out.  If the police were to arrive just as the innocent was returning fire, yes that would be potentially tragic.  However, a trained shooter will not only fire calmly and selectively, providing an immediate advantage over an assailant who is usually not emotionally stable in the first place, presumably ending the situation before the police arrive, but will know when to drop his weapon when told, and holster it once the subject is subdued.  It does not necessarily even have to be a fatal wound even, as most train for center-mass shots until the target drops.  So the best-case scenario is that the crisis is averted.  We all understand the worst case scenario, but that would be happening anyway, as the assailant fires shot after shot in the minutes until the police arrive on scene and decide how to breech the situation.  I personally would like at least the possibility of a fighting chance. 

            Having legally carried firearms on campus would also provide what I believe to be a very motivating deterrent factor.  These head-case school shooters are only doing this because they know their victims are unarmed and it feeds their need for control over their obviously disturbed worlds.  They might choose to take their grievances elsewhere if they thought they might have to contend with someone who could actually aim.

            For the previous reasons, I truly believe that when everything is laid out logically, and if guns weren’t so taboo and more people were given the chance to become comfortable with them, learning respect to replace the fear, that legislation allowing concealed carry in more places would be met with a bit warmer of a welcome.

Red White and Brown

Well I can just hear my moderately racist father screaming bloody murder now (interesting how MS Word suggested I remove the adverb and simply put “racist”)... Austin is officially a white-minority city for those under 18.  This is according to 2010 census data, which illustrates a Hispanic boom versus the data from 2000.  Bigots everywhere are surely fuming and rallying around such an incendiary attack on their ignorant beliefs all over the place.  More hatemongering is sure to come as they take in the follow on predictions of the nation’s child population going minority around 2020, and (hold on t‘yer britches, Jasper!) a white minority population of the US by 2043.

Ok, breathe people.  Bigotry aside, this does not really mean much in the short term. However, while I fly no flags of hate, I do have some comments on the subject.

I dearly hope this does not come off wrong, as ra-CIAL commentary so very often and tragically seems to in our racially over-sensitive society, but here goes: I am glad this is happening. The reason I am glad this is happening is that hopefully, in time, it will truly equalize us.  What do I mean when I say to truly equalize us?  I mean (and oh, I giddily hope) that it may be possible someday to live in a society where everyone casts the chips from their shoulders, ceases to make presumptions about people and  holds no more grudges against things (albeit horrible) that each other’s grandfathers and great grandfathers did in an ignorant time and place.  

It is hard to argue charges of a white male power hold on our society, as it plainly has existed for some time.  We are observing it slowly disintegrate, but it is still there.  And while this may not be Alabama in the 1960s, segregation and oppression still run deep in parts of our nation’s cities.  Never forget also that it all goes both ways.  I’d hate to be a white child in certain parts of Detroit, for instance.

So I hope for a world where all of this goes away.  Will it ever completely happen?  Not as long as humans are humans.  Will a reality check to the white majority as it stands speed up the process?  Probably not much.  However, there is a slight chance, if those who come into the majority role learn from the sins of their oppressors instead of perpetuating them, we as a people just might see some real progress.