Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Mayor Tom Barrett: Hometown Hero


Saturday night, Mayor Tom Barrett got the chance to enjoy some quality private time with his family and take in State Fair. Unfortunately, the happiness didn't last long.

On their way back to their car, the group came across a scene of domestic violence, in which a young tough was threatening his ex-girlfriend's mother, who was trying to protect her grandchild from this drunken fool.

During the ensuing altercation, Mayor Barrett suffered numerous injuries, including a severe laceration and some broken teeth. He also shattered his hand punching the assailant.

The good news is that the Mayor is now out of the hospital and recovering at home. During the entire time in the hospital, Barrett has been able to keep up on the city's business and has maintained a positive attitude, even joking with Governor Doyle about bumping his announcement of the main headlines.

Appropriately, Governor Doyle came to Milwaukee to visit Barrett in the hospital, and President Obama called Barrett to wish him well and call him a hero.

Unfortunately, while Mayor Barrett has exemplified all that is good about Milwaukee and Wisconsin, there are others that have chosen not to take the high road. There have been the expected number of gun nuts that have tried to spin this into an argument for concealed carry laws, totally ignoring the fact that there were several innocents in the area, including the woman Barrett saved as well as Barrett's own family.

With all of those people around, the least wise course of action would have been to start a fire fight.

Even more unfortunate, is that the gun nuts were not the most offensive people out there. One horrible person, Amy Geiger-Hemmer, of the blog site The Right View Wisconsin, takes the prize for the most ignorant, hateful commentary. Ms. Geiger-Hemmer wrote a malicious post the day after the incident, when the news was still fresh, which included this:
The second thought that came to mind, knowing that Barrett is a staunch liberal, was why didn't the mayor just offer to go sit down for a chat with the offender? (At least he had the courage to whip out his cell phone and dial 911! Never mind that he chose not to intervene physically to defend the woman that was being attacked...) After all, according to the liberal mindset, criminals are usually considered victims, too. They have feelings and needs! Why didn't Barrett reach out and offer to console the attacker? Find out what was bothering him? After all, maybe the woman who was being beaten had said or done something that angered him. She may have been to blame! Many times in liberal land, we know that there is more concern shown for criminals than their victims. Which is why so many of us are against activist judges in our court systems. Activist judges, as we have seen, will bend over backwards in favor of criminals, disregarding their evil deeds and forgetting about the true victims.
Hello? AGH? Anyone home? The Mayor got hurt fighting the guy. What in the world do you mean that "he chose not to intervene physically to defend the woman?" Barrett shattered his frickin' hand punching the guy!

Just in case there were still a few people that doubted her total lack of tact or insight, she then put up another post today, wherein she has the audacity to play the victim. The post also has this gem in it:
We see too often the violent perpetrators, once caught, are treated with kid gloves and don't serve the prison time they deserve. Anthony Peters - who attacked Barrett and another woman - should have been sitting in prison. He was well-known to the West Allis police, and had a lengthy criminal record. His background included: several assaults, disorderly conduct, and an assortment of other crimes. And just recently, our soon-to-be-ex Governor Doyle has legislated "early release" for many in prison. Where is the real concern for the safety of the general public? Who are the real victims - the criminals, or the people they prey on? Sometimes, after observing our court systems, it is hard to tell.
My highly esteemed friend, Zach Wisniewski, points out one of the follies of her verbal flailing:
...I couldn’t find one single criminal conviction involving Peters, and while Anthony Peters may not have been a stranger to the police in West Allis, the last time I checked, an individual couldn’t go to prison without first being convicted of a crime – that’s what separates our nation from two-bit dictatorships. What’s more, even if Peters had been convicted of one of the crimes for which he has pending criminal charges, he certainly wouldn’t be sent to prison. After all, while Amy Geiger-Hemmer might think it would be a grand idea to employ a “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” system for anyone convicted of any violent, in the real world folks convicted of misdemeanors don’t get sent to prison.
But that is not all. I have heard reports that this Peters fellow was bipolar (manic-depressive). Whether this is true or not, I cannot say with any surety, but the behaviors described by this guy is far outside of the norm, and it would not be a stretch to believe that Peters suffered from some type of mental illness. Add to this the fact that Peters was self-medicating with alcohol and who knows what else, and there is a recipe for disaster.

If Ms. Geiger-Hemmer needs someone to lambaste, perhaps she should be attacking the person who removed much of the mental health support system in the area. But then again, it would be uncharacteristic for the right to hold any of their own to any accountability.

For more on AGH's immature and emotionally-stunted screed, I would refer the gentle reader to The Chief and/or Illusory Tenant.

As for me, I just want to wish Mayor Barrett and rapid and complete recovery, and to thank him for his heroism and showing of true leadership.

Note: The t-shirt pictured at the top of this post is for sale at Brew City Brand Apparel. Even though my birthday was last week, it would not be tacky to get me a belated present, like one of these shirts.

8 comments:

  1. And I bet Ms. Hemmer is a church-goer. You just gotta love how some of those conservatives with their "christian" values express themselves.

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  2. "As for me, I just want to wish Mayor Barrett and rapid and complete recovery, and to thank him for his heroism and showing of true leadership."

    That is how I feel also...

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  3. It is unfortunate that some use something like this to attempt to score political points. How petty can a mind be to not recognize this for what it is, a man, the mayor, unacustomed to fighting, still doing his best to protect others?

    Others twist this into an open carry issue. Peters, from what I can determine, was legally able to openly carry in Wisconsin too, just like our Monday morning fantasy-heros. Enough said about that?

    -----

    I once stopped on the highway in Minnesota West of La Crosse to assist a woman bleeding beside a roadside car. She was bleeding from a broken nose her husband had given her after a family reunion (I found out later).

    He was drunk, and there beside her, trying to pull her back into the car. I stopped, walked up, and took mom, her baby, and the car seat, which I unbuckled, and drove them to the battered women's shelter in La Crosse, near West Street (The exact location is a well kept secret)....

    The husband wanted to stop me. Let's just say, he didn't.

    Like thug Anthony Peters, I have been in a boxing ring and train fighters. Unlike Anthony Peters, I go more often than twice every few months.

    I can't but believe that all the cars that sped by and didn't stop for that bleeding, crying woman before I did, were driven by the same breed as Ms. Hemmer, and those that are talking so tough about this incident today..what they would have done...that they carry a gun, bla bla bla.

    The mayor, he did alright.

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  4. At the risk of violating one of the strict codes of the blogging world (and if I have done so, I apologize), the blog "The Chief" has more on Ms. Hemmer's column where he refers to it as an "odious pile of shit."

    I didn't get much sleep last night, so I had to reply:

    "Calling her column an odius pile of shit is an affront to piles of shit everywhere, which, after all, serve some useful purpose, as any cultivator of the soil will tell you.

    As spokesperson for the coalition against hindrance of odius piles of shit (CHOPS), I must demand that you cease and desist from future comparisons between any words eminating from the mouth, pen, or blog of Ms. Hemmer and our much more worthwhile shit and shit byproducts.

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  5. Anonymous 11:29, no problems, you broke no rules.

    Anonymous 5:52, I am glad you agree it is typical of Mayor Barrett to be such a good and positive role model. Too bad too many politicians, Republican or Democrat, don't take heed.

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  6. Hmmm... "..Republican or Democrat..." :)

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  7. I'm sorry, but these fuckass conservatives have nothing better to do, than bring Barrett's liberalism into this: guns, etc.


    They should leave the poor man alone: he did not intervene to gain fame from media........he intervened, because he knew it was the Godly thing to do.


    If one asks me, Mayor Barrett is a gentle, down - to earth soul, who has a kind heart, acted right, and defended a child, and grandma.


    These conservatives were and are still are: laughing their asses off as to what happened to the poor Mayor. I'm sorry, but conservatives are always ungrateful.


    I side with Mayor Barrett, and he is truly Milwaukee's hero................God bless Mayor Barrett. He is a hero.

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