13 Killed Last Night in Texas – Let’s Outlaw ALL Pickup Trucks!

Kevin Copenhagen
Infowars.com
July 23, 2012

This is the exact SAME logic used by the gun-grabbing, bleeding-heart and historically-ignorant “liberals” in this country in the wake of Friday’s mass murder in Aurora, Colorado. However, “conservatives” also grieving for the lives taken in the senseless mass murder of last Friday and who, rightly, are up in arms about talk of banning guns or restricting our access to them seem to have no issues with the Military Industrial Complex taking millions of innocent lives in wars of aggression on sovereign nations over the past 60+ years. “USA, USA, USA!!! Hoorah!!”

In yet another tragic episode of sheer ignorance, 23 people were piled into a Ford F-250 which went off the road Sunday on Route 59 southwest of Houston, Texas, smashing into a tree killing 13 and seriously injuring the other 10 on board. Where is the 24/7 nationwide media coverage, outrage and grief for these poor individuals and their grieving families? I hear the crickets chirping loudly because there was no gun involved in this tragedy.

Clearly, as was the case in the latest senseless mass shooting in Colorado, the problem was not access to weapons, or even the weapons themselves. The problem was with the INDIVIDUAL in both cases. One, a deranged psychopath and the other most likely ignorant and completely irresponsible for driving a truck loaded in such a way that it was never intended to be used. Just as the weapons legally purchased were NEVER intended to be used in the way they were by James Holmes.

The problem in both of these unfortunate instances is NOT guns nor pickup trucks, but a culture of death, fear and ignorance perpetuated by the media, Hollywood, “popular” culture, “education” system and the government itself who uses fear to justify their very existence on a daily basis. And Americans, for the most part, buy into this propaganda (what Edward Bernays and Walter Lippman referred to as “perception management”) with very little critical thought.

So, is the answer to ban all guns and let only the psychopaths who gravitate towards positions of power in the world have exclusive access to them allowing an unchallenged monopoly of force against the masses? Do we ban ALL pickup trucks so that 23 people can’t pile in and risk certain death when the driver loses control?

OR, do we look deeply at OURSELVES and our culture and ask what can be done to change the way people THINK in this country so that tragedies in BOTH of these cases can be avoided in the future?

Taking away rights and freedoms is not the solution to any problem that has ever been. Education, knowledge and understanding are the keys to living in a sane world of sane individuals who comprise sane families, communities and societies. We need to look at the causes of mental illness and the roots of stupidity if we want to solve the problems that arise in tragedies such as these two that caused the unnecessary deaths of 25 innocent people in just the past 3 days.

While we’re at it, perhaps we should look at our nation’s agenda of imperialism and the MILLIONS of innocents killed in the name of “spreading democracy” over the past 67 years since the end of WW II. Oh, and how about the care-free and irresponsible “disposable” culture that has allowed for the murder of 54 millions innocent babies who never had a chance to experience life since 1973 in America?

Perhaps we need to look in the mirror and realize what we have become as a species when we are so shocked and saddened by such ignorant, irrational and hate-filled acts of violence and stupidity on our own soil. Ultimately, we ALL are to blame for the status quo in this world, not inanimate objects such as guns and trucks.

Tags: Constitution, Domestic News, Gun Rights

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Report: More People Killed By Bees, Drowning In Bath Than From Terrorism

Independent review of terrorism legislation points to government exaggeration of threat for political gain

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
June 29, 2012

An independent review of terrorism legislation in the UK notes that government rhetoric regarding terrorism is “exaggerated for political or commercial purposes” and that many more people are killed each year by bee stings.

The report by barrister David Anderson QC, highlights the fact that the average number of annual deaths as a result of terrorism or at the hands of terrorists in the UK this century is just five.

“During the 21st century, terrorism has been an insignificant cause of mortality in the United Kingdom.” Anderson writes.

“The annualised average of five deaths caused by terrorism in England and Wales over this period compares with total accidental deaths in 2010 of 17,201, including 123 cyclists killed in traffic accidents, 102 personnel killed in Afghanistan, 29 people drowned in the bathtub and five killed by stings from hornets, wasps and bees.”

Anderson also points out that not a single person in Britain has even been injured by a terrorist for over two years.

The report notes that in the year to March 2011, arrests of individuals suspected of being terrorists numbered just 141, the lowest figure since 2001/2. In addition there was only one conviction in a UK court on charges related to terrorism.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

“Those figures compare with a total number of arrests for recorded crime in England and Wales alone of almost 1.4 million in 2010/11, including some 431,000 for offences of violence against the person, 37,000 for sexual offences, 34,000 for robbery and 93,000 for burglary.” the report notes.

The report suggests that the threat from terrorism is hugely over exaggerated and that draconian terrorism related laws should be reassessed.

“Terrorists are first and foremost criminals. Where possible and as a general rule, they should be prosecuted under the ordinary criminal law, to underline the fact that no special laws are necessary for the purpose and to prevent them from glamorising or politicising their offences…” the report states.

“The values of a liberal democracy deserve support from laws against terrorism, but the same values require that those laws be subject to strict scrutiny.” Anderson writes.

The report comes in the same week as a rare keynote speech by MI5 head Jonathan Evans in which he stated that the ‘Arab Spring’ could radicalize British muslims and breed new terrorists, that a dirty bomb attack in the UK was a realistic possibility, that Iranian sponsored terror was a significant threat, and that economic hardship could see the rise of more “lone wolf” terrorists in the vein of Anders Breivik.

As we have previously noted, statistics show that more people die from intestinal illnesses, being struck by lightning, accidents involving deer, and allergic reactions to peanuts than they do from terrorism.

Despite these facts, billions is spent on “homeland security” while Americans are hit with crippling austerity measures. In addition, sweeping laws are undermining core liberties, all in the name of countering a monolithic terrorist threat. Furthermore, research has shown that more people are being killed or putting themselves in more danger owing to the heightened perceived threat of terrorism.

As reports such as Anderson’s continue to highlight, in reality the security industry cash cow is based on little more than hot air and fearmongering. The war on terror, and the onslaught of domestic repression that has accompanied it, is based on the completely phony pretext that terrorists pose any more threat than bowel complications, rare weather events, or wandering animals.

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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

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