At least we’re talking!

The nation is finally talking about two important issues: comprehensive immigration reform and sensible gun safety laws.

My show begins at 10am ET, which is when today Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Preventing Gun Violence started this morning.  The first to speak was former Congresswoman and gunshot victim Gabrielle Giffords.  We carried her brief but very moving statement live.

Her husband, Mark Kelly also spoke

So did NRA chief Wayne LaPierre, but I won’t post the video of his statement here. He spouted the same bullshit he’s been spewing as long as we’ve known his name. Nonsense like criminals won’t submit to background checks so we shouldn’t bother to make a law requiring them.  Yeah, you get the idea.

Meanwhile, as I’m writing this post, I have the hearing on one computer screen – and, you guessed it, an active mass shooting scene in Phoenix on another (or as Tom Tomorrow tweeted:
Looks like we have another mass freedom outbreak in Arizona”)

Surreal and sickening.

And unfortunately, since the NRA has  bought and now own so many members of Congress – and the NRA only represents the gun industry and not the majority of its members who support sensible gun laws including universal background checks – I’m afraid this whole thing might be an exercise in futility.  But I hope not.

On the other hand, the obstructionist Republican party, after getting trounced in the 2012 elections, finally realized that without some support from the Hispanic community, they’re bound for extinction.  So, they’re now championing immigration reform!  A group of 8 senators (4 D’s and 4 R’s) got together two days ago to announce their proposal, upstaging the president by one day.

This morning, I invited Gaby Pacheco to tell us about her 10 years of immigration reform activism as an undocumented student brought here from Ecuador by her parents when she was 8 years old.

In the second hour, Amy Simon of She’s History told us about going to see Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speak over the weekend.  And Crooks and Liars‘ John Amato joined in too.