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As you who follow me closely know, I didn’t do my usual tra la la for Christmas around this blog. No decorations. No falling snowflakes, which had become quite the tradition. To kinda-sorta make up for it, you will note that today you have red snow! I’ll keep it up through New Years Day and then it will be gone as we all buckle down to count the days till spring.
I don’t want you to think there was anything wrong. It was and continues to be a lovely holiday for me. In fact, starting tomorrow, we are going to celebrate in a very big way. You might want to check back. If you don’t check back, you’ll be kicking yourself in the ass. Just sayin.
So about my Christmas …
I got bamboozled (not that I fought that hard) into hosting Christmas for my family this year. If I would have agreed when it was first brought up, things would have been just peachy, but I kept hemming and hawing and kicking my feet. So pretty much right at the threshold of all things Santa, I finally said yes. Yes, Virgina, there is a Santa’s Little Helper and I am the chosen one.
So then it was a mad dash to whip up a Christmas to be remembered. And I was about the business of doing so right up until my family arrived Christmas day at 12 noon. Literally. I was just putting the vacuum cleaner away when the doorbell rang. Good fun was had by all, with my Pomegranate martinis being a big hit and my German potato celebrated muchly. Gifts were exchanged with actual love and appreciation. It truly was a perfect Christmas.
But other things have been heavy on my heart, as I’m sure has been with most of you. It cannot be overstated that the Newtown tragedy is beyond unacceptable, anyway you cut it, from whatever side of the partisan fence you opine. These horrendous mass murders at schools and churches and theaters … what the fuck?
Why is this continuing and what are we going to do about it? None of us should have to fear for our own lives or the lives of our loved ones. Children should be safe in their schools, and parents should be confident that this is the case. I don’t have the answers. But like Mr. T recently said to me, “We already know President Obama is a great orator. Now it’s time for him to show us he’s a great leader.” Do something and do it now!
And now my heart is hurting all over again, so I’ll leave it here for now.
xo, Angela
Here is one church’s response to the shooting; I’m sure there must be others. http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50350/c/10067/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9154
We should require the same level of demonstration for gun ownership as we do for driving a car. So just like you can’t just drive away with a car from a car show, you shouldn’t be able to buy and use a gun purchased from a gun show.
Contributing factors to incidents like Newtown are the decrease in the mental health in-patient population (due to budetary issues, the availability of more meds, etc), the stigma associated with identifying mental illness and the resistance in some quarters to treat some mental illnesses with medication. Talk therapy only can be fatal for those with serious disorders and I know people who claim these patients can be treated without meds.
God bless those victims and their families.
On these points: If this nut hot wired a car and drove it at 80mph into a crowd of children should we get rid of cars? I’m guessing the answer to that is a resounding NO.
Check the records. Chicago has the most restrictive gun laws in the Nation and the worst crime rate and DC is not much better. The lowest crime rates are NOT I repeat NOT in gun free zones.
The assault rifle ban that was in place for ten years had ZERO affect on gun violence.
The problem are the nuts not what the nut chooses to commit crimes with.
Let’s all think with our heads and not react like annelids.
I know, hdb. I know, I know, I know.
But I love you, anyway.