Meeting a Hero

October 19, 2015 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

Having lost my wife last month and my father in November of last year, I know the awkwardness caring people bring with them when they want to express their condolences. Both my wife and my father died of cancer, an insidious, destructive disease that kills from the inside out. But what do you say to someone who has had a loved one taken from them violently? We anthropomorphize cancer and speak of the “battle” waged against a nefarious foe. But what “battle” can we speak of having been waged against an instantaneous, violent death? It is simply chaos from the cosmos, dropped upon the heads of those who survive. In some cases, it is the Damocles sword of gun violence befalling someone dear to us without warning.

So it will be with my meeting Sandy and Lonnie Phillips tomorrow at a meeting of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. As none of you will remember, my very first blog post was simply a reposting of their daughter Jessi’s blog about having just missed a mass shooting at a mall in Toronto on June 2, 2012. She was murdered 48 days later at the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012.

In fact, despite continuing to write about it on my little blog, it wasn’t until the murder of twenty schoolchildren and 6 of their educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School that I was forced to act. It was while listening to a conference call of the Brady Campaign on January 7, 2013, that I heard Jessi’s heartbreaking story told by Sandy Phillips. The next week I was speaking out at Democratic clubs around Houston of the need for action to quell the violence guns were having on American society.

I consider my need to act an outpouring of love for my children. No longer could I look them in the eye and deplore gun violence without taking a stand and working to affect change. Whatever effect I might have (however small), had to be done for my children and their future. However, I attribute any courage I had to speak out publicly to Jessi, Sandy, and the parents and family members of those who were killed at Sandy Hook. But especially Sandy. Because while I had a hard time imagining me ever getting out of bed again should something so horrible befall my children, Sandy was out there speaking and acting, every day, despite the pain of her loss. And I know that change cannot be made without the efforts of those beyond the parents and family members of gun violence victims. People like you. People like me.

At a counter-rally outside the 2014 Annual NRA Paranoia Jamboree in Houston, I saw Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Hockspung, murdered principal at Sandy Hook Elementary. I also saw the father of one of the murdered children. Despite their proximity and my desire to meet them, I was embarrassed to introduce myself. But was it the simple awkwardness attributed with expressing condolences or was it my guilt for not acting sooner to address gun violence? I don’t know the answer to that. I left them alone, content to stand alongside them that day in opposition to the more guns everywhere agenda of the NRA.

Tomorrow will be interesting. I am nervous, anxious and excited. I consider Sandy Phillips a hero. I don’t want to injure her or embarrass myself by saying something stupid or insensitive. It has been over three years now since I became active in this movement and I’ve seen it gather momentum despite roadblocks and disappointments. So, in spite of my nervousness tomorrow I will meet Sandy Phillips. I admire her too much not to attend.

Stupidity Fatigue

July 31, 2015 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

There is a saying in the lottery industry when the public will not purchase tickets for a seemingly high jackpot called “jackpot fatigue.” It is caused by the ever increasing and ever publicized jackpots always available to the public. The public has seen it all before and heard it all before and nothing new can be said about the jackpot total to get them to the convenience store to purchase a ticket. It’s all been done before.

I find myself suffering a similar kind of fate lately regarding the public at large. Events that used to anger me now no longer pique my interest or at least no longer send me to my computer and my Twitter feed where I would once fire off a pithy comment. Twitter especially has become the bastion of trolls ready to engage in bumper sticker based retorts and troglodyte tantrums rather than the necessary thought out debates. It is the AM radio of the internet.

I feel guilty for abandoning those things about which I am still passionately concerned: gun violence prevention, women’s rights, protecting my children from all manner of political stupidity, animal welfare, etc., etc, but I know that there are still those out there whom I trust to carry the ball downfield while I suffer this miasmatic ennui. I still read and I still write, just not at the same temperature as before.

Right now there are about 300 GOP candidates running for president, so there is still time for me to come out of this spin and focus the laser. Right now the moms and dads of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America are meeting in Minneapolis to discuss next steps. In another universe, a universe where I wasn’t working with hospice to care for my dying wife, I would have joined them to learn what I could do to better fight gun violence in blood soaked America. But that is not the universe in which I currently reside. I do not make excuses, but only present facts. I am tired, physically and mentally.

I am tired of the stupidity of the southern white male with his pickup truck emblazoned with hunting decals and NRA stickers, tired of the stupidity of religious hypocrites festooned with Christian stickers on their cars and quick to criticize anyone not their mirror image. I am tired of the stupidity of the 300 GOP candidates running for president who are fighting for air time by reaching for the lowest common denominator in their demographic and ultimately the shallowest of the public gene pool. I am tired of cancer and the stupidity of its suicidal march toward the murder of its host. I am tired of the stupidity. I am suffering from stupidity fatigue.

Aaron’s Wishes for 2015

December 29, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

December 18, 2014

Hello. My name is Aaron. I am six years old. I am a second grade student in Miss Vasquez’s second grade class at John F. Kennedy Elementary School. Our class has been cutting out newspaper headlines all year and last week we had to go up to the board with each headline and put it under one of the headings we had created. When we were done, we had many headings, but only a few had lots of headlines under them. The heading with the most headlines under it was Fear. Under this heading we had headlines like Ebola, the shooting in Ferguson, the chokehold death in New York City, the police protests, the midterm elections, the open carry marches in Texas and the Bundy ranch standoff.

December 29, 2014

Fear is a paralyzing emotion and emotions are amazing things, but they cannot be the sole basis upon which decisions are made. For example, my mother’s grief often manifests itself in her binge eating, and while it may feel good enough in the moment, I’m sure you will agree that a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food does not a meal make. Nor does letting a dozen casseroles spoil in the refrigerator because she’s “not hungry” qualify as taking care of herself.

My wishes for 2015 are for fear to give way to reason, for paranoia to give way to compassion and for hatred to give way to understanding. These are my wishes because I am six years old and I will always be six years old. I will always be six years old because our neighbor gave in to fear and bought a gun and accidentally shot at his daughter when she came home late last week. Thankfully, he missed her, but there is a hole in my head where my right eye used to be and tomorrow morning Mommy will bury me.

James Brady

August 4, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ 2 Comments

spotlight-image-1 James Brady died today.

For those too young to remember, Mr. Brady was President Reagan’s White House Press Secretary.

On Monday, March 30, 1981, only 69 days into his presidency, a disturbed young man fired a $12.95 revolver six times in 1.7 seconds. One of his “Devastator”-brand bullets, designed to explode on impact struck Mr. Brady above the left eye and detonated inside his skull. Another round struck the president under his armpit. Fortunately, the president recovered, but Mr. Brady suffered a horrible head wound and was left partially paralyzed and bound to his wheelchair for the rest of his life. Mr. Brady died today. Not every gun violence victim dies at the scene and the story never ends when the smoke clears.

In 1985, Sarah Brady joined the gun control movement, rising to chair The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence in 1991. However, it was not her husband’s shooting that got Mrs. Brady involved. To quote her:

“Most people think I got seriously involved in the gun violence issue when Jim was shot. But it was actually another incident that started my active participation with gun violence prevention efforts.

It was back in the summer of 1985. Our family was visiting Jim’s hometown, Centralia, Illinois. At that time, our son Scott was just six years old. We had some friends who owned a construction company and they had a lovely home at the edge of town that had a swimming pool.

One day, our friend and an employee stopped by in a company pickup truck and asked if Scott and I would like to go out to the house for a swim. We thought that was a great idea. Scott got in first, and I climbed in behind him. He picked up off the seat what looked like a toy gun, and started waving it around, and I thought this was a perfect chance to talk to him about safety. So I took the little gun from him, intending to say he must never point even a toy gun at anyone.

As soon as I got it into my hand, I realized it was no toy. It was a fully-loaded Saturday-night special, very much like the one that had shot Jim. I cannot even begin to describe the rage that went through me. To think that my precious little boy had come so close to tragedy.

From that day on, I decided that much more needed to be done to help keep children safe from guns. And since that time, I have fought against the gun lobby and anyone else who wants guns “anywhere, at any time for any one.”

Forty-three different men have risen to become president of the United States. Four of them have been shot to death. Two more have been wounded by gunfire and five more were shot at, but the assassin missed. That’s eleven out of 43. As president, you have a better than 25% chance of being shot at, shot and wounded or shot and killed. And this is a person protected by the best trained, best equipped individuals in the world.

Gun violence takes a crushing toll on surviving victims, family members (turned caregivers), friends, lost opportunities, lifelong pain, PTSD, massive medical bills and countless dreams left shattered on countless days of life’s calendar.

Mr. and Mrs. Brady did not ask for this route, but they cut a path through a dangerous, well defended forest and paved the way for the rest of us to forge a better tomorrow where dreams do not explode with a bullet’s impact. Mr. Brady died today, but their work continues.

Today’s Assignment

July 24, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

Your assignment today is to watch two videos and then think.

The first video is of a group of people openly carrying their long guns in order to “support the second amendment.” Listen to their words. Ask yourself if this seems either reasonable in a civilized society or in any way appropriate. Consider that it was filmed on the Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza in Dallas Texas. That’s right! Celebrating guns at the sight where an American president was shot to death. If only President Kennedy had been carrying a gun… Oscar Wilde said it best, “Irony is wasted on the stupid.”

In a copy of the speech President Kennedy never lived to deliver to the Trade Council on November 22, 1963 are written the following lines:

“In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America’s leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason — or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem.”

How often do we hear the illogical argument for supporting the second amendment above all others as “the second protects all the others”? Philosophers have summarized this disconnect between correlation and causation as post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this). Soren Kierkegaard summarized it a bit differently when he wrote, “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” George Carlin described it a bit differently when he said, “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

The second video is from a commentator for the NRA, Billy Johnson, who tries to come across as an intelligent hipster and only succeeds in coming across as a demented, illogical apologist. Essentially, everything John Green is not. He somehow equates a government’s subsidizing that which it considers valuable (education, healthcare, food, retirement) as a reason for allowing citizen access to government owned shooting ranges and a yearly allotment of government supplied ammunition. This is the same group that fears governmental overreach and registration of guns, but please, sir, may I have another round?

He touts “Gun Required Zones” instead of Gun Free Zones. We have those already! They are called war zones. Enlist! Have at it. Take your pick. There are always conflicts into which you can insert yourself and your huggy-huggy-boom-boom stick. And the government will give you unlimited ammunition!

Perhaps most disturbing (it’s like ranking the aroma of various feces samples), is his notion that we should not only make firearm training mandatory in school, but that sufficiency be the basis for grade advancement. At a time in our history when we are being outsmarted in math and science by many areas of the world, rather than mandate education, Johnson suggests we dilute an already watery system to “readin’, writin’ and riflin’.” I would point him to Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn’s quote, “It’s an universal law– intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.” Or to Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Or to Bertrand Russell who said, “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Or to Benjamin Franklin who wrote, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” Or to William Shakespeare who wrote, “A knavish speech sleeps in a fool’s ear.”

Your homework is due by the end of the day.

Tick, Tock, Glock

July 23, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ 2 Comments

Enough

According to the Brady Campaign, on average, for the five most recently available years for which statistics are available, every day in America there are:

291 people in America are shot (including 52 children (ages 0-19)

87 people die from gun violence:

32 are murdered (including 6 children)

51 kill themselves (including 2 children)

2 die unintentionally

1 is killed by police intervention

1, intent unknown

205 are shot and survive:

148 shot in an assault (including 34 children)

10 survive a suicide attempt (including 1 child)

45 are shot unintentionally (including 9 children)

2 are shot in a police intervention

If we take these numbers and divide them equally over the course of a day, this is an average day in America:

Time Event

12:00 AM 1st Shooting by Police intervention, person survives

12:10 AM 1st Assault Shooting, person survives

12:20 AM 2nd Assault Shooting, person survives

12:28 AM 1st Suicide Death with a gun

12:30 AM 3rd Assault Shooting, person survives

12:32 AM 1st Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

12:40 AM 4th Assault Shooting, 1st Child, survives

12:45 AM 1st Murder with a gun

12:50 AM 5th Assault Shooting, person survives

12:56 AM 2nd Suicide Death with a gun

1:00 AM 6th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:04 AM 2nd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

1:10 AM 7th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:20 AM 8th Assault Shooting, 2nd Child, survives

1:24 AM 3rd Suicide Death with a gun

1:30 AM 2nd Murder with a gun; 9th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:36 AM 3rd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

1:40 AM 10th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:50 AM 11th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:52 AM 4th Suicide Death with a gun

2:00 AM 12th Assault Shooting, 3rd Child, survives

2:08 AM 4th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

2:10 AM 13th Assault Shooting, person survives

2:15 AM 3rd Murder with a gun

2:20 AM 5th Suicide Death with a gun; 14th Assault Shooting, person survives

2:24 AM 1st Suicide Attempt with a gun

2:30 AM 15th Assault Shooting, person survives

2:40 AM 5th Accidental Shooting Injury, 1st Child, survives; 16th Assault Shooting, 4th Child, survives

2:48 AM 6th Suicide Death with a gun

2:50 AM 17th Assault Shooting, person survives

3:00 AM 4th Murder with a gun; 18th Assault Shooting, person survives

3:10 AM 19th Assault Shooting, person survives

3:12 AM 6th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

3:16 AM 7th Suicide Death with a gun

3:20 AM 20th Assault Shooting, 5th Child, survives

3:30 AM 21st Assault Shooting, person survives

3:40 AM 22nd Assault Shooting, person survives

3:44 AM 8th Suicide Death with a gun; 7th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

3:45 AM 5th Murder with a gun

3:50 AM 23rd Assault Shooting, person survives

4:00 AM 24th Assault Shooting, 6th Child, survives

4:10 AM 25th Assault Shooting, person survives

4:12 AM 9th Suicide Death with a gun

4:16 AM 8th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

4:20 AM 26th Assault Shooting, person survives

4:30 AM 6th Murder with a gun, 1st Child; 27th Assault Shooting, person survives

4:40 AM 10th Suicide Death with a gun; 28th Assault Shooting, 7th Child, survives

4:48 AM 2nd Suicide Attempt with a gun; 9th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

4:50 AM 29th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:00 AM 30th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:08 AM 11th Suicide Death with a gun

5:10 AM 31st Assault Shooting, person survives

5:15 AM 7th Murder with a gun

5:20 AM 10th Accidental Shooting Injury, 2nd Child, survives; 32nd Assault Shooting, 8th Child, survives

5:30 AM 33rd Assault Shooting, person survives

5:36 AM 12th Suicide Death with a gun

5:40 AM 34th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:50 AM 35th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:52 AM 11th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

6:00 AM 8th Murder with a gun; 36th Assault Shooting, 9th Child, survives

6:01 AM 37th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:04 AM 13th Suicide Death with a gun

6:10 AM 38th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:20 AM 39th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:24 AM 12th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

6:30 AM 40th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:32 AM 14th Suicide Death with a gun

6:40 AM 41st Assault Shooting, 10th Child, survives

6:45 AM 9th Murder with a gun

6:50 AM 42nd Assault Shooting, person survives

6:56 AM 13th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

7:00 AM 15th Suicide Death with a gun; 43rd Assault Shooting, person survives

7:10 AM 44th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:12 AM 3rd Suicide Attempt with a gun

7:20 AM 45th Assault Shooting, 11th Child, survives

7:28 AM 16th Suicide Death with a gun; 14th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

7:30 AM 10th Murder with a gun; 46th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:40 AM 47th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:50 AM 48th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:56 AM 17th Suicide Death with a gun

8:00 AM 15th Accidental Shooting Injury, 3rd Child, survives; 49th Assault Shooting, 12th Child, survives

8:10 AM 50th Assault Shooting, person survives

8:15 AM 11th Murder with a gun, 2nd Child

8:20 AM 51st Assault Shooting, person survives

8:24 AM 18th Suicide Death with a gun

8:30 AM 52nd Assault Shooting, person survives

8:32 AM 16th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

8:40 AM 53rd Assault Shooting, 13th Child, survives

8:50 AM 54th Assault Shooting, person survives

8:52 AM 19th Suicide Death with a gun

9:00 AM 12th Murder with a gun; 55th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:04 AM 17th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

9:10 AM 56th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:20 AM 20th Suicide Death with a gun; 57th Assault Shooting, 14th Child, survives

9:30 AM 58th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:36 AM 4th Suicide Attempt with a gun; 18th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

9:40 AM 59th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:45 AM 13th Murder with a gun

9:48 AM 21st Suicide Death with a gun

9:50 AM 60th Assault Shooting, person survives

10:00 AM 61st Assault Shooting, 15th Child, survives

10:08 AM 19th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

10:10 AM 62nd Assault Shooting, person survives

10:16 AM 22nd Suicide Death with a gun

10:20 AM 63rd Assault Shooting, person survives

10:30 AM 14th Murder with a gun; 64th Assault Shooting, person survives

10:40 AM 20th Accidental Shooting Injury, 4th Child, survives; 65th Assault Shooting, 16th Child, survives

10:44 AM 23rd Suicide Death with a gun

10:50 AM 66th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:00 AM 67th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:10 AM 68th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:12 AM 24th Suicide Death with a gun; 21st Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

11:15 AM 15th Murder with a gun

11:20 AM 69th Assault Shooting, 17th Child, survives

11:30 AM 70th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:40 AM 25th Suicide Death with a gun, 1st Child; 71st Assault Shooting, person survives

11:44 AM 22nd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

11:50 AM 72nd Assault Shooting, person survives

11:59 AM 147th Assault Shooting, person survives

12:00 PM 16th Murder with a gun, 3rd Child; 1st Accidental Shooting Death; 1st Death by Police intervention; 1st Death, intent unknown; 73rd Assault Shooting, 18th Child, survives; 5th Suicide Attempt with a gun, 1st Child; 2nd Shooting by Police intervention, survives

12:01 PM 74th Assault Shooting, person survives

12:08 PM 26th Suicide Death with a gun

12:10 PM 75th Assault Shooting, person survives

12:16 PM 23rd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

12:20 PM 76th Assault Shooting, person survives

12:30 PM 77th Assault Shooting, person survives

12:36 PM 27th Suicide Death with a gun

12:40 PM 78th Assault Shooting, 19th Child, survives

12:45 PM 17th Murder with a gun

12:48 PM 24th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

12:50 PM 79th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:00 PM 80th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:04 PM 28th Suicide Death with a gun

1:10 PM 81st Assault Shooting, person survives

1:20 PM 25th Accidental Shooting Injury, 5th Child, survives; 82nd Assault Shooting, 20th Child, survives

1:30 PM 18th Murder with a gun; 83rd Assault Shooting, person survives

1:32 PM 29th Suicide Death with a gun

1:40 PM 84th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:50 PM 85th Assault Shooting, person survives

1:52 PM 26th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

2:00 PM 30th Suicide Death with a gun; 86th Assault Shooting, 21st Child, survives

2:10 PM 87th Assault Shooting, person survives

2:15 PM 19th Murder with a gun

2:20 PM 88th Assault Shooting, person survives

2:24 PM 6th Suicide Attempt with a gun; 27th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

2:28 PM 31st Suicide Death with a gun

2:30 PM 89th Assault Shooting, person survives

2:40 PM 90th Assault Shooting, 22nd Child, survives

2:50 PM 91st Assault Shooting, person survives

2:56 PM 32nd Suicide Death with a gun; 28th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

3:00 PM 20th Murder with a gun; 92nd Assault Shooting, person survives

3:10 PM 93rd Assault Shooting, person survives

3:20 PM 94th Assault Shooting, 23rd Child, survives

3:24 PM 33rd Suicide Death with a gun

3:28 PM 29th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

3:30 PM 95th Assault Shooting, person survives

3:40 PM 96th Assault Shooting, person survives

3:45 PM 21st Murder with a gun, 4th Child

3:50 PM 97th Assault Shooting, person survives

3:52 PM 34th Suicide Death with a gun

4:00 PM 30th Accidental Shooting Injury, 6th Child, survives; 98th Assault Shooting, 24th Child, survives

4:10 PM 99th Assault Shooting, person survives

4:20 PM 35th Suicide Death with a gun; 100th Assault Shooting, person survives

4:30 PM 22nd Murder with a gun; 101st Assault Shooting, person survives

4:32 PM 31st Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

4:40 PM 102nd Assault Shooting, 25th Child, survives

4:48 PM 36th Suicide Death with a gun; 7th Suicide Attempt with a gun

4:50 PM 103rd Assault Shooting, person survives

5:00 PM 104th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:04 PM 32nd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

5:10 PM 105th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:15 PM 23rd Murder with a gun

5:16 PM 37th Suicide Death with a gun

5:20 PM 106th Assault Shooting, 26th Child, survives

5:30 PM 107th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:36 PM 33rd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

5:40 PM 108th Assault Shooting, person survives

5:44 PM 38th Suicide Death with a gun

5:50 PM 109th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:00 PM 24th Murder with a gun; 110th Assault Shooting, 27th Child, survives

6:01 PM 111th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:08 PM 34th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

6:10 PM 112th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:12 PM 39th Suicide Death with a gun

6:20 PM 113th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:30 PM 114th Assault Shooting, person survives

6:40 PM 40th Suicide Death with a gun; 35th Accidental Shooting Injury, 7th Child, survives; 115th Assault Shooting, 28th Child, survives

6:45 PM 25th Murder with a gun

6:50 PM 116th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:00 PM 117th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:08 PM 41st Suicide Death with a gun

7:10 PM 118th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:12 PM 8th Suicide Attempt with a gun; 36th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

7:20 PM 119th Assault Shooting, 29th Child, survives

7:30 PM 26th Murder with a gun, 5th Child; 120th Assault Shooting, person survives

7:36 PM 42nd Suicide Death with a gun

7:40 PM 121st Assault Shooting, person survives

7:44 PM 37th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

7:50 PM 122nd Assault Shooting, person survives

8:00 PM 123rd Assault Shooting, 30th Child, survives

8:04 PM 43rd Suicide Death with a gun

8:10 PM 124th Assault Shooting, person survives

8:15 PM 27th Murder with a gun

8:16 PM 38th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

8:20 PM 125th Assault Shooting, person survives

8:30 PM 126th Assault Shooting, person survives

8:32 PM 44th Suicide Death with a gun

8:40 PM 127th Assault Shooting, 31st Child, survives

8:48 PM 39th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

8:50 PM 128th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:00 PM 28th Murder with a gun; 45th Suicide Death with a gun; 129th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:10 PM 130th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:20 PM 40th Accidental Shooting Injury, 8th Child, survives; 131st Assault Shooting, 32nd Child, survives

9:28 PM 46th Suicide Death with a gun

9:30 PM 132nd Assault Shooting, person survives

9:36 PM 9th Suicide Attempt with a gun

9:40 PM 133rd Assault Shooting, person survives

9:45 PM 29th Murder with a gun

9:50 PM 134th Assault Shooting, person survives

9:52 PM 41st Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

9:56 PM 47th Suicide Death with a gun

10:00 PM 135th Assault Shooting, 33rd Child, survives

10:10 PM 136th Assault Shooting, person survives

10:20 PM 137th Assault Shooting, person survives

10:24 PM 48th Suicide Death with a gun; 42nd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

10:30 PM 30th Murder with a gun; 138th Assault Shooting, person survives

10:40 PM 139th Assault Shooting, 34th Child, survives

10:50 PM 140th Assault Shooting, person survives

10:52 PM 49th Suicide Death with a gun

10:56 PM 43rd Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

11:00 PM 141st Assault Shooting, person survives

11:10 PM 142nd Assault Shooting, person survives

11:15 PM 31st Murder with a gun, 6th Child

11:20 PM 50th Suicide Death with a gun; 143rd Assault Shooting, person survives

11:28 PM 44th Accidental Shooting Injury, person survives

11:30 PM 144th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:40 PM 145th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:48 PM 51st Suicide Death with a gun, 2nd Child

11:50 PM 146th Assault Shooting, person survives

11:59 PM 32nd Murder with a gun; 2nd Accidental Shooting Death; 10th Suicide Attempt with a gun; 45th Accidental Shooting Injury, 9th Child, survives; 148th Assault Shooting, person survives

Now repeat this, every day, until enough of us demand a better society.

My Inspiration

July 20, 2014July 23, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

Inspiration

Christopher Hitchens wrote, “To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: why not?” This little blog started as a way for me to scream into deaf space when news events or personal experiences left me no other options; when nothing could mute the chest-tightening anger and helplessness I felt; when, as Shakespeare wrote, I bothered to complain “and trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries.” And so, I write. My first malediction was two years ago today. However, they were not so much my words but a reposting of the words written 45 days earlier by a young woman in Colorado. She wrote of the events she experienced at the Eaton Mall in Toronto on June 2, 2012 when a gunman (sorry NRA, he was a gunman (whom I refuse to name), not a perpetrator with some random weapon) opened fire in the Urban Eatery Food Court. Five people were shot, two died. She began:

“I can’t get this odd feeling out of my chest. This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court. An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.”

She continued by showing how, in three minutes, a decision to go out into the rain saved her life.

“My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rang out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire.”

That eloquent, insightful young woman was named Jessica Redfield and she was murdered two years ago today in the theater shooting in Aurora, CO. She and eleven others were killed and 70 others were injured that horrible Friday night. She is gone, but she continues to inspire. Since that time, her mother and thousands of others, many accidental activists driven to act after the horrors visited upon Aurora, CO or Newtown, CT or Oak Creek, WI or Santa Barbara, CA or Washington, D.C. or Spring, TX or any of the other tragedies that take 30,000 people a year. They have started a movement that will not only change the face of America, but make it a safer nation. It will not happen quickly (nor soon enough), but it will happen. Initially only disjointed lamentations from thousands of individuals, they have begun to coalesce into a united voice, a voice determined to prevent the next tragedy, a voice which has a goal of Not One More.

Consider the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Begun in 1980 by one mother, Candy Lightner, after her 13 year old daughter, Cari, was killed by a drunk driver, it has gone on to become a national institution in activism with over 600 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. MADD has worked to enact zero tolerance legislation across the country, enacted 0.08 blood alcohol level laws nationally, is partially responsible for a 40% reduction in drunk driving attributed traffic deaths since 1982 and brought the term “designated driver” into the public lexicon.

Using MADD as a framework and appreciating the need to commit time, dedication, and effort for the long haul, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was founded the day after Sandy Hook. And if MADD felt hampered by the strong alcohol beverage lobby, Moms Demand Action knew they were up against the behemoth of all lobbyists, the NRA. When asked to explain their activism success, MADD provides a series of critical tenets, foremost among them having passionate, committed volunteers and putting a face on statistics. As MADD writes:

“Before 1980, drunk driving deaths and injuries were spoken about in terms of cold, hard statistics—a tactic that was having little, if any, impact on reducing the number of deaths and injuries due to alcohol related crashes. But MADD didn’t speak of statistics. MADD spoke of loved ones, family members and friends—an intensely personal communication style that started with the organization’s charismatic founder and continues today. Every death, every injury is given a face, family and history— personalizing the issue so that everyone can relate, even those who have never experienced the tragedy of drunk driving.”

Because statistics can be found to support almost any position, especially with the gun rights crowd continuing to fund discredited economist John Lott (or should we call him Mary Rosh?) and his specious data, we are reminded of the phrase attributed to Mark Twain, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” To counter this, gun violence groups, like Moms Demand Action, have combined the top two pillars of successful activism, according to MADD, by having passionate volunteers share the stories behind the statistics. As shown by MADD, it is a formula for success and a roadmap showing not only what can be accomplished but how long the path may take. No matter, the determination of these activists knows no limit because their well of compassion has no bottom.

Moms Demand Action has also tried to harness the power of social media to not only get out its message, but to affect change. They have seen this strategy beget success. However, personally I have all but given up on Twitter as a means of communicating having lost interest in attempting to conduct a rationale discourse with people responding in 140 character bursts of bizarre thought. More often than not, I find myself descending into a miasma with some troll and their obtuse paranoia and misogynistic vitriol into a spiraling Dante-esque hell with no Beatrice to lead me out. There is never any discourse (or room for movement) and the inevitable name calling is wholly a waste of time. So, too, it is with so many of the comment sections of news websites and Facebook pages. What begins as a thoughtful comment soon falls victim to the lowest common denominator of society, the base, violent name calling and misspelled threats. I can’t imagine the mail received at the White House.

Politicians understand polls and chase donations. To acknowledge this is to understand the rules required to bring about societal change. While a new Quinnipiac poll shows 92% of voters support requiring background checks for all gun purchases (including 92% of gun owners) and 89% of voters support preventing people with severe mental illnesses from purchasing guns (including 91% of gun owners) this poll also shows that words matter. Assistant Director, Tim Malloy stated of the poll,

“Americans are all in on stricter background checks on gun buyers and on keeping weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill. But when it comes to ‘stricter gun control,’ three words which prompt a negative reflex, almost half of those surveyed say ‘hands off.'”

In a fascinating series of articles in Rolling Stone, Tim Dickinson wrote of 7 (not-so-easy) steps to beat the NRA. To me, most importantly (and something about which I have previously written) is the need to assimilate the various gun violence prevention groups into a unified voice capable, in terms of membership and funding, to compete on Capital Hill, in state politics, against the gun lobby and for the conscience of the public. This has now begun to happen. Recently, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America have come together under the Michael Bloomberg funded umbrella Everytown for Gun Safety. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Americans for Responsible Solutions, the Newtown Action Alliance and others, including the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and It Can Happen Here continue their important work independently. There are economies of scale available to this movement which may be necessary to influence elected officials. It is unfortunate, but money talks in Washington and in state houses across America. It is a tactic successfully used by the gun lobby for decades and a resolution gun violence prevention groups must embrace.

Words matter. We are castigated for using the term magazine when we mean clip (or vice versa) and are constantly asked to define “assault rifle” (as if we invented it and it were not a term gun makers created so the average Joe could pretend he was G.I. Joe). Words matter, but so too can they inspire! Jessica Redfield continued in her post saying

“I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening. I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.”

Every hug from a family member is precious. So tune out the static of the conspiracy theorists, the angry trolls, the paranoid “patriots,” the delusions of the “false flag” crowd, and the AM radio troglodytes. Instead, read as much as you can. Learn the subtle nuances of these issues and find the inspiration left to us by others. A cruise ship steaming at full speed will take over half a mile to stop after the engines have been reversed. But it will stop. So, too, will we change America and in the process, save lives. Over these past two years I have met some amazing people. People who would rather be doing other things with their lives but who have had their futures permanently altered by gun violence. Visit these pages for more information on how you can remember the events of two years ago today and, perhaps, find your inspiration:

Jessica Redfield Ghawi Foundation Scholarship Fund

ACT Foundation – Alexander C Teves Foundation

Alex Sullivan Fund

Although I never met her, Jessica continues to inspire me.

Meanwhile in Texas

July 10, 2014July 10, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

Meanwhile in Texas

In light of the horrific massacre of a family in Spring, Texas yesterday, I thought it would be good to gauge the response of our elected officials. Since there was nothing but the sound of chirping crickets in response, I thought we should investigate why. These pictures tell the story. Here they are, your Texas elected officials:

Texas Attorney General and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Greg Abbott:

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Texas Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry:

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United States Senator Ted Cruz:

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United States Senator John Cornyn:

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Texas State Senator and Republican Lt. Governor Candidate Dan Patrick:

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Texas Representative and Republican Candidate for Texas Senate Steve Toth:

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United States Representative Steve Stockman:

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But before we chastise these elected officials (and we aren’t even counting Louie Gohmert), let’s consider some of their constituents:

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Now I understand.

An Open Letter Response to Millionaire LaPierre

June 25, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

Mr. LaPierre,

On June 24, 2014, you took to The Daily Caller to pen an article critical of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun violence prevention efforts. As someone previously unfamiliar with The Daily Caller, I needed to familiarize myself with this “news” outlet. After researching it I find it to be the rabid, misogynistic, disturbed cousin politically to the right of Fox News. Anywhere further to the right and it would fall off of their flat earth. Further to the right of that and they could personally shake hands with the likes of your friend, Alex Jones. It is no wonder that you chose this venue to perpetuate your delusions.

In your article, you bang the familiar drums of “elitist” media types fawning over “Billionaire Bloomberg” and his efforts to “erase the liberty of every American.” Using a staccato series of one sentence “paragraphs”, you urge us “to sign up a new NRA member – a friend, a family member, a colleague” for $25 “less than a tank of gas, or even a box of cartridges.” Let’s forget for a moment that unless you are driving around Washington on a lawn mower, $25 will not fill anyone’s gas tank (although I have no idea how much a box of cartridges costs), consider that your bloviating that “Bloomberg is one guy with millions of dollars – we are millions of people who believe in freedom who will stand and fight and win at the ballot box” neglects to acknowledge that with only 4 million members, the NRA neither represents the majority of Americans nor the majority of gun owners, but inflames an already frothing subculture ready to start a “revolution” at Bundy Ranch.

In an America where two-thirds of the population own no guns and one-third own 300 million guns, where, despite perpetual doomsday warnings, no guns have been confiscated by a tyrannical United States government and yet 32,000 friends, family members and colleagues are killed every year with a gun, your need to pad the NRA membership rolls by castigating a wealthy individual working to save lives is disgusting.

Your insistence that Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is “another Bloomberg creation” shows your lack of knowledge and understanding of the ferocious outrage Americans felt after 20 first and second graders were murdered in school, along with 6 of their teachers; that Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was formed at a kitchen table in Indianapolis and fused the determination of hundreds of thousands of shaken and horrified individuals from across the country into a social media juggernaut in little over one year speaks to your lack of understanding that a seismic shift occurred in America on December 14, 2012. Echoing Alice Walker’s sentiment that “Activism is the rent I pay to live on this planet,” the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that morning galvanized and awoke a distracted multitude of Americans into a passionate and compassionate army of activists who, in their individual despair screamed a collective, “Enough!”

The fact that you repeatedly mention Mr. Bloomberg’s wealth as a reason for us to ignore him is disingenuous, at best, and, at worst, hypocritical. According to the 2012 tax forms submitted by your organization, you were compensated roughly $1 million in 2012. A review of previous year’s returns confirms this compensation is quite steady. Should we ignore you because you are a millionaire? Does your wealth render your opinion moot? The difference is that while you are compensated to express the opinions of your gun manufacturer lobby employer, Mr. Bloomberg pays to back his up his opinions. Quite simply, you are paid, he pays a price.

Despite your claim that “We are the good guys” and that “money can’t buy our freedom,” the legislation (and legislators) that your organization has bought over the years has not solidified our freedom but subjected us to continued violence and incurable heartache. You seed paranoia to sell guns, blame the consequences on everything else and cash your checks.

To you I say: There is a change coming. It will not happen overnight or without great pain, but change is coming. History will judge you for your actions and those who rose against your lies. When fewer friends, family members and colleagues are lost to gun violence in the future the anachronism that is the NRA will collapse and the world will no longer shake its head at the violence we Americans accept with daily numbness and will once again look upon the United States as a champion of freedom and peace. Steady yourself, Millionaire LaPierre. Change is coming.

The Class Ceiling

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014 ~ thoughtsatlarge ~ Leave a comment

On Sunday, June 9^th, a 39 year old man was arrested following a 911 call from inside actress Sandra Bullock’s Los Angeles home. The man was arrested after having scaled a fence on her property and gaining access to her home via a back door while she was asleep upstairs. She was not injured in the intrusion. An investigation of the individual led to his being charged with 19 felony counts, including: seven counts of possession of a machine gun, 2 counts of possession of an illegal assault weapon and 10 counts of possession of a destructive device (tracer bullets), in addition to breaking and entering and trespassing.

As horrifying as this is, we, as Americans did not even bother with a collective shrug. We barely blinked when a gunman opened fire in Santa Barbara or when there was yet another school shooting in Oregon. We have become accustomed to both violence and guns. Too many of us are numb to it now. Couple that with the pervasive misogyny of the intertwined subcultures of men, guns and violence and you begin to see the framework upon which our society is now built and upon which some of our elected officials feed.

Ms. Bullock was in Los Angeles to accept an award. Nothing surprising there! Actors and actresses have an entire season dedicated to celebrating their celebrity. However, this award speaks to the subculture we’re discussing. Spike TV holds a Guy’s Choice Awards show every year. Ms. Bullock was there to accept their “Decade of Hotness” award. Now, whether or not Ms. Bullock is a talented actor is best left to individual taste (however her box office receipts and salary per movie indicate that she is worth the investment), but must we award “hotness”? How, in 2014, am I supposed to look at my daughter and tell her not to be too concerned with her looks, that we celebrate intellect and passion above appearance? She would laugh until she cried. And then she would shatter every mirror in our house. We need only look at the tabloids at the checkout line to see the focus of our shallow society. From “Best Bikini Bods” to “Guess who went under the plastic surgeon’s knife?” to the latest drivel from all the celebrated-beyond-reason Kardashians, we idolize celebrity, but only pretty celebrities.

On June 10, 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 as an amendment to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, it states that:

No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions…

However, according to a study of The White House’s National Equal Pay Task Force, in spite of the fact that women play a major role in the economic engine of America (as compared to 1963) and the fact that women now earn more advanced degrees in America than men, women had only closed the gender wage gap from 61 cents for every dollar earned by men in 1963 to 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2011, the latest year for which data is available. While undoubtedly a significant gain, one would think that a law passed in 1963 would have completely eradicated the difference by now.

It wasn’t until 1984 that the term “glass ceiling” was first used by former Family Circle Editor Gay Bryant, and that was used to describe the competition between women in reaching the highest levels of business. She is quoted as saying, “Women have reached a certain point – I call it the glass ceiling. They’re in the top of middle management and they’re stopping and getting stuck.” This definition of the glass ceiling would seem to mesh with the findings of the Council of Graduate Schools study where the majority of advanced degrees were obtained by women (59.5% of master’s degrees and 52.2% of doctoral degrees).

However, it is still a man’s world. From the media’s “sex sells” focus on female images Photoshopped beyond human anatomical limits to the overt compensation of men’s 3-story pickup trucks and need to openly carry AR-15’s and AK-47’s in Target and Home Depot, the male psyche is being beaten educationally and logically by women and has resorted to beating the female image with the only objects left to their stunted minds, guns and misogyny. Essentially, rather than dragging the woman to their cave by their hair, they subjugate her by obliquely beating her with the blunt object between their legs through anthropomorphic means in the form of a firearm. What a shame.

If only men saw women as equals and sought their advice on the important social issues of our time, perhaps we would find a partner instead of a punching bag. As President Kennedy said repeatedly, beginning in 1959, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Instead, members of Open Carry Texas have resorted to calling members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, “thugs with jugs” and have a one minute free for all where they open fire on a female mannequin. Guns get bigger, but, we’re told,”they’re only used for hunting,” as if we are supposed to believe that deer, birds and rabbits have gotten exponentially larger and evolution has furnished them with Kevlar skin.

We’ve become little boys with big toys (or more accurately, big boys with little minds and big guns). Am I expected to teach this to my daughter? Am I expected to treat my wife this way? Am I expected to subjugate my mother like this? And what does any of this teach my son? You may call me less than a man or a wimp or a feminist, but I’d rather open my arms and use my intelligence than open my legs and show my ignorance.

(If you’re interested in a little mental exercise, read this post. I was writing it in 2012 as news broke from Newtown, Connecticut of a shooting at an elementary school.)