Wisconsin To Allow Concealed Carry of Handguns

On November 1st, Wisconsin will become one of the last states to lift its ban on the ability of citizens to carry certain types of lethal weapons, primarily handguns.   The belief that handguns save lives or prevent crime is very prevalent.  However, many who support handgun or firearm ownership are not taking into account other harms to society (accidental shootings, violence against women and children, suicide rates, and handgun related crime).

The U.S. Constitution is actually very clear about the ownership of firearms - it says in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution that, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."  To me, it seems like firearms should only be carried by members of a 'well-regulated militia.'  But that's just me, I guess.  If you want to know what is being allowed in Wisconsin, and what isn't, check out this link. I think that this is a big setback for Wisconsin, as well as for the U.S..  In my view, it's only a matter of time before we start seeing increased handgun violence in our neck of the woods.

To read more about what a scientific review of literature shows about the pros and cons of gun ownership, please see below, as well as the excellent resources at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/index.html

From 1990 to 1997, there were 293,781 firearm deaths homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings.

(Hoyert, DL, Kochanek, KD, et al. Deaths: Final Data for 1997. National Vital Statistics Report, 1999.)

For every time a gun in the home is used in a self-defense homicide, a gun will be used in:

1.3 unintentional deaths
4.6 criminal homicides
37 suicides

(Kellermann, AL and Reay, DT. "Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home." NEJM 314:24 (1986):1557-1560)

In 1997 there were 15,690 homicides.

Of these, 8,503 were committed with handguns.

Among handgun homicides, only 193 (2.3 percent) were classified as justifiable homicides by civilians.

For every time in 1997 that a civilian used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 43 people lost their lives in handgun homicides alone.

(FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data, 1997.)

The largest category of firearms fatality is suicide, not homicide. In 1997, 54 percent of all gun deaths were suicides, and 42 percent were homicides.

(Hoyert, DL, Kochanek, KD, et al. Deaths: Final Data for 1997. National Vital Statistics Report, 1999.)

About six out of 10 suicides are committed with firearms.

(CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Fact Sheet. Suicide in the United States, www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/suifacts.htm.)

Source:  http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/hgbanfs.htm

16 Years as a Vegan...

After getting turned on to vegetarianism in my early teens, I spent my high school and college years waking up to becoming vegan at age 21. Since then, I have never looked back for a second. And that was 16 years ago this fall. I did not really put a whole lot of thought into it at the time, really. Some people decide to join the military. Other people might find a religion. For me, I became vegan. Back in those days, in the mid-1990's, there wasn't a lot of information about veganism, let alone other people who understood or things you could buy that were vegan. What's happened is nothing less than a radical change in our society. I don't have to explain what it means to be vegan anymore - Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres have already done that for me. Even Bill Clinton is vegan. Is veganism winning? Hardly. Among my friends and relatives I find that there are very few who share my views about animals or food. I'm sure that many people I connect with regularly about a variety of other things would prefer to ignore my posts about animals online, let alone understand why I am the way I am. As an activist, I do want to encourage others to become vegan. I don't think I've ever succeeded in doing so - it has occurred to me that perhaps I would be more effective if I posted less about the pain and suffering incurred by animals and more about the positive health and environmental effects that come about through people choosing plant-based diets. I will probably keep posting about both. People change all the time, and you never know what will eventually convince someone to make such an enormous personal sacrifice. For me, it was just seeing a lot of animal carcasses when I lived in China. For you, it might be this blog post.

More info: http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/ and http://www.worldgoveganweek.org/

Happy World Go Vegan Week Oct. 24-31!!!

There are lots of good reasons to go vegan (health, environmental, ethical, economic, financial, religious).  Integrating a plant-based diet into your life will bring you immediate positive results - whether you eat vegan one-meal-a-week or all-week-long.  Give it a try!  You have nothing to lose! Here's Hannah West with Madison's Alliance for Animals talking about some of the ways to go vegan in Madison this week!


http://www.wkow.com/story/15709590/world-go-vegan-week
http://www.worldgoveganweek.org/

Wisconsin's Medicaid Programs: Urgent Action Needed

You may already know that Dennis Smith is a former Senior Fellow of the right-wing Heritage Foundation who led the Medicare and Medicaid programs under George W. Bush.  Smith has written extensively on his desire to destroy Medicaid and oppose Obama's Health Care bill which was passed in 2010.  A list of his writings at the Heritage Foundation can be found here.

Now, Smith (current Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Health Services) and his deputy, Kitty Rhoades (a former Republican Assembly member), have announced two town hall meetings to take place Wednesday, October 19th, at the Goodman Community Center on Madison's East Side and on October 21st at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, to take feedback to proposals they made public only three weeks ago, on September 26th.  Even more outrageous, the town halls were made public with only a few days notice (on Friday, October 14th), leaving community health advocates little time to prepare, let alone even know that the town halls were taking place.

Smith's plan to cut $500 million by tightening eligibility requirements and thus dropping tens of thousands of people from Medicaid coverage is in addition to proposals to increase co-payments of low-income people and to put a cap on Family Care enrollment.  

Needless to say health, disability, and family advocates are outraged at many of the proposed changes.  Please see the Wisconsin Council on Children and Family's website here, the Save BadgerCare Coalition's website here and here, and the Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Organizations' statement on Medicaid policy changes.

Please consider coming to one of the town halls to protest the attempt of conservatives to continue their attacks on Wisconsin's most vulnerable citizens.  More information on the Milwaukee town hall can be found here, as well as about the one in Madison, here.  If you cannot attend, please contact your state legislators right away and let them know how you feel about Smith and his proposed changes (legislator lookup).

A complete list of reforms is provided at the DHS website.

I've created a Facebook event page for the Madison town hall tomorrow.  Please check it out and share with others!  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=305599539455156

'National Food Day' Coming up On October 24

Check it out: http://foodday.org/

March to End the Wars in Madison Wisconsin Sat Oct 15 11:30 a.m. at Library Mall

The following event is being put on by the Madison Area Peace Coalition in observance of 10 years since the Afghan war began.  More info, visit:  http://madpeace.org/

Number of Seniors Struggling with Addictions to Triple by 2020

According to a recent report, the increasing number of baby boomers will contribute to a pretty significant increase in the number of seniors who are engaged in problematic addictive behaviors - from 3 million currently to 9 million by 2020.  With increasing treatment opportunities available, as well as new knowledge about the cause, prevention, and potential cure for various addictions, I am hopeful that everyone who needs help will be able to find it.

Link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/drug-addiction-seniors-_n_996390.html

Mike Nichols' Hack Job About Anti-Cheese Billboard Misses the Point

In a wildly accusatory and jumbled column in today's Wisconsin State Journal, Mike Nichols attacks people from the East Coast and Indiana, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and anyone else who might think that there might be something about cheese that is bad for your health.  He just skips over the link between fat, cholesterol, and sodium and poor health effects - even though this is the point of a billboard that is the focus of his article.  Did he ask a coroner or a physician how many people have died from heart disease, diabetes, or similar obesity-related health problems?  No, his 'experts' were the Executive Director of the National Historic Cheesemaking Center and the Green County Register of Deeds.  I think that Mr. Nichols was actually phoning it in with this week's column.  It's just a nonsensical rant which is a weak attempt at humor.  I don't think people are buying what he's selling - at least not this tripe.

Note:  When Mike Nichols is not writing his weekly op-ed piece at the Wisconsin State Journal, he is a Senior Fellow at the Wisconsin Public Research Institute - a conservative think tank based in Hartland, Wisconsin.  The pro-business WPRI has a record of siding with commerce and industry against the environment and public health interests.

Dane County Heroin Issue

You may know someone who uses heroin or have read about it in the newspaper or online.  In Dane County, Wisconsin, it is the most dangerous illicit drug.  As of June of this year, there were 15 deaths due to heroin overdoses in Dane County, and there is concern that it will exceed last year's death toll of 27.  There are also more traffic accidents involving heroin, such as this one where someone drove head-on into a Madison Metro bu (link: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_5fad673e-ee81-11e0-b4ea-001cc4c03286.html).  Police and county officials are finding that Madison is a regional hub for heroin and people are driving here from up to 50 miles away to purchase the drug (link: http://www.channel3000.com/news/29031530/detail.html).  For anyone in Dane County who is struggling with any type of substance abuse issue, please consider getting help.  Here is the county's list of available resources - many of which are national programs, so even if you aren't in Dane county you should be able to find someone to call in your area.  http://www.danecountyhumanservices.org/AODA/additional_resources.aspx

NYT Article on Substance Abuse Vaccine Under Development

Today's New York Times has an article about Dr. Kim D. Janda at the Scripps Research Institute, who has been working on developing vaccines for substance abuse and obesity.

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/health/04vaccine.html

October is a Good Month to Recharge Your Dietary Goals

People who know me know that I would not be a vegetarian if it is was not for my belief that nearly all animals deserve to live and that they need at least a modicum of autonomy.  But it just so happens that vegetarianism is useful to us as well, primarily in terms of health.  And today people are lucky because it is now possible to go vegetarian for just a few meals and they don't need to give up that much in order to fit it in.  There are 'Meatless Monday's' and things like that. Well, October 1st was World Vegetarian Day, and I totally missed it.  Good thing that World Go Vegan Week is coming up from October 24-31, so my slip up is not a total loss.  You really have nothing to lose, so why not give it a try and see if you can live off only fruits, veggies, nuts, and grains for a whole week!   There are some great recipes at my friend Tess Challis' website:  Radiant Health, Inner Wealth.   Oh, and just to lighten the mood, since many people incorrectly believe vegans lack a sense of humor, here's a clip from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for you to enjoy.