Food for Thought - 06 Aug 2019

| August 05, 2019

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Pictured above: One of many who need us to do better, so that their future is secure

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ABQ Weather or Not

It seems to me that we are having longer, hotter summers - so I thought I'd check out how this July stacked up:

The average temperature for Albuquerque in July 2019 was 80.7°, which was 2.4 degrees above the normal of 78.3°.
The average maximum temperature for the month was 93.5°. This was 3.4 degrees above the normal average maximum temperature of 90.1°.
The average minimum temperature for the month was 67.9°. This was 1.5 degrees above the normal average minimum temperature of 66.4 degrees

(Source: The National Weather Service)

I am not implying that the local rise in temperature is linked to deforestation along the Rio Grande corridor (because both CABQ and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District , by working together, have a pretty good handle on that), but if you would like a better understanding of why all of us should be concerned about this topic, CLICK HERE

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Go Local

We have an amazing US Congresswoman representing CD-1.

Look at what she has done in her first 200 days:

According to a staff member in her Albuquerque office, the best way to follow Deb is her Facebook page

Please consider attending this Saturday's event:

CLICK HERE: With Global Recycling Challenges Impacting Local Communities, Haaland Demands Federal Action

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Our Neighbors

HOW YOU CAN HELP

"El Paso has had to deal with a terrible tragedy. On the morning of August 3, one confirmed shooter entered several busy retail locations and opened fire." - The El Paso Community Foundation

When does this stop? Here are links if you would like to donate blood or money

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Our Future

This couldn't make it easier! Click here

Why would you want to do this? Let me count the ways:

Have you moved recently and not updated your records? You want to be registered in the right state and in the right districts, so when election time rolls around, your voting for the candidate who represents you.

Are you or is someone in your household eligible to vote but not registered? If you don't want to register online for some reason, there are so many Voter Registration agents who want to make it as easy as possible for you. Contact me if you need someone to contact you.

Do you think your vote doesn't matter? It does. Your vote is your voice and it is also your responsibility. There is a huge number of voters who aren't registered as either Republicans or Democrats - but who vote. They don't let their disenchantment with either the two-party system or the current state of affairs silence them. If you are among them, or if you feel you need to cross party lines - vote. Or register to vote. The 2020 General Election is shaping up to be one of the most important of our lifetime - it is time to speak up!

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RACISM, WHITE SUPREMACY, GUN VIOLENCE

(and a Government at odds with dealing with it)

I went to bed on Saturday night, sick at heart about another mass shooting - this time not all that far away, El Paso. During the night, another 9 people were killed in Dayton, Ohio.

Yesterday the news was filled with what it always reports in the wake of these senseless killings. I force myself to read these reports - not because I am ill-informed, but because I refuse to normalize it with a "same old, same old" attitude. This cannot be normal.

I awakened this morning to an email from David Leonhardt, an Op-Ed columnist for the NYT and an alert from The Guardian, one of several news sources (which, by the way, also includes Fox News). I am going to provide links to both articles at the bottom of this segment.

And by the time I'd reached work, the President was blaming the media - all too often a fallback scapegoat when broad gun control measures are really what the majority of America is looking for as a remed, not an excuse. Yes, mental health is definitely a problem. Yes, White Supremacy is on the rise in this country. But really?

Does this ring a bell:

December 14, 2012.

That was the day 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It certainly wasn't our first mass shooting, but most of America wanted to believe on that day, in the face of such heart-wrenching tragedy, it would be the last. And here we are, approaching another anniversary: the 7th.

We have never needed a fully functional political system more. We have never been in greater need of effective leaders, who represent their constituents and fight for what's right. And what do we have instead? A divided country, a broken political system, and a Senate that appears to view its greatest responsibility as countering the House, doing the President's bidding, and incapable of compromise. (As for compromise, the same can be said, sadly, for the House).

DAVID LEONHARDT opinion piece (NYT)

"Conservative America is mostly filled with honorable people who deplore violence and bear no responsibility for right-wing hate killings. Some mass shootings have no evident political motive, like the one in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday. And liberal America also has violent and deranged people..."But...

THE GUARDIAN - EL PASO SHOOTING COMES AMID GLOBAL RISE IN WHITE NATIONALIST VIOLENCE

We can point fingers until the cows come home. We can accept this as the "new normal". And we can dismiss it as "what's happening everywhere" and be dismissive. I don't know what the answer is, but my money is on commonsense gun control and letting our "elected leaders" know they aren't getting our votes if they don't enact it. Stop listening to your donors and begin listening to your electorate!

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