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Jun

10

[updated] Holocaust Museum shooting victim: Died to protect, save others

Filed Under anti-semitism, guns, Jewish, Judaism, Race, Religion, Social Issues | 2 Comments

This man is a hero. May he be of blessed memory.  And thank you, thank you so much.  God bless you and your family.

From DCist:

The U.S. Holocaust Museum has released a statement on the death of security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, who died this afternoon after being shot at the museum by a suspect who has been identified as James Wenneker von Brunn.

Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns died heroically in the line of duty today. There are no words to express our grief and shock over these events. He served on the Museum’s security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns’ family. 

We have made the decision to close the Museum tomorrow in honor of Officer Johns, and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory.

FOX 5 reports that Johns was 39 years old. A memorial Facebook grouphas already been created. We’ll update as we learn more about Officer Johns and any memorial activities in the city.

The Washington Post has some horrific info on the shooter here.

I’ve not been able to find much more about Mr. Johns but here’s a CBS piece with a little bit and several other details.

For the record, I’ve only read that the President was “saddened.” Not outraged?  Nothing else? At all? President Obama, you are going to have to do better – like the rest of.

UPDATE: A more complete statement from President Obama, time-stamped six hours after the incident:

I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.

Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:50 pm June 10th, 2009 in anti-semitism, guns, Jewish, Judaism, Race, Religion, Social Issues | 2 Comments 

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Jun

10

Yo, Yenta!

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Gender, Jewish, Judaism, Parenting, Religion | Comments Off

Is a great website by a smart, sassy, Jewish woman and mother.  I just added it to my blogroll (and she has some wonderful Jewish blogs on her blogroll that I should visit) and hope you’ll check it out.

Here’s a sample:

The Yenta has been interviewing male feminists all week for the day job and y’know, it just makes me proud that there are such mensches out there.

Could it be that we’re making – *gasp* – social PROGRESS in the country now that we have a president who can spell? Though not everyone is enjoying the trend that even the Girl Scouts are on board with the Communist Lesbianism (or, Lesbian Communism, take your pick) that’s sweeping the nation like the Betty Friedan flu.

In case you didn’t click on that link, WorldNetDaily is a right-wing Christian “news” site that is so patently retarded it cracks my sh*t up constantly.

And btw, hell yeah, it’s real shirt: Buy it from T-ShirtHell.

Love when I find such blogs serendipitously!

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:55 am June 10th, 2009 in Announcements, Blogging, Gender, Jewish, Judaism, Parenting, Religion | Comments Off 

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Jun

10

Crowdsourcing health care reform: what’s your big idea?

Filed Under Barack Obama, democracy, Health Care, leadership, Politics, Research, Resources, social media, Tech | Comments Off

Making Medicine Smarter is a new website that invites visitors to review numbers and research and then propose solutions to the problems they see.  The effort is funded by Medco and describes the site as follows:

Medco has built this site to advance the dialog on healthcare reform. Because we feel that fixing healthcare is not about spending more, but spending smarter. Because smarter simply makes healthcare better.

Given that President Obama is avoiding the Clinton era of health care reform’s approach (in which they told Congress what they wanted, down to every detail), and Congressional members themselves are battling through campaign donation and special interest ties to figure out what alltheir constituents want and need, the solutions might as well come from us.

Here’s a recent, intersting story about Medco’s role in health care right now.

Disclaimer: I know the website designers who alerted me to the launch and are hoping people will start contributing ideas. Otherwise, I have zero connection to the project, and I certainly don’t have any solutions for health care at the moment – I was totally against managed care in the 1990s to begin with.  It always seemed like a total waste of money and a step intended to create an entire new business sector for profit opportunities that had nothing to do with actually administered care.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:21 am June 10th, 2009 in Barack Obama, democracy, Health Care, leadership, Politics, Research, Resources, social media, Tech | Comments Off 

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