Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Kirsten

Kirsten Gillibrand has abandoned her long-shot bid to become the 2020 Democratic nominee.   I say, good riddance.

A recent New Yorker article described how seven current and former Senators who called for Al Franken's resignation have expressed regrets at their hasty and premature actions.  But not Kirsten, who still says she has no regrets.

Typical of the seven regretful Senators is Pat Leahy, who called it "one of the biggest mistakes I've made" in his 45 years in the Senate.  Others who also had the courage to admit their mistakes include Heidi Heitkamp, Tammy Duckworth, Angus King, Jeff Merkley, Bill Nelson, and Tom Udall.  But not Kirsten Gillibrand.

I say goodbye and good riddance to a bad Senator and a morally reprehensible jerk.

Mental Illness and Mass Shootings

People continue to cite "mental illness' as a cause of mass shootings.  This is wrong for many reasons.

The motivation for many who talk about this is to divert attention away from the real problem, which is the proliferation of guns in this country.  In fact, the people who talk about mental illness as a cause of gun violence are often the same people who oppose increased funding for mental illness and other programs designed to promote the general welfare.

Experts tell us that mental illness is a primary cause of only about 5% of mass shootings.  They point out that hate is not a mental illness.

To continually refer to mental illness as a cause serves to further stigmatize those folks who suffer from some form of mental illness.  This further discourages those needing help from seeking it.

The fact is that those suffering from mental illness are more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators of it.  Further, if they do commit violence, it is more likely to be upon themselves rather than upon others.

Left unaddressed is the problem of how do you get those suffering from a mental illness to get help, if they don't want it?  Is the right wing prepared to incarcerate everyone who needs help but won't seek it voluntarily?

The Jews have it right on Abortion

After years of letting the anti-abortion crowd control the narrative on abortion, a member of the mainstream media has finally presented  the other side.  USA today, to its eternal credit, published an article on July 25th detailing the Jewish position on abortion, which holds that the fetus is not a living being.

The long article presents different interpretations of the same Old Testament texts which the anti-abortion crowd relies upon.  But even more pertinent, the article details why common sense dictates a different view.

If, as many anti-abortion extremists say, abortion is really murder, then women who have abortions should be prosecuted for first-degree murder, since it is obviously a premeditated act.  They should then be sentenced to life imprisonment, or, in states which still have the death penalty, to execution.  That the anti-abortionists do not go this far demonstrates that they don't really believe their own demagogic rhetoric.  

We cannot allow the anti-abortionist fanatics to hijack our religion.  When Jesus said "love thy neighbor", he was talking about loving people, not fetuses.  A fetus is not life; it is, at best, potential life.  Let us pray that common sense will prevail in this country, although right now that day seems a long way off.