The Daily Banter

The Daily Banter

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Thank you Speaker Pelosi

Variety is the spice of life…

 

Thank you, Speaker Pelosi.  This week the newly Democratic House of Representatives passed a bill that would give the nation's capitol a seat in the House of Representatives.   This bill adds to seats to the House, one for the Democratic DC and another for the Republican Utah.  It is shameful that American citizens have no voice in our government.  For DC, the injustice in compounded because Congress exerts controls over that city that are unique to it.  So the lives of its residents can be changed and there is no one in either chamber of Congress who can speak for them.  As an elementary school student, I was always taught we separated from because we did not like the idea of 'taxation without representation,' a phrase that adorns many DC license plates.  Even without the undue influence the Legislative branch holds over the District, it is deplorable that these people can serve (and die) in the military, pay taxes and enjoy all the other rights and adhere to the obligations of US citizenship, they do not have any voice in Congress.  The Republicans let this bill languish and have supported something else, returning DC to Maryland, an idea with no support in DC or  Maryland.  One funny part of this is that I saw some DC news coverage — www.myfoxdc.com — and it was truly hilarious.  The anchor reiterated Dubya's statement that he will veto this bill but the anchor added — "He will be more inclined to sign the bill IF the Senate votes to pass it."  Things brings up an interesting point SEEING THAT THE PRESIDENT CANNOT SIGN ANY BILL BEFORE THE SENATE PASSES IT.  D'Oh!

 

If you would like to see this measure passed, please call you Senator — the Capitol switchboard is 202-225-3121.

 

It was one step back and one step forward for the left…

 

No, not all supporters of gay rights support abortion and not all abortion supporters are for gay rights (and the reverse, maybe there are some abortion opponents who support gay rights, I mean sam sex couples will not produce any pregnancies). New Hampshire seems on the verge of joining some other northeastern states (Vermont, Massachusetts,Connecticut,New York, Maine and DC) in allowing either civil unions or marriages for gay couples.  Personally, I have never understood why anyone thinks allowing gay people to get married is ANY threat to straight marriages.  Are these people so attracted to the gay lifestyle, or whatever they think it is, that should gay marriage become the law of the land (and it will one day, like it or not, it's kind of like technology — it will come to your area, though if you really oppose it you can become like the Amish or something) most married straight people will say "Oh! My! God!  I can have sex and marry someone who is the same gender as me, I am out of here!"  Is straight marriage that fragile an institution?  And is it not true that having more married couples increases the stability of a community?  Isn't that one of the reasons so many people wanted to get rid of the 'marriage penalty'?  For the record, and really this should not matter, I am a straight woman.  A few years ago a number my friends came down here for a march on the DoJ and commitment ceremony and the issue hit home.  I had never thought much about the right to get married but there is something special in getting up in front of your friends and family and proclaiming, "This is the person I want to spend my life with."  Ok, they can do that now without any new laws but those laws are needed so that one partner can make critical medical decisions should the other become ill.  If two people remain in a committed relationship for years and years, what right does anyone else have to interfere in what one of them wants if they become ill?  Under today's laws, that life partner often has no rights and the family can swoop in and take over.  This is especially egregious when the relationship has been acrimonious and they shut out the sick person's partner from even seeing their loved one.

 

The one step back was the abortion ruling but I have written about that and more will come later.

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The morning paper was very thick today.

This was not a 'slow news week' for sure.

 

While the shooting at Virginia Tech. continues to dominate news coverage, it has been pushed back a little – by another shooting.  A disgruntled employee, Bill Phillips, went into building 44 at the in this afternoon and shot and killed a fellow engineer before killing himself.  Apparently two other people were held hostage, one was injured but the other was not.  The motive seems to be some kind of dispute between Phillips and his supervisors.  Nothing gets your mind off one terrible shooting than another terrible shooting. (CNN, video can be viewed here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/nasa.gunfire/index.html)  While nothing really positive can come from any of these kind of actions, the first shooting may have shone some light on depression & other mental health issues among college students and other students, this should do the same thing for workplace violence.  According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO, this report is here), homicide is the third leading cause of death at work.  The press release on the above report, says:

 

"Violence at work, ranging from bullying and mobbing, to threats by psychologically unstable co-workers, sexual harassment and homicide, is increasing worldwide and has reached epidemic levels in some countries."

 

The report suggests the news is not all bad and that while the above is true, the trend in the US is decreasing and more deaths at work are due to the nature of the employment, showcased in many reality shows such as the Discovery Channel's "the Deadliest Catch," which showcases crab fishing in Alaska. 

 

But this incident is not the first time this has happened and it will happen again.  The ILO, on the same page, has offered a set of guidelines aimed at helping employers deal with unhappy employees and prevent it from happening again.  Most cases of workplace bullying, for example, do not end up with violence.  This story will be eclipsed by the tragedy, and it is easy to see why.  As suicide is the third leading cause of death for people ages 15-24, once again I am going to say that we need to do more for people with mental illnesses — and that applies to both shootings.  The incident with which I am most familiar took place on July 1, 1993 in .  Another disgruntled employee entered a law office at 101 California street and killed eight people and wounded six others , this was one of the events that prompted Congress to pass a crime bill and the Assault Weapons ban, which has since expired — it was not renewed by the Dubya's administration.  Personally, I don't think anyone needs to have access to these weapons and agree with the ban.  People have the right to protect themselves, family and property and hunt but if you need an AK-47 to shoot a deer, you need either glasses or a class in hunting.  Gun lovers have said the Second Amendment is there 'to protect us from our government.'  Nothing, no assault rifle or anything else that you can get legally, is going to protect you from the military (and people have told me that's what they need protection from).

 

We need to stop our collective hand-wringing and second guessing and start to look at what happened and why and DO something — close gun loopholes, enforce the gun laws we have, allow schools to intervene when students become dangerous to others and create a society where we care about each other not fear each other.  People like to say they 'are not their brother's keeper,' that needs to change.  After re-watching "Bowling for Columbine" I want to move to .  On why people in big cities up north DO NOT LOCK THEIR DOORS (hey, I am from NY there is NO way I would ever feel safe sleeping in a house where the doors were unlocked) one woman said that people in the States are scared of other people while when they lock their doors they feel trapped.  They also have strong gun control laws and the like.  It is too bad it is so cold there.

 

Back in Washington, DC…

 

Things continued to look bad for our AG Alberto Gonzales as more Republicans called for his resignation, which does not seem to be in the cards.  It is comforting to know that while he knew little of what happened, per the number of time he said he did not recall or recollect events, he assured the Senate Judiciary Committee that 'nothing improper occurred,'  — that's very comforting.  (Hearing info here).  It seems obvious, to me anyway, that the AG knew a lot more than he is even saying now and that he thinks claiming ignorance will help, Senator Leahy, the committee's chairman, made it clear the smokescreen was not working.  The more this 'political fishing expedition,' as many Republicans have called it, continues, the more we learn that this White House treated the Justice Department like it was not a separate entity but a part of the White House.  Sen. Leahy said:

 

            "We hear disturbing reports that politics may have played a role in a growing number of cases. I have warned for years against the lack of prosecutorial experience and judgment throughout the leadership ranks of the Department. We are seeing the results amid rising crime, rampant war profiteering, abandonment of civil rights and voting rights enforcement efforts, and lack of accountability. This Justice Department seems to have lost its way.

            The Department of Justice must not be reduced to another political arm of the White House. The Department of Justice must be worthy of its name. The trust and confidence of the American people in federal law enforcement must be restored."            

I am working on getting more information on this but according to information provided by former AG Janet Reno, a small number of staffers at Justice and in the White House were able to work together but that number went from about 10 to about 400.  Sources have told me Senator Leahy found this to be some of the 'most interesting information' he has seen in all his years in the Senate.  The news magazine, the Nation, has documented the politicalization of many departments and has probably been the 'business as usual' approach towards all Executive Branch departments, which is not how it is supposed to work.  More on that to come…

 

For the record, I hope Mr. Gonzales stays on.  These people scare me and to think they are scary and competent scares me more.

 

Just when you thought it was safe to open a can of cat food…

 

It seems ANOTHER pet food ingredient has been contaminated by a chemical.  Melamine has been found in wheat gluten and rice protein that was used in pet foods and it appears most of if came from .  The Chinese are not cooperating with our FDA.  According to the Washington Post (April 20, 2007) the FDA inspects about 1.3 percent of human and pet food and some of the contaminated food might have been meant for human consumption, and I do not mean people who eat pet food (I saw a woman on some cable station who, and I swear this is true, has gained 500 pounds by eating cans of cat food because she is 'addicted to it,' if there is time there has to room for a post on that).  A list of pet foods NOT recalled can be found at www.thepetfoodlist.com.  As a pet owner, it has been really worrisome that so many pets, cats mostly and I have a cat and like him a lot, died.  Granted, some people do a lot of things for their pets that border on the obscene, like get them fur extensions and diamond collars, it is NOT too much to assume that when you buy pet food, it is safe for your pet.

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Wow. Where do you start on a day like today?

The Supreme Court

One of the main reasons it is always important to be careful who you pick to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is that they choose who gets to sit on the Supreme Court.  Justices get to stay there for the rest of their lives.  Many Democrats, liberals and libertarians were concerned about the court’s composition and what would happen if a social conservative took the White House.  This was the one issue that even Ralph Nader said should make people vote for Al Gore over in 2000 (and no, I am not over Nader’s irresponsible actions that year).  So now Dubya’s court has decided that the law banning late term abortions is constitutional.  While social conservatives all over the country are celebrating tonight, this fight is not over (Washington Post).  The abortion fight will never really be over.

 

“For today, we have a significant victory for life and it is to be celebrated," said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, an influential conservative lobby group with strong evangelical ties. But he told Reuters by telephone that it was too early to speculate when the Holy Grail for social conservatives — a Supreme Court decision reversing the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that women have a basic constitutional right to abortion — would be achieved.”

 

As a very pro-choice woman, I am no longer sure how relevant Roe v. Wade is.  A number of states (15) have banned abortions completely and others have just made is as difficult as possible.  Look here for more info.  For women in a large part of the country access to reproductive health services is limited and abortions are not available.  This is due to different laws and regulations but also the lack of doctors who perform abortions.  Many women have to drive long distances to get abortions.  Worse, in many of these same places laws designed to inspire family unity, do the opposite.  Is it really right to make a girl raped by a family member ask that person to sign off on her aborion?  Do aborion opponents really think it is better to make 11 year old rape victims mothers than to handle that some other way.  Ironically, while most health insurance companies cover Viagra and Cialis, they will not cover birth control.  At the same time, Scientific American reported on a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) study that showed abstinence only programs do not work.

 

"The vast majority of the public does not see abstinence and contraception as an either/or proposition — they want teens to be informed of both," Sarah Brown, Executive Director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, said in a statement.  "We have been promoting ignorance in the era of AIDS, and that's not just bad public health policy, its bad ethics," added James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth.

 

HHS did not release its findings, as they contradict the current administration’s position on this issue but it was leaked by activists in who were backed by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Ca).  One interesting point is that a few years ago a government official from Senagal was asked about his country’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa and how different the results were in Senegal where t hey had been able to halt the spread of the disease through the wide distribution of condoms.  The Clintons' position, which they both have always supported is that abortion should be 'safe, legal and rare" should appeal to both sides of this issue and I have never understood why social conservatives refuse to acknowledge this.  No one ‘promotes’ abortion or wants to see someone they care about go through that – whether it be a young woman who got pregnant by mistake or someone who has found their baby has some medical problem that could hurt them or the mother – in most instances this is an intensely personal and difficult decision to make.  Preventing the former should be a top priority for anyone who cares about these young women and should trump their need to push their religion on other people.  Stay tuned, Tony Perkins got one thing right – this battle will continue for a long time.  I have to wonder if all the people who picket Planned Parenthood offices, bomb clinics and engage in similar behavior spent that time and energy on prevention maybe we’d have less pregnancies to worry about.  If only…

 

And in our ‘pro-life’ oriented world…

More information has surfaced regarding Cho Seung-Hui, the student who killed 33 people at Virginia Tech.  He sent a package to NBC News, which included video images taken ‘during the rampage':

 

“April 18 (Bloomberg) — The Virginia Tech University student who shot 32 people to death on campus this week mailed a package of images and video messages to NBC News during his rampage.   After killing two students in a dorm on the , campus on April 16, Cho Seung Hui, 23, sent the package, NBC News said in a statement today. He went on to kill 30 more in a classroom building before taking his own life. One image released by NBC shows Cho wearing a backward black baseball cap and glaring at the camera while extending two pistols in gloved hands. NBC News broadcast a video tonight showing Cho delivering a profanity-laced tirade.  “When the time came I did it. I had to,'' Cho says in the video. He also says, “You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours.''

 

Additionally, multiple news sources say he had been committed in 2005 for being suicidal and students who knew him said he never spoke to anyone, most people who knew him thought he had mental problems but no one did anything.  One of his suitemates told Chris Matthews on tonight’s Hardball that his own suitemates did not even know his name until the RA posted it on his door.  The same person knew him for almost four years and thought he was a business major – he learned of the gunman’s true major when he read it in the paper and was surprised.  He assumed one reason Cho kept to himself was that his English was not very good and that he was shy about it.  My only question remains:  why did no one step in and try to help him before this?  Colleges all over the country will take another look at students who may struggle with their own inner demons but it should not stop there.

 

Depression is a major problem for adolescents.  ABC News reported tonight that the benefits of antidepressants outweigh any risks.  It does not seem hard to see why people at this age are so prone to be depressed.  It is a hard time.

 

“Depression, when it occurs, is potentially lethal. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death in adolescents and is most often preceded by a major depressive episode.  Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to developing suicidal thinking in the context of depression, in part because adolescence is a time of identity formation during the human lifespan.”  (ABC News)

 

The story above gives warning signs people can look for.  Of course, we still have to move beyond the idea I mentioned yesterday that people are to blame for any mental illness they have.  We need to give them the same support we would give someone with cancer.  It would be nice to think something will change because of this horrible act but once the news story dries up the country’s attention will move on to something else.  The people directly affected will never be the same but the nation will go on.

 

Iraq

Much to the dismay of the White House, the new (barely) Democratic Congress is not going to back down on Iraq.  Karl Rove predicted last week that the Democrats would bow to what Dubya wants but it looks like that is not going to happen.  According to the Post:

 

President Bush sparred across the table with Democratic congressional leaders opposed to the war on Wednesday in a prelude to a veto showdown over a conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 troops. During an hourlong meeting at the White House, the president told lawmakers directly he will not sign any bill that includes a timetable for a troop withdrawal, and they made it clear Congress will send him one anyway. "We believe he must search his soul, his conscience and find out what is the right thing for the American people," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of , told reporters after the session. "I believe signing this bill will do that."

 It is hard to envision this president signing any bill that would make it look like he is changing his position on this war, a war that he said when it started would ‘make or break’ his presidency.  He was right.  Back then thousands of people marched against invading Iraq and they continue to do so but this White House does not see or hear any views that differ from theirs.  Part of me has to respect someone who believes in something so much that public opinion will not sway their view.  This does not seem to be the case here.  Here it seems we have a president who sees any change of opinion as a show of weakness.  He believes he is right and we should all fall in line.  That is not what our country is supposed to be about.

 

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

 

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Virginia Polytechnic Institute Shooting

Virginia Polytechnic Institute Shooting

 

My heart goes out to the friends and family of the victims of the shooting at Virginia Tech. I cannot imagine what they are going through. Chris Matthews commented tonight that college is supposed to make up some of the best times of anyone’s life .  It is sad to think that for many the school and their own college experiences will be marred by such a tragedy.  Like other places where tragedies have taken place (Columbine High School, Kent State), Virginia Tech. will always be known as the place where 33 people were shot and killed.

 

Personally, my first thoughts on this are not about gun control, though I do support it and do not think we need access to the kinds of weapons or ammunition this student had, but to the mental health issues that lead to this.  Cho Seung-Hui was a 23 year old English major and senior. He moved to the US from South Korea in 1992. The New York Times, and other news outlets, has reported that faculty expressed concerns about him and said that he 'troubled,' their concerns stemmed from violence in his writing and his behavior but neither by itself could be considered evidence of what he was going to do, though his letters threatening bombing the campus should have sent up red flags. It feels trite to call him a ‘loner’ and leave it at that.  Sure most college students are too absorbed by their lives to notice or tend to the mental health needs of their peers but if his teachers noticed something, didn't one of them have a responsibility to do something?  Say something to him or his parents?  Remind him that he was not alone and that he had people there to help him if he needed it?  Apparently not.  Mental illness' stigma makes most people ignore it. According to the National Institute of Mental Health:

 

Mental disorders are common in the and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. When applied to the 2004 Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people. Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness. In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the and for ages 15-44. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity.

 

As we move toward socialized medicine, and you are kidding yourself if you think we are not (The states are pushing it now but it will be corporate America that makes it happen, this is the subject for another post but our industries pay a heavy cost – not just in dollars – by bearing the burden of providing health care to their employees, a burden not shared by companies in other countries where the government deals with it now.) we need to be careful to include mental illness in what is covered.  The page cited above goes into the impact on society as a whole:

The burden of mental illness on health and productivity in the and throughout the world has long been underestimated. Data developed by the massive Global Burden of Disease study conducted by the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and , reveal that mental illness, including suicide, accounts for over 15 percent of the burden of disease in established market economies, such as the . This is more than the disease burden caused by all cancers.

 

If the number of commercials on TV are any indication depression is a major problem in the US .  While writing this, several commercials have run about either the disease itself or the symptoms it causes so it must affect a lot of Americans.  It is unfortunate that mental illness is seen as the fault of the sufferer, no one blames diabetics for their disease despite the fact that our own behavior can cause it more.  Insurance companies will pay for its medications and supplies and doctors' visits but not all cover mental health visits.  Until we divorce the one idea from the other, we will not address it and people will continue to suffer.

 

Granted, there is no way now to tell if this tragedy could have been prevented, or if any of the similar shootings in the country, by early intervention and treatment.  It seems obvious that if had a waiting period for weapons and if Cho Seung-Hui had seen someone for whatever mental illness he had, maybe that would have prevented him from acquiring the weapons but he might have done something equally as devastating.  Had he gone into a store and tried to purchase these guns and not been allowed to – or had been told to come back after a few days and a background check – that maybe a red flag would have been raised.  In a post-9/11 world where our intelligence agencies could not connect (what now at least appear to be) flaming dots such as the 1993 WTC bombing Osama bin Laden orchestrated, the memo outlining his plans to attack the US from within using jet liners, VP Al Gore’s Reinventing Government report calling for the creation of a new department to deal with terrorism (yes, the Clinton Administration asked Congress to start a ‘Department of Homeland Security) and VP Gore’s recommendation that airport security be increased (back when no one wanted to fund it) – looking at these reminds me of when children used to ask their teachers if Africa and South America were ever connected –  9/11 seems inevitable.  So if highly trained people whose job was to prevent attacks like 9/11 could miss the clues, the people who knew this ‘troubled’ student can be forgiven for not predicting this.

 

The US does not have a monopoly on mass violence, though our lax gun laws, extreme media coverage of such events (some countries, such as Canada do not allow them to be covered by the press) combined with our refusal to help those who are sick means this is not the last time we will read about an incident like this.  Eight years ago it was .  This week it was Virginia Tech.  Next time it can be anywhere.  First Lady Laura Bush said the shooting was ‘random’ and that statement is open to a lot of different interpretations.  President Bush said he was not at the school to talk about gun control, though he did go out of his way to say how he still ‘supports the second amendment,’ but to do whatever he can to facilitate the healing there.  He would not be the person I would ever turn to if I needed healing but I hope his visit does that.

 

Reading over this post, someone might get the idea that I have more sympathy for the shooter than his victims.  Nothing could be farther from from the truth.  ABC News ran a story with the headline, 'You Could Feel the Vibrations of Each Gunshot', again, I cannot imagine what these people experienced.  One student commented, '

Memories of that gun now linger in one students' mind. "It won't go away. It won't," Walsh said. "If I close my eyes, it's there. I know exactly what it looks like, I know what kind it is. I know what it sounds like, I can't get it out." (from the story, if you have not read the story, please follow the link).  I hope they all get the support and help they need to get through this trying time and will be able to move beyond it.  For whatever this may be worth, the prayers and thoughts of the nation are with you and your families.

 

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