Fiskings: The Snuffy Edition

From comments by "Anonymous" on "Snuffy Is Coming To Town":

Thanks for your kind words, I've never heard an analysis so unintelligent and ignorant as yours.

Now, I'm going to try not to be too hard on Nonny, because if I read the logs right, s/he is from Washington D.C. and found me by searching for "Annazette Collins gun control." I'm guessing that means Nonny is from Howard University, and might be taking the Alternative Spring Break students' failure to pass gun control in Illinois a little personally. Might be a little upset at Annazette Collins, too. I've mentioned her before; she takes a lot of heat from anti-gun politicians because she voted against HB48 last year and seems to be opposed this year. That would be be bad enough, but Rep. Collins is black, and as long as we're being honest, I'll just go ahead and say it: Democrats like Harry Osterman and activists like Michael "Snuffy" Pfleger think black Democrats owe them. They think a black Democrat from Chicago has to vote for gun control. They don't really think they should have to lobby a black legislator from Chicago, because she should be on their side as a matter of racial purity. They're racists. That's right, I said it. OK, now let's think about the rest of your comments for a moment, Nonny.

The kids from Howard Univeristy actually came to not only mentor kids in local high school, but aid in the fight for tougher gun laws as well. As far as funding, black people have money too, and if I stand correct, I believe these kids were able to raise money from private contributions to help fund the trip.

Yes, I covered that elsewhere. There was a radiothon on WHUR, and I assume other sources chipped in, too. On the other hand, it's safest to assume that anything political that Pfleger does has Joyce Foundation fingerprints on it. Try to remember that the dilettantes from the coast are not my main concern here. They're already back in D.C. dealing with the gritty reality of trying to dumb down their essays enough to make sure their professors understand them. Some of them might notice whether HB48 passes this session, but others probably won't even take it that far. This was their spring break. Pfleger is a larger concern. He's pretty ineffective and fond of shooting himself in the foot, but he's located in Chicago and I'm not, so he has much better access to many more voters than I do. Pfleger didn't hold a radiothon to pay for his buses (or for the yellow school buses that carried Chicago school children to Springfield on a school day to serve as political props . . . . but that's The Chicago Way. You might not know it well D.C., but you will.)

And if you don't feel stupid now, how about Howard University sending bus loads of students to New Orleans, Detroit, Maryland, DC, and VA to tackle similar issues.

I don't feel stupid yet, but the day is young. You, on the other hand, are lying about this particular point. The buses to New Orleans carried kids who worked in NOLA legal offices and worked on repairing flooded areas. The buses to Detroit carried kids who were slated to "work in literacy programs." The buses to the D.C. area were said to be students who planned to "tackle homelessness." Although I doubt they got it completely tackled in one week, the main point is that there was nothing "similar" about these issues. The buses to Chicago carried kids who spent their time doing political lobbying on behalf of an unconstitutional state law. I may be missing the similarity between helping kids learn to read and participating in Snuffy Pfleger's political theater. The bad news, for you, is that the kids who came to Chicago failed to get HB48 passed. There was apparently a plan to pass it with Pfleger's bunch in the gallery cheering, but the votes just weren't there. The good news is that HB48 never had a chance to have any effect on gun violence in Chicago because Chicago gangsters don't obey laws like HB 48 in the first place, so it's no big loss for anyone except the gun control lobby. If the kids who went to New Orleans or Detroit had failed to get anything done, I suspect the impact would have been greater than that.

Not sure where you were educated, but a certificate of completion of Wal-Mart might just suffice.

Suffice for what? Did you intend to write that sentence in English? If you were asking me a question about pedagogy or the middle school concept, my BA in Education from Monmouth College (Knuck Fox!) would be relevant. In this case, it isn't; I just like to brag. Howard is a good school, but if you're looking for someone who's intimidated by a fancy east-coast school, you're looking in the wrong place. You know, as I sit here and think about it, the saddest part occurs to me: if Wal-Mart decided that higher education was profitable and got into the business, they could probably have Howard, Princeton and Monmouth running for their lives in less than five years.

So instead of being an unintelligent critic of people trying to better YOUR community, perhaps you should get stupid ass up and help uplift your community and not wait until students from the east coast come to start talking.

Way ahead of you, my friend--just google "IGOLD." Still, now we're getting somewhere! I'm going to take this suggestion in the positive spirit in which it was offered, and I'm going to get started right now. Actually, I've already started. Let's see:

• Yesterday, I called Rep. Annazette Collins and commended her on her idea to teach gun safety in Illinois schools, including Chicago. That's a great idea that would probably have an actual, measurable impact on the number of deaths in Chicago. I also made sure she knew I was against HB48; that's important.
• Today, I will again call this list of Illinois legislators to tell them that HB48 is both pointless and unconstitutional. I will also mention that HB165 (an "assault weapons ban") is pointless, unconstitutional and that HB1966 (an "assault weapons ban" limited to six ZIP codes in Chicago with 90% black populations) is racist, pointless, and unconstitutional. Those "assault weapons bans" are going to get expensive for the state once US v. Heller is incorporated via the 14th Amendment, too, as the state will be paying the attorneys' fees for the plaintiffs.
• I will make separate calls to my Representative, plus the list linked above, and tell them that it's time to pass HB2257 and establish a shall-issue license to carry system in Illinois. Thanks, Anonymous!
  

By the way, you're off-message. The theme this year is that Chicago is not "my" community because I'm a white guy from downstate, so what could I know about it? The argument is that Chicago needs gun control because it's so different from downstate (and no pointing out the inherent racism of that argument, please; bad form will not be tolerated!) and the push is for bills like HB1966, which establishes that it is a felony to own several types of guns in six specific Chicago ZIP codes--ZIP codes that are listed in the 2000 census as "90-100% black." (and no pointing out the inherent racism of that law, please!) If the anti-gun lobby started calling Chicago "my" community then "my" voice would be relevant to their gun control debate, and that is precisely the sort of thing they're trying to avoid this year.