It is almost beyond human comprehension that the United States Senate could vote down legislation to expand gun background checks in light of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings and the massive support this legislation enjoyed with the American people. Polls showed that 90% of the American people supported expanded background checks for gun purchasers, but that didn’t matter to the 46 senators, including 5 Democrats who voted against this legislation(the Senate rigged the rules to require 60 votes to approve this bill). These 46 senators turned their backs on the American people, the families who lost loved ones to gun violence, and to their responsibility as senators to protect the safety of the people of this country.

We will hear all kinds of excuses from the apologists for those senators to justify their votes to sell out the American people and cave in to the gun lobby. We will hear that they had to vote this way because they came from “red states,” that the legislation violated people’s Second Amendment rights, and that criminals would find a way to get guns regardless of this legislation.

The bottom line is this: all of the arguments that have been raised by the gun lobby have absolutely no merit. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of the sponsors of this legislation, along with Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, comes from a red state, as does John McCain of Arizona. That didn’t stop them from supporting expanded background checks.

As for the Second Amendment argument, the Second Amendment does not guarantee the “right” of convicted felons or mentally ill persons who are a danger to themselves or others, to purchase guns. Allowing dangerous people who are a threat to society to purchase guns, was never the intent of our founding fathers.

Finally, the argument that this legislation should be voted down because it wouldn’t stop 100% of all prohibited purchasers from obtaining guns, is completely absurd. Using this logic, there should be no laws against murder since some individuals will commit murder even though it is against the law. While no law is perfect, this law has the potential to save thousands of lives by closing a major loophole in the existing law.

Right now, if you purchase a gun from a licensed gun dealer, you must undergo a background check. However, if you purchase that same gun at a gun show or online, there is no background check. 40% of all gun purchases in this country fall into these categories, allowing thousands of convicted felons and mentally ill people to obtain guns each year with no questions asked.

Where do we go from here? We must channel our anger and frustration into constructive action. We must continue to fight for expanded background checks. We must do everything in our power to defeat those senators (including Democrats) who voted against this legislation. Call your friends and relatives who live out of state and urge them to campaign against those senators, who voted the wrong way, when they stand for reelection.

In politics, there are no permanent defeats. We will go on, and ultimately we will succeed because we have the support of the American people.

I’m a certified news junkie, but even I had to step away from the oversaturated media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. As one who has followed such tragedies before knows, investigators don’t have instant answers for everything and it’s ridiculous to think that in a frenzied atmosphere, accurate information will be available in abundance. But that did not prevent news outlets and social media from rushing to be first rather than calmly waiting to be accurate.

The results were a string of embarrassing mistakes that did little to comfort a nation that still hadn’t gotten over the shock of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn.

The media should have learned this lesson from the experience of covering the tragedy in Newtown when there were conflicting accounts everything – whether Adam Lanza had forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School or had been buzzed in, whether his brother Ryan was the shooter, etc.

Ironically, on the same day the Pulitzer Prizes honoring excellence in journalism were announced, including an award to the Denver Post for its coverage of the mass shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. that left 12 dead and 58 injured, news outlets were making major blunders while covering the Boston bombings. When a tragedy like this happens, with public safety at risk and the stakes so high, it’s important that the media gathers the facts, before it rushes to judgment.

On a happier note, Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper was voted in with a 5-0 vote to serve at Mayor. Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells was appointed to Vice

Mayor, replacing Jeff Cooper. Culver City’s mayor of the past year, Andy Weissman ended his term on April 22. The council selects from among their members a Mayor and Vice Mayor, to serve in those positions for a period of one year.

I wish the best to the New Mayor and Vice Mayor for coming year.

Spring is upon us. Youth, chance and motion come to mind. There is a limbering up of the muscles, freshly awoken from cold inactivity. There is a yawn, a clearing of the head as if a coma is being emerged from, a burst of enthusiastic anticipation as to what will be. Perhaps naive but nonetheless, a feeling that things could be different this time around.

Culver City Unified School District officials will soon begin the process of taking the pulse of the community to see if they are willing to pass a capital improvement bond to repair district facilities. The CCUSD is hiring a consultant to do a survey to gather information in order to gauge the interest of passing a bond measure. The school district has identified several facilities that need to be upgraded including the Robert Frost Auditorium and the football field at Culver City High School. In addition, several other buildings are also in need of repair, due to the age of the structures.

On the State level, sequestration cuts will impact local colleges and universities, which will lose federal funding. Automatic federal spending cuts will begin soon and take millions from college financial aid programs nationwide, including West LA College.

President Obama released a detailed report showing how the sequester will affect each state. According to the report, California schools will lose about $87.6 million in federal funding, putting some 1,210 teachers and aides out of work. Financial aid would no longer be available for 9,600 low- income college students, some 3,690 work-study jobs would be eliminated and 8,200 children would be without early education, according to the White House. The budget cuts were part of a deal made between the White House and Congress in 2011 on raising the national debt limit. Democrats were in favor of voting to raise the debt ceiling, but Republicans wanted spending cuts in return. Sequestration will end in 2021 and is projected to lower the deficit by $1.2 trillion.

In the never-ending game of chicken, Republicans are threatening yet another budget showdown. They are adamant that whatever comes out of the ongoing sequester and deficit debates, all cuts must come from the spending side, including Medicare and Social Security.

So the questions is, will things be different this time around?

I cannot express my gratitude for your faith in me once again. I’m looking forward to serving a second term as President of the Club. There are many challenges that we have to face as a community and I hope that we can come together to make Culver City the place that we love to live in. The challenges are daunting as California braces for looming U.S. budget cuts.

It is apparent to the White House and Congress that a potential fiscal crisis is inevitable unless the two parties agree to alternative ways to reduce budget deficits. Those cuts are imminent because a compromise does not seem possible. The battle lines over cuts that are scheduled to begin on March 1, known in budget talks as sequestration.

In local news a downtown plot of land considered to be one of Culver City’s cornerstones for new development is now on its way to clearing a legal hurdle that has been delaying the long awaited development which is known as Parcel B.

Also Measure Y Tax Rate Hike takes effect April 1. As you will remember Culver City residents approved the .05 percent local sales tax increase in the November 2012 elections.

I am always pleased when I see efforts that help our students improve academically. A recent study showed that Black Students in California have the highest dropout rate but not in Culver City. The study by the Education Trust-West reports California African American students demonstrate significant learning gaps that only widen with age, but those in CCUSD are doing well thanks to counseling support, a culture of expectation, and targeted action.

We are getting ready for our local election of Community College Board of Trustees on March 5th. Don’t forget our next Monthly meeting is March 13 and the meeting will be a Salute to Women’s History Month.

We trust we will see you soon.

Where We’re Going, Where We’ve Been

When President Barack Obama took the oath of office on Monday, January 21, he was surrounded by an extraordinary legacy of 50- year civil rights milestones that helped make possible his first and second inauguration. It was fitting that the inaugural invocation was delivered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol by Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of civil rights hero Medgar Evers. After years of risking his life to end discrimination against Black Mississippians, Medgar Evers was killed by an assassin’s bullet in the driveway of his home 50 years ago on June 12, 1963.

Medgar Evers, ironically was killed just hours after President John F. Kennedy delivered a nationally televised speech in support of civil rights. President Kennedy, himself was assassinated only five months later, 50 years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963. President Obama took the oath of office holding a Bible belonging to another champion of civil rights and American Democracy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fifty years ago, on Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. King inspired America and the world with his “I Have a Dream Speech” delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in front of more than 250,000 people during the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The March on Washington was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Finally, President Obama was sworn in 50 years after one of the most horrific events of the civil rights era, the 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Ala.’s 16th Street Baptist Church, which resulted in the deaths of four little Black girls. The Birmingham church bombing galvanized the conscience of the nation and led many Whites to denounce racism and its brutal consequences.

Fifty years later, America’s first Black president has completed his second inauguration.

President – Bill Wynn

1st Vice President – Lee Sanders

2nd Vice President – Sylvia Moore

Corresponding Secretary – Mollie “Lee” Welinsky

Recording Secretary – Pat Levinson

Treasurer – Eric Fine

Membership Secretary – Diane Rosenberg

2013 Culver City Democratic Club Officers

In light of the tragedy in Newtown Connecticut, the national debate over gun control has been reignited. Recent polls show that a clear majority of Americans (57% or 54% depending on the poll) now favor some kind of gun control.

While we, as a nation, are appalled by the killing of 26 people, including 20 innocent, little children, what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School is just the “tip of the iceberg.” Consider the following statistics from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (http://blog.bradycampaign.org):

• Almost 100,000 people in America are shot or killed with a gun every year.

• Over 1 million people have been killed with guns since 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated.

• US homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than rates in 22 other populous high income countries combined!

From those statistics, it is clear that an epidemic of gun violence exists in this country. How can we address this problem?

First, persons with serious mental illnesses who are a danger to themselves or others must have readily available access to mental health treatment. Second, common sense gun control is absolutely essential.

In regard to gun control, it makes no sense to say that if someone wants to purchase a firearm from a licensed gun dealer there must be a background check on that prospective purchaser, but if that same prospective purchaser wants to buy a gun at a gun show or on the internet, there should be no background check whatsoever. The “gun show loophole” must be closed!

It also makes no sense to allow a civilian to purchase military style anti-personnel weapons (i.e. Uzis, AK-47’s etc.). Why does any law abiding hunter or sportsman need to own a “weapon of war?” Assault weapons should be banned. Along these same lines, large clip ammunition magazines should be banned. No civilian needs to own ammunition clips that contain 30 or more rounds of ammunition.

While these measures will not end all acts of violence in this country, they could play a significant role in reducing the level of gun violence that plagues our society.

Darryl Cherness is a member and past president of the Culver City Democratic Club.

Peace on earth is part of the Christmas message that tends to be overlooked. We talk about it many times as a nice but abstract idea, an elusive wish. Wishing

alone won’t bring the peace we desire. Unfortunately, anger often does. America is angry now. Angry that it has allowed gun violence to escalate so far that it claimed the lives of 26 people on Dec. 24, 20 of them children. It is the culmination of years of looking the other way, reacting to mass murders then going back to business as usual.

Having a mentally ill gunman open fire on 4 and 5 year olds so close to the holidays was the breaking point. After all, it is the children that make Christmas so special. What would have been a highly emotionally charged issue was elevated even higher by the most important holiday of the season. What America experienced of the tragic killings in Newtown, Conn on Dec. 14, was best summarizes by Stevie Wonder more than 30 years ago: “Someday at Christmas, men won’t be boys. Playing with bombs like kids play with toys… When we have found what life’s really worth. There’ll be peace on Earth.”

The fear that has spread since the killings at Newton, Conn has reached a boiling point and made politicians come face to face with their nemesis, the National Rifle Assn. (NRA). Are we going to let a handful of trigger happy gun enthusiasts dominate how gun violence is dealt with in this country?

Surprisingly, just as House Speaker Boehner seems finally able to make a sensible deal in solving the fiscal crisis, it appears other Republicans are loosening their strong grip on the idea of pushing policies for unrestricted access to guns. With lives taken from our most vulnerable citizens, babies, even the NRA cannot keep its power. The images are too graphic. The love parents for their children is too real.

Recently our U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) introduced legislation to reinstate an assault weapons ban. The ban expired under President George W. Bush. Why an assault weapons ban would come with an expiration date is beyond me.

As we celebrate this Holiday Season this year, I hope we will take a moment to think about the children in Newton, Conn and hold your loved one closer. Reflect on the idea of peace on earth. Make it more than a slogan, take it to heart. Take action. What can we do to bring more peace into our world? Can you get help for someone you know is mentally ill? Can you report a school bully? Can you divert a possible conflict with the potential of becoming violent? If you do, you can become an agent for peace on Earth and demonstrate the true meaning of this Holiday Season!

Happy New Year To All !!!!