MY NEXT BLOG WILL APPEAR OIN MONDAY 12/23

For the first time in a decade, most of my family will be together at my home for an early party before Christmas.  While I am so full of opinions which I have been writing daily for over five years, I'm taking to free personal days to enjoy the people who have made my life so special and I call family.

May the season see all of you able to spend time with special people in your lives.  The world will fade away for a couple of days (hopefully the fading will be the world outside and despite doing more physical activity than usual, I will not fade away!).

WE LOSE PEOPPLE IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Death is the surest way of losing someone we love.  However, dementia is a living death as far as loved ones experience it.  To have a parent ask, "Who are you?" as the mother of a friend asked and then when she was told, "I am your daughter, Mom." the answer to that being, "No you';re not, my daughter had dark hair and yours is white.  You're an impostor!"  Can one hurt much more than that....for either mother or daughter, actually.  

We were protected by the media and have not seen very much of the brain damaged service casualties.  Illness is another loss.  To not a memory of the past means you no longer have the images and emotional memories of another person.  When a person knows they are dying, as in a cancer death, loved ones hurt when they want to hold onto the love they shared for so long.  However, the dying person can give them little as all their own energy is focused on their impending death.

Life is tenuous as it is.  The slaughter at Sandy Hook only reminds us of that fact.  It only makes me angrier that there is so much force and energy being aimed at forcing women to have babies they do not want.  If the pro-lifers could just put more energy into health care and safety  for the living,, they may more easily secure their place in their Heaven.  Once again I may stress my sense of the hypocrisy our politically minded Teapartiers and others who claim to be pro-life do about it.

SECESSION

The secessionists remind me of every adolescent who think they know more than their parents.  Most usually, the runaways run back home with the shamed face at having to ask for parental help or, if they stay away, they endure tremendous hardships trying to survive alone. G. Pascal Zachar has written some interesting thoughts on the subject.  Click here.

If we believe the adage "in numbers there is strength', then states might have a problem.  If a state is attacked, and we theorize that Mexicans may decide to firth to get Texas back if they stand alone, would we fight the Mexicans for Texas?  If Texas suffered natural disasters such as hurricane damage, tornadoes, or whatever, would out US disaster relief be there for them? Of all the states seeking to split for the US as a union, Texas probably has more of an income that might allow it to stand alone under ordinary circumstances.  Have any of those 120,000 people signing the petition to secede really examined all the costs or are they like the disgruntled spouse who can only say a divorce will give them 'peace'.  Since there are 26 million people in Texas, is the 120,000 like Louis Gohmer and Newt Gingrich who think that the way to keep our children safe in schools is to arm the teachers with attack weapons.

What i found amusing after the November election and Obama's win, was that my Democrat friends threatened to leave the country if Romney was elected.  Interestingly, the Republics threatened  secession.  Like the child who leaves the game by taking his ball (the only one) and goes home.  Given the states that are threatening to secede, one must assume the sore losers of the Civil War are trying it again.

THE BIRTHERS ARE STILL WITH US

There is a site, 'Birthers.org' that is spreading its insanity and confirming its members are out of touch with reality.  Unfortunately, many have been voted into office.  Gawker.com writes an interesting history of the birther conspiracy.   The tragedy of these conspiracy theorists is that, while they lost the presidential election, the won a great many state elections as well as seats in the House and Senate. Further, the damage that is done when the false stories are kept alive, they influence people who do not do their own fact checking.

There are 'birthers' in the electoral college who hare challenging President Obama today.  The Washington Times wrote recently:  Arizona’s 11 Republican electors formally cast their votes Monday for Mitt Romney — but not before three of them, including the state party chairman, said questions remain about whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen.
"I’m not satisfied with what I’ve seen,’’ said Tom Morrissey, head of the Arizona Republican Party after signing the formal paperwork to cast his Electoral College vote for Romney. "I think for somebody in the president’s position to not have produced a document that looks more legitimate, I have a problem with that.’’

Cindy Simpson of Renew America wrote another interesting article about birthers.  You can read it by clicking here.   Those, like Palin who supported Trumps  ridiculousness, deserve the loss of status that brought them. Oddly, in none of the articles I researched was Donald Trump mentioned.  I suppose we will never rid ourselves of stupidity since there is no cure.  However, perhaps there should be more people standing up to the fact that respect due our President is not being shown  Perhaps there should be some media focus on that since there have been many times the media has displayed scorn at his decisions and much criticism about his performance in the past.

ALL LIFE IS VALUABLE TO ALL LIVING ADULTS

A life is a life.  Whether you are a parent, grandparent or grandchild.  It amazes me that since John Lennon was killed, 930,000 people have been killed by guns.  It further amazes me that the 'Right to Lifers' have not made a sound about death.  The right to life exists after birth not before.  Bringing a life into this world is a choice.  Those who do not wish one have two options;  first is abstinence which goes against every biological urge; the second is contraception so that children are brought into the world to be wanted and loved.  Life is not just a beating heart and a brain that makes waves on a machine.or means death when it is flat-lined.

It is good that the deaths of these young children has touched the hearts of so many.  Gun violence cannot be totally stopped but it can be lessened and the carnage can be minimized if there are no assault weapons made for war.  Wikipedia has an interesting writeup.

Indeed, hand guns have done much damage, but assault weapons have been used for greater carnage in a shorter time. It is time that someone other than the NRA decides how to maintain safety as well as the second amendment.

POST MASSACRE

Driving west on Route 84 in Connecticut, I have often seen a sign directing towards 'Historic Old Newtown' which I have always called the 'oxymoron' town, which is why I recognized where this tragedy had transpired.  There has been little else on the media since the massacre occurred at Sandy Hook School. When I heard This Week with George Stephanopoulos and Meet the Press with David Gregory it became clear the focus was on more than this event, sad as it was.

As a country we need to change our focus away from violence.  We have teenagers nearing high school graduation who have never known our country when we have not been at war.  Hollywood glorifies and glamorizes death and destruction.  We have made it seem unreal.  It is easy to watch the news as though watching a movie, unreal if it doesn't touch you directly.  The knee-jerk reaction for control freaks is to ban guns.  Did they not learn a lesson as children reading Sleeping Beauty? 

Our second amendment gives us the right to bear arms.  That does not mean weapons of war, just personal protection.  That has yet to be defined.  A person can be strangled.  We cannot outlaw hands.  Knives kill yet every house has them.  Scissors can stab and kill people yet we need them for many tasks.  nOn planes a four inch blade and knitting needles have been prohibited.   Does this not tell us that the problem is far greater than the weapon itself?  We need to educate people to have coping skills other than knee-jerk reactions to fear. Allowing humans to carry weapons of war that can kill many with one magazine clip would slow down death, not eliminate it at the hands of one determined to kill many.

I will be looking forward to seeing Diana Feinstein's bill to the Senate and a similar bill in the House in January.  We must all remember, this is an important first step. The greedy NRA will fight it and threaten to give less money for those in favor of the bills to campaign for office.  If one looks at the problem empirically, it demands changes to campaign funding, a closer look at candidates and their goals for office, education on multiple levels of citizenship, morality, integrity and those many things many of our current politicians lack.  This is a subject we must focus on with more regulation, not less.  This subject must not be dropped.  It must  often be continued here and in many other venues.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE FROM THE PRO-LIFERS?

Were the hypocritical Pro-Lifers hiding under a rock all day yesterday or is life to them up until a child is born?  I heard no great cry about the deaths of so many small children at the hands of one man with many guns.  Am I mistaken?  are not all those Pro-Lifers in government because the NRA backs them and vice versa? 20 children, ages 6 and 7 died yesterday.

Do we have any idea why our country is so prone to these massacres?  Statistically, we seem to stand alone in the world with this sort of crime.  Granted I'd rather be a US citizen today than a Syrian, that doesn't mean I should be happy with everything that is wrong with our country right now.

Victim Ana Marquez-Greene was child of famed jazz musician, Jimmy Greene.  We are just beginning to learn more about the life potential of some of these children.  Anti-abortionists ask would there have been a Beethoven or a Mozart if there had been abortion?  Do we know who these children may have become?  We here incredible sadness but where is the anger?  Without some anger at the availability of guns there will be no study and work on what can be done.  The second amendment should stand.  Taking guns away may not solve the problem but regulating the flow may make it harder for some to get guns.  If people hold guns and do not report their loss, a crime being later committed with them, should make people start tracing responsibilities where they lie.  The children and adult victims have all been identified now.  They were all loved and believed to be safe, moving to this little community of closeness recently, some of them.

People will mourn and fear for their own young ones.  Will the energy to do something positive to end this before the focus fades or will we just start it all over again when it happens anew?