Up In Flames

We were in the clutches of Houston and hospitals and hotels and all that mess during the whole Dorner episode of American history (still unfinished, of course).

So I admit from the git go that I don't have even all the information that we, as the viewing public is allowed to have.

We got it in fits and spurts while in the car or on the 'net or between episodes of "House Hunters International"- our main TV viewing when forced in front of a TV for lack of chores and outdoors to participate in. There was that one hour that we watched, horrified, unable to look away yet loathing every second wasted on "Toddlers in Tiaras", but we will not speak of that. Ever.

The murders Mr. Dorner is accused of are still being referred to as 'alleged'.

His manifesto was posted on Facebook- which seems an odd way to post a manifesto and also a really un-secure way.

His wallet showed up at the Mexican border AND in the burnt out cremains of the cabin.

Apparently his allegations regarding the LAPD were not unwarranted, and not all that unusual.

I was amazed that he never left California. With his supposed training and mindset, he shoulda been across the Canadian border within 18 hours of the whole shebang breaking into daylight.

Why would he mosey around California for days?

Ward and I never had a moment's doubt that it would have a decidedly UNhappy ending for Mr. Dorner. Not because he would end it all himself, but because the Powers That Be would make sure he never be allowed to speak in public (or anywhere) again.

The curse of knowing too much and not knowing enough to look the other way.

I am not for a second defending Mr. Dorner IF he did, in fact, kill anyone.

But I cannot get behind the whole, "He was a murdering psychopath- fuck him- he deserved everything he got and then some" crowd who are content to shovel the ashes of that cabin into the dustbin of time and move on.

Because they are still 'alleged' murders.

Because there really ARE things that are decidedly rotten in the Denmark of the LAPD.

Because our President used this weird and awful example and time to nonchalantly yet firmly state that he WAS going to set a drone upon Mr. Dorner's ass. An American citizen on American soil.

But mainly because I don't care if he had stood on the 50 yard line of the Superbowl and shot the person next to him square in the head (during the time the lights were on) and there were a gabazillion witnesses both at the scene and watching on TV leaving NO DOUBT that he committed said murder...

...the LAW states that he be arrested, booked, jailed, given a lawyer if he could not afford one, and receive a trial with a jury of his peers.

And that was not done.

Instead, the cabin was set aflame with direct instructions to do NOTHING to douse the fire. Some accounts state that 'someone' DID try to exit from the back door but was forced back inside. Inside the burning cabin. To die. On purpose.

Two wrongs never make a right. To return violence (alleged violence) with violence (horrible flaming violence)does nothing but weaken the entire society.

And the guns keep flying off the shelves of the stores, and the ammo is difficult to get for the demand, and that idiot LaPierre brays that it's not paranoia to be prepared for violence.

Violence is not the answer, violence is the problem.

Being armed to the teeth is not the answer; we now have an entire population who proudly own a shitload of high powered weapons they have no earthly idea how to use.

Fabulous.

Having the courage to stop this culture of death and revenge and suspicion will take more guts than anyone hiding behind a weapon (or 100 weapons) possesses. The weapons are a crutch that are keeping us from ever getting healthy as a society. They don't protect us; they divide us.

We've stopped depending on each other for security...we've got our guns.

We've stopped insisting on the law of our land for justice...we prefer vigilante solutions.

I want better.

I want better for myself and more importantly I want better for my children.

I do not want to hand my children weapons and instruct them on how to watch out for themselves because it's dog eat dog out there.

I want to hand them a world that is on the mend, a society that is truly social, a civilization that is truly civil and those things do not come from burning people alive out of spite, or arming school teachers, or sending drones after citizens of ANY nation.

It comes from a people who are sick of being sick and tired of being scared and who have the courage to really change things instead of getting more entrenched in the same old shit that got us here to begin with.

Change is possible. But it means rethinking everything, everything.

Otherwise we're just slapping a bandaid over cancer.