THANKFUL FRIDAY

List of US Senators who have taken the most amount of money in campaign donations from the NRA can be found here: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/national-rifle-assn/recipients?id=d000000082

Calling, texting, emailing your senators daily or at least weekly. Tell them to prove their claims of ‘pro-life’ by actually doing something to protect life. Tell them how embarrassing it is that this country is number one in deaths from gun violence in all of the first world countries.

You can support victims of gun violence by donating and or volunteering with Every Town, a non for profit group working for reform on all levels and providing mental health resources to families affected by gun violence.

Change will not come by posting memes on social media. Change will not come by raising our voices in protest. Thoughts and prayers are not going to solve this. Ever. The fight is in supporting candidates who will prioritize the health of the people of this country. The fight is ensuring that every American has easy access to voting. The fight is at EVERY election.

Vote like a parent who had to wait for DNA results to identify their child who was killed by a mass shooter.

CONTROL

St. Patrick's

7 Likes, 1 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "St. Patrick's"

I was in New York when the latest, yet most deadliest, mass shooting happened in Florida. I was loopy on cold medicine, laying on the couch with Megyn Kelly on the TV. You could feel her anger radiating off of her in waves, just like every parent or human being with a heart. I heard her say "Your condolences mean nothing without action." and I nodded my head in agreement. Since that time, I've watched as people post various memes on Facebook that range from comparisons of this mass shooting with every day in Chicago to requiring voter ID to vote. The fallacy in logic boggles my mind. The voter ID thing sends me off on a major tangent because of hypocrisy. There's something that just doesn't sit well with me to hear a republican in the reddest state in the Union complain about voter fraud. Meanwhile, I live in a very blue county and always, always, always have to show ID for a ballot. Go figure.

It is a common misconception that Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the United States. It is true that the state of Illinois has tougher gun laws and at one point Chicago itself had stricter gun laws. But in 2008, the Supreme Court declared the ban on handguns unconstitutional and their gun registry program ended when the state of Illinois passed a law allowing concealed weapons. Chicago is also very very close to two states that have weak gun laws, thus making it even easier to purchase a gun over your lunch break, making it back to your Chicago office without anyone noticing. Actually, if you look at the Centers of Disease report on Firearm Mortality rates, you will notice that the top twenty states with the highest firearm mortality rates are states that have the weakest gun laws. So please stop using Chicago for an example that gun control does not work.

Another common misconception is that when people like me talk about gun control, we are advocating to take away ALL OF THE GUNS FROM ALL OF THE PEOPLE. For some reason the phrase 'gun control' sounds like an all or nothing solution. Again, this is not the case. Drunk drivers kill people. Do we revoke all vehicles and make cars illegal? No. We take licenses away from the drunk driver. This is a form of safety regulation. Are you mad because you can't drive drunk? I hope not. Gun control makes it harder for the bad people, the mentally unhealthy people to purchase the type of weapon that will kill a hundred people with one round of bullets. What would be even better is if that mentally unhealthy person gets flagged at an attempt to purchase a weapon. Then a mental health advisor is immediately dispatched to that person to help them. 

I do not own a gun and I will never own a gun. I'm not a hunter and I am not mentally prepared to take the life of another human being. So there's no reason for me to own a gun, but I do recognize that this country is made up of a whole lot of rural America who still hunt or use a gun to keep predators from their livestock. I get it, but in this amazing country, the land of opportunity, our children should not have to risk their lives for an education. Doing nothing is not an option. 

THANKFUL FRIDAY

Please don't stand so close to me

See this Instagram photo by @elephant_soap * 6 likes

This week saw the rise of my inner activist. Now, I'll admit I didn't do much. I just posted something here and there and thanked my representative for his good work. The things I did post though sparked some really good discussion regarding both sides of the gun control issue. First of all, I want to thank those of you who got involved in that discussion for your kindness and respectful debate. No one started a shouting match. No one reverted to their inner five year old with an "I know you are but what am I?" You guys proved that people from opposite sides of an issue can have a meaningful discussion without resorting to media hype. These kinds of discussions are what we need on a grand scale. 

I feel like most of us all agree that some sort of gun control reform needs to happen. We just disagree on what that reform needs to be. Having calm, productive conversations on the issue brings us all a little bit closer to the center. This is why I urge all of us, Democrat, Liberal AND Republican, to contact their representatives and their senators. We need to encourage them to have the same kind of discussions because it is clear that they are not. Paul Ryan adjourned the House for the Fourth of July Holiday, that is more than a week away, as his way of ignoring the Democrats protest. I'm sure all of us wish we had that kind of vacation time. The thing is, we're paying these people to speak for us and right now I feel that both sides can say that there's a lot of Representatives not doing their job. It is up to us to hold them accountable. So again, I am really grateful for those of you who spoke up. I learned some things and I hope you learned some things too. 

This week I realized that I haven't peeled my lip off in at least two weeks. I don't know why. I don't know what I'm doing different. I've started eating avocados on toast twice a week for breakfast? I haven't eaten a potato in ten days? That's not true. We had red potatoes with green beans for dinner last Saturday. I have not clue, but for some reason my lip has no desire to come off. Not a flake or nothing. That's something to be thankful for. Earlier this week I listened to Tell Me I'm Fat on This American Life and it really made think hard about this body I'm always complaining about. Every night since then, before I go to sleep, I wrap my arms around the part of my body that disgusts me the most (my belly) and I tell that area "You are beautiful. I love you." over and over. It's my new nightly mantra. I am thankful that I almost believe that mantra.

I am thankful for fresh carrots that look like Bugs Bunny carrots. I am thankful for the time I spent on my mat every day this week. I am thankful for the promising results from an experiment I've been working on. I am thankful for good neighbors who tell us when our dog escapes the backyard. Those good neighbors get rewarded with eggs. I am thankful for scooter days. I am thankful for you.

Have a wonderful weekend and a super blessed Thankful Friday!

I WILL NOT STAY SILENT

Is key

See this Instagram photo by @elephant_soap * 4 likes

Several weeks ago we were in IKEA. The Cabbage got to hang out in Smaland, which is her favorite, but when Michael went to pick her up, there was an incident. An accident had occurred and there was a drop of blood on the floor. Kids couldn't leave one section until the blood was cleaned up. Michael got really frustrated because it was taking a long time to get the blood cleaned up, but here's why it took so long. House keeping had to come in to clean up the blood, but the person in house keeping hadn't had a background check for approval to be around little kids. So, the house keeper had to wait for an escort into Smaland from security. Yes it was frustrating to have to wait to get the Cabbage, but Smaland is free babysitting for thirty minutes. Free. Not letting the house keeper who hasn't been approved to be around children into the place without an escort is IKEA telling us they care super lots about the safety of our child. Even though you just paid nothing for them to babysit your kid.

Now, let's put that into context with the current situation on gun control. There were four proposals introduced into the House of Representatives on Monday that did not pass. These are the four proposals:

1. S. Amdt. 4751: Sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). This would increase funding for background checks and define what it means to be mentally incapable to own a gun. 
2. S. Amdt 4750: Sponsored by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn). This would require federal background checks before the every gun sale in the U.S. This mean it has to be done before the purchase of a gun ANYWHERE in the U.S.
3. S. Amdt 4749: Sponsored by Sen. John Coryn (R-Tex): This restricts the purchase of a gun to anyone on the federal watch list for up to 72 hours and that federal officials must be contacted if someone on the watch list is purchasing a weapon. 
4. S. Amdt 4720: Sponsored by Se. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). This would prevent any person on the suspected terrorist list from purchasing a gun. 

Most of the Democrats thought the Republican proposed amendments were too lenient and the Republicans thought the Democrat proposed amendments were too stringent. So nothing fucking got accomplished. Big surprise. But let's look at these amendments in comparison to some other things like who we allow to watch our children. People without proper background checks are not allowed to work in child care facilities. If you fail to pass the eye exam at the DMV, you are not allowed to renew your drivers license. It should be fucking common sense that if you are on the no fly list, you should not be able to purchase a gun. 

Every single one of us should be screaming at our representatives. Their email boxes should be full. Their social media should be bombarded with demands. We should demand better than this. I want all of you to go and look at this picture and read that story. The same day I read about that cute little girl, my friend Heather sent me a text saying that she was in "active threat training". This is what our lives look like now and I personally think it's wrong and gross. I would have been happy if they'd just passed the republican amendments because at least it's something. At least it's moving forward. 

Please call, email, text, tweet, whatever your Representative and tell them you want change and that we can not continue to do nothing. You can find your Representative at House.gov