More news from the Irrational Rifle Association...

Gun manufacturer Ruger is a month away from completing its Million Gun Challenge to donate a dollar to the NRA for every firearm they sell. Business is booming and it looks like they'll exceed a million sales!

US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed

By Andrew Buncombe

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/us-forced-to-import-bullets-from-israel-as-troops-use-250000-for-every-rebel-killed-15050027.html#ixzz1mBvUNLQ

NRA's LaPierre: "This Is The Most Dangerous Election Of Our Lifetimes"

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201202100014

February 10, 2012 4:05 pm ET by Matt Gertz

You Auto Know Better

U.S. loses $1.3 billion in exiting Chrysler

By Annalyn Censky July 21, 2011: 5:41 PM ET

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/21/autos/chrysler_government_exit/index.htm

I was listening to Stephanie Miller this morning and heard a right-wing caller criticize the Clint Eastwood ad as a waste of tax payer dollars, since GM and Chrysler owe the government over a billion dollars. Stephanie and the others on air laughed at the caller, imitated his southern accent and claimed the auto industry paid back everything it owes. Unfortunately, the caller was correct that the bailout was over $1 billion in the negative. Where conservatives are wrong-in my opinion- is that the bailout was a waste of money.

If Chrysler and GM had not been rescued, the economic dominoes crashing Detroit and affecting all the employees and businesses connected to them would have been far more costly than a billion dollars. It's similar logic to that of rescuing Wall Street. The real question is what to do to make sure that no bank or car company is too big to fail in the future.

Religion tackles Football

From "The Super Bowl as Religious Festival" by Joseph L. Price

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1375

The specifically American character of the mythology has to do with the violent nature of the game. Not only does it dramatize the myth of creation, it also plays out the myth of American origins with its violent invasion of regions and their settlement. To a certain extent, football is a contemporary enactment of the American frontier spirit.

From "The Superbowl Culture of Male Violence" by Eugene C. Bianchi

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1578

...this great national sport, which claims the devotion of a significant percentage of our population, mirrors in a ritual way some of the worst characteristics of our culture. ... it interlinks four qualities that drive the American violence machine: physical brutality, profit-maximizing commercialism, an authoritarian-military mentality and sexism.

... I have come to the conclusion that the fundamental evil from which the others flow is sexism. The basic way by which the male in our culture establishes his sexual identity is a prime source of exaggerated aggression in the interpersonal, economic and political realms. The problem can be put thus: How are males in our society conditioned to value themselves as persons? What are the criteria of self-worth and social acceptance among American men?

Your History for Yesterday