Contacting Your Elected Officials

My regular readers know that I am proud to proclaim that I am a Liberal.  Rarely do my elected officials agree with my position on most of the issues of our day.  It's no different this time.

I support restrictions on guns and ammunition.  This issue is scheduled to finally be voted on in Congres, nearly FOUR MONTHS after the massacre of 26 children and adults in Newtown, CT.  Reports have said that many of the children's bodies were nearly blown apart due to the type of weapon used, the proximity of the shooter and the massive number of bullets Adam Lanza discharged from his weapon.  I cannot imagine how the parents of those children are coping.

Adding to this horror, these parents have to endure the rhetoric coming from gun advocates, whether it is Wayne LaPierre of the NRA or elected officials across the country.  Fortunately some state legislators have stepped up and passed stronger laws to regulate guns and ammunition.  That isn't' enough though.  People can cross the state line and go to a neighboring state that has few, if any, restrictions to make their purchases.  Federal regulations are necessary. 

After hearing a story on NPR this morning about the NRA's latest lobbying effort, I decided it was time I let my Congressmen know how I feel.  Unfortunately it isn't as easy as it once was to send those messages.  I had to go to each individual contact page for each of them:  Senators Nelson and Rubio and Congressman Webster.  I started here:  Contact Elected Officials.  I found it interesting that on Senator Nelson's page (the only Democrat in the group) that Gun Control was listed as a topic.  That wasn't an option on either Senator Rubio's nor Congressman Webster's site, both of whom are Republicans. 

Here is a copy of my email message, sent to each of them:

Fortunately I have a job.  That means that I cannot camp on your doorstep nor repeatedly call you to express my views.  I would hope that my opinion carries as much weight with you when making a decision on a critical vote as someone who visits your office.  I am a registered voter and I vote.

I support universal background checks on ALL gun sales. 

          

I support limiting the capacity of gun magazines.  This will go the farthest in preventing mass slaughter of innocent Americans.

I also support restrictions on assault and semi-automatic weapons.

How many more people must die before Congress has the courage to protect us?

I encourage each and every one of you reading this to let your voice be heard, whether on this issue or others of importance to you.  More often than not our elected officials listen to their aides and lobbyists and not to the voters themselves.  Voting isn't enough.  Speak out - speak up and let those in government know that you are listening and paying attention and you want to be heard as well.  

Time Flies.....

.....when you are worn out.

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've posted anything to the blog.  Frankly, even though our nightmarishly busy season at work is over, I'm still buried alive in work to do.

Barely into the New Year, I found out that our IT person and all round Jack of All Trades had accepted a new job and would be leaving before the end of the month.  It was a scramble to try to find a replacement, get the new guy trained and have others on staff (mostly me) pick up the rest of the IT guy's duties.  Maybe, before I am eligible (and rich enough) to retire I'll be able to get back to doing my job duties instead of taking on more.  Yeah, right.  Add to this that our Development Director will be retiring in March (that deserves an entire post of its own), and I'm in stress overload.

When I get home from work I am beat.  I feed half the cats and the dog and then choose between fixing myself something for dinner or feeding the other half of the cats.  On a good day I can do all 3 plus scoop a couple of litter boxes.  Lately, I've been asleep in front of the television by 8PM.

I'm going to make this brief so I can get to the laundry, dishes and, of course, the litter boxes.  I hope you will check out the video links below.  I have been a fan of Bill Moyers since the first time I saw one of his PBS shows many, many years ago.  I am never disappointed and always come away better informed as well as angry about the latest injustice most often committed by our elected officials.  This week was no exception.  He began with the underhanded, but typical, Washington insider BS that gave half a billion dollars to AMGEN, an American biotechnology firm convicted in Federal court in December, 2012 and fined $762 million dollars.  Our tax dollars are supporting a criminal operation - imagine that!  The second segment was about Roe v Wade.  Once again, a thoughtful and informative piece of journalism.  It also gave me hope that the forces on the Right will not continue to dismantle this critical legislation.  I highly recommend watching the full show.