John Kerry Signs UN Treaty, Gun Rights Advocates. . .Up in Arms

Apropos of nothing, what's going on with
Kerry's face anyway? Image from
source, Huffington Post

Heh, sorry about the pun in the headline, but have you notice how many hackneyed gun metaphors we have? On target, locked and loaded, half-cocked, they're just everywhere. It's like an atheist (like me) trying to avoid saying "oh, god" or "Jesus Christ!" Oddly enough, religion seems tangled up in the gun rights battle. In fact, their love for guns seems to be equal parts politics, religion and sexual fetish. There is no faster way to get a rise out of anybody than to raise the specter of gun control.

So, is it any wonder that an treaty having to do with guns, signed by Secretary of State John Kerry (a DemonRat!) might get a rise out of them?

[Excerpt]

Arms Trade Treaty, Signed By John Kerry, Opens New Front In Senate Battle Over Gun Control

The latest front in the Senate battle over gun control opened Wednesday, as Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in New York. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

In Case You Missed It: Republicans Reject UN Disabled Rights Treaty

Image from Las Vegas Sun

This one is from earlier in the week, and I meant to say something about it before. WTF is wrong with Republicans, specifically the tea party breed, the ones who'd give a flying fig what Rick Santorum has to say about anything? Honestly, a two-thirds vote on a treaty that defends disabled people's rights, blocked by 38 Senators. And for what? Some deeply weird fears about sovereignty and home schoolers' right? What?

As a liberal-minded atheist, I'm often deeply suspicious of home schoolers. Most often, they seem to be paranoid religious kooks who find the public school system to be insufficiently Jesus-y. I think they do a disservice to their children, more often than not. But try as I may, I can't find the objection. I can't find anything that has anything to do with home schoolers or their rights. And I think it's embarrassing that they voted this treaty down over Bob Dole's wheelchair.

[Excerpt]

US Senate rejects UN treaty on disability rights amid GOP opposition

Led by Republican opposition, the Senate on Tuesday rejected a United Nations treaty on the rights of the disabled that is modeled after the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. . .

Read more at: The Guardian