On Thursday December 15, the economist Constantin Gurdgiev tweeted
that 121 women were jailed last year for not paying a fine on conviction
for failing to have a television licence.
A woman I know, who
struggles to exist within a twilight world between work and welfare, was
so panicked by that tweet that she went directly to the post office and
paid €160 for a licence. She is left with €27 for Christmas. That is a
fact.
Business! cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.
Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were all my business.
Set in Victorian times, the spirit of
Jacob Marley in the classic Charles Dickens' novella of love, tax and
redemption, A Christmas Carol, is sure to warm all of our hearts again
this Christmas.
Yes, it is good to give, to dwell in that moment for a while, to feel content within ourselves,The glass and GLASS MIXED STONE
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really, which is all it is; in itself, it is so much better than not to
give at all. But if personal happiness is the sole motivation, then
neither can that alone be good enough anymore.
In The Virtue of
Selfishness, the Objectivist philosopher, Ayn Rand, writes of morality,
approvingly, to the effect that many do not consider to give to charity a
virtue at all, let alone a moral duty.
"Man's mind is his basic
tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is
given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its
content is not. To remain alive he must act and before he can act he
must know the nature and purpose of his action," she once wrote.
But the foundational argument of Objectivism cannot be sound.
In
these desperate times, I find myself to be more in tune with the
sociologist Beatrice Webb, who once said that charity is, or should be,
the exercise of "a thoughtful benevolence".
Not benevolence
alone but a thoughtful benevolence – a reasoned, prudent,
discriminating, even sceptical benevolence – a benevolence that is
acutely aware of the often unintended consequences of goodwill, that
knows it to be more important to do good than to feel good; that is
morally and spiritually satisfying for the giver, and morally as well as
materially beneficial to the receiver.
Gertrude Himmelfarb, a
professor of history, says it is this kind of charity that promotes
welfare in the proper sense of that word – the well-being of citizens.
Shortly
before the ascension of Queen Victoria, a royal commission, which
deplored "the mischievous ambiguity of the word 'poor'", proposed a
major reform of the Poor Law. The name was a misnomer, the commission
said; it was a pauper law, not a poor law. Most of the poor – which is
to say, virtually all of the working classes – were indeed poor, but
they were not paupers.
Two measurements are used by the Central Statistics Office to measure poverty in Ireland.
In
2009, the most up to date figures available, there were 233,192 people,
or 5.5 per cent, in 'consistent poverty' and 579,819 people, or 14.1
per cent, 'at risk of poverty'.
At risk means an income of €230 a
week for an adult; consistent means unable to afford new clothes, meat
or fish, or being unable to heat your home.
After the Celtic
Tiger crash more than 18 per cent of children – our Tiny Tims, if you
like – were at risk of, and almost 9 per cent were actually in,
consistent poverty.
It is a shameful statistic.Best ICE CRACKING JNB382 From China Foshan Nanhai ENERGY Building Materials Co., LTD Manufacturers.
Two
regressive budgets later, which have included a cut to child benefit,
several thousands more, including many, many children, will be tipped
into a form of poverty, whether 'consistent' or 'at risk'.
Lately
– belatedly, perhaps – when I refer others to this analysis the
response is usually one of passing concern followed by an air of general
indifference.
Some cite anecdotal evidence, from wherever that
may come, that the poor, or those at risk of poverty, can afford to
drink and smoke, after all, that they have Sky Sports in their homes,
apparently, that they have a car on the road.
The more aware
also say that the Department of Social Protection spends a massive sum,
more than €20bn a year, which accounts for around 40 per cent of total
Exchequer spend.
This second point is made in a tone of
resentment; the argument is reasonably valid – up to a point – but it
remains oblivious to what we might call the majesty of The Principle of
Humanity.
Here is the argument though: to apply the free market
philosophy of a libertarian economist, Milton Friedman, if the €20bn
budget were divided among, say, 400,000 on the Live Register they would
each receive €50,000 a year.
The public sector class, in
numbers, pay and administration, are clearly a huge part of the problem,
such costs that the IMF again argued last week were out of touch with
the remainder of society.
It is also clear that what is referred
to as the "welfare" state is in urgent need of reform, such reform that
I do not even pretend to understand, let alone where to begin, other
than to say that only those in real need should be intended to receive.
This
much is also true: at the height of the boom there were still more than
100,000 people on some form of social welfare, for any number of
reasons, many of which have to do with the principle of humanity.
To
use another buzzword, by all means "crack down" on fraud, but also
concentrate on the causes of fraud, some of which are deep-rooted,
others merely skin deep.
I know of another woman, her
circumstances too complicated to go into right now, other than to say
she has never worked a day in her life. She is 34.
The bottom
line is this: if she were to take a job, she would lose the roof over
her head and the heads of her children. She is in what is called the
"welfare trap". That is also a fact.
When Social Protection
Minister Joan Burton recently referred to school leavers who claim
welfare as a "lifestyle choice" she was almost set upon; but again, she
had a point.
"The best way to lower the social welfare bill is
to create jobs," Sinn Fein said in response. In The Principle of
Charity, let us be charitable this Christmas: that is to state the
bleedin' obvious.
Joan Burton has faced into a huge task. In her
reform agenda, she would do well to introduce – another buzzword –
"transparency" to take account of the deeper philosophical issues at
play in this debate.This Rainbow Mosaic was made using paint samples cut into small pieces.
If we are to create a fair society,Big selection of Penny round Circle Glass Mosaic
with detailed informations. then Joan Burton must show people how other
people have to live. In this sceptical age, that is the sort of society
we have come to; that is what bitter experience has forced us to
become. We need to see the evidence to know that it is true.
Nor
should they stop there: open up the family courts too, and the
immigration courts and let the people see what passes for a fair society
here.
And just what is going on down in the Commercial Court?
The forgiveness of debt is essential for the country, yes, but also for
its citizens many of whom are without hope.
In that context, we
must also come back for our builders and businessmen. They are dying by
suicide every day and nobody knows how to talk about it; and our
children are taking their own lives too. Online. For everybody to see.
When
John Bruton, in a church, recently spoke about the absence of
forgiveness, he was almost set upon but he, also, had a point: the
bankers may eventually be forgiven only when they forgive us our
trespasses as well; so not yet, not even in this spirit of Christmas.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Guns Don't Kill People, Video Games Do
The charade of Friday's NRA press conference was best summed up by
one of the last lines uttered at it by NRA President David Keene:
"...this is the beginning of a serious conversation. We won't be taking
questions today."
Of course, neither Keene nor NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre would be taking questions. This "press conference" was not the beginning of any conversation -- it was the NRA leadership telling us all that we were wrong.Find out how to deal with the mesh between CUTTING MOSAIC tiles.
They were there to enlighten us so that we understood that: "It's not guns that kill people,What is Double Loading Mosaic Tile (charged)? it's video games." It's movies. It's the media. It's "monsters." It's a society that worships celebrities and money. It's greedy corporate executives and shareholders. It's foreign aid to other countries.
The one thing that Wayne LaPierre apparently doesn't believe is responsible in any way for shooting deaths are guns. Not the guns used in the Newtown shooting that took the lives of 20 young children and 6 adults. Not the guns used in July to kill 12 and wound 58 in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. Not the guns used to kill six people at a Sikh Temple in August. And not the guns used to kill 94 more people in the U.S. since the Newtown shooting. Yes, 94 people have been murdered by gun violence since December 14.
While LaPierre claimed that violence in movies and in video games like "Grand Theft Auto," caused gun violence, he offered no explanation for why people in other countries where they watch the very same movies and play the same video games have remarkably lower numbers of people killed by guns. For example,The Ice Crackle Mosaic Tile is amazingly unique in its crackled appearance. "Grand Theft Auto" broke UK sales records for fast selling video with over 600,000 units sold in its first day. However, in the UK, only 51 one people were killed by guns in 2011. In contrast, in the US, 8,583 people were murdered by guns in 2011.
The real difference between the U.S. and UK isn't that they are watching different movies or playing different video games. It's guns. We have close to 300 million guns legally owned while the UK has only approximately 1.8 million guns.
What the NRA leadership should have said -- and what I know from twitter some NRA members expected they would say -- is that the NRA was going to embrace sensible "human safety" laws. (To me, we should stop using the term "gun control" -- I'm not concerned with controlling people's guns, I'm concerned with saving lives.)
At the very least the NRA should have called for a few common sense changes to our laws. The first and most obvious being to close the "gun show loophole." Our current federal law only requires background checks to determine if the purported gun buyer has a criminal record or history of mental illness if the gun is so sold by a licensed firearm dealer. But that only accounts for 60% of the guns legally sold. Meaning, 40% of the guns legally sold are to people who have had no background check at all.
Only 19% of Americans polled want to keep the law the way. The problem is that the NRA leadership is part of this 19% and has lobbied to keep the gun hole loophole intact.
How can any organization that truly cares about saving the lives of Americans ever oppose a law to ensure that the mentally ill and criminals are prohibited from buying firearms?
So what did the NRA called for at its press event? More guns. LaPierre proposed that every school in America should have an armed guard. There are roughly 100,000 public schools meaning a boon in gun sales to arm these new guards.
But here's a glaring problem with the NRA's proposal. At the horrific Columbine High School shooting in 1999 that left 15 dead and 23 wounded, there was an armed guard.Source crystal mosaic Products at Mosaics. A 15-year veteran of the Sheriff's office was on the location. While he exchanged gunshots with one of the two shooters, he was unable to stop the shooting. How could the NRA leadership not be aware of this fact? And does this mean that every school would need two armed guards?
Will the NRA next suggest we have armed guards at every movie theater, shopping mall, Sikh temple, workplace, church -- or any of the other location where mass shootings have recently occurred?
Clearly, the NRA leadership is not prepared to have an honest conversation on the issues about the role that GUNS play in the deaths of Americans. The one bright spot is that the rank and file members of the NRA disagree with the NRA elite on a growing number of issues, including 69% who favor closing gun show loophole.
The NRA leadership is at a crossroads. It can either begin to embrace policies that will save American's lives or find the NRA marginalized to the fringes of American society. While I know that NRA leaders LaPierre and Keene aren't taking questions right now, they may want to consider this one.
Each Nextdoor neighbourhood is a closed loop in the area it serves, to ensure the residents’ privacy and security. Members are only accepted after Nextdoor has verified their addresses. The size and area of each neighbourhood varies by its location. In a big city, a Nextdoor neighbourhood could be limited to just a few blocks, whereas it could cover entire townships in more sparsely populated areas.
Nextdoor serves as a virtual chat room, where neighbours exchange referrals on local businesses, buy and sell items or even alert each other about illnesses or crime in their area.
“We have an elderly neighbour who has cancer and is quite frail. She had a security issue and when other neighbours got wind of it through Nextdoor, they came out of the woodwork to offer assistance,” says Bob Thornburg, a resident of Sante Fe, New Mexico.Proxense's advanced real time Location system technology.
A user in California, Nicole Perkins, says when a teenager in her area was diagnosed with meningitis, his parents used the network to alert their neighbours, so that other children could get tested immediately. “The ability to broadcast the news very likely saved lives,” says Perkins.
Other uses include quick retrievals of a lost special needs child, and even a duck and a puppy, thanks to watchful neighbours alerted via Nextdoor. In other words, the concept of the neighbourhood watch gone virtual.
Says Tolia, “Many social networks are about status updates, photo sharing, but that’s not what we are about. Nextdoor is about utility, it’s about finding a plumber, selling a used car, learning about a gas leak. It’s about all the things that you’d want to know, given that you live in a particular area.”
In fact, in over 60 cities, including big ones such as Atlanta, Dallas and San Jose, local governments and police departments are partnering with Nextdoor to communicate with their residents. For instance, in Oakland, near San Francisco, members used Nextdoor to alert their neighbours about two young men going door-to-door, posing as salesmen. Police asked one resident to get their photo when they came to her door. With this information, they later arrested the two men and recovered goods stolen from a neighbourhood home, which was reported on Nextdoor as having been burglarised.
Of course, neither Keene nor NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre would be taking questions. This "press conference" was not the beginning of any conversation -- it was the NRA leadership telling us all that we were wrong.Find out how to deal with the mesh between CUTTING MOSAIC tiles.
They were there to enlighten us so that we understood that: "It's not guns that kill people,What is Double Loading Mosaic Tile (charged)? it's video games." It's movies. It's the media. It's "monsters." It's a society that worships celebrities and money. It's greedy corporate executives and shareholders. It's foreign aid to other countries.
The one thing that Wayne LaPierre apparently doesn't believe is responsible in any way for shooting deaths are guns. Not the guns used in the Newtown shooting that took the lives of 20 young children and 6 adults. Not the guns used in July to kill 12 and wound 58 in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. Not the guns used to kill six people at a Sikh Temple in August. And not the guns used to kill 94 more people in the U.S. since the Newtown shooting. Yes, 94 people have been murdered by gun violence since December 14.
While LaPierre claimed that violence in movies and in video games like "Grand Theft Auto," caused gun violence, he offered no explanation for why people in other countries where they watch the very same movies and play the same video games have remarkably lower numbers of people killed by guns. For example,The Ice Crackle Mosaic Tile is amazingly unique in its crackled appearance. "Grand Theft Auto" broke UK sales records for fast selling video with over 600,000 units sold in its first day. However, in the UK, only 51 one people were killed by guns in 2011. In contrast, in the US, 8,583 people were murdered by guns in 2011.
The real difference between the U.S. and UK isn't that they are watching different movies or playing different video games. It's guns. We have close to 300 million guns legally owned while the UK has only approximately 1.8 million guns.
What the NRA leadership should have said -- and what I know from twitter some NRA members expected they would say -- is that the NRA was going to embrace sensible "human safety" laws. (To me, we should stop using the term "gun control" -- I'm not concerned with controlling people's guns, I'm concerned with saving lives.)
At the very least the NRA should have called for a few common sense changes to our laws. The first and most obvious being to close the "gun show loophole." Our current federal law only requires background checks to determine if the purported gun buyer has a criminal record or history of mental illness if the gun is so sold by a licensed firearm dealer. But that only accounts for 60% of the guns legally sold. Meaning, 40% of the guns legally sold are to people who have had no background check at all.
Only 19% of Americans polled want to keep the law the way. The problem is that the NRA leadership is part of this 19% and has lobbied to keep the gun hole loophole intact.
How can any organization that truly cares about saving the lives of Americans ever oppose a law to ensure that the mentally ill and criminals are prohibited from buying firearms?
So what did the NRA called for at its press event? More guns. LaPierre proposed that every school in America should have an armed guard. There are roughly 100,000 public schools meaning a boon in gun sales to arm these new guards.
But here's a glaring problem with the NRA's proposal. At the horrific Columbine High School shooting in 1999 that left 15 dead and 23 wounded, there was an armed guard.Source crystal mosaic Products at Mosaics. A 15-year veteran of the Sheriff's office was on the location. While he exchanged gunshots with one of the two shooters, he was unable to stop the shooting. How could the NRA leadership not be aware of this fact? And does this mean that every school would need two armed guards?
Will the NRA next suggest we have armed guards at every movie theater, shopping mall, Sikh temple, workplace, church -- or any of the other location where mass shootings have recently occurred?
Clearly, the NRA leadership is not prepared to have an honest conversation on the issues about the role that GUNS play in the deaths of Americans. The one bright spot is that the rank and file members of the NRA disagree with the NRA elite on a growing number of issues, including 69% who favor closing gun show loophole.
The NRA leadership is at a crossroads. It can either begin to embrace policies that will save American's lives or find the NRA marginalized to the fringes of American society. While I know that NRA leaders LaPierre and Keene aren't taking questions right now, they may want to consider this one.
Each Nextdoor neighbourhood is a closed loop in the area it serves, to ensure the residents’ privacy and security. Members are only accepted after Nextdoor has verified their addresses. The size and area of each neighbourhood varies by its location. In a big city, a Nextdoor neighbourhood could be limited to just a few blocks, whereas it could cover entire townships in more sparsely populated areas.
Nextdoor serves as a virtual chat room, where neighbours exchange referrals on local businesses, buy and sell items or even alert each other about illnesses or crime in their area.
“We have an elderly neighbour who has cancer and is quite frail. She had a security issue and when other neighbours got wind of it through Nextdoor, they came out of the woodwork to offer assistance,” says Bob Thornburg, a resident of Sante Fe, New Mexico.Proxense's advanced real time Location system technology.
A user in California, Nicole Perkins, says when a teenager in her area was diagnosed with meningitis, his parents used the network to alert their neighbours, so that other children could get tested immediately. “The ability to broadcast the news very likely saved lives,” says Perkins.
Other uses include quick retrievals of a lost special needs child, and even a duck and a puppy, thanks to watchful neighbours alerted via Nextdoor. In other words, the concept of the neighbourhood watch gone virtual.
Says Tolia, “Many social networks are about status updates, photo sharing, but that’s not what we are about. Nextdoor is about utility, it’s about finding a plumber, selling a used car, learning about a gas leak. It’s about all the things that you’d want to know, given that you live in a particular area.”
In fact, in over 60 cities, including big ones such as Atlanta, Dallas and San Jose, local governments and police departments are partnering with Nextdoor to communicate with their residents. For instance, in Oakland, near San Francisco, members used Nextdoor to alert their neighbours about two young men going door-to-door, posing as salesmen. Police asked one resident to get their photo when they came to her door. With this information, they later arrested the two men and recovered goods stolen from a neighbourhood home, which was reported on Nextdoor as having been burglarised.
Store opening on Amherst Street will back more Greater
The next time a Greater Nashua home gets beautified, Leah Shuldiner
hopes its owners and contractors will keep Greater Nashua Habitat for
Humanity in mind.
A new venture for the mostly volunteer, nonprofit affiliate of Habitat International, called Habitat ReStore, will allow families to help provide shelters for local residents in need.
“At the moment, we build one house every 18 months,” said Shuldiner, executive director ofGreater Nashua Habitat for Humanity. “We do about six critical needs projects a year, critical home repair stuff. … We’d really like to be doing more because we know there’s a need in the community.”
Habitat ReStore – there are 825 locations nationwide – sells new and gently used home improvement goods, furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances to the public at discounted prices.
The local Habitat for Humanity uses proceeds from ReStore sales to help build and renovate more homes.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity recently signed a lease through Law Realty Co. for a 10,000-square-foot location at 352 Amherst St., the former Antique Warehouse building.
“If you’re renovating your kitchen, we would take your old kitchen cabinets, appliances, fixtures, leftover floor tiles,” Shuldiner explained. “We will also take home goods – like lamps, tables and chairs. We do not take upholstered furniture, but we would take other home goods.
“Business can donate to us,” she added, “like contractors. We’re hoping when they’re tearing out an old kitchen or bathroom, instead of taking stuff to the dump, they will take it to us, so it’s recycle, reuse.”
Habitat ReStore will take everything from architectural items like mantelpieces and counter tops, to home decor items and hardware, such as knobs, hinges, locks and leftover paint.
It also could use plumbing items like sinks, tubs and showers, plus windows, roofing and tools.
Other ReStore locations close to Nashua are in Newington and Lawrence, Mass., Shuldiner said.
To get Nashua’s store up and ready to open in March, she is calling on volunteers to help fit up the store and operate it once it’s open.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity has run completely with volunteers since it was established in 1994 – until Shuldiner was hired as executive director about a year ago.Find detailed product information for Polished beige Glass Mosaic Long Strip maroon color.
It runs on private and corporate donations, and income collected from its mortgages.
This year, it also brought on John Gallagher, who will serve as Habitat ReStore’s store manager in Nashua.
“There’s work to be done but the building itself is in great shape,” Shuldiner said. “We’re very excited.Source Walls Decoration Enamel Glass Mosaic Tile Tiles Products at Mosaics.”
Help is needed to fix up the floor and paint the building, and to build display cases for sinks and doors, Shuldiner said. Its bathrooms also need upgrading.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity was able to lease the building from Law Realty Co. Inc. after a two-year effort to bring a store to Nashua.
Through grants from Anheuser Busch, Seaboard International, the Thomas W. Haas Fund and the Nashua Rotary – and work with Habitat International – the Greater Nashua affiliate was able to lay out a business plan, and see its goal materialize.
“We’re very careful about how we spend our money,” Shuldiner said. “People who donate to us can be sure their money is going toward our projects. We do as much as we can with volunteering, as much as we can with donated time and goods, because we really run as low a budget as we possibly can.”
Along with Nashua, Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity serves Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Hudson, Greenville, Lyndeborough, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Pelham, Wilton and Windham.
Building a new home costs about $100,000, Shuldiner said, depending on whether Habitat has to purchase land to build or has it donated – especially in a state where property purchases are particularly pricey.
Major excavation work and specialty services, such as electric and plumbing, also usually needs to be hired out,China Foshan Nanhai ENERGY Building Materials Co., LTD Manufacturers offer cheap and discount Colourful Leaf Mosaic for bathrooms. Shuldiner said, though Habitat gets most of its building materials and labor donated.The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics.
What’s more, Habitat writes a zero-interest mortgage for families and caps it at one-third of the family’s income, regardless of the money Habitat has put into the home.
“We cap that mortgage at what is an affordable mortgage for them, so often we’re building at a loss,” Shuldiner said.Welcome to Best Custom Crystal 8x15x48x300mm from china-mosaics.com. “We’re there to work with the partner family throughout the life of their mortgage.”
Habitat is currently finishing up a new home in Hudson, on Adelaide Street, before it turns to its next project – building a new duplex on Chestnut Street across the street from the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, wrecked in a fire two years ago.
The project already has the city and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approvals it needs to get under way.
Habitat hopes to sign the purchase-and-sales for the project by the end of this year and start work there next summer.
The duplex, which will demolish the damaged apartment complex currently standing, will cost a little bit more to complete, Shuldiner said, because it is an urban building that will house two families.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity functions with a 30-person core of volunteers, and often has businesses and church groups coming in to help.
Habitat ReStore will help support the building and repairs for area low-income families, and hopefully attract more volunteers to the organization, Shuldiner said.
“It’s going to be great for us in terms of stimulating donations and volunteers but it’s also going to be great for the community to keep all these things out of landfills and let other people use them,” Shuldiner said. “It will give people the opportunity to do great things with their homes and make their community better.”
“Even just keeping up with critical home repairs, building roofs, replacing drafty windows, we’d love to get into sustainable building and green renovation to help low-income families do upgrades that make their houses more sustainable,” Shuldiner said.
“We’d love to take a city block and do exterior painting and yard work and revitalize a whole section to get people more inspired about reinvesting in their neighborhoods. We just can’t launch any of those things without the funds.”
A new venture for the mostly volunteer, nonprofit affiliate of Habitat International, called Habitat ReStore, will allow families to help provide shelters for local residents in need.
“At the moment, we build one house every 18 months,” said Shuldiner, executive director ofGreater Nashua Habitat for Humanity. “We do about six critical needs projects a year, critical home repair stuff. … We’d really like to be doing more because we know there’s a need in the community.”
Habitat ReStore – there are 825 locations nationwide – sells new and gently used home improvement goods, furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances to the public at discounted prices.
The local Habitat for Humanity uses proceeds from ReStore sales to help build and renovate more homes.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity recently signed a lease through Law Realty Co. for a 10,000-square-foot location at 352 Amherst St., the former Antique Warehouse building.
“If you’re renovating your kitchen, we would take your old kitchen cabinets, appliances, fixtures, leftover floor tiles,” Shuldiner explained. “We will also take home goods – like lamps, tables and chairs. We do not take upholstered furniture, but we would take other home goods.
“Business can donate to us,” she added, “like contractors. We’re hoping when they’re tearing out an old kitchen or bathroom, instead of taking stuff to the dump, they will take it to us, so it’s recycle, reuse.”
Habitat ReStore will take everything from architectural items like mantelpieces and counter tops, to home decor items and hardware, such as knobs, hinges, locks and leftover paint.
It also could use plumbing items like sinks, tubs and showers, plus windows, roofing and tools.
Other ReStore locations close to Nashua are in Newington and Lawrence, Mass., Shuldiner said.
To get Nashua’s store up and ready to open in March, she is calling on volunteers to help fit up the store and operate it once it’s open.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity has run completely with volunteers since it was established in 1994 – until Shuldiner was hired as executive director about a year ago.Find detailed product information for Polished beige Glass Mosaic Long Strip maroon color.
It runs on private and corporate donations, and income collected from its mortgages.
This year, it also brought on John Gallagher, who will serve as Habitat ReStore’s store manager in Nashua.
“There’s work to be done but the building itself is in great shape,” Shuldiner said. “We’re very excited.Source Walls Decoration Enamel Glass Mosaic Tile Tiles Products at Mosaics.”
Help is needed to fix up the floor and paint the building, and to build display cases for sinks and doors, Shuldiner said. Its bathrooms also need upgrading.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity was able to lease the building from Law Realty Co. Inc. after a two-year effort to bring a store to Nashua.
Through grants from Anheuser Busch, Seaboard International, the Thomas W. Haas Fund and the Nashua Rotary – and work with Habitat International – the Greater Nashua affiliate was able to lay out a business plan, and see its goal materialize.
“We’re very careful about how we spend our money,” Shuldiner said. “People who donate to us can be sure their money is going toward our projects. We do as much as we can with volunteering, as much as we can with donated time and goods, because we really run as low a budget as we possibly can.”
Along with Nashua, Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity serves Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Hudson, Greenville, Lyndeborough, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Pelham, Wilton and Windham.
Building a new home costs about $100,000, Shuldiner said, depending on whether Habitat has to purchase land to build or has it donated – especially in a state where property purchases are particularly pricey.
Major excavation work and specialty services, such as electric and plumbing, also usually needs to be hired out,China Foshan Nanhai ENERGY Building Materials Co., LTD Manufacturers offer cheap and discount Colourful Leaf Mosaic for bathrooms. Shuldiner said, though Habitat gets most of its building materials and labor donated.The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics.
What’s more, Habitat writes a zero-interest mortgage for families and caps it at one-third of the family’s income, regardless of the money Habitat has put into the home.
“We cap that mortgage at what is an affordable mortgage for them, so often we’re building at a loss,” Shuldiner said.Welcome to Best Custom Crystal 8x15x48x300mm from china-mosaics.com. “We’re there to work with the partner family throughout the life of their mortgage.”
Habitat is currently finishing up a new home in Hudson, on Adelaide Street, before it turns to its next project – building a new duplex on Chestnut Street across the street from the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, wrecked in a fire two years ago.
The project already has the city and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approvals it needs to get under way.
Habitat hopes to sign the purchase-and-sales for the project by the end of this year and start work there next summer.
The duplex, which will demolish the damaged apartment complex currently standing, will cost a little bit more to complete, Shuldiner said, because it is an urban building that will house two families.
Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity functions with a 30-person core of volunteers, and often has businesses and church groups coming in to help.
Habitat ReStore will help support the building and repairs for area low-income families, and hopefully attract more volunteers to the organization, Shuldiner said.
“It’s going to be great for us in terms of stimulating donations and volunteers but it’s also going to be great for the community to keep all these things out of landfills and let other people use them,” Shuldiner said. “It will give people the opportunity to do great things with their homes and make their community better.”
“Even just keeping up with critical home repairs, building roofs, replacing drafty windows, we’d love to get into sustainable building and green renovation to help low-income families do upgrades that make their houses more sustainable,” Shuldiner said.
“We’d love to take a city block and do exterior painting and yard work and revitalize a whole section to get people more inspired about reinvesting in their neighborhoods. We just can’t launch any of those things without the funds.”
A Letter to My Enslaved Ancestors on the 150th Anniversary
I don't know your names or from where you were stolen. I don't know how many of you freed yourselves or died in bondage.You can Roto Print Mosaic Tile
from china. Yet I claim you all and I honor you. The savage ferocity of
slavery has torn your names from the memories of your descendants but
not your lives, your survival, your strength. I want to thank you for
surviving and enduring the unimaginable. As I give thanks for you, I
weep for you. I give thanks for your sacrifice -- not that you
sacrificed yourselves, but that you were sacrificed -- human sacrifice
on an epic scale to greed and misanthropic racism.
I know that I cannot know the fullness of the horrors you faced, endured, survived and to which some of you succumbed. Yet I must try to give voice to them. In your stolen names I now name some of the horrors of American chattel slavery: intergenerational terrorism, murder, kidnapping, rape, forced pregnancy, forced miscarriages and abortions, child abuse and neglect, physical, mental, emotional, sexual and spiritual torture, beating, burning,China Foshan Nanhai ENERGY Building Materials Co., LTD Manufacturers offer Full Body Porcelain Mosaic Tile. stabbing, scarring, maiming, forced illiteracy, extirpation of culture and religion, violent imposition of a morally bankrupt idolatrous Christianity, and much, much more.
What ever it is that I am and all that I am, I am because you were. I cannot contemplate my future without reflecting on my past, our past. Our nation now looks back 150 years to the Emancipation Proclamation. Many will pretend that one man freed the slaves in the United States and its territories with the stroke of a pen.Features useful information about GLASS MOSAIC tiles. They will not tell the stories of dirty tricks and politics. They will not say that the Proclamation only freed some slaves in some circumstances. They will not say that the majority of slaves freed themselves. They will say that their own ancestors were all on the side of the angels. But we know different. We know the truth and the truth has set us free.
Remembering that you built this country with your bare hands, your blood and broken bodies forming the mortar that cements it together -- on a bloody foundation of other massacred peoples, that you freed yourselves and this nation from the curse of slavery, that you reconstructed this nation after it began cannibalizing itself over the right to exploit your bodies, I now look to the future. I look to the future that will be and I look to the future that I hope will be.
The racism, sexism, xenophobia, misanthropy and greed that characterized your times endures and adapts. And those plagues are hounded, challenged, diminished,Combine Crystal Mosaic 4x300x300mm NV1140 to create some fantastic effects around your home. transformed and rejected in our time by many of those who have benefitted from them and as well as by those of us who have borne its burdens.
The future I envision is one in which the United States is further enriched by the presence and contributions of citizens who reflect the breadth of the world's peoples, and one in which ethnic majority and minority status will be upended and have no power. I also see a future in which power and resources which are currently concentrated in a dwindling segment of society multiply across race and class categories leading to a strengthening of us all. I also foresee a future in which some will still exploit others: we still disenfranchise some people with state and federal laws and taxes as it pertains to marriage and its benefits; we have not closed the pay gap between women and men; we have not done justice for the native peoples of this land; sexual slavery and trafficking endures, the poor remain with us.
In a future which yet may be, I see your children's children's children across the ages transforming our society, economy and infrastructure with renewable energy sources and eradicating abject poverty and hunger in partnership with sister and brother Americans whose ancestry circles the globe and in partnership with all peoples everywhere.
In order to reach our future, we must survive our present. Our children must survive and thrive and there is much that imperils them: poverty, substandard education, violence, lack of access to health and dental care, astronomical incarceration rates, a deeply flawed justice system, failure and inability to dream a world beyond the one they know or to which they have been confined, hopelessness.
Let’s be dutiful and start with apps that may help you right out of the gate, especially if you’re used to working on a computer. The Web browser on your device may be fine, but it never hurts to have a second one in case something you’re trying to view on the web doesn’t display properly. The free “Google Chrome” browser is available on most platforms, and if you’re on a restrictive data plan,China-mosaics pioneered the domestic development of handcrafted Glass Tile. the lightweight browser “Opera” compresses web pages down to make them load more quickly and efficiently. Both are free.
If you do any kind of online banking or would like to, check to see if the financial institution you use has a dedicated app. You may be able to check your accounts, deposit checks using your device’s camera and transfer funds. Speaking of your money, the app “Mint” (free) is great for tracking finances and seeing trends on how you spend.
Getting things done with a mobile device may lead you to experiment with to-do list apps. The App Store and Google Play are stuffed with them. I’ve had luck with a free app called “Wunderlist” (free), but some Apple users prefer “Things,” which is relatively pricey at $10 for each type of device. “Remember the Milk” is another good and free to-do app that’s very popular.
“Evernote” is a must-own. It allows you to create notes that you can access from anywhere. Everything is searchable, even text contained within photos. It’s free. A premium version costs $5 a month if you need lots of extra storage for your notes.
If you’re already a subscriber to Netflix, Hulu Plus or HBO, definitely download their respective apps. “HBO Go” gives subscribers to the premium TV channel streaming video access to pretty much every episode of every show it has aired.
If you have cable or satellite service, your provider probably has an app that allows you to set DVR recordings and stream some video via a smartphone or tablet. For music lovers, “Pandora” is a great way to get exposed to music similar to artists you love. “Audible” is for downloading audiobooks and new customers can get their first one free. You can also try “iHeartRadio” for terrestrial and online radio stations. For movie information, listings and tickets, try “Fandango” or “Flixster.” Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse has its own app as well.
At statehouses and the U.S. Capitol, officials are calling for a ban on assault rifles and a renewed focus on the access potentially unstable people have to firearms. In the wake of the shootings that left 26 dead, McLean County mental health, law enforcement and public health officials have been reflecting on the vulnerability a community faces when guns fall into the wrong hands.
“As I watched the TV coverage of it, I looked at the situation and realized that it could be our town. It could happen anywhere,” said Lee Harper, a counselor at Tri-Valley High School in Downs.
Harper supports a statement drafted last week by leaders in the behavioral health community that asks federal and state legislators to outlaw assault weapons and to set new standards for violence for the entertainment industry.
Eric Goplerud, past president of the American College of Mental Health Administration, said the letter, which he co-wrote, outlines steps to help prevent the next gun tragedy.
“We’re calling for attention to the things we know are effective. We need to build community mental health up again. Two-thirds of people with moderate mental illness never get treatment,” said Goplerud.
Gun violence in America, he said, should be considered “a public health problem.”
The Newtown tragedy can be a catalyst for an important national conversation on the easy access people have to guns and the barriers people have to mental health services, agreed McLean County Public Health Director Walt Howe.
I know that I cannot know the fullness of the horrors you faced, endured, survived and to which some of you succumbed. Yet I must try to give voice to them. In your stolen names I now name some of the horrors of American chattel slavery: intergenerational terrorism, murder, kidnapping, rape, forced pregnancy, forced miscarriages and abortions, child abuse and neglect, physical, mental, emotional, sexual and spiritual torture, beating, burning,China Foshan Nanhai ENERGY Building Materials Co., LTD Manufacturers offer Full Body Porcelain Mosaic Tile. stabbing, scarring, maiming, forced illiteracy, extirpation of culture and religion, violent imposition of a morally bankrupt idolatrous Christianity, and much, much more.
What ever it is that I am and all that I am, I am because you were. I cannot contemplate my future without reflecting on my past, our past. Our nation now looks back 150 years to the Emancipation Proclamation. Many will pretend that one man freed the slaves in the United States and its territories with the stroke of a pen.Features useful information about GLASS MOSAIC tiles. They will not tell the stories of dirty tricks and politics. They will not say that the Proclamation only freed some slaves in some circumstances. They will not say that the majority of slaves freed themselves. They will say that their own ancestors were all on the side of the angels. But we know different. We know the truth and the truth has set us free.
Remembering that you built this country with your bare hands, your blood and broken bodies forming the mortar that cements it together -- on a bloody foundation of other massacred peoples, that you freed yourselves and this nation from the curse of slavery, that you reconstructed this nation after it began cannibalizing itself over the right to exploit your bodies, I now look to the future. I look to the future that will be and I look to the future that I hope will be.
The racism, sexism, xenophobia, misanthropy and greed that characterized your times endures and adapts. And those plagues are hounded, challenged, diminished,Combine Crystal Mosaic 4x300x300mm NV1140 to create some fantastic effects around your home. transformed and rejected in our time by many of those who have benefitted from them and as well as by those of us who have borne its burdens.
The future I envision is one in which the United States is further enriched by the presence and contributions of citizens who reflect the breadth of the world's peoples, and one in which ethnic majority and minority status will be upended and have no power. I also see a future in which power and resources which are currently concentrated in a dwindling segment of society multiply across race and class categories leading to a strengthening of us all. I also foresee a future in which some will still exploit others: we still disenfranchise some people with state and federal laws and taxes as it pertains to marriage and its benefits; we have not closed the pay gap between women and men; we have not done justice for the native peoples of this land; sexual slavery and trafficking endures, the poor remain with us.
In a future which yet may be, I see your children's children's children across the ages transforming our society, economy and infrastructure with renewable energy sources and eradicating abject poverty and hunger in partnership with sister and brother Americans whose ancestry circles the globe and in partnership with all peoples everywhere.
In order to reach our future, we must survive our present. Our children must survive and thrive and there is much that imperils them: poverty, substandard education, violence, lack of access to health and dental care, astronomical incarceration rates, a deeply flawed justice system, failure and inability to dream a world beyond the one they know or to which they have been confined, hopelessness.
Let’s be dutiful and start with apps that may help you right out of the gate, especially if you’re used to working on a computer. The Web browser on your device may be fine, but it never hurts to have a second one in case something you’re trying to view on the web doesn’t display properly. The free “Google Chrome” browser is available on most platforms, and if you’re on a restrictive data plan,China-mosaics pioneered the domestic development of handcrafted Glass Tile. the lightweight browser “Opera” compresses web pages down to make them load more quickly and efficiently. Both are free.
If you do any kind of online banking or would like to, check to see if the financial institution you use has a dedicated app. You may be able to check your accounts, deposit checks using your device’s camera and transfer funds. Speaking of your money, the app “Mint” (free) is great for tracking finances and seeing trends on how you spend.
Getting things done with a mobile device may lead you to experiment with to-do list apps. The App Store and Google Play are stuffed with them. I’ve had luck with a free app called “Wunderlist” (free), but some Apple users prefer “Things,” which is relatively pricey at $10 for each type of device. “Remember the Milk” is another good and free to-do app that’s very popular.
“Evernote” is a must-own. It allows you to create notes that you can access from anywhere. Everything is searchable, even text contained within photos. It’s free. A premium version costs $5 a month if you need lots of extra storage for your notes.
If you’re already a subscriber to Netflix, Hulu Plus or HBO, definitely download their respective apps. “HBO Go” gives subscribers to the premium TV channel streaming video access to pretty much every episode of every show it has aired.
If you have cable or satellite service, your provider probably has an app that allows you to set DVR recordings and stream some video via a smartphone or tablet. For music lovers, “Pandora” is a great way to get exposed to music similar to artists you love. “Audible” is for downloading audiobooks and new customers can get their first one free. You can also try “iHeartRadio” for terrestrial and online radio stations. For movie information, listings and tickets, try “Fandango” or “Flixster.” Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse has its own app as well.
At statehouses and the U.S. Capitol, officials are calling for a ban on assault rifles and a renewed focus on the access potentially unstable people have to firearms. In the wake of the shootings that left 26 dead, McLean County mental health, law enforcement and public health officials have been reflecting on the vulnerability a community faces when guns fall into the wrong hands.
“As I watched the TV coverage of it, I looked at the situation and realized that it could be our town. It could happen anywhere,” said Lee Harper, a counselor at Tri-Valley High School in Downs.
Harper supports a statement drafted last week by leaders in the behavioral health community that asks federal and state legislators to outlaw assault weapons and to set new standards for violence for the entertainment industry.
Eric Goplerud, past president of the American College of Mental Health Administration, said the letter, which he co-wrote, outlines steps to help prevent the next gun tragedy.
“We’re calling for attention to the things we know are effective. We need to build community mental health up again. Two-thirds of people with moderate mental illness never get treatment,” said Goplerud.
Gun violence in America, he said, should be considered “a public health problem.”
The Newtown tragedy can be a catalyst for an important national conversation on the easy access people have to guns and the barriers people have to mental health services, agreed McLean County Public Health Director Walt Howe.
WTO race wide open as NZ
The field of candidates to succeed Pascal Lamy as head of the World
Trade Organization burst open on Friday, as New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan
and Kenya threw names into the ring with 10 days left for
nominations.Handmade Glass Mixed Metal and flameworked glass jewelry.
Whoever wins,The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging, faces the challenge of being the face of an institution that has been stuck for years in stalled global trade negotiations, with little real power to force a deal beyond cajoling, encouraging and occasionally blaming members.
Kenya’s Amina Mohamed, deputy head of the United Nations Environment Programme, became the third woman and second African contender, while Jordan nominated former minister of trade and industry Ahmad Hindawi, the first Middle Eastern nominee so far.
Mexico put forward its former trade minister Herminio Blanco, who negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Earlier on Friday New Zealand nominated its trade minister Tim Groser, who joins Ghana’s Alan Kyerematen, Costa Rica’s Anabel Gonzalez and Indonesia’s Mari Pangestu in the race to take over after Lamy’s second term expires on August 31.
Many trade diplomats think the job should go to an African, Latin American or Caribbean candidate, since all but one head of the 17-year-old WTO has been from developed countries. The exception was Thailand’s Supachai Panitchpakdi.
As well as seeking trade agreements, the body is also the global trade policeman, facing a surge of litigation as members fight for a share of a pie that is not quite shrinking, but expected to grow by a mere 2.5 percent this year.
The boom in disputes is forcing the WTO to reallocate staff, according to diplomats and documents at the global trade body in Geneva that in August had 157 members.
Mohamed, a fluent Russian speaker, is the only one who is not a current or former trade minister, but she was ambassador to the WTO from 2000 to 2006 and chaired several of the most important committees, including its dispute settlement body in 2004.
Her nomination may splinter African support and damage the chances of Kyerematen, who was anointed as the African Union’s approved candidate earlier this year.
If both Africans make it through to later stages of the race, when least-favoured candidates are gradually ejected, an African split could play into the hands of another regional bloc. When Lamy got the job eight years ago, Brazil was widely blamed for ruining the chances of Uruguay’s nominee.
Groser also comes with inconvenient baggage, since New Zealand is the only one of the seven countries to have held the job before, and some diplomats think that having another director general from New Zealand - developed, rich and agricultural - would be unbalanced or unfair.
Lamy has said his successor, chosen by consensus, should be picked on the basis of competence alone.
Groser, 62, was New Zealand’s ambassador to the WTO between 2002-2005, and chaired the organisation’s rules and agricultural negotiating groups. He had been widely tipped as a candidate.
Hindawi, 47, who was Jordanian trade minister in 2004-2005, is perhaps the candidate with the slightest connection to the WTO and the most involvement in the private sector.
With a degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in the United States and a PhD from Birmingham University in Britain, he runs a management consultancy firm, Hindawi Excellence Group,High end natural stone and Glass Mixed Stone blending tile for wall and floor and kitchen cabinet backsplash. from Dubai.
Blanco, who holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party of new Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and former President Ernesto Zedillo, who some trade diplomats in Geneva had said would have made an excellent candidate to succeed Lamy.
As a minister Blanco was lauded abroad for his free trade agreements but came under heavy criticism in domestic politics, like the then finance minister Angel Gurria, who now heads the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
As happens every time there's a mass shooting - a tragedy of increasing frequency, it seems - gun dealers nationwide reported a spike in sales in the days following the terrible slaughter this month in Connecticut.
The experts tell us there are already about 250 million guns in the United States.Here you can see the category of OTHERS MOSAIC. I wonder how many more we'll need to feel safe.
I don't feel any safer, really, despite the 12-gauge I keep safely accessible at home. But I do feel just a bit ashamed as a gun owner who, each time another shooting makes headlines, shrugs helplessly, given the inefficacy of gun laws, the intransigence of the gun lobby and everyone's inability to make sense of the contradictory statistics of gun control.
But all that crap about the victims of gun violence being the necessary collateral damage of our Second Amendment rights just doesn't seem like enough this time. Twenty-six dead, 20 of them little children, in the middle of the holiday season in the middle of an elemenWe provides Car park management system and technologically innovative parking services.tary school in the middle of the supposedly most civilized nation on earth. The victims of our historic love affair with guns and violence.
"Must every tragic mass shooting bring out the shrill ignorance of 'gun control' advocates?" conservative columnist Thomas Sowell asked the other day. Yes, dammit, until we get some better answers. We deserve better in these United States than more mass shootings - American exceptionalism at its worst.
On the other hand, you've got the yahoos on the other side insisting that the way to make us safe is to make sure everyone is packing in classrooms and crowded movie theaters. Guns don't kill people. No, people with guns kill people, too many people.
We have to get past the ideological mantras and have a rational discussion on this national shame, a dialogue in which everything is on the table. I don't think putting Glocks in the hands of language-arts teachers is the answer, but maybe armed guards in the hall are a short-term solution. Bans on assault rifles or 30-round "banana" magazines may not keep us safe, but maybe they are a step in the right direction - a statement that as a nation we don't think the answer to violence is more violence.
Whoever wins,The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging, faces the challenge of being the face of an institution that has been stuck for years in stalled global trade negotiations, with little real power to force a deal beyond cajoling, encouraging and occasionally blaming members.
Kenya’s Amina Mohamed, deputy head of the United Nations Environment Programme, became the third woman and second African contender, while Jordan nominated former minister of trade and industry Ahmad Hindawi, the first Middle Eastern nominee so far.
Mexico put forward its former trade minister Herminio Blanco, who negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Earlier on Friday New Zealand nominated its trade minister Tim Groser, who joins Ghana’s Alan Kyerematen, Costa Rica’s Anabel Gonzalez and Indonesia’s Mari Pangestu in the race to take over after Lamy’s second term expires on August 31.
Many trade diplomats think the job should go to an African, Latin American or Caribbean candidate, since all but one head of the 17-year-old WTO has been from developed countries. The exception was Thailand’s Supachai Panitchpakdi.
As well as seeking trade agreements, the body is also the global trade policeman, facing a surge of litigation as members fight for a share of a pie that is not quite shrinking, but expected to grow by a mere 2.5 percent this year.
The boom in disputes is forcing the WTO to reallocate staff, according to diplomats and documents at the global trade body in Geneva that in August had 157 members.
Mohamed, a fluent Russian speaker, is the only one who is not a current or former trade minister, but she was ambassador to the WTO from 2000 to 2006 and chaired several of the most important committees, including its dispute settlement body in 2004.
Her nomination may splinter African support and damage the chances of Kyerematen, who was anointed as the African Union’s approved candidate earlier this year.
If both Africans make it through to later stages of the race, when least-favoured candidates are gradually ejected, an African split could play into the hands of another regional bloc. When Lamy got the job eight years ago, Brazil was widely blamed for ruining the chances of Uruguay’s nominee.
Groser also comes with inconvenient baggage, since New Zealand is the only one of the seven countries to have held the job before, and some diplomats think that having another director general from New Zealand - developed, rich and agricultural - would be unbalanced or unfair.
Lamy has said his successor, chosen by consensus, should be picked on the basis of competence alone.
Groser, 62, was New Zealand’s ambassador to the WTO between 2002-2005, and chaired the organisation’s rules and agricultural negotiating groups. He had been widely tipped as a candidate.
Hindawi, 47, who was Jordanian trade minister in 2004-2005, is perhaps the candidate with the slightest connection to the WTO and the most involvement in the private sector.
With a degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in the United States and a PhD from Birmingham University in Britain, he runs a management consultancy firm, Hindawi Excellence Group,High end natural stone and Glass Mixed Stone blending tile for wall and floor and kitchen cabinet backsplash. from Dubai.
Blanco, who holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party of new Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and former President Ernesto Zedillo, who some trade diplomats in Geneva had said would have made an excellent candidate to succeed Lamy.
As a minister Blanco was lauded abroad for his free trade agreements but came under heavy criticism in domestic politics, like the then finance minister Angel Gurria, who now heads the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
As happens every time there's a mass shooting - a tragedy of increasing frequency, it seems - gun dealers nationwide reported a spike in sales in the days following the terrible slaughter this month in Connecticut.
The experts tell us there are already about 250 million guns in the United States.Here you can see the category of OTHERS MOSAIC. I wonder how many more we'll need to feel safe.
I don't feel any safer, really, despite the 12-gauge I keep safely accessible at home. But I do feel just a bit ashamed as a gun owner who, each time another shooting makes headlines, shrugs helplessly, given the inefficacy of gun laws, the intransigence of the gun lobby and everyone's inability to make sense of the contradictory statistics of gun control.
But all that crap about the victims of gun violence being the necessary collateral damage of our Second Amendment rights just doesn't seem like enough this time. Twenty-six dead, 20 of them little children, in the middle of the holiday season in the middle of an elemenWe provides Car park management system and technologically innovative parking services.tary school in the middle of the supposedly most civilized nation on earth. The victims of our historic love affair with guns and violence.
"Must every tragic mass shooting bring out the shrill ignorance of 'gun control' advocates?" conservative columnist Thomas Sowell asked the other day. Yes, dammit, until we get some better answers. We deserve better in these United States than more mass shootings - American exceptionalism at its worst.
On the other hand, you've got the yahoos on the other side insisting that the way to make us safe is to make sure everyone is packing in classrooms and crowded movie theaters. Guns don't kill people. No, people with guns kill people, too many people.
We have to get past the ideological mantras and have a rational discussion on this national shame, a dialogue in which everything is on the table. I don't think putting Glocks in the hands of language-arts teachers is the answer, but maybe armed guards in the hall are a short-term solution. Bans on assault rifles or 30-round "banana" magazines may not keep us safe, but maybe they are a step in the right direction - a statement that as a nation we don't think the answer to violence is more violence.
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