Find out how Cooch took $55,000 from the disgraced "U.S. Navy Veterans Association," in apparent exchange for his promise to get the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs (which had "notified Thompson's group that it no longer qualified for an exemption from state registration requirements") off the group's back. Can we say "pay-to-play?" Find out more.
A poll of attitudes towards gun laws, conducted by the respected Lake Research Partners of Virginia Senate Districts 21 and 38 (southwestern Virginia; John Edwards' and Phil Puckett's districts), is being released this morning. I received an advance copy of the polling memo, which you can view in its entirety here. A few highlights.
1. "[S]trong majorities of voters oppose ending the state's one handgun a month law, allowing guns on campuses, and allowing any person to carry a concealed and loaded gun without a permit or background check."
2. "Voters in both districts want to make gun laws stronger, not less restrictive."
3. "Voters strongly endorse requiring background checks for people purchasing guns and permits for people who want to carry a concealed loaded weapon."
4. "Nine in ten voters in both districts oppose a suggested change that would allow any person to carry a concealed and loaded gun in public places without a permit or background check."
5. "More than seven in ten voters in both districts oppose allowing students, faculty, and staff at Virginia's state colleges and universities to carry concealed and loaded guns on campus."
6. "More than six in ten voters oppose changing Virginia's law that currently restricts handgun purchases to one a month."
Perhaps most impressive - even stunning - is that gun owners in generally conservative, southwestern Virginia (note that there are also significant urban areas in Sen. Edwards' district along with rural and suburban areas) hold very similar attitudes to non-gun owners. For instance, only about 37% of gun owners, and about 26% of non-gun owners, in the 21st and 38th Senate districts support changing Virginia law to allow people to purchase more than one handgun a month. With regard to allowing guns on college campuses, just 24% of non-gun owners support that, and also just 30% of gun owners. Finally, 94% of gun owners, and 95% of non-gun owners, in the 21st and 38th Senate districts believe that "anyone who buys a gun should be required to have a background check done."
Bottom line: even in two districts of generally-seen-as-"pro-gun" southwestern Virginia, and even among gun owners living in those districts, there is little support for weakening Virginia's gun laws, and far more support for keeping them the same or strengthening them. Which raises the question: why are members of the Virginia General Assembly voting against the wishes of a strong, even overwhelming, majority of their constituents? Think about that one for a minute.
"We will live in peace. We will live in peace. We will live in peace one day.... Oh, deep in my heart I do believe we will live in peace one day." ("The last verse to We Shall Overcome," which we sang on Dr. King's birthday.
Each time I sing those words, I am moved (sometimes to tears) by the the distance yet to go juxtaposed to the promise of equality and peace. This year I am not so hopeful. It has been a year of national backsliding. No matter what, we try to keep the dream alive. No matter what, we believe that we can make progress toward the dream. In many was we have. But in important other ways we have not.
We have an historic president. But the truth is that the institutions of America have found subtle and un-subtle ways to sabotage this presidency and our national progress on race. Racism is alive and not well. And it makes the accomplishments of this President against such constraints all the more remarkable. Lowkell has enumerated many of these accomplishments on this front page today. Nonetheless, we have substantial racism in 2012 America.
If you doubt that, you have only to look at all the institutional efforts to purport that quotas are required under Affirmative Action (they are not only not required but forbidden unless there is a court order). Yet the myth is professed to rile white America. You have only to look as far as Prince William County and its codified xenophobia. You have only to look to the shrinking enrollments of African Americans in some universities or the incredibly (even staggeringly) high unemployment among African American youth. You have only to look at our prisons and the prison industrial complex's unwillingness to move beyond the faux justice ("need" for "finality") in favor of real justice of getting the right person in criminal cases. The incarceration of so many people of color should make all Americans reflect. My reflection brings me to the point of resolving to work in some capacity on innocence and sentencing reform projects. They are the civil rights problems of our time.
As college football bowl season gets into full swing, New York Times columnist Joe Nocera reminds us that the games will generate millions in revenue for the schools and coaches - and almost nothing for the kids actually playing:
The hypocrisy that permeates big-money college sports takes your breath away. College football and men's basketball have become such huge commercial enterprises that together they generate more than $6 billion in annual revenue, more than the National Basketball Association. A top college coach can make as much or more than a professional coach; Ohio State just agreed to pay Urban Meyer $24 million over six years. Powerful conferences like the S.E.C. and the Pac 12 have signed lucrative TV deals, while the Big 10 and the University of Texas have created their own sports networks. Companies like Coors and Chick-fil-A eagerly toss millions in marketing dollars at college sports. Last year, Turner Broadcasting and CBS signed a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal for the television rights to the N.C.A.A.'s men's basketball national championship tournament (a k a "March Madness"). And what does the labor force that makes it possible for coaches to earn millions, and causes marketers to spend billions, get? Nothing. The workers are supposed to be content with a scholarship that does not even cover the full cost of attending college. Any student athlete who accepts an unapproved, free hamburger from a coach, or even a fan, is in violation of N.C.A.A. rules.
These regulations target health centers that provide a wide range of reproductive health care services, including family planning, cancer screening and treatment, prenatal care, and more. These regulations do not increase patient safety and health-rather, they severely restrict access to the health care Virginians need.
The regulations go beyond the legal requirements, putting Virginia at risk for ongoing legal battles as women's health organizations fight to protect women's health and safety. No state has ever passed, and no court has ever upheld, such burdensome regulations.
Now that the Governor has signed these so-called emergency regulations, we along with our coalition partners, will look ahead to the permanent regulatory process. This process will offer opportunity for expert and public input and comment. The coalition will review the regulations and determine the most appropriate strategy to protect women's health and rights in light of this grave overstep by the Virginia legislature, attorney general, and governor.
TAKE ACTION: Contact Governor McDonnell's office to express your outrage. You can either use his webform or call his office at 804.786.2211.
Suggested talking points:
-I am shocked by the degree to which this administration has chosen to ignore medical evidence and expertise in favor of a politicized agenda.
The current regulations have little to do with practicing medicineand everything to do with playing politics with women's health and rights. Doctors already practice in safe offices and health centers. We are already regulated and meet top medical standards.
-These regulations require health centers to make onerous and unnecessary architectural changes that create more financial and logistical challenges for patients. In these difficult economic times, we should be doing more to help women and families access health care services.
-I had hoped Governor McDonnell would put patient interests before politics and reject these burdensome and unnecessary regulations. This is harmful to women and shameful politics.
As you may have recently seen in the news outlets, Lowe's Home Improvement recently pulled its ads from the TLC show All-American Muslim in response to an organization claiming the show "falsely humanized Muslims in America." This controversy has exposed more Islamophobia in America which falls directly in line with what the My Fellow American project is trying to prevent and overcome in America.
As a supporter of the project, would you please visit www.myfellowamerican.us to share what this controversy means to you? We encourage you to to help spread the message of tolerance to fight back against intolerance and fear-mongering. We've just posted a host of new content from various entertainers and faith leaders on this topic. There is also a pledge button to show your support to the cause.
A New Orleans artist has created an interesting way to let both owners of derelict properties and city officials know the space could be greater. Candy Chang has printed (easily-removed) stickers that read "I Wish This Was" with space for residents to fill in what they'd like to see in their neighborhood. The responses are revealing - everything from the practical ("a grocery") to the truly wishful ("Brad Pitt's house"). More background on the project:
I Wish This Was began in New Orleans in November 2010. It was inspired by vacant storefronts. There are a lot of them where Candy lives in New Orleans. There are also a lot of people who need things, including a full-service grocery store. What if we could easily voice what we want, where we want it? How can we influence the businesses and services in our neighborhoods?
Combining street art and urban planning, Candy created fill-in-the-blank stickers that say "I wish this was __." With support from the Ethnographic Terminalia exhibit, she placed boxes of free stickers in businesses around the city and posted grids of blank stickers and a permanent marker on vacant storefronts to invite passersby to write their thoughts. The stickers are vinyl and they can be easily removed without damaging property. Responses ranged from the functional to the poetic: I wish this was... a butcher shop, a community garden, a bike rack, an affordable farmer's market, a Chinese restaurant, a place to sit and talk, Brad Pitt's house, real soul food, a dancing school, full of nymphomaniacs with PhDs, Heaven. It's a fun, low-barrier tool to provide civic input onsite, and the responses reflect the hopes, dreams, and colorful imaginations of different neighborhoods.
You can learn more (and buy the stickers) at IWishThisWas.com. One of my favorites:
Mine was no ordinary Thanksgiving. It was my first following the death of my mother three months ago. I have also lost a friend and my favorite uncle. Last week another friend hovered between life and our loss of her. Sunday she passed away. But a story, juxtaposed to this week of heavy-hearted sorrow moved me in ways that, however briefly, made my spirit soar. It is the story of love and overcoming overwhelming injustice. And it is the story of forgiveness and transcendence.
I saw this. Story on "Democracy Now." Sonia (Sunny) Jacobs wed Peter Pringle this past week. This is a different story of life and death (and love) that could make you more thankful than ever, as it did me. They each spent a decade-and-a-half on death row-for crimes they never committed. Sonia's first husband was even executed before he was exonerated. His was the famous case whose head caught fire during his electrocution. You probably read about it. How do we live with ourselves, I wonder?
The story of how Sunny endured and even grew during her horrendous isolation in solitary confinement, the only woman in the US on death row, is one about truly loving woman, embracing life in all its sometimes awfulness, and staying strong both physically and mentally.
The above video, from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, was taken on Thursday, November 17th, at Virginia Tech. As the press release explains, the video shows "[s]urvivors of the Virginia Tech massacre and their family members" debating "the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) - a radical pro-gun group that seeks the elimination of all gun laws, including background checks." According to Omar Samaha, whose sister Reema was murdered in the Virginia Tech mass shooting, "guns be banned on college campuses...[and] we must have universal background checks on gun buyers that adequately screen mental health history." According to Colin Goddard, who was shot four times during the massacre, "The reason that Virginia's college campuses are some of the safest places in the Commonwealth is in large part because of their strict policies concerning firearms." Finally, Lori Haas - whose daughter Emily was shot in the head but who thankfully survived the massacre, "It's unfathomable that the VCDL would advocate for the elimination of background checks on gun buyers in the wake of what happened at Virginia Tech."
As you can see in the video, the VCDL members disagree with these arguments. Why? Apparently, it's based on their belief that more guns on campus means more safety, not less. In addition, it appears to be based on their perception that the current system for background checks and gun permits in Virginia adequately protects the public from the mentally disturbed, who almost everyone would agree shouldn't have access to guns. Unfortunately, as the Virginia Tech massacre demonstrated, and as pointed out in this video by Lori Haas and others, that simply isn't the case in Virginia at the present time. To the contrary, as pointed out repeatedly in the video, it's extremely easy for just about anyone to get firearms, a concealed carry permit, whatever they want, with minimal if any background checks.
It's great to see Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos back at Nationals Park after his kidnapping drama in Venezuela. Ramos recently finished 4th in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (just ahead of fellow Nats rookie Danny Espinosa). We wish him in the best in putting the ordeal behind him and having a strong 2012 - and maybe leading a playoff charge? Video via Nats Insider:
The following press release from Mayors Against Illegal Guns describes an event which actually took place yesterday, in which several Virginia survivors - and relatives - of gun violence participated. The Virginians are listed, along with their bios, on the "flip." Thanks to Lori Haas, Omar Samaha, Jeanette Richardson, and everyone else working hard on this issue.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns co-chairs New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and more than 50 survivors of recent mass shootings will urge Congress to reform the national background check system for gun purchases to prevent dangerous people from obtaining firearms in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism and at a press conference next week.
The hearing will be the first to consider flaws in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System since the January 8th mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona that left six people dead and 13 others wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The press conference will mark the conclusion of the National Drive to Fix Gun Checks, a nationwide campaign launched after the Tucson shooting and led by Omar Samaha, whose sister was killed in the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. The campaign featured a mobile billboard truck that held more than 50 events in 21 cities with mayors, law enforcement leaders and gun violence survivors and gathered the names of more than 350,000 Americans who are calling on Congress to improve the national do-not-sell database.
In a few short verses, here's what Occupy Wall Street is protesting. Use it when querulous conservatives whine there is no message, that #OWS has no demands (not yet, in a formal 18th century petition to King George form, perhaps, but so what? My thought is: This is Step One). My question is: What next? Where do we go from here?
This about sums it all up. An utterly sickening in every way.
It's easy to miss the significance of the Joe Paterno story unless you take a breath, step back, and think about what it measn in our lives. It's not just a story about a world class university that covered up a disgusting history about one of its own university leaders raping, sodomizing, and scarring the lives of 8 to 12 year old boys for at least 15 straight years. Yes, Penn State did intentionally set out to put the good name of their university above the best interest of innocent children who were raped physically and psychologically and spiritually by a 6 foot 5 sick predator.
Thanks to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) for this video, and for the following explanation of when it took place and what happened, exactly.
Violence prevention advocates including Students for Gun-Free Schools (SGFS), Virginians for Responsible Gun Laws (VRGL), and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) traveled to George Mason University (GMU) on November 9, 2011 to rally with students and faculty for a gun-free campus. On that day, the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) - a radical pro-gun group that seeks the elimination of all firearm regulations, including background checks on gun buyers - was on campus calling for legislation to force GMU to allow the carrying of loaded guns in university classrooms and dormitories. This video captures some of the debate that ensued between the two sides.
Watch in particular as Ladd Everitt of CSGV utterly demolishes, using fact and logic, the arguments of advocates for guns on campus. It's fascinating, such as when one of the pro-gun people claims that "50 million handguns in the United States but ONLY 17,000 murders" means...well, something or other. "Only" 17,000 murders, eh? Can we say "callous?" Wow.
The facts are, as Ladd Everitt explains in the video, that laws - whether against murder, assault, or anything else - are there as deterrents, not with any expectation of 100% perfection. Everitt also explains that, "compared to other industrialized Democracies that have actual gun laws on the books, our rate of gun death is dramatically higher."
For his part, Colin Goddard (shot four times in the Virginia Tech massacre) refutes the claim of a pro-gun activist that guns can't be sold at Virginia gun shows without background checks. In fact, as you can see in this video, Goddard visited gun shows in the summer of 2009, wearing a hidden camera, and bought guns multiple times without showing any ID or going through any background checks. All he had to do was pay his money, take the guns, and walk away. Great, huh?
As you can see in this video, Josh Horwitz and Lori Haas of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence attempted yesterday to enter 31st State Senate District Republican candidate Caren Merrick's office building in McLean (1313 Dolley Madison, Suite 302) to collect her NRA questionnaire, which Merrick has promised multiple times to provide (although it should be noted that Merrick keeps moving the goalposts, first just saying she'd release it, then saying she'd ONLY release it if Barbara Favola released her AFL-CIO survey, which Favola did; then STILL not releasing the completed survey!). As you can see, Horwitz and Haas were not allowed in to the locked building, and Merrick staffers, who had been on the way out of the building, hightailed it back towards the elevator when they spotted Horwitz and Haas, who they're apparently terrified of at this point.
More background: Horwitz (Executive Director of CSGV) and Haas (mother of a Virginia Tech shooting survivor and Virginia coordinator for CSGV) have been attempting to get a copy of Merrick's NRA questionnaire for days now (again, as Merrick herself has promised multiple times to do!). Yesterday, they first stopped by Merrick's office -- which Merrick shares with Republican Delegate Barbara Comstock, another right wingnut - at 3 pm. At that time, Horwitz and Haas were told that there were no professional staff there, just volunteers (also note: Horwitz had called and asked when a good time to come pick up the survey, but nobody called him back). However, according to Horwitz, there clearly were professional staff there, possibly including a woman named Christina (claims to be a "volunteer" - who knows?) who you can see in the above video scurrying back to the elevator when she sees Horwitz and Haas. Also, Horwitz called at 4:30 pm, but Merrick staffers didn't answer the phone.
Now, on the "flip," find out what happens when Horwitz and Haas return at 6:30 pm last night to try once again to pick up Merrick's NRA questionnaire.
Two Sundays ago, Roanoke Times columnist Dan Casey had an excellent column entitled, Virginia Tech students fire back on gun debate. Casey describes his visit to Virginia Tech, where he talked to students about the issue of guns on campus, specifically in light of two things: 1) "a hair-splitting legal opinion issued in July by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli" which "holds that state universities...may not ban hidden handguns by mere policy, which does not have the force of law;" and 2) news "that the pro-handgun Virginia Citizens Defense League would soon demonstrate at Tech, and at some other state universities, for the right to carry concealed handguns on campus" (see here for more on that story).
So, what did Virginia Tech students think about all this? Casey asked them, and here's what they had to say.
*Nobody raised their hand when asked, "How many of you feel unsafe?"
*They did NOT want guns on their campus, with one saying it would "freak me out."
*One student pointed out that she "doubted that the suicidal shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, would have been deterred by the prospect others on campus may be armed," adding that "[e]ven if guns were allowed on campus, he still would have been mad at people."
*Another student was not thrilled at the thought of adding guns to the mix of "drunk-crazy fans who have a lot of alcohol in them," as she described them. Yet another student added, "The whole drunk and with guns thing would be very bad." Ya think?
Despite all of this common sense by students, not to mention the overwhelming majority of Americans (and Virginians) who oppose allowing guns in bars, in government buildings, or on college campuses, groups like the Virginia Citizens Defense League are working hard to allow just those things (see the VCDL candidate questionnaire here), not to mention - as Dan Casey points out in his column - "concealed gun-carrying in Virginia with no permit."
The question is, who will win this battle: Virginia Tech students or the VCDL? For my part, I'm strongly with the former. How about you?
This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters' mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.
Ha ha ha, brilliant! Or not -- here are a few snarky comments on this absurdity from the Media Matters blog:
*"Guns in bars, with the likelihood that the owners will become sloshed way beyond the point of rational cohesive thought. What could go wrong?"
*"Guns dont kill people. Drunk people kill people!"
*"I live in Virginia. It makes me nervous to go into restaurants and to sit too near the bar. I don't generally go to bars, and I sure won't be doing it here any time soon."
The NRA et al: making Virginia safe and appealing for familiestouristsbusiness owners...oh forget it. Anyway, feel free to add your snarky comment(s) below. Thanks, and bottoms up! Heh.
This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters' mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.
Over at Baseball Prospectus (The Green Miles is a huge stats geek), writers contribute to a storytelling session called Lineup Card. This week's is 14 Scariest Things to Happen While Driving. Far & away the best comes from Christina Kahrl, one of my favorite sports writers who also happens to be transsexual, and it takes place here in Virginia:
July, 2006. I was driving on I-66 from my home in Fairfax in towards the Beltway to drop in on Equality Virginia's field office to talk about doing some volunteer work to help campaign against the Marshall-Newman Amendment. Weekday or not, early afternoon or not, we're crawling along in stop-and-go traffic, around 10-15 mph. The VDOT van in front of me stopped that fraction of a second faster than I expected, and for that millisecond too long, it registers that he's come to a complete stop.
That pause costs me: I hit his bumper. Nobody's air bag goes off, not at this speed. There's an embarrassed pause, I can't see how badly my car's been damaged-not very-but we immediately pull over to the inside shoulder.
So far, so good. I'm an idiot and I'm embarrassed, but the Va. Department of Transportation guys-a West African emigre behind the wheel and a beefy, 50-something old-timer riding shotgun-are good-natured and intent on making sure that I'm okay. It's blisteringly hot, and they genially offer me a Gatorade from their cooler as we swelter and wait for a policeman to eventually show up and collect an incident report. I call Equality Virginia to apologize that I won't make my appointment and then my insurance company-just your average dumb day on the road, the sort of thing you'd rather avoid, but happily enough, nobody's hurt. The rest should be a matter of logistics.
And then the state trooper arrived. He looks at me and then my driver's license, which in Virginia has to have one key letter instead of another. He decides right off the bat that he doesn't much care for the cut of my jib. He sets the tone at the outset, referring to me as "Mr. Kahrl" with a snigger; it's a good three years past the time that title would have been appropriate. With transparent glee, he walks me to his patrol car and chucks me into the back. He immediately demands my confession to driving recklessly. At 10 mph. In a low-velocity fender-bender so slo-mo that nobody's air bag went off.
You have to go read the whole thing to find out what happens, it's #14. I just wish she'd included the judge's name.
I'll tell you, just when you think the NRA can't get any shriller, more unhinged and detached from reality, they do! Check out the video above, courtesy of Media Matters, including the following transcript of what Chris Matthews had to say regarding this insane speech by National Raving Lunatics Rifle Association executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre.
MATTHEWS: Well here's something that another strain of the crazy far right. Here's the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre, and I've know this guy a long time, I'm astounded by this new accusation that the President is leading some conspiracy.
[....]
The language, "lie," "conspiracy," it's almost like, I don't know Lincoln talking about what was going on in civil war below the Mason Dixon line. I mean, this is civil war talk about a President of the United States.
Yes, and it's also completely crazy talk. In fact, as Crooks and Liars points out, "Gun control advocates have criticized the president for not pushing for new gun control legislation in the wake of a January shooting that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in serious condition and six others dead." And, as Gerry Connolly explained the other day in great detail, Democrats are absolutely terrified of crossing the gun lobby, despite strong public support for reasonable, common sense gun safety measures in this country, and have absolutely no plans whatsoever to take any action on this issue. To the contrary, the further they can run from this issue, the better from their perspective. So what's Wayne LaPierre ranting about? Either he really believes what he's saying, in which case he's bonkers. Or, more likely, it's just smart marketing: rev up the fear among his "base," keep the membership numbers high, and fend off any competitors from his organization's "right." But it's still crazy talk, and it's a frightening thought that there might actually be people out there who believe this lunacy.
This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters' mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.
This is the last in my series of videos on the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence event Wednesday night. Lori Haas, who speaks in this video, got involved in the gun issue after her daughter, Emily, was wounded in the Virginia Tech shootings. As Haas describes in this video, she received a phone call on April 16, 2007, that no parent ever wants to get, as she heard her daughter tell her, "mommy, I've been shot." Fortunately, Emily Haas survived -- as her mother says, she was "very lucky that morning," as 11 students and a professor in that classroom were murdered. Absolutely horrible.
Yesterday evening, I attended an event in Washington, DC, sponsored by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, entitled "Transforming the Gun Debate." The panel discussion was fascinating, including a talk by Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia's 11th Congressional District. I've got more video, but for now, I wanted to focus on one point Rep. Connolly made that's crucial to winning (or losing) the debate on guns, or really on any issue. According to Rep. Connolly, the key is that, no matter what percentage of people say they are on your side, "intensity matters." Connolly tells a fascinating story that illustrates this point extremely well. Here's a transcript of his remarks, with bolding added by me for emphasis of key points.
The other calculation is intensity, what mobilizes people? Let me take my district. Poll after poll in my district says we favor reasonable gun control. But is anybody in my district sufficiently intense about that issue that this is dispositive for them, and they're going to show up and so forth?
I once sponsored a hearing in Fairfax, and it was simply to amend our ordinance so that it would be illegal to drive around in the county with a loaded shotgun on the back of your car. That's all. We advertised the hearing, it was televised. I show up...and we have 500 seats in the auditorium at the government center, every single seat was filled, and there was a waiting line to get in, every single person seated was wearing camouflage and had their NRA notice. Not a single citizen on our side of the issue, not one, in a county with 1 million people, showed up, not one good guy even strayed into the room.
Now, what was the lesson? We had a majority on the board to vote for this ordinance change until that happened. And they looked and saw it, and they thought, I may do the right thing, and people might in theory agree with it, but they're never going to vote on this issue. THEY are, but our people aren't. And we had to withdraw the amendment, and that's the last we ever talked about it.
Intensity matters, what moves people to vote. I know, on the other side, many of them it's a single issue and it's going to move them to vote, and I'd rather not rile them up. And I know I'm not going to rile you people up...We have to change the calculus and the dynamic; if we do, you're going to see a significant shift in public opinion and in legislative action in America.
So, there you have it: even if 80% of people agree with you on an issue, it doesn't matter if they don't DO anything. If the people on "our" side don't speak up, don't get involved and organized, while people on the "other" side do all those things, guess who's going to win that fight? That's right, the 20% (or 10% or whatever) passionate minority. That's what Rep. Connolly's saying here, and it's a lesson we all should pay close attention to.
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A poll of attitudes towards gun laws, conducted by the respected Lake Research Partners of Virginia Senate Districts 21 and 38 (southwestern Virginia; John Edwards' and Phil Puckett's districts), is being released this morning. I received an advance copy of the polling memo, which you can 
As college football bowl season gets into full swing, New York Times columnist Joe Nocera reminds us that the games will generate millions in revenue for the schools and coaches - and 
Two Sundays ago, Roanoke Times columnist Dan Casey had an excellent column entitled, 
