MetamorphosisSigma wrote:I agree with you for the most part, but this:

Badmike wrote:The fact most Americans carry guns is probably amazing to those in the UK...

is just not the case. I haven't bothered to look up gun ownership stats, but I've personally known a total of no more than a dozen Americans who own firearms. One is my father, a handful of others are police officers, two are FBI agents who are required to carry at all times, and one was a close friend. The vast majority of the folks I've known have either never held a gun, or only been hunting or to the firing range a few times.

The notion that every American is a gun-toting Yosemite Sam or Sarah Palin wannabe is a myth, as far as I'm concerned, and not one that's very flattering IMO. I have no doubt a greater number of people own and carry pistols in Texas, but in the Northeast it's just not part of the mainstream culture.

benjoshua wrote:More Bonfire of the Vanities:

In addition, an eyewitness, 13-year-old Austin Brown, told police he saw a man fitting Zimmerman's description lying on the grass moaning and crying for help just seconds before he heard the gunshot that killed Martin.

from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/trayvon-martin ... 3EoZ1YZ_2J

Interesting tidbits keep coming out for one side and then the other, and I believe more information will come out over time which will, unfortunately, fail to dislodge people from their current positions.  I know I am not convinced one way or the other.  And there are folks on each side trying to demonize the other and correctly claiming they are being demonized.  There are appeals for justice, but I get the impression that they are primarily interested in justice for the side they think is in the right.

The thing I fear is a Rodney King-type riot following the verdict if Zimmerman is acquitted, and the media is not interested in helping to prevent that as that's another interesting story.  I am not saying the media should not tell the truth, but I hope the way this thing unfolds is given some careful thought.  For example, revealing the verdict early in the morning might be a good idea as opposed to late in the day.  Justice for all includes store owners who don't want a street riot with their windows busted out.  

THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, by Tom Wolfe. First published in 1990.

Reviewed by David Schultz

A period novel from the headlines of the 1980s, THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES overwhelms readers with all the drama, greed, ego, and excess of that decade with characters reminiscent of real life players in New York City.  One finds in this Tom Wolfe novel Wall Street crooks, overzealous headline-grabbing prosecutors, ambitious muckraking reporters, and opportunistic preachers.  Yet underlying this dramatic farce is a powerful story about race and class in the criminal justice system.           

Originally published in 1987, THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES tells the story of a hapless Sherman McCoy.  A self-described "master of the universe" because of his ability to sell bonds and make millions of dollars, almost effortlessly, he gives a poster child face to the "Greed is good" mantra of the Gordon Gecko Wall Street of the 80s. Sherman has it all.  He is a Wall Street bond financier at Pierce and Pierce who lived with his wife and daughter at 816 Park Ave in a 14-room co-op featured in Architectural Digest.   He drives a sleek black Mercedes, and of course, he has a girl friend on the side.  Her name?  Maria Ruskin, a young blonde bombshell from the south, who is married to the elder and quite wealthy Arthur Ruskin.  Yet as smart as McCoy affects, he is not sly enough to master the ability to hide his affair from his wife.

The heart of the story unfolds when Sherman picks Maria up from JFK airport, takes a wrong exit into "Fort Apache" Bronx instead of Manhattan, and ventures through the borough that proves to be his heart of darkness. When he confronts a ramp cluttered with debris, he exits the car to clear it, only to find two African-American youths approaching him.  Assuming they have designs to rob him, he throws some of the junk at them.  Maria, now in the driver seat, backs up, hits one of the youths, and flees with Sherman.  As they race away, McCoy speculates on whether they really hit anyone and whether they should report the incident. Maria says no on both counts as they retreat back to the rent-controlled love nest she illegally rents.

McCoy then begins the nervous process of reading though the papers, specifically the fictitious NEW YORK CITY LIGHT, a paper that looks to be a cross of the NEWS and POST, for a report of a hit and run in the Bronx.  Soon the paper delivers on his fears as a Jimmy Breslin-like reporter, Peter Fallow, accounts the story of how a Henry Lamb, a high school senior in the Bronx, was unconscious with a coma in a hospital.   Henry Lamb's fate becomes the cause celebre for the BONFIRES.  Enter now Reverend Bacon and DA Weiss.

Reverend Bacon, an African-American preacher with Al Sharpton instincts, is initially investigated for scamming $350,000 destined as seed money for a day care.  To take heat off the investigation, he calls on the Bronx DA Weiss, who is facing reelection, to investigate the Lamb incident, calling the foot dragging and initial investigations "Weiss Justice" because the incident involves a Black youth and a Mercedes.  Peter Fallow serves up the interests of both Bacon and Weiss when his paper manufactures trumped-up stories about Lamb to sell papers.  Lamb, an average student from a poor school in the Bronx, is turned into a martyred honor student destined for college and future greatness.

McCoy's downfall begins when the police, upon running the partial plate numbers on his car, question him.  Sherman's nervousness and evasiveness clue the police into realizing that they have their man, and they eventually tie him back to Maria, whose accented shouting of his name "Shuhmun" at the accident is recounted by one of the witnesses.  From here, McCoy is treated to Weiss wishing to make a spectacle of him, including threatening a Rudy Giuliani-like arresting of him at his workplace and escorting him out shackled in a "perp walk."  Instead, a deal is struck for a private arrest and arraignment, but all that goes afoul as the DA plays the race and class contrasts to the media.

SimperingToad wrote:And of course there's the one question no one wants to consider. Why the hell is this making national headlines in the first place!?!

Badmike wrote:Cmon, I know you and Malcolm want to hold my unloaded gun when you come here for the con, just to say you did!!!  

JasonZavoda wrote:

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:I agree with you for the most part, but this:



is just not the case. I haven't bothered to look up gun ownership stats, but I've personally known a total of no more than a dozen Americans who own firearms. One is my father, a handful of others are police officers, two are FBI agents who are required to carry at all times, and one was a close friend. The vast majority of the folks I've known have either never held a gun, or only been hunting or to the firing range a few times.

The notion that every American is a gun-toting Yosemite Sam or Sarah Palin wannabe is a myth, as far as I'm concerned, and not one that's very flattering IMO. I have no doubt a greater number of people own and carry pistols in Texas, but in the Northeast it's just not part of the mainstream culture.

This is because there are only about 12 people living in slower Delaware outside of Dover, the Airforce Base and the Cow College.

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - The decision by authorities not to charge a homeowner who shot dead an unarmed black man in a small Wisconsin town three weeks ago has drawn scrutiny to the state's new "castle doctrine" law and comparisons to the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida.
Authorities ruled the killing of Bo Morrison, 20, by a Slinger, Wisconsin, homeowner on his porch justifiable in possibly the first such case under an expanded castle doctrine law enacted late last year, prosecutors said.
The law allows homeowners facing imminent danger to their lives to protect themselves using deadly force if necessary.
About 150 people protested Sunday at the Washington County Courthouse in nearby West Bend, Wisconsin. A rally also was planned for Tuesday in Madison for Morrison and Martin, 17, who was shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. The volunteer, who is white Hispanic, has claimed self-defense and has not been charged in that case.
"Under a reasonable view of the evidence the homeowner acted reasonably in his use of force based on the facts and circumstances," county District Attorney Mark Bensen said.
According to Bensen's report clearing homeowner Adam Kind, Morrison attended a party in a garage adjacent to Kind's house with about 20 young adults the night of the shooting.
Kind, 35, called police at about 1 a.m. March 3 complaining of loud music coming from a car parked in his neighbor's driveway.
Police contacted the parents of the girls who were hosting the party and they told everyone to leave, the report said.
Morrison, who had previous run-ins with the police and had a blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit for driving in Wisconsin, left the party.
Kind, who said his concern was elevated because his wife, two children and a child guest were in the house, retrieved a handgun after he heard noises on his porch, the report said.
Kind loaded the handgun, went to the porch and confronted Morrison, who was wearing dark clothing, the report said. Kind fired one shot as Morrison walked toward him, then yelled for his wife to call 911, the report said.
An attorney representing Kind said the shooting of Morrison in the enclosed porch would have been considered justifiable under Wisconsin's prior law as well.
"All the factors to prove self-defense under the old law were present," lawyer Craig Mastantuono said.
Morrison's mother, Lauri Morrison, said he was trying to hide because he had previous tickets for underage drinking.
"He executed my son," Morrison said. "This cannot happen to another kid."
Morrison's sister, Kayla Morrison, said the former high school athlete had gotten in with the wrong crowd for a while, "But he was not a criminal. He was not a violent person."

mbassoc2003 wrote:And gun ownership leads to a safe and respectful society?

Badmike wrote:The magical appearance of the designation"white hispanic" makes itself known in this story also, in another shooting across the country .  One can only wonder when we will see stories about "brown hispanics", "black hispanics", "yellow hispanics", and the hard to spot "off white brownish-black hispanics".  Who will be the first news service to refer to Obama as a "white African American"?  The mind boggles.