Barack Obama's Second Inaugural Address

Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution.  We affirm the promise of our democracy.  We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names.  What makes us exceptional -- what makes us American -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  

Just Kidding (sort of) | Responding to Crazed Free Fire Gun Advocates

Top three responses to free fire advocates who are flinging their feces over the prospect of any gun regulation whatsoever...

Number 03: “Before I reply, my daughter wants to know if you're planning to shoot me if I disagree with you.” 

Number 02: “I checked the list of people I believe are safe and sane gun owners...you’re not on it.” 

Number 01: “Alll right Barney, give me your bullet.”

The Obama Plan for Curbing Gun Violence

"We don't benefit from ignorance," President Obama said in his remarks introducing a plan to curb gun violence. Indeed. Read the plan for yourself.

Read the interactive version

Download the PDF

Save the Senate Filibuster (for special occasions)

From Senator Elizabeth Warren today:

What did the filibuster cost in the past two years?

• We had a majority to vote for three jobs bills.

• We had a majority to vote for the DREAM Act.

• We had a majority to vote for campaign finance reform.

• We had a majority to vote for equal pay for equal work.

Every one of these laws was stopped dead by the filibuster.
....

Let's be clear: The reforms don't eliminate the filibuster. Instead, they just make it necessary for someone to stand and talk through their objections -- out in plain view for everyone to see.

The reforms are about making the filibuster an extraordinary measure rather than a routine no-business-gets-done. 

We need to put an end to the aggressive obstruction that has paralyzed the Senate. If someone objects to a bill or a nomination in the United States Senate, they should have to stand on the floor of the chamber and defend their opposition.

The measure under consideration is a simple proposition that ends the ability of any senator to anonymously stop a Senate action from even being discussed. It doesn't reduce senators' right to speak up for what they believe, it just means they have to actually speak up, not just phone in their undisclosed objection.

If you agree this sounds like a reasonable idea, tell your two senators this week. You can find their contact information at Senate.gov.

Girls, Women + Binge Drinking | CDC Report

Percentage of the ~38% of high school girls who drank in the prior 30 days who said they binge drank

• In females, the benchmark for binge drinking is four servings of beer, wine or liquor on a single occasion.
• In a 2011 CDC study, one in eight U.S. women and one in five high school girls reported binge drinking in the prior 30 days.
• Girls reported binge drinking considerably more than women (with the exception of non-Hispanic black girls who are about as likely (at 10%) to binge drink as their mothers, aunts and older sisters).
• Among high school girls in the 2011 study:
• 37.9% had one or more drinks in the prior 30 days
• 19.8% binge drank the prior 30 days (four or more drinks at a time)
• of those who drank at all in the prior 30 days, more than half (54.6%) binge drank
• "Excessive alcohol use" led to an estimated average of 23,000 female deaths each year from 2001-2005

What do you think?

Q: What are the perceived upsides to binge drinking among 20% of high school girls?

Q: Why do the other 80% of girls not pursue those perceived benefits in the same way?

Q: What risks do you associate with binge drinking?

Q: How can adolescents cooperate to lower the risks of binge drinking among their peers?

An American Prayer | On the Fourth Sunday Following a Killing Spree

IV.

Patient and enduring God,

One week has passed in silence 

since we sought a clear word from you 

on gun violence.

With that week passed also

130 of your children, 

dead from gunshots 

along American streets and 

within American homes. 

How long Lord? 

How long must 
we wait 

for you 

to act? 

An American Prayer | On the Third Sunday Following a Killing Spree

III. 

Almighty and everliving God,

If it be Thy will that we 

ought in all good conscience to change anything

in thought, word, or deed

to prevent the evil or the mad from

misusing these Thy gifts of semi-automatic 

sports rifles bearing

frangible ammunition in

high capacity magazines to

snuff the wick of life from

children and other noncombatants, 

grant us a sign--

clear and convincing--

that we may with one mind and heart agree

to forego a portion of our marginal profits and

endure some diminution at the margins

of our precious personal freedom.

So we do now wait on Thee,

pledging that, should some sign issue 

unmistakably from Thy hand,

we will lay this matter to rest

even as we have so recently

laid to rest the bodies of 

those we grieve this day.

An American Prayer | On the Second Sunday Following a Killing Spree

II.

Understanding and wise God,
Grant that we may, without 
doing anything different, 
be protected from further 
atrocities of the sort we 
now so earnestly grieve.

fasten your seatbelt | Bloomberg News projects guns will soon kill more in US than auto accidents

Here's the Bloomberg chart, showing gun deaths (homicide, suicide, accidents) rising as death by automobile declines, the curves projected to cross in 2015.

click to enlarge

According to the report, 2011 saw the smallest number of traffic fatalities since 1949. About 85 Americans are shot dead every day and more than 200 require emergency care for gunshot wounds. Gun owning households declined since 2004 to about one third in 2010.

From the report:

The fall in traffic deaths resulted from safer vehicles, restricted privileges for young drivers and seat-belt and other laws, he said. By contrast, “we’ve made policy decisions that have had the impact of making the widest array of firearms available to the widest array of people under the widest array of conditions.” While fewer households have guns, people who own guns are buying more of them, he [Garen Wintermute at University of California Davis] said.

Aftermath | Five Questions About a Particular Class of Weapon

If I could go back in time to stop a mass killer, would I?

If I could go back and wrench the assault weapon from the grasp of a would-be killer, would I?

If I could go back and stop someone from getting his hands on an assault weapon before he could use it to slaughter children, would I?

If I could go back and prevent the purchase of an assault weapon and high capacity magazines before they were used to murder children, would I?

If, going forward, I believe I can protect the lives of children by enacting sensible controls on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, will I?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and -- sigh -- yes, of course.

You?

An American Prayer | On the First Sunday Following a Killing Spree

I.

Oh holy and
loving God,
please don't
let this have
happened.

the silence of the lambs | what do we tell our children about gun violence in the sanctuary of learning?

It's not supposed to be like this. Just so we're crystal clear about that.

No one is supposed to walk into a grade school and slaughter children. No one has that right.

Someone has to say this clearly and compellingly to the children we are nurturing toward wholeness.

Today, and this weekend, and next week—long before we know why those children and their teaches were stolen from us, if indeed we ever come to know that fully—we will be face to face with kids who, in the teeth of this grotesquely efficient evil, question God and the adults who present themselves as being in charge of the world as it is.

We must tell the children it's not supposed to be like this.

We must tell them the God who spoke through the prophets at many times and in various ways—who in these last days has spoken to us by his Son—this God takes no pleasure in the suffering and death of his creatures.

We must tell them it's not supposed to be like this, and someday it won’t be.

We have to tell them the hope of the gospel includes a new heaven and a new earth where goodness is at home—we haven’t seen it, but in faith we see it coming.

In the meantime, we must tell them, life is grace and horrible things happen; people are capable of breathtaking acts of love and staggering acts of violence and oppression; the sun rises and the rain falls on people who are good and people who are horrid.