Too much to Bear

The ABC’S of Health

By Dr. Jo Gjelsten

TOO MUCH TO BEAR!

We have a right to bear arms in this country, but it’s too much to bear! I happen to like to like to go target shooting, though I'll never be a hunter, and don't own a gun. But I have family who do, and I wouldn't think of taking away their right to own their shotguns or pistols, and I know none of them own automatic weapons. I also don't want to give up my right to buy a gun for protection should I decide to do that. Yet I have to say, I don't think an automatic weapon  belongs in the hands of the insane, the gang member, the terrorist, with no background checks, as the NRA would have it, do you? (Would we give them to a 2 year old? Don't they have a right to bear arms too? Do we not draw the line SOMEWHERE?) The NRA's insulting remarks are, in my opinion, just a slap in the face to the families of all those victims of gun violence. That the freedom to own an automatic weapon, to profit from the sale of bullets that melt the insides of these kids, is more important to an organization who has, in my opinion, no heart, than the safety of our public, in unconscionable to say the least.  Why is it more important to give the NRA what they want, to protect their, what they seem to consider sacred, right to own weapons of mass destruction, at the expense of our safety? Our politicians, our greedy, selfish, self-centered, cowardly, spineless politicians, won’t stand up to this force of money and influence. They’re PAID BY THE GUN LOBBY, supported by these smarmy righteous sounding blowhards. They represent them, not us!  And now, I hold them, in my opinion, responsible for their part in failing to help prevent the access to, indeed their protection of, those who seem to need those weapons. That automatic killing machine used in the unbearably heinous shooting of little tiny children and good adults didn't need to happen.  For those in the NRA who bluster , “well, if they take away some guns, that’s just the beginning of disarming us, chipping away at our first amendment rights”, I say, “I can’t own a tank. Why? that's an "arm". Why can't I own a surface to air missle? Because THAT’S TOO MUCH POWER!  So, I guess they’ll be taking away my car next thing ‘ya know, according to that twisted illogical thinking, if you can call it thinking. ANYONE, who NEEDS to have an assault rifle that belongs NOWHERE in civilized society, to me, is suspect as far as their need for power is concerned, suspect as far as their sanity is concerned, (are you really that paranoid, and if you are, might I worry about you next?) and I also have to wonder why they don’t feel powerful ENOUGH, as these weapons really turn on the testosterone for them, without their toys, little boys, and some women too. Am I furious about this? YOU BET I AM! We have got to stop being bullied by extremists!  You can tell me ‘til the cows come home that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Really? So how many people and little children do you think this skinny, weakling of a fiend, would have been able to kill at that school before someone could have stopped him, if he had only his bare hands, or even a knife? That principal alone would have drop-kicked him to the ground; a brave woman she was!  Infinately braver than him, she looked down the barrel of a gun, like an animal in that seemingly ageless  'oh so unfair fight' of hunter and prey. But this coward had guns, and a bullet proof vest.  And that principal had everything you can imagine in security for that school, short of an armed guard. Do we really want a police state? I don't. Yet, since this incident gun sales are up as if no one will ever be allowed to own one. How weak they must feel. When I grew up they didn’t even lock the schools! Most people wouldn't think about buying a gun then, most couldn't afford one, or had the love affair with guns then they way you do now, and kids just had toys, not the real thing. There were those who “didn’t fit in” then, but you didn’t see them doing mass murder. And your power didn't come from owning a gun. The tests of manhood were much harder then; hence a generation who figured out that real, genuine power comes from within, not from how many guns and automatic weapons you have compared to your neighbor.  Of course if you were “mentally insane” you were locked up in an institution, horrific as some of them were. Do I advocate that? No! We live in a kinder world, but a world where generation upon generation is now accumulating toxins from pollution put there by those companies and large corporations like GE
for instance, who have the money and power to change the laws in their favor, (more greed), altering DNA such that, in my opinion, we’re breeding some kids with problems beyond our ability to fix, unless we turn this around. And other oversized powerful insurance companies, also a huge lobby in our government, influence our politicians as far as laws are concerned. The result are those who fall through the cracks of mental illness, and so these walking DNA tragedies aren’t treated. And don’t forget big pharma, some of whose drugs have psychotic behavior side effects which should, yet may not be, monitored by the well meaning Docs who only wanted to help, but the system is too flawed to keep track of everyone. How many of the shooters were on drugs, prescribed drugs that is? Why don’t we find out what they are and make sure they’re tended to. So, are we too busy to fight polluters, get rid of the toxins in our food air and water, toss out of office the politicians who are bought like the whores they have become, by big corporations and organizations like the NRA?  And don’t forget the greed of the gun companies, in bed no doubt, with the NRA. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO WAKE UP ABOUT THIS! President Obama, please make the deaths of 27 innocent victims count at least for something, and get busy NOW fixing and changing our incessant need for gun violence, fix the laws that allow the insurance companies to disregard those who are obviously mentally ill and are not getting help, examine if kids are toxic or nutritionally deficient, or not reacting to their prescriptions well, or may need better parenting; do they have to have a drug that can alter their behavior. Let's encourage a few 2nd or 3rd opinions from good Psychiatrists? We need to STOP our love affair with video games that glorify death, get these kids outside in the sun running around, instead of them letting a cyberspace figure do it for them, and help prevent diabetes while we're at it. When the time comes to vote we need to "do something", not “try” something!  Greed is killing our children.Let's change the definition of "arms" to something that fits this century, and is reasonable.  It is TOO MUCH TO BEAR our little innocent babies getting mowed down! We do not need to “bear” an AK 47. I do not need a tank. I also don’t need a surface-to-air- missal, a cannon, an air craft carrier, a submarine, a nuclear warhead, or any number of other so called “arms”. Do you? Copyitright January 3, 2013.

Let's make it a Happier New Year, and do the right thing for our kids, and all those we love.

Buying Congress

“The NRA outspent its chief opponent by a 73-1 margin to lobby the outgoing Congress, according to the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which tracks such spending. It spent more than 4,000 times its biggest opponents during the 2012 election.”

“In all, the group spent at least $24 million this election cycle — $16.8 million through its political action committee and nearly $7.5 million through its affiliated Institute for Legislative Action. Its chief foil, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, spent just $5,816.” (Pathetic).

“On direct lobbying, the NRA also was mismatched. Through July 1, the NRA spent $4.4 million to lobby Congress to the Brady Campaign's $60,000.”