Bitch all you want to, the NRA is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing

Bitch and moan all you want, the National Rifle Association is doing exactly the job it is supposed to do. Whine, complain, scream and shout if you want, but the NRA has prospered because it was allowed to prosper.

I am not a member of the National Rifle Association.

I grew up around guns. My family and friends had guns. I’ve owned guns. I hunted birds and small game and enjoyed target shooting as well. Dad used to take me to the local dump in Vermont and we plinked cans with a .22 rifle. I had marksman classes at camp. (And, yes, I was a damn good shot.)

I have no interest in taking your guns, and I think that while the 2nd Amendment is misinterpreted and wrongly flaunted in nearly every debate or discussion about guns, that really isn’t the issue right now. At least read the darn thing and put it in its proper historical place before you start screaming that people are violating your “right” to own a gun.

Maybe that’s one of the issues, though. When did owning a gun become a right while other things, like driving, owning a credit card, attending local colleges, or even buying a house remain a “privilege” in today’s world? Sure you can get into a bar if you’re over 21, but you’ll need ID. That may mean getting a driving license . . . a written test, photo, and driving test. You pass you get your license. That a lot tougher than buying a gun in many places.

Each state has its own gun laws, and some cities and towns have laws on top of the state laws. Currently, 10 states have mandatory waiting periods before a buyer can take possession of a handgun . . . with some states allowing the gun to be picked up after a period of time even if a background check hasn’t cleared. Others mandate that a buyer has to wait a certain amount of time (usually 2-3 days) even if the background check comes back clean before that.

Final note to the media: Can you please learn a bit about guns . . . “automatic” vs. “semi-automatic” to start, “military assault weapons” (they aren’t . . . they are semi-automatic military “style” weapons . . . and so on). You sound stupid when you make basic factual errors.

A couple of simple (though nothing is “simple” when politics is involved) ideas:

First, let’s not allow people on the terrorist watch list to buy guns. Yes, some politicians argue against this idea because there may be people on the list who shouldn’t be. Fine, establish an appeals process. Otherwise, too bad.

Second, submit every gun sale in the country to a background check. Every one. So there’s no loophole for sales at gun shows or online or any states.

Third, we must have a deep and wide database for background checks, including mental health input (professionals should be able to “flag” potential problem individuals easily), and a system that links local, state and federal systems.

Fourth, broaden the application of the “Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban” (which bans those convicted of a physical domestic violence charge) to include a ban on those convicted of stalking, harassment and threatening. If owning a gun is a "privilege," then you lose that privilege if you're convicted of threatening someone. Period.

Fifth, mandate gun safety certification for every gun buyer. The certificate would be good for 5 years, then the owner would have to go through another safety class. (I also feel hand-on gun safety classes are more important that classroom teachings, and would urge that, but I'm not sure how it could be established and managed.)

 Six, we need to keep weapons safe when not in use. Mandate trigger locks or gun safes to prevent easy access, especially by children, as well as gun theft. According to the FBI, nearly 3,000 deaths (or about 10 percent of yearly gun deaths) are caused by all forms of accidental shootings yearly. The highest numbers of deaths by guns are suicides (64 percent), with murders of all types about 25 percent. (Other categories fill in the remaining percentages.) (FBI/CDC/Time Magazine)

Six ideas that don’t really restrict access to guns, but does make them a bit more work to buy. There are dozens of others, like restricting certain types of weapons and the capacity of ammunition magazines. The effectiveness of many of those is questionable, though I think every avenue should be explored.

On the subject, note that few gun murders are committed with rifles of any type, including assault rifles. Statistics indicate of the some 9,000 yearly murders, just over 300 are are committed with rifles (2012). Six times more murders are committed with knives, and more than twice as many were caused by physical beatings, and more people were killed with shotguns than rifles. Some 4 percent of those killed by rifles are killed with “assault rifles,” an incredibly small number in terms of total murders. The recent shooting in California highlighted the weapons, but we need to know the issue beyond the headlines and political speeches. (FBI/CDC)

By far, most gun murders are committed with handguns.

Gun advocates argue that with more guns, more bad guys would be stopped before they committed really bad shootings. The evidence, though, doesn’t bear that out, no matter how viscerally good it might sound. More guns means more shootings and therefore accidents, deaths and injuries.

In 2012, for example, there were 259 gun-related justifiable homicides. There were about 67,000 incidents reported where guns may have stopped a crime of one sort or another, including burglaries. (The NRA claims 2.5 million crimes are stopped, but the FBI and law enforcement numbers don’t show that.) As a side note, more than 240,000 guns are stolen every year, with about 180,000 taken in burglaries. (FBI)

Let's not forget that 85,000 people are injured by guns every year, and more than 500 are killed in accidental discharge accidents. (Wiki/FBI)

The problem is that guns are dangerous, so when they discharge, very bad things can happen.

Many gun owners say owning a gun makes them feel safer. That may well be true, of course, but the evidence shows that they are unlikely to be a good guy stopping a bad guy and much more likely to be the victim of a gun-related accident themselves.

Let’s be clear . . . Many of these mass shootings (where 4 or more people are shot) are different from one another, as are the ways guns used were acquired. We can’t stop them all because we can’t stop every crazy person in the U.S. from doing something crazy, or some not-so-crazy person deciding he or she wants to shoot a bunch of people. Often all these shooters are completely unknown to any law enforcement agencies.

 Nothing fits in a nice neat box, though both gun advocates and anti-gun advocates would have us believe otherwise. What we can do is restrict a few sales, tighten a few loopholes and make sure the laws we have and new ones we create are well crafted and enforced.

That would be something, instead of nothing. 

Breakfast . . . It's what's for dinner . . . (or any other time)

We all know breakfast is the best meal of the day, right? So what the heck has taken so long for the fast-food and casual fast-food industry to catch on?

McDonald’s is finally offering all-day breakfast, so you can grab your Egg McMuffin any time you want. Perfect. (If you like fast food anyway.)

I enjoy breakfast any time of the day or night . . . That was one of the great things about living in New Jersey, with its 8 million diners every mile. A diner has a 48-page menu, and 90 percent of the people there are ordering eggs . . . Eggs over easy. Scrambled. Omelets. All with home fries or hash browns and bacon or sausage, a pot of coffee and a large orange juice.

Steak and eggs with home fries and horseradish

When I first started working in lower Manhattan, a work buddy and I would meet at a “diner” just up from work for breakfast. (I put “diner” in quotes, since I usually think of diners as those stand-alone, chrome-wrapped buildings, not the short-order places tucked in amongst the high-rise office buildings.) Those short-order restaurant, though, have many of the same great offerings . . . hot food served fast (Ever listen to the orders going into the kitchen?) . . . a huge menu, and waitresses who call everyone “honey,” “baby,” “dear,” or “sweetie.” I love them . . . Some of my friends hate being called “honey.”

So long as my eggs are over easy, I’m pretty happy.

I used to order eggs over easy with home fries and either bacon or sausage with a large pineapple juice at that restaurant up from 26 Broadway. My buddy usually ordered an omelet with sausage and a large orange juice. He liked pancakes, too. And keep the coffee coming.

I’ve calmed down a bit, and usually enjoy oatmeal or just eggs now over easy, poached or scrambled and every n0w and then soft boiled). Maybe a yogurt. Moderation can be a difficult thing. I’ll admit to adding some onion- and pepper-heavy home fries every once in a while. Low-sodium V8 Juice has replaced orange juice and pineapple juice.

I love eggs.

Fried egg with capers,
roasted tomatoes and steelhead..

They seem to be a single guy’s staple. Probably because they’re cheap and easy, though cooking them right can be a challenge for some. It’s the omelet that can be tough . . . the right fillings, and just cooked, not dry and too browned. There’s a reason one of the tests for would-be chefs is making an omelet.

Brunch is a bit of a different matter, a bit dressier than breakfast, with, hopefully some champagne or a mimosa and spruced up egg dishes . . .

When I try something new for “before lunch” fare, it still usually involves eggs of one sort or another . . . maybe baked eggs with baked zucchini, or an egg on top of steelhead and roasted tomatoes, poached eggs with roasted asparagus or other more grown up additions.

Baked eggs with zucchini and marinara.

So it’s nice to see McDonald’s and the others catching up to what the rest of us have known for a very long time . . . that breakfast is the best meal, day or night.

Morality is based on what we do, not necessarily our religious beliefs

We are not moral because of what we say we believe. We are moral because of what we do.

We seem to have lost our way a bit in this political season. Or perhaps we lost our way a while ago and it’s just bubbling through the muck and up to the surface now. Often I think we make things much more complicated than they are, and while certainly life has shades of grey weaving in and out, is there not a path we each are on? Is not that path filled with  little traps that tempt our moral compass, but that we can easily step around if we’re clear about ourselves and our beliefs.

No religious beliefs, necessarily. Just beliefs.

It’s a mistake to believe we are moral because we are Christians . . . or Hindus . . . or Buddhists . . . or Jews . . . or Muslims . . . or atheists . . . or whatever. Our religion does not make us moral. Our lack of religion does not make us immoral.

In today’s world (as well as throughout history), people stand up and tell us they are better . . . more moral . . . because they believe in God (or other deity). Of course, even within each religion, believers in one branch of that religion believe they are superior to other branches of the same religion, and vastly superior to those outside their broad religious “house,” if you will. Baptists think they are better than Presbyterians, Catholics think they are better than Methodists, etc. Simplified, perhaps, but why wouldn’t they think that? After all, we’re fortunate in this country to be able to choose our religion, and it’s not much of a stretch to think people always believe they’ve made the right choice.

The belief that, as a group, Christians, say, are more moral than others is, even on the face of it, silly. 

There are good and bad, moral and immoral Christians. And yet, we hear every day that “As a Christian . . . I believe . . .” whatever. OK. Fair enough. But that doesn’t make you right, of course.

Is it moral to say abortion is wrong but executing people is not? Is it moral to believe we should help the poor and needy as best we can and yet scream about helping refugees? (I might argue if the refugees were Christians, there would be no screaming . . . but since many of them are Muslims, the screaming grows louder. “My religion is better than their religion.”) Is it moral to not try with all our might to improve the care we give wounded vets we sent to war? Is it moral to let children in this great nation go hungry because we don’t spend the money on better food programs?

Indeed the world is a different place than it was 50 years ago, but we’ve grown more intolerant, or at least more vocal about our intolerance. Funny, because at the same time we’re often embracing the “nanny state” as we rail against bad language, inadvertent slights, the dangers of school playgrounds and recess, and the political correctness winding its way through universities, business and politics. That can be intolerance of another sort. Some good . . . some bad.

Now we’re at the point where we listen to politicians boldly tell untruths . . . OK, lie . . . and yet we don’t flinch of demand correction. Why? Politicians have never, as a group, had much of a moral compass . . . Many of today’s politicians appear not to have any moral compass. I’m not talking about political spin based on our political leaning, but the bold and boisterous setting aside of our country’s fundamental beliefs and historical road map for political expediency. Not just those at the fringes of political parties, but mainstream candidates.

So let’s stop saying, it’s moral because of our religious beliefs. Let’s just say it’s moral or it’s not. Let’s not confuse our political leanings . . . or the leanings of others as anything more than disagreements, not world-ending, God vs. Satan battles. Let’s remember that our country is filled with millions of people with vastly different beliefs. Let’s not be afraid to be humble and admit when we’re wrong. That’s what makes us better, not screaming louder, hating more and raising ourselves up by pushing others down. We can be tough, but also moral.

Carly Fiorina lies about an ant-abortion video . . . Donald Trump lies about “thousands and thousands” of people in New Jersey cheering the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings . . . Ted Cruz attends a “kill the gays” rally and busts a gut over marriage equality as being immoral . . .

Examples are simple.

Is it moral to hate other people because of their beliefs or their lifestyle?

No. And those who preach that and those sell that to cheering crowds willing to throw their moral compasses into the flames aren’t worthy of our endorsement. We are all better than that.

We need leaders . . . Not ignorant fear mongers

Hate speech.

It comes in many forms.

You can frame it any way you want, but in the end the governors who have said they wouldn't take any Syrian refugees are making hate speeches. Hate speeches that not only target Syrians refugees driven from their homeland by seemingly never-ending war. But the words also target U.S. citizens and legal immigrants (or their families) who happen to be originally from that region. Any violence against these people here should be laid directly upon these politicians.

Acts of such violence are rare compared to the population, but they set a tone that spreads far and wide. Today’s 24-hour news cycle spreads news farther and wider than ever before, with cable outlets, internet sites, blogs and regular TV and print media latching on to any story with national implications.

Vandals burning a mosque has national implications.

The same national implications of a suspected terrorist being arrested.

Donald Trump upped the hate speech bar the other day when he said all Muslims in this country need to be registered and tracked by the federal government . Ignoring the lessons of history, Trump apparently feels such tracking is needed to protect us . . . and by that I guess I mean non-Muslims . . . from terrorists. Presumably Mr. Trump’s would-be terrorists are all Muslims (another convenient editing of history). He fans the hate flames by making wild and inaccurate statements  . . . like “he knows” Obama wants to let 200,000 refugees into America . . . or, he saw “thousands upon thousands” of people in New Jersey cheering the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings.

Both comments are untrue . . . but they fan the fear that makes Trump appealing to some. 

We need to turn down the volume on such talk. Not only does it encourage violence from those who believe all Muslims are evil and they need to be punished and their mosques vandalized, but to even think about such a registration process would violate every inch of our Constitution and the fabric upon which this country was founded.

It may sound good to some people, but those people are reacting to fear, not common sense or logic. And Mr. Trump and those like him are pandering to those fears and that ignorance with their hateful words.

We need leaders, not fear mongers ignorant of the lessons past.

Thanksgiving . . . Embrace the day and all it brings us

Happy Thanksgiving.

As you sit down to your glorious Thanksgiving meal and give thanks for all you have, take the time to think about a few things.

Take the time to relax, look around you and truly absorb all you have. Not just the “stuff,” your nice home, cars and clothes, but your family and friends, each and every one of them. They are the gold in your life. We sometimes forget how lucky we are to have people around us that care about us, love us, take care of us and protect us, never asking for a thing . . . never having some hidden agenda. People we trust and love. People who maybe have saved us in one way or another. People who always seem to be there when we need them.

Take the time, too, to remember that not everyone is as fortunate as we are. Maybe they don’t have family with whom to share a Thanksgiving meal. Or maybe they don't have the money to buy the food for a Thanksgiving meal. It’s easy to overlook the fact that there are people who go hungry in this great nation, but there are. Tens of millions of them. Maybe make a contribution to a local charity in a family member’s name, or donate some food to a local food bank, or spend a little time this weekend volunteering at a soup kitchen. It doesn’t take much to make a difference.

Take the time, too, to remember those no longer with us. It’s a tough time of year for those who have lost family or friends. During the holidays, all those feelings of loss can be overwhelming, and the seat at the table that's now empty. We need to heal . . . that wound of loss slowly getting better over time, but there will always be a scar there, a place where we remember always.

Enjoy the day and all it brings to us.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

Talk can be cheap, but not talking can be a disaster

Sometimes people say "talk is cheap." Indeed it is, but we all know that and yet sometimes decline to believe it when it's our talk. We view talk as something of a delaying tactic, or a way to avoid confronting a real issue, or we view talk as easier. Other times we just don’t talk, leading sometimes to a festering of issues that remain unresolved and even creating new ones.

Talking can be a way of putting off decisions that might involve confrontational action of some kind, or perhaps avoid an argument. It is “cheap” energy we give out, but good energy. I had a boss that was fabulously non-confrontational and never created a situation where she had to come face-to-face with a personnel issue or a major conflict with any of her staff. A once close friend of mine never liked to hear any criticism from anyone, and took it as a personal assault, going immediately into defense mode, sometimes pouting or walking away. Others get defensive then counter attack with a short-fuse reaction to what they see as a personal assault.

Walking away is not a solution, of course. It’s another way to avoid and hide.

I’ve also had friends with whom I had sometimes brutal debates, discussions and yell-fests. The funny thing is that those were often the closest relationships I had because it was all out there. While they were generally not intimate relationships, they were strong connections, going back to my late teens. We’d sometimes argue ferociously  . . . then when it was over go out a grab a drink or dinner together. Kind of funny. Back then maybe we didn’t take so much so personally, so the tender areas were tougher. Maybe we just figured our friendships were stronger than even the biggest differences. 

They usually were.

I also think face-to-face conversation is worth many times a “messaging” chat or email back-and-forths. And forget those when you’re tired. Words get misread and tone becomes different . . . Short words become normal and edgier than they were intended. Forget it. Another thought? Don’t engage in any serious discussions after 10 p.m.  . . . That would go double now for any messaging in my book. Bad messaging can lead to unintended disaster.

I think we’ve lost the art of conversation to a large degree nowadays. Perhaps in part because we think we’re so well connected with our computers and smartphones. But we aren’t. We need to talk to our partners, friends and family more. In those cases, talk can be anything but cheap. Don't let feelings fester . . .

What better time to start than around holiday time, when we gather with family and friends?

The worst conversations, of course, are those that never take place. And never will. In the end, we have to decide that our actions, and the actions of others, are what are important to all of us. We always have a choice . . . sit back and do nothing . . . or step out of our comfort zone and decide that those people we care for are worth the effort, and maybe the discomfort, we have when we want to avoid, put off, delay and try to ignore decisions but instead are bold and choose to engage. Sometimes we just need to pick up the phone and say, "Hi." We aren't here forever, don't just put it off for another time. The last thing you want is to think, "Gee, I wish I'd just said something."

Time could be short. Make it all count.

Tag, we think your religion sucks so you have to register with the government . . . And other hateful, dumb ideas

The government this morning has ordered a stop to all immigration into the United States by Catholics. 

Citing “continued Catholic-Protestant violence in Ireland and England” as well as ongoing disclosure of attacks on young children by Church officials, DRK Security Chief Howard Johnson also told reporters at a press conference at the Washington Immigration Center in Washington D.C that the House was also expected to vote today on a program to require all Baptists in the U.S. to register with the federal government, providing information on their places of worship, family members and jobs.

“We know that two recent shooting, as well as the Oklahoma bombing were initiated by people claiming to be Baptists, so we feel it’s important to build this registration to better monitor the flow of Baptists throughout the U.S. and abroad. Homeland Security personnel will be fanning out across the U.S. to register members of churches, and we will be setting up registration centers at all airports and bus and train stations in areas heavily populated by Baptists,” he added.

According to GOP candidate Donald Trump’s spokesperson Donna Wannabe, Homeland Security is also investigating a similar registration program for Presbyterians.

“It may be,” she said, “That the registration of Presbyterians is the biggest piece of this increased security program. Those Presbyterians have infiltrated nearly all walks of life in Americaa, are a low-profile group and could be the biggest threat to our security.”

OK. OK. Ridiculous. But that’s the slippery slope we are finding ourselves on right now. Should we make sure any immigrants/refugees go through a careful vetting before they can stay here? Of course. Are they? Of course . . . a process that can take around 2 years. Should we constanly work to make it better? Of course.

So while the overall “risk” of allowing Syrians into the U.S. is fabulously small, we’ve let the entire discussion spin out of control to the point where we are talking about registering people based on their religions. Think about that for a minute. Then try to think about it if you were the one being told you had to register. Not because you’re a bad person . . . you may be the head of a major corporation or government agency or any may hold any number of other honest or high-profile positions in the business or social world . . . but now you have to register because . . . solely because . . . of your religion.

Where the hell is the outrage with that?

Why are not church officials from every religion in the world standing up and screaming about what a horrible idea this is? Why are not pro-gun groups, which pretty much hate anything having to do with registering anything, standing up and screaming about the Constitution and what a horrible idea this is?

This is where we find ourselves now. Let me note it again. We are entertaining the idea of registering people not because of any bad behavior or known risk, but based solely on their faith. Now, folks, it may or may not be a faith with which you happen to agree, but does that matter? Why aren’t we talking about registering Scientologists? Or Hindus and Buddhists (two religions continually immersed in violent conflict in India and the Far East)? Or Palestinians of all ilk since they seem to like to blow things up?

Stop it. Just stop it.

Stop feeding your visceral mind and start feeding the mind that actually can design and implement programs that actually work and don’t include government guys showing up at your church to take your name and address. Yes, your church. Think outside your comfy little box.

As a friend pointed out, this is not the 1800s and perhaps we shouldn’t be so embracing of the huddled masses are we were then (though history shows us we weren’t all that embracing of everyone). He’s right . . . this is a much different, more dangerous world. A world in which people can travel here and there easly and inexpensively.

But these arguments are simplistic and short-sighted.

The much greater risk is from those already here. They are the shooters and the bombers we’ve seen in the past here . . . the people that shoot up a mall, blow up a women’s clinic or kill dozens of people in a school. The risk is from within, whoever those people may be.

Let’s maybe start a reasonable dialogue so I can get the image of Jews getting dragged from their homes . . .

ISIS and other groups are a danger to us. But are refugees? Hardly. Politicians are cowards and afraid to risk going against any tide they feel well lose them their cushy jobs. Like many things, I believe I could grad 12 friends take over a conference room for a couple of hours and come up with a plan . . . a plan that keeps our doors open to those refugees who pass through our vetting process (which is come 1 percent of those who start the process) while culling those of higher risk . . . like travelers to those “dangerous” regions, like the Middle East (like Syria and Iraq) or Africa (like Nigeria).

Reasonable?

Think about this . . . we want to tag all Muslims in the U.S., citizens or not, and we’re arguing over allowing perhaps 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. when, at the same time, we let some 70 foreign visitors into the U.S. every year.

70 million.

We currently have the best screening system of any country in the free world. Let’s not muddle the arguments on these issues with the extremism spouted by some politicians. If we have an issue, then let’s fix it. Calling refugees “rabid dogs” or registering people based on their religion (funny how the war on Muslims is OK, but God forbid we should demand all people be served in a restaurant or bakery) is racist and hateful.

Without getting all soft and fluffy, we are better than that. But if you see a growing number of brown shirts popping up around you, you might want to take a measure of yourself and your beliefs.