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 Let’s get serious about keeping guns out of the wrong hands…

  Dear Jeff,It’s a fact: Brady background checks have stopped more than 2 million gun sales to criminals and other dangerous people who shouldn’t have guns.

But web sites and gun shows across the country have provided new ways for prohibited buyers to get their hands on guns. That’s why H.R. 1565 is important.

H.R. 1565 is new legislation in Congress to expand Brady background checks on gun sales.

The gun lobby extremists desperately want to stop this bill.  But we’re not going to let that happen….

Text MYVOICE to 877877 and connect with your U.S. House Representative. 

Tell them you support expanding background checks,
and then urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 1565. 

If you were disappointed that the Senate failed to pass the Manchin-Toomey proposal last month, now’s your chance to tell Congress to make it right.

Text MYVOICE to 877877 right now and urge Congress to expand Brady background checks.

It’s time for politicians to get serious about keeping guns out of the wrong hands. Together, we can demand that lawmakers support H.R. 1565 to prevent gun violence and save lives.

With appreciation,

Brian Malte, Director of Mobilization
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

BRADY IS PROUD TO BE PART OF VOICES AGAINST VIOLENCE
Voices Against Violence is a strong and growing coalition of people who support gun violence prevention and have come together to develop new and creative ways to engage the American public on this issue.

Manchin Toomey

In 2010 the Supreme Court passed legislation that made sure the 2013 gun control bill would die and leave those who were victims of gun violence as well as the majority of the American people without recourse. Government did not work as the framers had intended.

The saga began with the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 school children and six teachers were murdered. The nation watched in horror and disbelief has the events unfolded. The anger among Americans was palpable and it appeared that finally meaningful gun legislation would be passed. President Obama was “as determined as ever to do what must be done.” Some polls suggested that 90% of Americans were in favor of stronger background checks. A bipartisan bill was forged by two gun-owning senators with NRA “A” ratings–Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

However, the bill failed. Here’s why.

A right wing lobbying group called Citizens United had wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton but was forbid from doing so by the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (The McCain-Feingold Act). Citizens United took their case to the Supreme Court and in a 5–4 decision, the Court held that portions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act violated the First Amendment. Basically the court came to the idiotic position that speech and money are the same. Of course, this further increased the gap between the poor and disenfranchised and the rich.

As expected this opened the floodgates and associations and corporations freely spent their money to influence political outcomes. This included the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA almost gives exclusively to Republicans and their ability to wield their power over these legislators is legendary. As soon as the bill was announced the NRA sent an ominous letter to senators saying “votes on all anti-gun amendments or proposals will be considered in NRA’s future candidate evaluations.”

Of those who voted against the bill, five were Democrats although Henry Reid had to vote against it on procedural grounds. Of the 46 senators who voted against background checks,43 received money from pro gun forces including a total of 8.5 million from the NRA. Pro gun money was donated at 62 times the rate of the biggest anti gun group, The Brady Center.

So why was the bill defeated. It was not because 46 senators felt it necessary to save the 2nd Amendment, thus protecting the Constitution, and the country. No. It was because a group of greedy senators decided to line their pockets with campaign donations to keep their cushy jobs and their 15 minutes of fame. They were thinking only of themselves and not their country.

The list of these senators is everywhere. It is important to remember who they are come election time because they have yet to grasp the concept of honor and have little knowledge of the intentions of our forefathers. Background checks do nothing to degrade the 2nd Amendment while making citizens more safe. The NRA wants to tell you they don’t work, but they do in Australia and they can here with the right political will.

Unfortunately, too many politicians lack the will and are simply cowards.

Maine Governor Paul LePage accused the University of Maine of turning on an electric motor when the wind wasn’t blowing their turbine to fool people into thinking that “wind power works.”

A university spokesperson actually laughed at this. Wind power does work, you don’t need a little electric motor.

Rep, Todd Akin answered the question about his opposition against abortion even if  rape is involved.

“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

Akin decided to take the apology route regarding this statement.

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney said.

“I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.”

Huh?

Mitt also said.

“When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem.”

Mitt explaining why it’s a good idea to crack a window on a plane traveling at 35,000 feet.

During the second presidential debate, Mitt said.

“As president, I will create 12 million new jobs.”

Forty five minutes later he said,

“Government does not create jobs. Government does not create jobs.”

Sen. Larry Craig explaining his arrest on soliciting gay sex.

“Craig stated … He has a wide stance when going to the bathroom…”

“Wide stance” has now entered our lexicon.

From intellectual thinker Rick Santorum.

Drill everywhere… There is no such thing as global warming.

Rick disagreeing with 99% of the scientific community.

Texas Governor Rick Perry answering a child’s question on the age of the earth.

You know what, I don’t have any idea,” Perry said. “I know it’s pretty old so it goes back a long long way. I’m not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long, how old the earth is.”

Yes somebody knows, they’re called scientists. I know too, it’s 4.54 billion years old.

Michelle Bachmann on intelligent design.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.

Uh, no there’s not.

Sarah Palin on American history.

“He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”

What I find scary here is that her brain at some point did not go WTF, you have no idea what your talking about. SHUT UP!

And finally another one from Palin.

“But obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies.”

If you don’t understand what’s wrong with this one then your dumber than a fifth grader too.

For some reason it has become normal in America to vote for the average guy, the one whose just like us. Bush even bragged about being a “C” student, then got drunk for 40 years and became president. I don’t want the “C” student, I want the “A” student. You can disagree with Obama’s politics, you can argue about his intelligence, but at least he’s smarter than a fifth grader.

Jeff Duncan

I have written previously about how the conservatives are either becoming more stupid or at least more crazy. Some of my colleagues in the blogging world think they all suffer from a personality disorder. I am not sure I would go that far, but clearly something is wrong with them. I have stated before I believe they have an irrational deep seeded fear of anything new and desire to force America back to a time that never existed. Maybe that is a paranoid personality disorder. Regardless, even after a post election call by some conservative leaders to tone down the craziness, there is still evidence that many in the GOP are not getting the message.

Here are some examples.

Representative of Jeff Duncan (R-SC) compared a gun registry to the genocide in Rwanda.

Read about the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Read that all Tutsi tribe members were required to register their address with the Hutu government and that this database was used to locate Tutsi for slaughter at the hands of the Hutu.

Of course this makes no sense. In Rwanda one group wanted to exterminate the other. What group in America wants to commit genocide against another no matter how strong their hate is. Also, if one group wanted to exterminate another it wouldn’t be difficult to find out who members of that group were. A gun registry would actually be one of the most ineffective lists to use.

Then there’s Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who made the following statement when he was taped looking like an ass making light of Ashley Judd’s mental health.

“Last week they were attacking my wife’s ethnicity, and apparently also bugging my headquarters, much like Nixon and Watergate,” McConnell said. “That’s what the political left does in Kentucky.”

Attacking the left and ignoring his insensitive remarks moves the story away from Judd and towards a left wing conspiracy that rises to Nixonian proportions. Except it doesn’t.

Unlike Watergate their was no bugging. Supposedly some members of a liberal Kentucky group were in a common area while McConell’s group was talking about Judd. One of the liberals recorded their conversation on his phone. Hardly comparable to Watergate.

Still, more.

Dave Agema, A Republican Party official from Michigan, called the gay lifestyle filthy and likened it to alcoholism.

“If you saw your friend for example dying of alcoholism would you just stand quietly by and watch it happen?”

No, if your friend was dying of alcoholism, I would hope as a friend you would try to intervene. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) considers alcoholism a disease, and diseases should be treated. The APA does not consider homosexuality a disease. Alcoholism and Homosexuality are not the same and any comment suggesting they are is ludicrous. One is a disease, the other is a lifestyle.

Moreover, there’s Texas representative Steve Stockman from Texas who has a particularly offensive new campaign slogan. He tweeted.

Our campaign bumper sticker: If babies had guns, they wouldn’t be aborted. http://stockman2014.com #gosnell #tcot pic.twitter.com/CVaYrQAeK9

Either Stockman has a perverted sense of humor or he’s just perverted. There’s the obvious, abortion is not generally a funny topic. In addition, unless Stockman has figured out a way to put a gun into the hands of an unborn fetus, you would have to wait until the baby was born to give him/her the gun, thus they would not have been aborted. This is just wrong on so many levels.

Finally, there’s Texas Republican Joe Barton who cites Noah’s Ark and the great flood as evidence that climate change is not man made.

“I would point out that if you are a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the great flood was an example of climate change,” Barton told a congressional hearing on Wednesday in a video first shown on the BuzzFeed website. “That certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.”

This is just another example of a long history of religion ignoring science. Remember Galileo and Copernicus. Barton first states “if you are a believer in the Bible,” well many people are not and we certainly should not govern based on a religious text. Later, Barton says, “I think you can have an honest difference of opinion of what’s causing that change without automatically being either all in, that’s all because of mankind, or it’s all just natural. I think there’s a divergence of evidence.”

No there isn’t. Virtually all scientists agree that climate change is man made. The problem is that every climate change denier or television program that wants to appear balanced can always find one idiot that disputes the facts behind climate change.

So this is your more inclusive GOP. The Republican National Committee came out with it’s 100 page autopsy report of the GOP and it appears to have some merit. But trying to move the belief system of a bunch of tight assed old white southerners is like playing Whack-a-Mole, you never know when the next crazy is going to pop up. If the GOP truly wants to change, they are going to have to do it the old fashioned way, at the ballot box.

Show Your Support for Medicaid Expansion!
Hi Advocate,

Will you take 5 minutes to send one email and make four calls to make sure the Ohio House keeps Medicaid expansion in the state budget (see the instructions below)?

Legislators are currently on spring break. The House Finance committee will soon vote the budget out of committee and decide whether or not to keep Medicaid expansion in the budget bill.

That means these are our last opportunities to make a difference!

Our representatives need to hear from constituents from all across Ohio that we support Medicaid expansion!

Please follow the instructions below to send one email and make four calls to make sure the Ohio House supports extending Medicaid to 275,000 Ohioans.

Instructions for the Day of Action
Step 1: Send one email to your State Representative

Click here.
Fill out your zip code (and address if needed).
Edit/personalize the form email. It makes your message more effective.

Step 2: Make 4 calls to Ohio House leaders

Call Chairwoman Anne Gonzales at (614) 466-4847
Call House Finance Chairman Ron Amstutz at (614) 466-1474
Call Ohio House Minority Leader Armond Budish at (614) 466-5441
Call Assistant Majority Whip Jim Buchy [Bee-Key] at (614) 466-6344
Use this sample script:
“I’m calling to ask Representative so and so to please keep an open mind about Medicaid expansion as he/she goes on break. Medicaid expansion strengthens Ohio’s economy and our communities. Please don’t let us miss out on this opportunity to make Ohio stronger.”

Step 3: Log Your Calls
Click here to log your calls so Advocates for Ohio’s Future can track how many calls leaders received in support of the Medicaid Expansion.
Step 4: Spread the Word
Forward this message to a friend.

Charles Barkley

Today The Ohio State University won an NCAA basketball game over Iowa State on a 3 point shot by Aaron Craft. After trashing the Big Ten Conference during halftime Charles Barkley seemed to blame the Iowa loss on a blown call by the officials. His TV partners pointed out that there are blown calls all through a game. But Charles was undeterred, he was adamant this bad call cost Iowa the game even though the evidence was sketchy. Was Craft’s foot hovering over the line or was it a bad TV angle on Craft taking a charge late in the game. Hard to tell.

This got me thinking about Charles and his career. One, he is a bad prognosticator. Two, he hates the Big Ten. And three, he was one of the most overrated basketball players of all time.

Bad prognosticator. He is often wrong when he tells you how a game will play out and even if he’s right it’s usually not for the reasons he has given. He was right that the game was close, but not for the reason he said. He said Iowa would win by continuing to hit 3′s as they had in the first half. Wrong! It was because OSU started to rebound Iowa misses better.

Two, he hates the Big Ten. Well he hates Bobby Knight. Knight cut him from the USA Olympic team due to his attitude and refusal to play Knight’s brand of basketball.

Finally, he was overrated. He never once won an NBA championship despite playing with Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Maurice Cheeks. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good basketball player. But one of the NBA’s 50 best, I think not.

He was and continues to be famous for his off the court antics such as DUI’s, spitting on little girls, throwing people into a glass pane, punching a fan and teammate, and admitting to a gambling problem, etc,.

But people overlook that with Charles. Hell, he even makes me laugh sometimes. But that is what he is as a basketball analyst, a joke.

Answer mouth or belly …… your choice.

NAMI Franklin County is now registering for the next session of Family-to-Family classes.

SATURDAYS
2-4:30 pm
April 6-June 22, 2013
Redeemer Lutheran Church, 43227

OR

TUESDAYS &THURSDAYS
****New 6-week format****
6:30-9 pm
April 9-May 16, 2013
NAMI Ohio, 43215

Space is limited and classes are filled by REGISTRATION on a first-come basis. Call us today!

NAMI Franklin County Education Page

Family-to-Family is a 12-week course for family members and friends of an adult who has any mental illness. The course explains the behaviors and treatment options associated with several of the major mental illnesses.
Participants also engage in communication activites to learn how to effectively speak with their loved one while also developing coping skills and awareness of community resources.

Peer Recovery Education Course Set
East side location offered for spring

MONDAYS
7-9 pm

Peer-to-Peer is a recovery education course for any person living with a mental illness interested in achieving and maintaining wellness. This innovative program draws upon the experience of over 1200 NAMI consumers trained to conduct the course.
Registration is required.

Space is limited and classes are filled on a first-come basis.

Please fill out and return the Peer-to-Peer Participant Application.
Fax to 501-6267 or mail to our office at 4500 E. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43213.

PEER CLASS APPLICATION Click to print the application.
Quick Links
Volunteer!

Become a Member

To Register today call our office, 614-501-6264, or email to mail@namifc.org with the following:

1. Name
2. Contact information
3. Which course you are interested in and which day/dates
4. Your relationship to the person with mental illness, their age, and diagnosis

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