I don't think, by this time, that I really need to elaborate on just what happened in a movie theater last weekend in Aurora, Colorado. Many people injured, twelve dead.
It's only been because of my unstable internet that I haven't posted about this situation sooner, but I'm happy to report that things seem to be back to normal, so here we are.
It's common enough to ask, after a tragedy like this, to wonder if there's anything we can do to help the victims. So I rounded up a few links to sites that answer that particular question.
First is the woman who lost her six-year-old daughter as a result of the shooting, Ashley Moser. In addition to having lost her little girl Veronica, Ashley also buried her father not long ago after a long battle with leukemia. She's expected to be paralyzed as a result of her injuries. Ashley's cousins have established a fund to raise money to help pay for her medical bills, because she doesn't exactly need other things to worry about right now. Click on this link to find out how you can attend a fundraiser in her honor if you live in the area, or how to contribute to the fund online if you don't.
The excellent website GiveForward has a list of a few fundraising pages on their site which are aimed at helping assorted victims of the shooting.
Do you live in or near the Denver area? There is a desperate shortage of blood donations because so much was sent to local hospitals to help those injured in the shooting. Go here to read about the need and find out how you can help.
And for ongoing developments in this particular situation, keep an eye on this page from the Huffington Post. They're maintaining an up-to-date list of pages with ways to help the victims.
I hope that all of the survivors of that dreadful night are able, in time, to find peace and closure. But in the short term, let's see what we can do to help make that possible.
Join me Mondays and Thursdays to laugh, to think, and to maybe change the world a little bit.
Showing posts with label tragedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tragedy. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2012
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Cat Lovers Be Warned: This Post Will Make You Mad
My last post was rather tongue-in-cheekly annoyed about certain kinds of Facebook statuses. It's not something that gets me genuinely angry, merely something that kind of bugs me; a ripple of discontent in an otherwise relatively smooth afternoon, you could say.
What I'm about to tell you today, on the other hand, makes me truly, sincerely, gut-churningly livid. And sick. And sad.
I learned about this the day after making the Facebook-related update, and I've been waiting ever since to update my readers. Not because I want to ruin your week the way this ruined mine, but because there's a call for action here that needs to be answered. This is not for the faint-hearted, so if you can't stomach the mistreatment of animals, I suggest you click the Back button now.
Here we go.
I'm going to try to skimp on the details as much as I can. Back in June, in Florida, a mother (and I use the term as loosely as possible) and her two sons found a pair of kittens in a public park. Eight-week-old adorable black and white kittens. And they beat them with an aluminum baseball bat. For no discernible reason.
Sorry. I shake just writing this. One of the kittens died from his injuries; the other, who was named Dexter by the veterinary staff who worked valiantly to save him, ultimately had to be euthanized in August. Dexter and his brother, who was posthumously named Drake, were Hemingway cats, with seven toes on each foot.
Why this woman isn't in jail with her children in the custody of the state is beyond me. Somehow she was able to get out on $3,500 bail, and she still has her kids living with her. This sick excuse for a human being is currently at liberty.
Now, I wouldn't have gone about ruining your day for no reason. There is something you can do. A petition exists online to have this woman prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The case against Wilana Frazier is currently proceeding, and they say the evidence against her is strong (apparently her own sister-in-law was among the witnesses and testified against her), but the petition is meanwhile ongoing and will not close until it reaches its target goal of 100,000 signatures. It's almost halfway there. Every time another thousand signatures is added, a fresh copy is sent to the Hernando County State Attorney's office. Backing the petition is Care2, one of the internet's biggest sites devoted to animals and the environment.
You can also show your support for PetLuvs, the nonprofit clinic that labored for several weeks to save Dexter's life, by purchasing Team Dexter memorial bands. Each band costs $3 and the money will benefit their spay/neuter clinic.
From what I'm reading, they're gearing up to make this a landmark case and possibly change the animal abuse laws in Florida. Maybe, with enough of us lending our voices and expressing our outrage, we can prevent what happened to Drake and Dexter from happening again.
What I'm about to tell you today, on the other hand, makes me truly, sincerely, gut-churningly livid. And sick. And sad.
I learned about this the day after making the Facebook-related update, and I've been waiting ever since to update my readers. Not because I want to ruin your week the way this ruined mine, but because there's a call for action here that needs to be answered. This is not for the faint-hearted, so if you can't stomach the mistreatment of animals, I suggest you click the Back button now.
Here we go.
I'm going to try to skimp on the details as much as I can. Back in June, in Florida, a mother (and I use the term as loosely as possible) and her two sons found a pair of kittens in a public park. Eight-week-old adorable black and white kittens. And they beat them with an aluminum baseball bat. For no discernible reason.
Sorry. I shake just writing this. One of the kittens died from his injuries; the other, who was named Dexter by the veterinary staff who worked valiantly to save him, ultimately had to be euthanized in August. Dexter and his brother, who was posthumously named Drake, were Hemingway cats, with seven toes on each foot.
Why this woman isn't in jail with her children in the custody of the state is beyond me. Somehow she was able to get out on $3,500 bail, and she still has her kids living with her. This sick excuse for a human being is currently at liberty.
Now, I wouldn't have gone about ruining your day for no reason. There is something you can do. A petition exists online to have this woman prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The case against Wilana Frazier is currently proceeding, and they say the evidence against her is strong (apparently her own sister-in-law was among the witnesses and testified against her), but the petition is meanwhile ongoing and will not close until it reaches its target goal of 100,000 signatures. It's almost halfway there. Every time another thousand signatures is added, a fresh copy is sent to the Hernando County State Attorney's office. Backing the petition is Care2, one of the internet's biggest sites devoted to animals and the environment.
You can also show your support for PetLuvs, the nonprofit clinic that labored for several weeks to save Dexter's life, by purchasing Team Dexter memorial bands. Each band costs $3 and the money will benefit their spay/neuter clinic.
From what I'm reading, they're gearing up to make this a landmark case and possibly change the animal abuse laws in Florida. Maybe, with enough of us lending our voices and expressing our outrage, we can prevent what happened to Drake and Dexter from happening again.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Officer Down
It always bothers me to hear about the death of a police officer in the line of duty. I imagine it bothers anyone. And it happened again tonight, not far from here. It's really distressing me, partly because it's a local officer and partly because the gentleman in question, a father with two young children, was younger than me. Anybody younger than me is definitely too young.
I found myself feeling like there was something I ought to be doing. When in doubt, I tend to poke Google. Google brought me to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website dedicated to remembering those who fall in the line of duty. They've already got our local officer in their ranks; he's the most recent addition.
This is a very solemn, meaningful website. They want to remember every single fallen officer in the United States. You can search for those who fell this year, or those killed on this day in history. There's also a separate site for fallen Canadian officers. It's not limited solely to police officers; there are night watchmen and security guards in there too. It's about remembering every member of law enforcement who made the ultimate sacrifice.
It's not just about remembrance, either, although that's a big part. They also provide information about survivors' benefits, a memorial grant program, and the correct protocol for having a mourning band at an officer's funeral. Want to support their efforts? Every purchase from their store will do exactly that.
You can also help in another way, and I throw this out there because I know there are a lot of people who collect police memorabilia. Whenever an officer is memorialized on the ODMP site, the maintainers try to post a picture of his or her department's patch alongside the memorial. It's an additional gesture of respect, and an acknowledgment of the department's loss. But they can't do this because they don't have access to all the patches they need.
So if you collect police patches, here's how you can help. First, take a look at the list of patches they need to see if you have any of them. If you do, scan it on a flatbed scanner (digital photos will not suffice) at a minimum of 300 dpi. Don't edit or crop the image in any way; they want the original scan. The address to which you should email it, and other important details, can all be found in this blog post. If you can help them out, they'll send you a free patch for your collection.
Years ago, Dear Abby printed a poem that I've never quite forgotten, although I've also never entirely remembered it. Tonight I went looking for it in its entirety. It was written by Harry Koch, a retired sheriff from Maricopa, Arizona, and is entitled "A Part of America Died."
Somebody killed a policeman today, and a part of America died.
A piece of our country he swore to protect will be buried with him at his side.
The suspect who shot him will stand up in court, with counsel demanding his rights,
While a young widowed mother must work for her kids, and spend alone many long nights.
The beat that he walked was a battlefield too, just as if he’d gone off to war.
Though the flag of our nation won’t fly at half mast, to his name they will add a gold star.
Yes, somebody killed a policeman today, it happened in your town or mine.
While we slept in comfort behind our locked doors, a cop put his life on the line.
Now his ghost walks a beat on a dark city street, and he stands at each new rookie’s side.
He answered the call, and gave us his all, and a part of America died.
I found myself feeling like there was something I ought to be doing. When in doubt, I tend to poke Google. Google brought me to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website dedicated to remembering those who fall in the line of duty. They've already got our local officer in their ranks; he's the most recent addition.
This is a very solemn, meaningful website. They want to remember every single fallen officer in the United States. You can search for those who fell this year, or those killed on this day in history. There's also a separate site for fallen Canadian officers. It's not limited solely to police officers; there are night watchmen and security guards in there too. It's about remembering every member of law enforcement who made the ultimate sacrifice.
It's not just about remembrance, either, although that's a big part. They also provide information about survivors' benefits, a memorial grant program, and the correct protocol for having a mourning band at an officer's funeral. Want to support their efforts? Every purchase from their store will do exactly that.
You can also help in another way, and I throw this out there because I know there are a lot of people who collect police memorabilia. Whenever an officer is memorialized on the ODMP site, the maintainers try to post a picture of his or her department's patch alongside the memorial. It's an additional gesture of respect, and an acknowledgment of the department's loss. But they can't do this because they don't have access to all the patches they need.
So if you collect police patches, here's how you can help. First, take a look at the list of patches they need to see if you have any of them. If you do, scan it on a flatbed scanner (digital photos will not suffice) at a minimum of 300 dpi. Don't edit or crop the image in any way; they want the original scan. The address to which you should email it, and other important details, can all be found in this blog post. If you can help them out, they'll send you a free patch for your collection.
Years ago, Dear Abby printed a poem that I've never quite forgotten, although I've also never entirely remembered it. Tonight I went looking for it in its entirety. It was written by Harry Koch, a retired sheriff from Maricopa, Arizona, and is entitled "A Part of America Died."
Somebody killed a policeman today, and a part of America died.
A piece of our country he swore to protect will be buried with him at his side.
The suspect who shot him will stand up in court, with counsel demanding his rights,
While a young widowed mother must work for her kids, and spend alone many long nights.
The beat that he walked was a battlefield too, just as if he’d gone off to war.
Though the flag of our nation won’t fly at half mast, to his name they will add a gold star.
Yes, somebody killed a policeman today, it happened in your town or mine.
While we slept in comfort behind our locked doors, a cop put his life on the line.
Now his ghost walks a beat on a dark city street, and he stands at each new rookie’s side.
He answered the call, and gave us his all, and a part of America died.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Not What I Had Planned
Hello and welcome to the 50th post in this blog. I wish it were on a cheerier subject, but with what's happened in the last several days...
I am, of course, referring to the earthquake in Japan that has, among other things, literally shaken the entire world. We're now spinning a tiny bit differently on our axis. Meanwhile, the planet's philanthropic agencies are mobilizing to help with this latest in what is a suspiciously long string of natural disasters.
(Seriously, it's like the planet itself is throwing tantrums and we can't take it anywhere.)
I promised a few people that today's blog post would feature ways that the average you and me can be part of the relief effort. What I want to do is to try to steer away from the usual names, like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. These are terrific organizations and definitely worth of our support, so don't think I'm telling you not to give to them. No, what I'm going to try to share with you are smaller, possibly weirder things that you can do to participate. Please share this with anyone who might be interested.
Japan seems awfully far away to me. I wish I could do more. But the people affected by this devastation have been on my mind and in my heart since it happened, and I hope that this post does them some good.
Special thanks to the people at Mashable.com, the people at Good.is, Tracy and DeBray Bailey, Pauley Perrette, George Takei, and the entire internet community at large for their contributions to this post.
I am, of course, referring to the earthquake in Japan that has, among other things, literally shaken the entire world. We're now spinning a tiny bit differently on our axis. Meanwhile, the planet's philanthropic agencies are mobilizing to help with this latest in what is a suspiciously long string of natural disasters.
(Seriously, it's like the planet itself is throwing tantrums and we can't take it anywhere.)
I promised a few people that today's blog post would feature ways that the average you and me can be part of the relief effort. What I want to do is to try to steer away from the usual names, like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. These are terrific organizations and definitely worth of our support, so don't think I'm telling you not to give to them. No, what I'm going to try to share with you are smaller, possibly weirder things that you can do to participate. Please share this with anyone who might be interested.
- First up: My pals Tracy and DeBray of Catena Comics are offering a downloadable desktop image of Belle, one of the characters from the Catena strip, for the consideration of $1 (or more). All money generated from these downloads will be donated to Americares, which is working directly with the relief effort. DeBray has nice clear instructions spelled out on the Catena website of how to go about doing this.
- Once again the LiveJournal community has stepped up to the plate to conduct an auction of art, writing, and other handiworks to raise money. If you have an LJ account, head over to Help Japan for the details.
- Do you play one of those Zynga "ville" games on Facebook? I used to be a FarmVille resident but I left. However, if you're still there, you can help by purchasing some virtual crops. Zynga has joined forces with Save the Children's Japan Earthquake Tsunami Emergency Fund, and they're asking their users to donate money through the purchase of virtual goods. All of the money from the purchase of sweet potatoes in CityVille, radishes in FarmVille, or kobe cows in FrontierVille will go towards Save the Children’s efforts to provide relief in the Pacific.
- If you're on Twitter, you definitely want to check out this post in their blog, which lists all the different ways you can use your Twitter account to spread accurate information and pass on news. I also recommend following the Twitter accounts of Pauley Perrette, the adorable actress who plays Abby on NCIS, and George Takei, aka Mr. Sulu. Pauley stayed up late when the earthquake hit, sharing the latest details and revealing just what a soft-hearted sweetie she is. Mr. Takei, meanwhile, is consistently sharing links to news posts and footage of the aftermath of the quake. Both have been inspirational resources and I tip my hat to them.
- Mashable.com reports that AT&T and Verizon will be providing free calls and texts for their American customers to and from Japan all throughout the month of March, to make it easier to contact loved ones over there. Check out that article for details, and also to get the number to which you can text a donation to the Red Cross.
- If you have a website of your own, you can help people locate missing loved ones. Check out Google's People Finder and see how to embed it on your website.
- The website Good.is has published a list of other ways to help Japan. Check out their links to where you can purchase a supportive t-shirt and poster, and some suggestions for slightly offbeat places where you can donate money.
- Remember that unfortunately, while situations like the Japanese earthquake do bring out the best in a lot of people, they can bring out the worst in a lot of others. Don't give indiscriminately! It's a good idea to read this Good Intents article about what to do or not do regarding disaster relief donations. Also, before giving money to any charity you don't recognize, be sure to check them out with Charity Navigator so you don't get scammed by some phony.
- And finally...spread the word about this blog post.
Japan seems awfully far away to me. I wish I could do more. But the people affected by this devastation have been on my mind and in my heart since it happened, and I hope that this post does them some good.
Special thanks to the people at Mashable.com, the people at Good.is, Tracy and DeBray Bailey, Pauley Perrette, George Takei, and the entire internet community at large for their contributions to this post.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Some Brief Bullet Points
This post exists mostly for the sake of keeping up with my regular blogging schedule, because back when it first seemed like a good idea, I vowed that nothing short of a hospital stay would prevent me from blogging on my self-appointed rounds. I'm in the middle of six things at once, so that's why this post is barely making a Thursday appearance. Procrastinators unite...later.
Having covered what I believe are all the salient points, I must post this while it's still Thursday (where I live, anyway) and get some sleep. This weekend holds a promise of magic for me, or at least some cheap laughs, and while I don't want to say just yet what I'm anticipating, I will say that there will be details next week.
I'll tell you this much, though. I am not rushing off to catch the first showing of the Justin Bieber movie. Honest.
- In a previous post, I complained about the prevalence of 3-D in movies and so forth. Today I received confirmation that the forthcoming handheld from my beloved Nintendo, the 3DS, is going to be exactly what I thought -- a fancy new toy with a special feature I can't use. The graphics are so good that it's almost worth it anyway, but...meh. That's my frivolous bullet point; on to more serious matters.
- Last night a gas explosion leveled a neighborhood in Allentown, which is the nearest city to my personal location. Five people were killed and several more lost their homes. I don't have the words, really. I heard it happen, although I didn't know what it was. All I can really do is urge anyone who wishes to help to give to the Red Cross disaster relief fund which exists for situations like this.
- The Red Cross is also encouraging people to give blood -- not for the explosion situation, but in general. The weather this winter has been so bad that many people have had to cancel their scheduled donations, and supplies are dipping below the safe level. If you can give, please consider doing so.
Having covered what I believe are all the salient points, I must post this while it's still Thursday (where I live, anyway) and get some sleep. This weekend holds a promise of magic for me, or at least some cheap laughs, and while I don't want to say just yet what I'm anticipating, I will say that there will be details next week.
I'll tell you this much, though. I am not rushing off to catch the first showing of the Justin Bieber movie. Honest.
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