Done With Gun Violence

I doubt that my blog post will have much focus today. To my readers, I ask for your patience.

Last night, around the time nine parishioners of an African-Methodist-Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, were shot to death, I was having dinner with members of my church’s small group at a local Panera restaurant. We laughed, broke bread, and prayed for one another. Normally, we would’ve met at the church that evening studying the Bible, praying for one another, and praising God.

People should feel safe at church to worship and pray. For this reason, I am stunned and angry to hear of the mass shooting yesterday evening at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine people died, including a state senator who was the church pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney. A young Caucasian man allegedly sat in the pews for about an hour before opening fire on the praying group. He allegedly said told a parishioner during a break in the violence, “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”

Law enforcement authorities arrested Dylann Storm Roof this morning in Shelby, North Carolina. They are investigating this massacre as a white-on-blacks hate crime. Frankly, I’m surprised the suspect didn’t kill himself when he was confronted.

This violence has to stop. I realize that it’s a hackneyed phrase, but I use it out of frustration. President Barack Obama, in remarks made today at the White House, was also frustrated and saddened by the news of this latest mass shooting during his term. Among those killings were the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 26 people, 20 of them children, and another 2012 shooting, this time in a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee that took the lives of five men and a woman.

“But let’s be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” a somber Obama told reporters with Vice President Joe Biden standing silently next to him. “It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point, it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.”

Whatever the solution is, it isn’t arming clergy and parishioners. It definitely isn’t having armed guards at the doors of houses of worship. Furthermore, the idea of churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples locked to the public with security guards to buzz them in seems antithetical with beliefs that doors should be open to those who wish to worship.

So, dear readers, if you have suggestions on how to deal with gun violence in general and mass shootings in particular without arming everybody (including children) and closing gathering places, please let me know. As author and talk show host Tavis Smiley wrote in USA Today, “What kind of nation do we want to be? Who are we, really?”

Indeed.

Writing Diva

The Debt Ceiling Agreement: Honey Badger Doesn’t Give a $#!+

This is what I get for having great expectations for the President of the United States: My hopes for change in this country dashed like a glass vase blithely nudged off a 10-story building.

As Paul Krugman of The New York Times wrote today, President Barack Obama surrendered to the House Republicans on the debt ceiling. According to the Times, the tentative agreement, which should go to a vote anytime now, calls for an estimated $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, as well as a new Congressional committee to recommend a deficit-reduction proposal by Thanksgiving and a two-step increase in the debt ceiling.

By not including any closing of tax loopholes for large corporations and the wealthy, Obama, in my humble opinion, capitulated to House Speaker John Boehner (if his name were mispronounced, it would sound like a porn star moniker) and the Tea Party. Even if this bipartisan committee met to hammer out a proposal, half of its members would be Republicans who, more likely than not, signed a no-tax pledge drafted by Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax Reform.

So, this is a short open letter to President Obama:

Mr. President, you needed to channel some honey badger.

I imagine an eyebrow rising as you say, “Excuse me?”

You haven’t seen the honey badger video narrated by some guy named Randall? The message is that the honey badger doesn’t give a $#!+ about its opponents, whether they be black cobras, bees, jackals, even crocodiles. The honey badger is crazy enough to attack and eat them. It can get stung by bees or bitten by poisonous snakes, but like a Timex, it keeps on ticking.

Sometimes the only way to deal with crazy people is to act crazy. I realize that as a Harvard-educated former constitutional law professor, that might be a stretch for you. But these are crazy times, and you’re dealing with unyielding ideologues who refuse to see the big picture. You had your chance to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But you insisted that was not on the table. That should have been your trump card, but noooo!

I know you had to save the country from defaulting on its debts. However, as you said, the process was messy, and the result unpalatable. I don’t see change happening in your first term, and, frankly, as much as I still support you, you will be lucky to get a second term. Just sayin’.

P.S.: Next time, try channeling some honey badger.

Writing Diva

“This Is What Change Looks Like”

I spent most of Sunday afternoon watching a program that was as twisted as ABC’s “Lost,” as dramatic as Fox’s “24,” and sometimes as funny as a good episode of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

It was the U.S. House of Representatives debate over the health care reform bill on C-Span.

There was fighting. There was yelling. There were cheers and jeers. But in the nail-biting climax, H.R. 3962 passed 219 to 212 without a Republican voting for it. Moreover, 34 Democrats voted against it. But that’s OK. The beginning of health care reform passed with three votes to spare.

Presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have tried to reform health care in the United States. One of the most famous attempts was by President Bill “Big Dog” Clinton and then-First Lady (now Secretary of State) Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not one succeeded, even when they tried.

Until March 21, 2010. Somewhere President Barack Obama is saying with a smile to himself, “How ya like me now?”

As of this entry, the bill awaits President Obama’s signature.

But getting the bill to the President’s desk was a process that can be compared to making sausage – downright ugly. To get six conservative Democrats to approve the bill, Obama offered to issue an executive order clarifying the ban on federal funding of abortion. According to The Washington Post, Obama will issue the order after the bill is signed.

From what I’ve heard, the Democrats have offered various compromises to the Republicans to get health care reform passed. But there wasn’t a Republican who would support the bill, saying that it was “big government” and that it cost too much for taxpayers. The Los Angeles Times quoted Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-South Carolina) as saying, “This is the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century.”

The measure allocates about $1 trillion (Yes, that’s “trillion” with a “T.”) over the next decade to expanding insurance coverage, with major changes coming in 2014, The Post reported. Individuals will pay fines for refusing to buy insurance, and employers with more than 50 workers that do not provide coverage also face fines.

The smaller changes that will take place in six months include permitting adult children to stay on their parents’ policies until they turn 26, and children with medical conditions will not be denied coverage.

Unfortunately, this battle is not over. Republicans, stung by the Democratic victory, will take their case to the people during this election year. There may be Democratic representatives and senators who face losing their seats this fall. But I’ll still go to the polls supporting Senator Barbara Boxer and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez.

When President Obama said, “This is what change looks like,” I thought, “This is the change I voted for. Get used to it!”

Writing Diva