Yet Another Mass Shooting, Culture Declining Like A Rock

 

The mass shooting yesterday at near Santa Barbara City College by Elliot Rodger has sadly become far too common place in America. The number of victims may vacillate and location may differ with each incident (Fort Hood aside) but it tends to be some one that is mentally unbalanced that has easy access to firearms that leads to same tragedy multiple violent deaths.

This shooting has it's unique attribute that the shooter premeditated the abomination that he had been planning and posted a YouTube video describing his "rationale" of the horrors he had planned to commence later that day. After watching it I came away with these two thoughts: 1) shooting spree is vastly disproportionate response to being a 22 year old virgin 2) his sporadic laughter in the video, if it was intended to provide him with the utmost creepiness factor-- he succeeded even though it seemed forced and hammy. Unlike the bizarre text-based videos of Gabby Giffords shooter Jared Loughner, Rodger's videos seemed more like over-the-top emo teenager than someone that was going to commit mass murder. After watching a couple of Rodger's videos I would have assumed that he would be likely to put on some bad one-man show that just had him moping about his non-existent love life while traipsing on stage wearing black pants and and black turtle neck... which ironically might have been a successful strategy to getting his 1st girlfriend that might have been deluded he was deep and artistic.

Steamroller Spitzer: Had To Go; "My Way or No Way" Cuomo: Can Stay Forever

So it was often referred to in 2008 and throughout Eliot Spitzer's governship that he 'did not play well with others' which was part of the rationale to why he couldn't weather out the storm of his perchance to use high end prostitutes like current Senator David Vitter did when he was outed as a family values politician that flouted his family obligations. Assemblyman Keith Wright in an attempt to collect endorsements from Democratic clubs around the city came across the problem that the Governor is not too popular among the most active Democratic activists, as seen in the below quote from Capital New York article:

Later, (satirist and protest candidate for governor Randy) Credico asked (former Assemblyman Peter) Grannis, “How is the comptroller’s relationship with Andrew Cuomo? Seriously.” After a few moments of silence from Grannis, who had a knowing smile on his face, Credico added, “Be honest.”

“I know the answer to the question," Grannis replied. "It’s a strained relationship and that’s unfortunate because we … could be a much more aggressive and productive partner with the governor.” He added, “the governor has this approach: my way or no way.”

AND

“Expectations have been high for this governor because of what he did with the Marriage Equality Act,” Wright told the crowd. “Why can’t he do that everywhere? I mean, that’s the question. This governor is in firm support of the Dream Act. I’m going to tell you quite frankly, the New York State Senate doesn’t like it. They hate it. And the Dream Act really doesn’t poll that well. So, you have senators that just won’t do it, just won’t do it. You’re giving tuition, financial aid to children of undocumented immigrants. Every place is not Greenwich Village."

So the styles of the Governors could be considered similar, if there was even a small smell of scandal would Cuomo be forced to resign as Spitzer did due to lack of support? Or would Cuomo weather the storm due to the support that his grating leadership style has lost him are the grassroots and not the big money contributors. In the documentary "Client 9", Ken Langone (billionaire founder of Home Depot) was shown in his own words to have inside information about investigating Eliot Spitzer prior to any knowledge of Spitzer's involvement with prostitutes, and demonstrated that his personality had nothing to do with his resignation but that his grating and obnoxious was merely directed towards the wrong segment of society, the organized money. Andrew Cuomo's obnoxious behavior is set against the least among us and those in the middle class, so he is secure in getting an insurmountable level of support and resources from those that are morbidly wealthy. Only those that have near infinite resources cannot be offended by elected officials that dare to seek out to carry out the will of the people and enforce the law indifferent to size of his/her bank account. When organized money screams for the heads of elected officials, get behind those candidates for office; when organized money get behind elected officials they find agreeable, scream for their heads and oppose them in every possible democratic institution.

But maybe the current New York State governor with future presidential ambitions should look to a previous holder of that office for some advice:

"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace-business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hatred for me - and I welcome their hatred. I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master.- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Speech at Madison Square Garden"