Here's a suggestion:
Equip guns with a GPS tracking device that can be used to deactivate the weapon in the case of loss or theft.
Make it so only the legitimate owner of the gun can turn it off. Not the government. Not the best friend. Just the person who bought it and legally registered it.
That way, if a gun is lost or, more importantly, stolen it can be rendered useless by its' rightful owner and therefore wouldn't be as much of a threat to civilized society.
It won't stop all gun deaths but it might slow the problem down a bit and mute the argument that "only criminals will have the guns."
If we can put a man on the moon and control our televisions from the couch, surely we can make guns safer.
The Second Amendment is sacrosanct and an important part of our history, culture and daily life.
Keep the guns. Buy more if you like.
But let's be sensible about how they are used in our society. Let's engage in non-partisan conversation and listen to all possibilities, regardless of how far-fetched or nutty. Let's knock off the juvenile "us and them" extremism and find common ground.
Our future depends on it.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
I am Sorry (Yellow)
The trouble with public apologies is that they never ring true. I never believe the people who are apologizing. (I was taught never to use absolutes..."Never"..."Always"...but sometimes "if the glove fits"...pun intended)
Apologies for domestic abuse or insider trading or lying under oath or any number of other asocial transgressions seem to be the order of the day.
Apologists always (another unavoidable absolute) seem to be self-serving, more concerned with their public image as it pertains to their income stream, than with the concept of making amends and atoning for their myriad sins.
The popular impression of this act of public "contrition" is mired in the notion that the one apologizing is not so much doing so because he/she is sorry but rather sorry that he/she was caught with his/her pants down, sometimes literally.
From Charles Colson to Martha Stewart to Anthony Weiner and now Lance Armstrong, we are treated to the spectacle of the once great being paraded before the microphones and cameras to dutifully show remorse and to beg forgiveness of their once adoring public.
To that I say, "Bull!"
If you had a shred of decency and a morsel of ethical awareness you, A) wouldn't have done what you did in the first place and, B) wouldn't find it necessary to bore us with your crocodile tears and false mea culpas.
And furthermore you would donate all of your ill gotten gains to charity and, for that matter, one that dealt with your very problem. A fund for abused women or an anger management program would be a fine place for you to put your millions.
Go back to Square One. Go back to the moment in time when you were just beginning your career. Start at the moment when your bank account didn't reside in the Cayman Islands.
Give all of your awards and proclamations and trophies away. Melt them all down and give the metal to a sculptor to create a statue extolling the virtues of honor, compassion and modesty.
Give your Rolex to a worthy cause as an item to be sold at a fund raising auction. Donate your Ferrari to pay for a year of treatment for a young victim of cancer. Give your yacht to an inner city children's organization to be used as a floating summer camp.
Go ahead, (punk...) say "I'm sorry" and put your money where your big fat mouth is!
Return to your roots and the honorable motivations that propelled you to the level of achievement that you so recklessly squandered at the altar of your own hubris and greed.
If you can't show us that you mean what you say in actions, than your words are just hollow teleprompterizations.
Then again, a life of ignominy won't be so uninteresting. You'll be in some pretty notable company even if it'll be hot...as Hell!
Apologies for domestic abuse or insider trading or lying under oath or any number of other asocial transgressions seem to be the order of the day.
Apologists always (another unavoidable absolute) seem to be self-serving, more concerned with their public image as it pertains to their income stream, than with the concept of making amends and atoning for their myriad sins.
The popular impression of this act of public "contrition" is mired in the notion that the one apologizing is not so much doing so because he/she is sorry but rather sorry that he/she was caught with his/her pants down, sometimes literally.
From Charles Colson to Martha Stewart to Anthony Weiner and now Lance Armstrong, we are treated to the spectacle of the once great being paraded before the microphones and cameras to dutifully show remorse and to beg forgiveness of their once adoring public.
To that I say, "Bull!"
If you had a shred of decency and a morsel of ethical awareness you, A) wouldn't have done what you did in the first place and, B) wouldn't find it necessary to bore us with your crocodile tears and false mea culpas.
And furthermore you would donate all of your ill gotten gains to charity and, for that matter, one that dealt with your very problem. A fund for abused women or an anger management program would be a fine place for you to put your millions.
Go back to Square One. Go back to the moment in time when you were just beginning your career. Start at the moment when your bank account didn't reside in the Cayman Islands.
Give all of your awards and proclamations and trophies away. Melt them all down and give the metal to a sculptor to create a statue extolling the virtues of honor, compassion and modesty.
Give your Rolex to a worthy cause as an item to be sold at a fund raising auction. Donate your Ferrari to pay for a year of treatment for a young victim of cancer. Give your yacht to an inner city children's organization to be used as a floating summer camp.
Go ahead, (punk...) say "I'm sorry" and put your money where your big fat mouth is!
Return to your roots and the honorable motivations that propelled you to the level of achievement that you so recklessly squandered at the altar of your own hubris and greed.
If you can't show us that you mean what you say in actions, than your words are just hollow teleprompterizations.
Then again, a life of ignominy won't be so uninteresting. You'll be in some pretty notable company even if it'll be hot...as Hell!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Charles Weller
Who?
Charles Weller is credited in some circles for having first used the sentence, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party."
He devised it to help people learn to use a typewriter (a what...?) Others said "...their country" and that's the version I'm going to use now.
And I want to direct it at our new president, Barack Obama, Actually he won't officially be our new president until the 20th but bear with me.
Now is the time for President Obama to stop fooling around with politics and come to the aid of the American people by making some brave, hard choices.
Taxes, the environment, the wars and, Godforbid, gun control.
If President Obama has any guts and/or conscience, he'll forget about whether or not his decisions are popular, or even if they will effect the midterms in 2014.
He'll choose what's good for these United States. Not the gun lobby, or Big Oil or Martin Marietta or Wall Street.
He'll think of Joe and Jane M. America ("M" for Middle Class) and make policy based on sanity and logic and the future rather than what will be good for his legacy or library or benefactors.
This country is in the soup and the only way out is to take the bull by the horns and actually DO the things that most Americans really want.
Most Americans really want competitive schools that provide top notch education in a safe and healthy environment.
Most Americans want to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat clean food.
Most Americans want their children to come home from Afghanistan and Iraq and everywhere else on the globe where they are at risk simply for wearing a uniform that sports the American Flag.
Most Americans want reasonably priced energy that doesn't pollute the air, land and/or sea.
Most Americans want to get what they pay for in government services rather than paying a fortune and getting nothing but the wrapper.
Most Americans want to pursue happiness without fear.
Most Americans want an America that is, once again, respected and loved the world over for the good that it does rather than hatred for the trouble it stirs up.
Come on Barack! Step up. Have some courage. Forget the polls and the historians. Do what's right!
If not for us then for Malia and Malika. After all, they're Americans too.
Charles Weller is credited in some circles for having first used the sentence, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party."
He devised it to help people learn to use a typewriter (a what...?) Others said "...their country" and that's the version I'm going to use now.
And I want to direct it at our new president, Barack Obama, Actually he won't officially be our new president until the 20th but bear with me.
Now is the time for President Obama to stop fooling around with politics and come to the aid of the American people by making some brave, hard choices.
Taxes, the environment, the wars and, Godforbid, gun control.
If President Obama has any guts and/or conscience, he'll forget about whether or not his decisions are popular, or even if they will effect the midterms in 2014.
He'll choose what's good for these United States. Not the gun lobby, or Big Oil or Martin Marietta or Wall Street.
He'll think of Joe and Jane M. America ("M" for Middle Class) and make policy based on sanity and logic and the future rather than what will be good for his legacy or library or benefactors.
This country is in the soup and the only way out is to take the bull by the horns and actually DO the things that most Americans really want.
Most Americans really want competitive schools that provide top notch education in a safe and healthy environment.
Most Americans want to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat clean food.
Most Americans want their children to come home from Afghanistan and Iraq and everywhere else on the globe where they are at risk simply for wearing a uniform that sports the American Flag.
Most Americans want reasonably priced energy that doesn't pollute the air, land and/or sea.
Most Americans want to get what they pay for in government services rather than paying a fortune and getting nothing but the wrapper.
Most Americans want to pursue happiness without fear.
Most Americans want an America that is, once again, respected and loved the world over for the good that it does rather than hatred for the trouble it stirs up.
Come on Barack! Step up. Have some courage. Forget the polls and the historians. Do what's right!
If not for us then for Malia and Malika. After all, they're Americans too.
Do as I Say
I find it hard to believe that I say, to my daughter, almost exactly the same things that my parents used to say to me.
"When I was your age...", "When you're older you'll understand.", "When you have children of your own..."
Oh...my...God! Am I that old? "Where has the time gone?" In reality, I'm NOT that old. I'm only in my sixties. My daughter is only in her teens. We are separated by only four decades, plus or minus, but the differential seems like eons.
When I was a kid I reacted to my parents admonishments in exactly the same way that my daughter reacts to me...with a hefty roll of the eyes.
To her credit, she is much more polite than I was. I rarely see her reactions. I was a jerk. She sits and listens to me pontificate and go on, and on...and ON...about whatever, from skirt length to TV watching to homework to household chores. I stormed out in a huff.
She questions and argues her point intelligently and can be disrespectful but most of the time she just endures my predictable attempts to guide her down a safer, more productive path than I took.
It is true, as my wise wife says, that the only thing you can't give to your kids is the benefit of your experience.
Your kids have to walk down the path by themselves and experience each and every bump and twist and turn that comes their way.
It doesn't matter that you did EXACTLY the very same thing that they are doing. It doesn't matter that you KNOW what will happen if they make that choice.
They hear you yakking but they are not listening. They have to fall down in order to know that, A) there's a bump there and, B) what to do the next time they encounter one.
Actually they do listen once in a while.
I have spent a lot of time telling my daughter about the dangers of smoking and thankfully, after one or two experimental tokes, she has chosen not to smoke.
I told her that drinking can make you, not only stupid, but can make you sick, or worse, dead.
I am grateful that, after a couple of "secret" sips in the woods, she has decided not to indulge.
So maybe all of the repetitive blather that I have knee-jerked into her little ears has, somehow, gotten in, past the ubiquitous iPod, telephone, TV and internet.
Maybe all of the things that my parents bored me to death with lodged in my subconscious and are now being passed down to my beautiful little girl.
A true oral history. Real, tangible heirlooms given, like gifts, to my child by her parents, and grandparents and great-grandparents.
Like silver, or gold, or jewelry or art.
Only much better.
"When I was your age...", "When you're older you'll understand.", "When you have children of your own..."
Oh...my...God! Am I that old? "Where has the time gone?" In reality, I'm NOT that old. I'm only in my sixties. My daughter is only in her teens. We are separated by only four decades, plus or minus, but the differential seems like eons.
When I was a kid I reacted to my parents admonishments in exactly the same way that my daughter reacts to me...with a hefty roll of the eyes.
To her credit, she is much more polite than I was. I rarely see her reactions. I was a jerk. She sits and listens to me pontificate and go on, and on...and ON...about whatever, from skirt length to TV watching to homework to household chores. I stormed out in a huff.
She questions and argues her point intelligently and can be disrespectful but most of the time she just endures my predictable attempts to guide her down a safer, more productive path than I took.
It is true, as my wise wife says, that the only thing you can't give to your kids is the benefit of your experience.
Your kids have to walk down the path by themselves and experience each and every bump and twist and turn that comes their way.
It doesn't matter that you did EXACTLY the very same thing that they are doing. It doesn't matter that you KNOW what will happen if they make that choice.
They hear you yakking but they are not listening. They have to fall down in order to know that, A) there's a bump there and, B) what to do the next time they encounter one.
Actually they do listen once in a while.
I have spent a lot of time telling my daughter about the dangers of smoking and thankfully, after one or two experimental tokes, she has chosen not to smoke.
I told her that drinking can make you, not only stupid, but can make you sick, or worse, dead.
I am grateful that, after a couple of "secret" sips in the woods, she has decided not to indulge.
So maybe all of the repetitive blather that I have knee-jerked into her little ears has, somehow, gotten in, past the ubiquitous iPod, telephone, TV and internet.
Maybe all of the things that my parents bored me to death with lodged in my subconscious and are now being passed down to my beautiful little girl.
A true oral history. Real, tangible heirlooms given, like gifts, to my child by her parents, and grandparents and great-grandparents.
Like silver, or gold, or jewelry or art.
Only much better.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
In The End...
In the end...it always comes down to money.
"Show me the money", "Follow the money."
Money is at the root of all evil and it makes the world go 'round.
So what we should stop talking about is the desire/need to curb gun violence. We should start talking about is the money which is the elephant in the room.
Why else would the NRA or the video game industry or any one of the hundreds of legislators be so reticent to talk about the problems created by guns in our society? It has to be the money.
The NRA is probably the most powerful lobby in Washington along with the Big Pharma and the defense contractors.
And our shameless politicians consistently cave to the pressure put on them by the NRA. The NRA claim to represent average citizen gun owning voters. But the positions put forth by the NRA are extreme, by most measures, in contrast to the data showing most gun owners favoring more comprehensive gun laws if not, at least, an open and honest dialogue about the problem. And they help fund many political campaigns.
The video game industry, along with Hollywood, has no interest whatsoever, in discussing the national gun disease because, by doing so, they would jeopardize the billions in profits that come from the sale of their products featuring and, in most cases, celebrating gun-related violence.
Granted we have a long history of that violence in this country dating back to the Revolution, the Civil War and the taming of the Wild West but those events happened long before any of us, now alive, were ever born.
The British are no longer repressing us, the War Between the States was settled (the Union won if you were curious...) and the only threat we have from the Indians is at the Casino.
It's 2013 and maybe we could have a frank and open discussion about the nagging problem that is wreaking so much havoc from Littleton to Aurora to Blacksburg to Sandy Hook and now Taft...let alone Chicago, Detroit, Miami and Oakland to name only a few.
What would be helpful would be if the citizenry would band together and support politicians directly rather than through lobbying organizations such as the NRA. If politician "A" can't get elected without the contributions of special interests then the voters could replace the lobby's money with money of their own.
In that way the politician would be more accountable to the voters rather than the corporate few and maybe the voice of the people would actually be heard in Washington.
Sure, gun owners who belong to the NRA contribute to the lobby's treasury with their dues but they only represent a fraction of the sensible citizens of this country who want to see real change rather than political blustering and grandstanding.
If politicians funded their campaigns with individual contributions then they would be less beholden to the industries so accustomed to buying their votes to influence legislation directly tied to those industries bottom lines.
Grass roots. Do it yourself. Take a stand. WAKE UP!
The problems we have will never be solved by the corporate hacks masquerading as legislators in Washington.
The only real change will occur from the ground up...never from the top down.
We have the power to help save our society...if we would only just use it in a sane, civil and constructive manner.
"Show me the money", "Follow the money."
Money is at the root of all evil and it makes the world go 'round.
So what we should stop talking about is the desire/need to curb gun violence. We should start talking about is the money which is the elephant in the room.
Why else would the NRA or the video game industry or any one of the hundreds of legislators be so reticent to talk about the problems created by guns in our society? It has to be the money.
The NRA is probably the most powerful lobby in Washington along with the Big Pharma and the defense contractors.
And our shameless politicians consistently cave to the pressure put on them by the NRA. The NRA claim to represent average citizen gun owning voters. But the positions put forth by the NRA are extreme, by most measures, in contrast to the data showing most gun owners favoring more comprehensive gun laws if not, at least, an open and honest dialogue about the problem. And they help fund many political campaigns.
The video game industry, along with Hollywood, has no interest whatsoever, in discussing the national gun disease because, by doing so, they would jeopardize the billions in profits that come from the sale of their products featuring and, in most cases, celebrating gun-related violence.
Granted we have a long history of that violence in this country dating back to the Revolution, the Civil War and the taming of the Wild West but those events happened long before any of us, now alive, were ever born.
The British are no longer repressing us, the War Between the States was settled (the Union won if you were curious...) and the only threat we have from the Indians is at the Casino.
It's 2013 and maybe we could have a frank and open discussion about the nagging problem that is wreaking so much havoc from Littleton to Aurora to Blacksburg to Sandy Hook and now Taft...let alone Chicago, Detroit, Miami and Oakland to name only a few.
What would be helpful would be if the citizenry would band together and support politicians directly rather than through lobbying organizations such as the NRA. If politician "A" can't get elected without the contributions of special interests then the voters could replace the lobby's money with money of their own.
In that way the politician would be more accountable to the voters rather than the corporate few and maybe the voice of the people would actually be heard in Washington.
Sure, gun owners who belong to the NRA contribute to the lobby's treasury with their dues but they only represent a fraction of the sensible citizens of this country who want to see real change rather than political blustering and grandstanding.
If politicians funded their campaigns with individual contributions then they would be less beholden to the industries so accustomed to buying their votes to influence legislation directly tied to those industries bottom lines.
Grass roots. Do it yourself. Take a stand. WAKE UP!
The problems we have will never be solved by the corporate hacks masquerading as legislators in Washington.
The only real change will occur from the ground up...never from the top down.
We have the power to help save our society...if we would only just use it in a sane, civil and constructive manner.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
What 'Piers to be the Problem?
I'm sorry but I just have to speak up here!
Apparently there is a petition circulating to deport CNN host Piers Morgan back to The UK.
Has the Right completely lost it's mind? Have they gone over the bloomin' edge (a Britishism there...)? Are they completely crazy?
The man is simply speaking his mind about gun control. He is not advocating the overthrow of the Republic. He is not talking about an armed insurrection (quite the contrary...) He is not suggesting revolution.
He is using his "bully pulpit" to express views shared by millions of people, worldwide.
No one is calling for the removal of any of the hosts of the Fox News programs for their pro gun positions. To hang your hat on the fact that he is a British citizen misses the point and obscures the issue. Who cares where he's from if all he's doing is voicing an opinion? Tourists do it all the time about rip off cabbies and crumby restaurants. You don't see the INS or Border Patrol knocking down their overpriced hotel room doors.
Firebrands and blowhards on the Ultra-Conservative side of the argument are SCREAMING about the Second Amendment.
How DARE they complain about someone exercising their FIRST amendment right. No...he's not an American Citizen but there is something intensely hypocritical about people proclaiming democracy as the best thing since sliced bread for peoples enslaved by tyrannies yet not ok for someone who disagrees with their views. Freedom of Speech is a HUMAN right...!
Shame on you for using the tragedies in Sandy Hook as a tool to further your own career and political agendas.
Be a part of the solution not a force for continuing the lunacy.
SHUT UP ALREADY!
Apparently there is a petition circulating to deport CNN host Piers Morgan back to The UK.
Has the Right completely lost it's mind? Have they gone over the bloomin' edge (a Britishism there...)? Are they completely crazy?
The man is simply speaking his mind about gun control. He is not advocating the overthrow of the Republic. He is not talking about an armed insurrection (quite the contrary...) He is not suggesting revolution.
He is using his "bully pulpit" to express views shared by millions of people, worldwide.
No one is calling for the removal of any of the hosts of the Fox News programs for their pro gun positions. To hang your hat on the fact that he is a British citizen misses the point and obscures the issue. Who cares where he's from if all he's doing is voicing an opinion? Tourists do it all the time about rip off cabbies and crumby restaurants. You don't see the INS or Border Patrol knocking down their overpriced hotel room doors.
Firebrands and blowhards on the Ultra-Conservative side of the argument are SCREAMING about the Second Amendment.
How DARE they complain about someone exercising their FIRST amendment right. No...he's not an American Citizen but there is something intensely hypocritical about people proclaiming democracy as the best thing since sliced bread for peoples enslaved by tyrannies yet not ok for someone who disagrees with their views. Freedom of Speech is a HUMAN right...!
Shame on you for using the tragedies in Sandy Hook as a tool to further your own career and political agendas.
Be a part of the solution not a force for continuing the lunacy.
SHUT UP ALREADY!
Ergo...
It occurred to me, after yesterday's post, that I spend a fair amount of time criticizing this or that and rarely offer much more than a few words of solution.
Ergo (a fancy word for therefore...), I thought I'd try to be more helpful and less whiney (complainy...?)
I think that the solution to most of our problems is in the way that we communicate with one another. Often we don't listen, intent on making our point and prevailing in the argument.
When we are disagree with one another we tend to get louder in an attempt to empower our point of view, somehow by volume rather than by merit.
And the concept of respect is often not a part of any discussion. We think that if someone disagrees with us than they are "less than" and, therefore (a common variety of the word "ergo" which is Latin for "therefore"...) not worthy of our respect.
If we could actually slow down long enough to, in fact, hear what the other guy is saying then we just might get some valuable information.
Some people think that you have to have a position on an issue and never change your mind.
I disagree. I admire those who, after careful evaluation of the evidence at hand, are able to amend their point of view and conclude in a different way.
Before the discovery of the New World, conventional wisdom was that the Earth was flat. If you sailed toward the horizon you would, eventually, fall off into an abyss full of monsters and fire.
A few brave souls ventured forth any way and, lo and behold, came back from the opposite direction.
They hadn't disappeared into the void, as many had feared, but had circumnavigated the globe and proven that the world was not flat (my apologies to Tom Friedman here, whom I greatly admire and aspire to be more like...) but round instead.
Previously held beliefs, convictions solidly felt by their owners, were shown to be faulty and required a second, fresh look.
If we could allow for the possibility that what we think, what we believe, could possibly have a different interpretation, then we could be open to new information that just might change our minds.
And imagine what it would be like if two people decided to enter a discussion with that openness.
Worlds would definitely collide. Black and white would become gray and solutions would be found.
Love and respect and openness to possibility are all the elements needed in solving the world's problems. If I greet you with kindness, and deference and willingness then you will be disarmed and available for me to persuade. And if I am open to your point of view then I might be persuaded as well. We just might find the solution that had , theretofore, eluded us both. Two heads might be much better than one.
I think this concept is what is sorely lacking in out national discourse (uh oh...complaining again...)
Our leaders stake out positions and are unwilling to listen. They think they are right and the other guy is an idiot. "America...Love it or Leave it!"
So that's what I think will help. Less yelling and more listening. Less vitriol and more harmony. Less Latin and more cookies.
Let the schmoozing begin!
Ergo (a fancy word for therefore...), I thought I'd try to be more helpful and less whiney (complainy...?)
I think that the solution to most of our problems is in the way that we communicate with one another. Often we don't listen, intent on making our point and prevailing in the argument.
When we are disagree with one another we tend to get louder in an attempt to empower our point of view, somehow by volume rather than by merit.
And the concept of respect is often not a part of any discussion. We think that if someone disagrees with us than they are "less than" and, therefore (a common variety of the word "ergo" which is Latin for "therefore"...) not worthy of our respect.
If we could actually slow down long enough to, in fact, hear what the other guy is saying then we just might get some valuable information.
Some people think that you have to have a position on an issue and never change your mind.
I disagree. I admire those who, after careful evaluation of the evidence at hand, are able to amend their point of view and conclude in a different way.
Before the discovery of the New World, conventional wisdom was that the Earth was flat. If you sailed toward the horizon you would, eventually, fall off into an abyss full of monsters and fire.
A few brave souls ventured forth any way and, lo and behold, came back from the opposite direction.
They hadn't disappeared into the void, as many had feared, but had circumnavigated the globe and proven that the world was not flat (my apologies to Tom Friedman here, whom I greatly admire and aspire to be more like...) but round instead.
Previously held beliefs, convictions solidly felt by their owners, were shown to be faulty and required a second, fresh look.
If we could allow for the possibility that what we think, what we believe, could possibly have a different interpretation, then we could be open to new information that just might change our minds.
And imagine what it would be like if two people decided to enter a discussion with that openness.
Worlds would definitely collide. Black and white would become gray and solutions would be found.
Love and respect and openness to possibility are all the elements needed in solving the world's problems. If I greet you with kindness, and deference and willingness then you will be disarmed and available for me to persuade. And if I am open to your point of view then I might be persuaded as well. We just might find the solution that had , theretofore, eluded us both. Two heads might be much better than one.
I think this concept is what is sorely lacking in out national discourse (uh oh...complaining again...)
Our leaders stake out positions and are unwilling to listen. They think they are right and the other guy is an idiot. "America...Love it or Leave it!"
So that's what I think will help. Less yelling and more listening. Less vitriol and more harmony. Less Latin and more cookies.
Let the schmoozing begin!
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