Thankfully, this country seems to have reached the tipping point on guns. I say thankfully because we can’t take another Newtown or Aurora or Tuscon or Portland or Ft. Hood …. Yesterday, on the second anniversary of the Tuscon shootings, former gun rights advocate and shooting victim, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly announced the formation of a new group (PAC) called Americans for Responsible Solutions for the purpose of raising money to fight back against the NRA.
Today, VP Joe Biden and his task force begin three days of meetings with different groups from all sides of the gun debate. Today, the White House meetings include gun-safety organizations and shooting victims group, TOMORROW with the NRA and sportsmen who use guns recreationally. Friday Biden meets with reps from the entertainment and video game industries.
Interestingly enough, Walmart, the nation’s largest gun retailer originally declined the invitation. Someone saw the light and they will have a representative at tomorrow’s meeting.
According to reports, President Obama will announce his policy recommendations during the State of the Union address later this month.
Last night, Jon Stewart used two segments of his show to address the tragic epidemic of gun violence in the nation, and did it with the brilliance that we’ve come to expect from the Daily Show.
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Scapegoat Hunter | ||||
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Yes, it’s truly worth clicking through to watch the whole things
Now, are you ready to see one of the most beautiful places on earth? Watch this:
Bristol Bay Alaska, where almost half of the wild Sockeye Salmon in the world comes from. Not farmed, not engineered, but swimming wild in the pristine waters there. My friend Shannyn Moore – broadcaster and columnist – has lived in Alaska her entire life. She spent 17 years as a commercial fisherperson, and has been speaking out against the proposed Pebble Mine for as long as I’ve known her. Today, we talked about those two issues that the mainstream media is ignoring, and hope that you’ll care.
Read Robert Redford’s Huffington Post piece on the proposed Pebble Mine and sign the petition against it here.
After my conversation with Shannyn, I read some encouraging news pertaining to our discussion:
The New York Times is reporting that the Interior Dept yesterday launched an urgent review (60 days) of Arctic drilling operations after a series of accidents and blunders involving Shell Oil’s drill ships and support equipment, culminating in the grounding of one of its drilling vessels last week off the coast of Alaska.
Officials said the new assessment by federal regulators could halt or scale back Shell’s program to open Alaska’s Arctic waters to oil exploration, a $4.5 billion effort that has been plagued by equipment failures, legal delays, mismanagement and bad weather. The president of Shell said “It’s not a concern to me. I welcome this kind of high-level review”.
Environmental advocates have been leery of the Arctic drilling program for years and became especially vocal after the drilling rig Kulluk ran aground. Greenpeace said it hoped 60 days was long enough to properly examine the extraordinary number of dangerous incidents. Oceana said it hoped the review amounted to more than a paper exercise. Interior is “complicit in Shell’s failures because it granted the approvals that allowed Shell to operate”
Stay tuned…
It’s Wednesday, that means visits from Amy Simon of She’s History, who today told us about how stay at home moms are screwed when it comes to Social Security and more, and John Amato of Crooks & Liars, who seems interested in my project to try out my dad’s system outlined in his book, How to Beat the Bookies at Pro Football. Again, stay tuned…