Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Get your 2nd On

If there was ever a more fitting end to 2013, we could only find it in Modesto.  Once a thriving agricultural town, it now competes with Fresno for most car thefts per capita in the state of CA. Lots of leftover Walter Whites, too, missing teeth and all.  So as we spend every Christmas there, I came upon 2 symbols of all this past year has seemed to represent:
1st is the billboard with the above post title. Complete with targeting scope. I couldn't tell if the ad was meant for a gun/ammo store or a shooting range. Doesn't really matter.
2nd is the sticker on the back window of a white pickup truck (brand omitted) as we pull off Hwy 99 at Kansas Ave. - Statute of Liberty but with an assault rifle where her torch should be. Because I'm sure when the French gifted the US that giant beacon of freedom, they were thinking as far back as 1886 about developing advanced weaponry like AK-47s and AR-15s. And what does that sticker even mean? What does the 2nd Amendment have to do with immigration? We know the gun nuts are out there, but the pretzel logic still defies belief.
So, as we close the books on a year that had more than its share of red, with a government as dysfunctional as ever, with a Pope being called Marxist (the Pope!) simply because he cares about social inequality, let us revisit the actual statue:
What does the torch represent? The torch is a symbol of enlightenment. The Statue's official name represents its most important symbol, "Liberty Enlightening the World."
Nothing says you're enlightened more than replacing the torch with a gun.  Now that is HIGHpocrisy 2013! Happy frikkin New Year!

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