Years passed in our little town aside the Ohio River. Years of decline layered upon years of decline. Even a few years of false starts passed in the same town, before they were layered over by more decline. During one of the false starts I remember watching an evening of mud wrestling--at the Grand. One of the young girls who maneuvered in the pit that night had to take her bows quickly, because she had to,"get showered, and shampooed, and get to work at The Dodge House", as the owner of the Grand, the emcee of the evening explained.
Apparently those days have dropped off the calendar for good, unless we are now in some extended false start, which will end one day only to find us, once again, roaming a deserted downtown looking for dubious forms of entertainment, with no hope of a decent meal or a good brew.
During those days in New Albany, roughly coinciding with most of the latter third of the Twentieth Century, commercial activity in the downtown area was mostly a memory. The action was in the malls. "Buy local" was an admonition that would have been hard to actualize. One who hoped for a day when New Albany would be home to numerous, good, downtown restaurants would likely have been accused of living in the past. If one had spoken of a day when beer and wine of local origin would be served in good restaurants downtown, one would have likely been called delusional.
And yet, here we are today. Go to downtown New Albany today and find independent restaurants serving good food, good beer and good wine. That the wine and beer is locally produced is icing on the cake. These restaurants are a sign that New Albany has crossed a line between what was and what can be; a line separating decline and abandonment from reclamation and renewal.
But as much progress as New Albany has made, and I hope continues to make, one glaring absence in the culinary scene is seen. Where's the good bread?
New Albany has graduated to a level of appreciation for good, independent restaurants. Our citizens' palates have been cultivated to appreciate craft beer and local vintners. I believe we have reached a point where locally baked, artisanal bread can be introduced into this city.
As we sat down to supper last night, my wife and I both remarked on how good the Pug rolls from the Blue Dog Bakery were. Bread is, after all, one of the oldest staples of the human diet. It is also, in the hands of an accomplished baker, one of the simplest delights.
As the wall of anti-commerce, in the form of tolls and construction delays, between New Albany and Louisville moves closer toward disruption of our regional market, I believe a golden opportunity awaits some talented entrepreneur to open a good bread bakery here. If the owners of the Blue Dog could be enticed to locate here, that would be wonderful, but I sense their hands are full.
The people of our city have responded enthusiastically when good quality food and drink is offered. We have broken the pattern of always choosing the lowest common denominator in dining. This would have been unheard of only a few years ago. Is it too much to think New Albany might now have arrived at a point where the staff of life might earn a higher, artisanal and local expression? I hope the wait will soon be over.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013
Open it Off-Broadway?
The Complete Streets workshop today in Jeffersonville was a good introduction to the basic concepts of this tenet of modern urban planning and design. About 40 people were on hand for the workshop, which had an intended focus on Jeffersonville, although the basic ideas are applicable to most cities, and certainly New Albany.
Because the adage is correct that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, I came away with the idea that New Albany's fist step toward complete streets should naturally be to introduce these design elements into the downtown street grid. Upon reflection, however, I think we may actually have a better chance of success by first working on THE street of Uptown-- Vincennes Street. This street cries out for help. Some of the merchants on Vincennes have literally cried out for help as they try to make a go of it on that once-close runner-up to Downtown's bustle. With Downtown's persistent signs of rejuvenation, it's a good time to roll out some assistance to Uptown.
Downtown has benefitted measurably from the Riverfront Development District, which equates to the cheap liquor license zone. A similar helping hand has not been extended to Uptown, unless one counts the elimination of commercial structures across from the high school in favor of parking spaces for students, a heaping helping of auto-centric hamburger joints, a no man's land on the approach to the moribund K & I bridge, and more than enough vacant storefronts, as a formula for prosperity.
The work required uptown to bring about Complete Streets could pay off relatively quickly because a smaller area is being tackled. Businesses there could use a shot in the arm as little attention has been paid to the area since Downtown has perked up. New Albany could support two commercial districts in the inner city just as it supports numerous commercial areas heading out of town. And a successful rollout of Complete Streets in Uptown could act as a good demonstration project before the Downtown is targeted.
While focusing on Uptown may be the first step toward Complete Streets, an even more preliminary step, perhaps the analogous step of putting on one's shoes, would be a commitment or an ordinance directing all new development to follow the precepts laid out in a Complete Streets model. Years ago, when I fist served on the Plan Commission, I questioned why we always dictated that a developer build a sidewalk unconnected to any other sidewalk. Since that time some of those "sidewalks to nowhere" have been matched up with other sections of sidewalk to make functional walk ways. Likewise, the incremental bits of Complete Streets can be incorporated into the design of new developments through the Planning Process, and one day those pieces will join to make a walkable, workable city for all forms of mobility. But to get there we need a plan and a commitment.
Once we've made that commitment, we should get the people from Uptown involved in planning, and work to make Vincennes our first Complete Street. We can build from there. And in the meantime, we can add elements of Complete Streets throughout the city during reconstruction and repair.
Because the adage is correct that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, I came away with the idea that New Albany's fist step toward complete streets should naturally be to introduce these design elements into the downtown street grid. Upon reflection, however, I think we may actually have a better chance of success by first working on THE street of Uptown-- Vincennes Street. This street cries out for help. Some of the merchants on Vincennes have literally cried out for help as they try to make a go of it on that once-close runner-up to Downtown's bustle. With Downtown's persistent signs of rejuvenation, it's a good time to roll out some assistance to Uptown.
Downtown has benefitted measurably from the Riverfront Development District, which equates to the cheap liquor license zone. A similar helping hand has not been extended to Uptown, unless one counts the elimination of commercial structures across from the high school in favor of parking spaces for students, a heaping helping of auto-centric hamburger joints, a no man's land on the approach to the moribund K & I bridge, and more than enough vacant storefronts, as a formula for prosperity.
The work required uptown to bring about Complete Streets could pay off relatively quickly because a smaller area is being tackled. Businesses there could use a shot in the arm as little attention has been paid to the area since Downtown has perked up. New Albany could support two commercial districts in the inner city just as it supports numerous commercial areas heading out of town. And a successful rollout of Complete Streets in Uptown could act as a good demonstration project before the Downtown is targeted.
While focusing on Uptown may be the first step toward Complete Streets, an even more preliminary step, perhaps the analogous step of putting on one's shoes, would be a commitment or an ordinance directing all new development to follow the precepts laid out in a Complete Streets model. Years ago, when I fist served on the Plan Commission, I questioned why we always dictated that a developer build a sidewalk unconnected to any other sidewalk. Since that time some of those "sidewalks to nowhere" have been matched up with other sections of sidewalk to make functional walk ways. Likewise, the incremental bits of Complete Streets can be incorporated into the design of new developments through the Planning Process, and one day those pieces will join to make a walkable, workable city for all forms of mobility. But to get there we need a plan and a commitment.
Once we've made that commitment, we should get the people from Uptown involved in planning, and work to make Vincennes our first Complete Street. We can build from there. And in the meantime, we can add elements of Complete Streets throughout the city during reconstruction and repair.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
It's a Line... Get Over It
Using all powers of temporal divination, try to peer keenly into the distant past. Conjure a time when things unimagined were so unlikely as to form a line between what is, and what could never be. A time when the sane could visualize a future on one side of this bright line, and only those possessed of a weaker hold on reality could see things on the other side of that line. Yes, think back, imagine those long ago days, try to remember the year Two Thousand and Twelve.
In those distant days, had one said that
Yet here we are, today, well into uncharted, unimagined territory. The line has blurred, or disappeared, or maybe it was only in our heads. So now I don’t have to question my sanity as closely as I might in those bygone days.
Last Monday, on July 29, 2013, did I actually board a small airplane and fly to a small city in
It all seems so real. But then, he of the silver hair talked about putting such streetcars onto tracks in
This was all my vitiated brain needed. Why not bring the streetcars to
It's a shame that those in authority chose to follow a well-worn path on the bridges project, rather than allocating a fraction of the multi-billions of dollars dedicated to an auto-centric transportation fix which encourages exurban sprawl and, instead, take just a few of the eggs from that outmoded basket to revive our cities with a new/old form of transportation which, by its nature, encourages revitalization of our urban areas.
We have committed to spend a huge amount of public money on a few recreational projects. While those projects may have value for the community, a truly bold step toward a model transportation system could put
We found the money for the recreational projects. We can find the money for true innovation and sustainability. All it takes is a step over the line.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Heads I Win, Tails We Lose
Not too long ago the nation, after much back and forth, arrived at a watered-down version of health care, which put us on a somewhat more equal footing with the other industrial democracies in the world. It wasn't Medicare-For-All, but it was a start. At least some of the egregious holes in our decrepit health care system would be plugged up. People with pre-existing conditions would not be denied coverage, and a universal component, health care exchanges, would be put in place, even though run through the needless, parasitic gauntlet of publicly-traded health care middlemen/insurers. Medicare is delivered to our citizens on a relative shoestring of overhead costs, generally reported as three or four percent, while the Affordable Care Act capped for-profit middlemen at 18% of overhead.
The primary objective of the Affordable Care Act was to move the millions of Americans without health coverage to a place where they did not face that vulnerability. Well over half of personal bankruptcies are the result of an avalanche of medical bills hitting the uninsured.
Because the United States has refused the common sense solution of the single-payer health coverage model, we rely on an employer-provided health coverage model. In a fairly straightforward provision the ACA set out, employer plans would cover all full time workers and part-time workers who clock in at 30 or more hours per week, or 130 hours per month.
As the deadline for meeting the requirements of the law approaches, and even as the deadline for the implementation of the law is now moved back another year to January 1, 2015, employers are faced with a choice. Shall they meet the spirit of the law or will they duck behind the letter of the law?
Rather than meeting the spirit of the law by providing health care to part time workers, some employers are choosing the letter of the law to mean, "let's cut hours and keep the workers outside the definition of the law." That may be helpful in padding the bottom line for private companies, or avoiding revenue increases in the case of government workers, but it does not meet the intent of the ACA mandate.
Many part time workers can only find part time work, while some, because of family obligations, choose to only work part time. The part time status is thus both a burden and a blessing. The burden/blessing equation flows both ways, however. Employers pay out less in wages, and so stretch their budgets for greater profit or, in the case of public employers, for tighter efficiency and avoidance of fiscal responsibility.
As we approach the budget season for the City of New Albany, we need to keep in mind that although the Affordable Care Act is a weak version of what we need in this country, it is a start. We owe an obligation to the City's workers, both full time and part time, to provide for them what the law demands. We don't need to play the Artful Dodger and duck our responsibilities. By scheduling part time workers to fewer hours, we may force valuable employees out the door toward the door of a more equitable employer. In the process, we may lose experience, continuity and commitment which will cost more to replace than simply meeting the standards of our nation's laws, as we should.
The primary objective of the Affordable Care Act was to move the millions of Americans without health coverage to a place where they did not face that vulnerability. Well over half of personal bankruptcies are the result of an avalanche of medical bills hitting the uninsured.
Because the United States has refused the common sense solution of the single-payer health coverage model, we rely on an employer-provided health coverage model. In a fairly straightforward provision the ACA set out, employer plans would cover all full time workers and part-time workers who clock in at 30 or more hours per week, or 130 hours per month.
As the deadline for meeting the requirements of the law approaches, and even as the deadline for the implementation of the law is now moved back another year to January 1, 2015, employers are faced with a choice. Shall they meet the spirit of the law or will they duck behind the letter of the law?
Rather than meeting the spirit of the law by providing health care to part time workers, some employers are choosing the letter of the law to mean, "let's cut hours and keep the workers outside the definition of the law." That may be helpful in padding the bottom line for private companies, or avoiding revenue increases in the case of government workers, but it does not meet the intent of the ACA mandate.
Many part time workers can only find part time work, while some, because of family obligations, choose to only work part time. The part time status is thus both a burden and a blessing. The burden/blessing equation flows both ways, however. Employers pay out less in wages, and so stretch their budgets for greater profit or, in the case of public employers, for tighter efficiency and avoidance of fiscal responsibility.
As we approach the budget season for the City of New Albany, we need to keep in mind that although the Affordable Care Act is a weak version of what we need in this country, it is a start. We owe an obligation to the City's workers, both full time and part time, to provide for them what the law demands. We don't need to play the Artful Dodger and duck our responsibilities. By scheduling part time workers to fewer hours, we may force valuable employees out the door toward the door of a more equitable employer. In the process, we may lose experience, continuity and commitment which will cost more to replace than simply meeting the standards of our nation's laws, as we should.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
An Invitation
Tomorrow night the New Albany Common Council will consider a resolution (R-13-09) in support of mining Floyd County's past; not a search for nature's riches hidden below ground, but rather a search for elucidation of our predecessors' days buried by time.
Some weeks ago I was contacted by the cousin of a constituent who has the opportunity to compete for a grant through the U.S. Department of the Interior to engage in archaeological sleuthing in counties that have received relatively little attention. In our area, Floyd County has had less study than either its eastern or western neighbors. Rebecca VanSessen, the cousin of the constituent, lived in Floyd County as a child and identified her childhood environs as a place which might fit the criteria of the grant. She is a research associate at the University of Indianapolis, and along with Dr. Chris Moore they hope to demonstrate the worth of their project which can bring to light facts about the ancient inhabitants of our county.
During a brief meeting and discussion over a modern version of an ancient beverage, Dr. Moore mentioned a term I had never heard, Industrial Archaeology. This study of relatively recent artifacts can also help us understand some of the early settlers here who lived a life more akin to our own today, yet still blurred by the passage of time.
The two archaeologists will speak at an informational session before the meeting tomorrow night. They will outline some of their plans and discuss the richness of our past. Since I've had the pleasure of meeting with them already I can attest that what they have to say will be interesting and worth the time to attend.
The informational session will be held in the Strassweg Auditorium in the New Albany Floyd County Public Library beginning at 6:30PM. Around 7:15 Council members will cross the street to the City County Building for the regular Council meeting at 7:30PM.
Some weeks ago I was contacted by the cousin of a constituent who has the opportunity to compete for a grant through the U.S. Department of the Interior to engage in archaeological sleuthing in counties that have received relatively little attention. In our area, Floyd County has had less study than either its eastern or western neighbors. Rebecca VanSessen, the cousin of the constituent, lived in Floyd County as a child and identified her childhood environs as a place which might fit the criteria of the grant. She is a research associate at the University of Indianapolis, and along with Dr. Chris Moore they hope to demonstrate the worth of their project which can bring to light facts about the ancient inhabitants of our county.
During a brief meeting and discussion over a modern version of an ancient beverage, Dr. Moore mentioned a term I had never heard, Industrial Archaeology. This study of relatively recent artifacts can also help us understand some of the early settlers here who lived a life more akin to our own today, yet still blurred by the passage of time.
The two archaeologists will speak at an informational session before the meeting tomorrow night. They will outline some of their plans and discuss the richness of our past. Since I've had the pleasure of meeting with them already I can attest that what they have to say will be interesting and worth the time to attend.
The informational session will be held in the Strassweg Auditorium in the New Albany Floyd County Public Library beginning at 6:30PM. Around 7:15 Council members will cross the street to the City County Building for the regular Council meeting at 7:30PM.
Monday, April 15, 2013
One Way, Out
The Saturday News and Tribune gave prominent place to the idea that one of New Albany's anchors to a bygone era may soon be cut loose. The time for one way streets has come and mercilessly held on here. Call it ennui, call it too much money that we won't spend to turn traffic lights around, or call it "by God I bought these plaid bell bottoms and I'm going to get my money's worth out of them", but please, just call a halt to the one way streets in New Albany.
This town has much to offer when it recognizes what we have and then follows through with recognition of what to do with it. The twin catalysts of the YMCA coming to downtown New Albany, and the delineation of the Riverfront Development District, a.k.a. the cheap liquor license zone, led to a vibrancy in downtown that hasn't been seen in decades. The lesson here is, give people a reason to come downtown and, voila, they'll come downtown.
Could a possible counterforce be at work when we give people what they don't want? Or, could we inadvertently be sending out kryptonitic vibes about downtown when we establish traffic patterns which do nothing so much as move people through town with greater alacrity than a coffee house bathroom break after a double espresso and a bran muffin? Spring Street pretty much says to those who happen upon it from elsewhere, "keep moving folks, nothing to see here, get on back to your homes and places of business." And, there's a further bit of unspoken advice, "wrap yourself in a couple tons of steel if you want to navigate these streets." Between Silver Street and Clark County there is nothing to slow cars down, and this is a two-way section of the street. Towards the other end of Spring, at the government center and the Library, the one-way street is filled with drivers jacked up with visions of the Big Green sign leading out of New Albany; many of these people are focused on a goal that does not always see, or make allowances for, the un-carred.
It's good to look toward removing the one way signs around town. But, maybe the one way should refer not simply to a street direction or traffic pattern but to THE single way we look at ordering society. And that one way is, how can we, as humans, placate the motorized beings which dictate how our cities are gutted to make more room for the resting oil-eaters, how can we reorder our lives to make not only spatial but psychological room for our internal combustion buddies, how much more of here will be written off because we can so easily drive to there?
New Albany will soon face an increase in traffic to levels we could not imagine in our worst-case-scenario wargames, due to the closing of lanes on I-65 and following on the heels of that increase will be the onslaught of the bargain hunters who see New Albany as a No-Tolls detour around the EEC and I-65. ( as an aside...I originally thought the EEC referred to the East End Connector, apparently it actually refers to the European Economic Community, in recognition of the two socialist powerhouses, Germany and France,(( FRANCE, Governor Pence, did you hear that? the cheese-eating, wine-swilling, bidet-using, surrender monkeys are coming to bail our cheap, weak-kneed, Tea Bagger butts out of the fire)) which are funding the Indiana share of the bridge. Kentucky, which has no truck with socialists, won't participate in the EEC financing scheme in the same dilettantish way Indiana will.) Because drivers will be hell bent on a smooth passage through New Albany, they'll have little use for our quaint attempts at catching their attention. This increase in drivers will not add to the general welfare, except perhaps for some sated State Police appetites for new customers on thoroughly urban thoroughfares. The streets, with no built in safety mechanisms, calming devices, or calming practices, such as two way traffic, will be less safe than today, less welcoming to pedestrians or cyclists.
It is difficult to underestimate the sheer hell of noise pollution the citizens of New Albany who live within, and no phrase is better, earshot of the expressways will experience during the construction and preparation for construction of the bridges.
So, mark me down as a firm "aye" vote on any attempt the administration makes toward eliminating one way streets. Further mark me down as a solid and enthusiastic "aye" on any attempts the administration may offer on helping New Albany take a progressive stand in reordering our city away from automobile-centric development and toward human-scale development.
This town has much to offer when it recognizes what we have and then follows through with recognition of what to do with it. The twin catalysts of the YMCA coming to downtown New Albany, and the delineation of the Riverfront Development District, a.k.a. the cheap liquor license zone, led to a vibrancy in downtown that hasn't been seen in decades. The lesson here is, give people a reason to come downtown and, voila, they'll come downtown.
Could a possible counterforce be at work when we give people what they don't want? Or, could we inadvertently be sending out kryptonitic vibes about downtown when we establish traffic patterns which do nothing so much as move people through town with greater alacrity than a coffee house bathroom break after a double espresso and a bran muffin? Spring Street pretty much says to those who happen upon it from elsewhere, "keep moving folks, nothing to see here, get on back to your homes and places of business." And, there's a further bit of unspoken advice, "wrap yourself in a couple tons of steel if you want to navigate these streets." Between Silver Street and Clark County there is nothing to slow cars down, and this is a two-way section of the street. Towards the other end of Spring, at the government center and the Library, the one-way street is filled with drivers jacked up with visions of the Big Green sign leading out of New Albany; many of these people are focused on a goal that does not always see, or make allowances for, the un-carred.
It's good to look toward removing the one way signs around town. But, maybe the one way should refer not simply to a street direction or traffic pattern but to THE single way we look at ordering society. And that one way is, how can we, as humans, placate the motorized beings which dictate how our cities are gutted to make more room for the resting oil-eaters, how can we reorder our lives to make not only spatial but psychological room for our internal combustion buddies, how much more of here will be written off because we can so easily drive to there?
New Albany will soon face an increase in traffic to levels we could not imagine in our worst-case-scenario wargames, due to the closing of lanes on I-65 and following on the heels of that increase will be the onslaught of the bargain hunters who see New Albany as a No-Tolls detour around the EEC and I-65. ( as an aside...I originally thought the EEC referred to the East End Connector, apparently it actually refers to the European Economic Community, in recognition of the two socialist powerhouses, Germany and France,(( FRANCE, Governor Pence, did you hear that? the cheese-eating, wine-swilling, bidet-using, surrender monkeys are coming to bail our cheap, weak-kneed, Tea Bagger butts out of the fire)) which are funding the Indiana share of the bridge. Kentucky, which has no truck with socialists, won't participate in the EEC financing scheme in the same dilettantish way Indiana will.) Because drivers will be hell bent on a smooth passage through New Albany, they'll have little use for our quaint attempts at catching their attention. This increase in drivers will not add to the general welfare, except perhaps for some sated State Police appetites for new customers on thoroughly urban thoroughfares. The streets, with no built in safety mechanisms, calming devices, or calming practices, such as two way traffic, will be less safe than today, less welcoming to pedestrians or cyclists.
It is difficult to underestimate the sheer hell of noise pollution the citizens of New Albany who live within, and no phrase is better, earshot of the expressways will experience during the construction and preparation for construction of the bridges.
So, mark me down as a firm "aye" vote on any attempt the administration makes toward eliminating one way streets. Further mark me down as a solid and enthusiastic "aye" on any attempts the administration may offer on helping New Albany take a progressive stand in reordering our city away from automobile-centric development and toward human-scale development.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
techNicoloR nightmAre
Since the news of the slaughter of school children of Newtown, Connecticut began to assault our senses last December, the nation has tried to feel its way to a place where such tragedy is unknown, or certainly less likely.
Since December 14, 2012 at least 3,346 more Americans have died by gunfire. Some of these could be suicides, some could be accidents, some of the people shot were committing crimes, some were armed, some were not. The lobbying arm of the gun and ammunition manufacturing industry, often referred to as the National Rifle Association, has fought the nation's immediate expression of revulsion against guns after the Newtown massacre to a draw. Many polls show in excess of 2/3 of Americans want tighter restrictions on the sale of guns, equivalent numbers want other curbs, such as fewer bullets per clip, tracking of gun show sales, and universal background checks for gun purchasers. Many pols show no spine when confronted by the fanatical gun lobby; Tea Party senators pledge a stonewall defense, through filibuster, against even taking a vote on gun legislation.
The gun apologists dissemble and assure us that, guns don't kill people, people kill people. So, cigarettes don't kill people either? People smoking cigarettes, kill people (themselves). The Max Headroom of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, tautologizes that the only thing that stops a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun.
Constantly ignored by the NRA is the fact that the United States is awash in guns. Perhaps coincidentally, the United States leads the industrialized world in gun deaths, yet LaPierre wants no restrictions, which means he believes we have not yet reached a sufficient number of guns to be safe. It is difficult to know just how many guns will finally spell safety, but be certain, the NRA will continue to explore those frontiers and help us add to the stockpile. Logic tells us that a floor strewn with tacks increases the danger that we will step on one, so sensible people don't throw more and more tacks on the floor, and walk barefoot. Why doesn't the same logic apply to guns?
We seem now to face the loss of resolve the nation showed after the Newtown massacre. The spineless, venal, craven, caviling toadies of the NRA wish to sweep the tragedy under the rug. Their motto is "out of sight, out of mind." And their goal is to get back to the business of arming the USA to the teeth, thus squaring the deal they made with the lobbyists. Unfortunately, their stonewalling may succeed. The fresh graves of Newtown's cemeteries, and the fresher ones across the nation since that day, apparently lack shock value. The gun lobby would have us believe these graves are found in the rounding errors of democracy, a frontier where it's every man for himself and each of us must live in fear of our freedom being stolen.
I sincerely believe that if our elected officials in Washington, and in state capitols around the nation would do just one thing to commemorate the victims in Newtown, we would break the back of the NRA, its insidious hold on our democracy, and our collective safety. The one thing, the one action we could take to pry the cold, cold, fingers of the NRA from the neck of our nation is to insist our elected representatives look at the crime scene photographs of the children gunned down in the school house massacre. Bear witness to the gory, bloody, hideous dismemberment wrought by modern military weapons, see what the relentless pummeling of machine gun fire does to the flesh of these innocents. Bear witness to that carnage, Senator McConnell and a dozen more of your sycophants, then look into the eyes of the parents who buried those children and parrot LaPierre's crap that the only thing that stops a bad man with a gun, is a good man with a gun. Then, tell me how you sleep at night.
Since December 14, 2012 at least 3,346 more Americans have died by gunfire. Some of these could be suicides, some could be accidents, some of the people shot were committing crimes, some were armed, some were not. The lobbying arm of the gun and ammunition manufacturing industry, often referred to as the National Rifle Association, has fought the nation's immediate expression of revulsion against guns after the Newtown massacre to a draw. Many polls show in excess of 2/3 of Americans want tighter restrictions on the sale of guns, equivalent numbers want other curbs, such as fewer bullets per clip, tracking of gun show sales, and universal background checks for gun purchasers. Many pols show no spine when confronted by the fanatical gun lobby; Tea Party senators pledge a stonewall defense, through filibuster, against even taking a vote on gun legislation.
The gun apologists dissemble and assure us that, guns don't kill people, people kill people. So, cigarettes don't kill people either? People smoking cigarettes, kill people (themselves). The Max Headroom of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, tautologizes that the only thing that stops a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun.
Constantly ignored by the NRA is the fact that the United States is awash in guns. Perhaps coincidentally, the United States leads the industrialized world in gun deaths, yet LaPierre wants no restrictions, which means he believes we have not yet reached a sufficient number of guns to be safe. It is difficult to know just how many guns will finally spell safety, but be certain, the NRA will continue to explore those frontiers and help us add to the stockpile. Logic tells us that a floor strewn with tacks increases the danger that we will step on one, so sensible people don't throw more and more tacks on the floor, and walk barefoot. Why doesn't the same logic apply to guns?
We seem now to face the loss of resolve the nation showed after the Newtown massacre. The spineless, venal, craven, caviling toadies of the NRA wish to sweep the tragedy under the rug. Their motto is "out of sight, out of mind." And their goal is to get back to the business of arming the USA to the teeth, thus squaring the deal they made with the lobbyists. Unfortunately, their stonewalling may succeed. The fresh graves of Newtown's cemeteries, and the fresher ones across the nation since that day, apparently lack shock value. The gun lobby would have us believe these graves are found in the rounding errors of democracy, a frontier where it's every man for himself and each of us must live in fear of our freedom being stolen.
I sincerely believe that if our elected officials in Washington, and in state capitols around the nation would do just one thing to commemorate the victims in Newtown, we would break the back of the NRA, its insidious hold on our democracy, and our collective safety. The one thing, the one action we could take to pry the cold, cold, fingers of the NRA from the neck of our nation is to insist our elected representatives look at the crime scene photographs of the children gunned down in the school house massacre. Bear witness to the gory, bloody, hideous dismemberment wrought by modern military weapons, see what the relentless pummeling of machine gun fire does to the flesh of these innocents. Bear witness to that carnage, Senator McConnell and a dozen more of your sycophants, then look into the eyes of the parents who buried those children and parrot LaPierre's crap that the only thing that stops a bad man with a gun, is a good man with a gun. Then, tell me how you sleep at night.
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