Some of my friends think I'm a tad cynical, and they're probably right. But, honestly, it's just a survival strategy. How else to deal with one bunch of mass murderers (albeit almost a hundred years ago, but...) threatening to be mean to the world's current number one mass murderer for acknowledging the former mass murderer's nastiness? In 1915, Turkey slaughters roughly a million-and-a-half Armenians, and still refuses to acknowledge the fact (and we won't even begin to consider the number of dissident writers murdered over the intervening years). In 2007, America murders a few hundred thousand Iraqis (and is currently on track to hit that magic 1.5 million mark), but still refuses to acknowledge it (or, at least, to arrest the folks responsible, or even their henchmen at Blackwater) - how much more humour can one person stand?

And then, too, there's the NRA's contribution to American culture. Remember, guns don't kill people - people kill people. O.K., sure, guns make it a darn sight easier, but...