The Joseph Project Home

Recent Forum Posts

Recent Blog Entries

Companies Cut Ties With NRA

Doctors will tell you that the best way to curb the spread of cancer is to choke it's lifeline. Whether cutting the blood supply, oxygen supply or nutrient supply, nothing causes cells to die better and more safely than simply starving them to death.

Companies are taking action now, cutting discount programs for NRA members and we applaud them. Here is a partial list, souced from CNN:

DELTA AIR LINES

ENTERPRISE CAR RENTAL

AVIS

NATIONAL

HERTZ

NORTON

ALAMO

METLIFE

BUDGET

FIRST NATIONAL BANK

ALLIED

LIFELOCK

SIMPLISAFE

PIZZA CRUSTS

NORTH AMERICAN MOVING SERVICES

BEST PIZZA CRUSTS  

NORTHEASTERN

N

The COVID Vaccine is Your choice.   Make the Right choice.

I am an anti-vaxer.    But I chose to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

In general I tend not to use any medications unless I have to, or have some condition that is serious enough that it will not resolve on its own.   In those cases,  I prefer medications that have been around for a long term or natural alternatives.   I believe in the body's ability to heal itself, and in promoting our own natural defenses.

But I got the COVID vaccine and I did so as soon as I possibly could get an appointment back in April when they were scarce.  Here is why I got the vaccine:

The vaccine will protect me, my family, my friends and those around me.

The vaccine will insure that my body does not become a breeding ground for new variants.

The vaccine will allow me to mask less, social distance less and enjoy life more.

The vaccine will contribute to the lowering of infection rates in my locale.

This will help the economy to be stronger and my own income to have the potential to rise.

The vaccine will reduce the chance, almost to zero, that I will be hospitalized or die from the Coronavirus.

Data is conclusive that areas with high vaccination rates, have low COVID rates.

Here are how I overcame my hesitations:

The vaccine is new and it is has only Emergency Use Authorization however the science behind the vaccine is already tested.   There is no scientific reason why the vaccine should cause any long term safety risks.   In fact, if we look at the alcohol, drugs, pollution and toxic pesticides that we all consume, we would realize that few chemicals that are not either specifically toxic and do not cause physical damage (such as smoke burning your lungs) eventually are cleansed from the body.    Eventually, your body will get rid of almost anything that you put in it, which doesn't kill you initially.

I will not deny myself the benefits of the vaccine because I don't like needles (personally they do not bother me and the vaccine needle had no feeling at all).   I will not deny myself the benefits because I don't want to be sick for a day (and I was!_

There is a greater than 1% risk that if I don't get the vaccine, I will get COVID.   Many people do die or get long term issues from COVID if they get it.   I cannot know in advance how well I would do if I got it.  There is a less than a one in million risk that the vaccine will kill me.   In fact more people will die from car accidents today, than have ever died from the COVID vaccines.  

The government is no more controlling my life by making the vaccines available, than it is asking me to wear a seat belt, requiring the planes have life rafts, or has emergency shoulders on highways.   The government paid all expenses to provide a way for social to exit the pandemic.  It did the same thing for Polio, the Spanish Flu, Ebola and SARS.   Not taking advantage of this because it is somehow perceived as Nanny state control, makes no sense at all.   Do you stay off paved roads because the government paved them?

Finally, I am an anti-vaxer, but I decided that I would take the very small risk of a new vaccine because I am part of a society that will thrive when the pandemic is brought under control.  I took a calculated risk, after tens of millions of other people took the same shot with no long term side effects.    To deny society my contribution, in my opinion would have not just been a foolish choice, but a selfish one.

I am an anti-vaxer, but I CHOSE the COVID 19 vaccine.   It IS your choice.  Make the right one.

New Hope in the Biden / Harris Administration

While Joe Biden is decidedly centrist on many issues, he does appear to have strong views on the need for ending gun violence. Read Biden's Gun Viewpoint here.

Gun Law Progress

H.R. 8, AKA the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, passed the House. Yes, it's a step but pressure from the NRA and pro gun activism is squeezing us into conciliatory accomplishments, rather than the overriding need to abolish guns from our modern society.

My goal is not political, but it is only through political action that anything can change. My goal is that people don't shoot each other. In order to move closer to this, I have had to acknowledge for myself that the United States is a gun filled country, that is unlikely to abolish the weapons completely in the near future. This said, even though statistics show that younger people, including millennial and children of immigrants, have no love for guns in our country.

So, I turn once again to Japan, a country where you can own a gun but it's hard. Absent of abolishment, guns should be in the hands of those who demonstrate themselves capable - not those who lack having already committed a crime. I will continue to support and all efforts to remove guns from our streets, but I will also suppose legislation which tightens gun ownership requirements.

More Events Since Parkland

Las Vegas and Thousand Oaks, just to name a few, since the last update to this site. Sadly, the more these events occur, the less we seem to pay attention to them. If young bright high school students can't move us, or country music lovers enjoying an outdoor concern, or if, for gosh sakes, first, second and third graders can't move us, the question becomes, what can? I believe that the answer lies not in us being moved, but in how we move.

I believe the next key for us is not in doing more of the same thing, with more passion and more persistence - though we should - but in us strategically understanding what specifically needs to happen in order for guns in America to be very difficult to obtain and own.

Yes, I get it, we will not ban private gun ownership. Though I personally do not believe that it has a residual value in a modern society, it is our history and our culture. What we need though, is for it to be a project, and an earned right by those who have shown themselves to be responsible and willing to do the work.

Sandy Hook Promise & Parkland Florida

Years now after Sandy Hook, virtually nothing has changed. Following, what still feels like one of the most unfair, and heartbreaking events in American History, we have had deadly shootings in Texas, in Vegas and now in Florida.

What makes Marjory Stoneman Douglass just a little different is that the survivors are smart, they are passionate and they are compelling. How can you not watch Emily Gonzalez speak and not be compelled, and efforts to claim that she is just an actor, are testament to the brilliant masterminds behind the skewing of facts on guns in America.

I am sick and tired of hearing from responsible gun owners, asking me if I think they should not have their right to own a gun. Let me tell you this: The few men who I know who own guns are not just responsible, they are exemplary. The issue is not that I do not believe that they should or shouldn't own guns. The issue is that in order for them to own guns, our laws broaden the pool to people who should not own guns. Why we think that we can analyze every human being who buys a gun and predict not just if they are responsible today, but will they be responsible for the rest of their lives, will they never leave a gun unlocked, will they never experience anything that might change their fitness to own a gun, is beyond me. The problem is not the responsible gun, owners, the problem is that we have a demonstrated, calculable failure to have weapons in our country and hone out those who would misuse them.

Thinking that the solution to a peaceful society is arming up more and more people who we want to hope are responsible and stay responsible, is just absurd. That those good guys will happen to have their gun at the time and place when most needed, is just too remote, in comparison that the likelihood that a few of the tens of thousands who own guys, will not be responsible or even competent.

Countries with low gun violence stats DO NOT HAVE MORE GUNS. They have LESS GUNS. Countries with high gun violence stats HAVE MORE GUNS. It is black and white data.

And the gun lobby has a strangehold on changing laws. DO NOT BE JADED into accepting solutions like tightening background checks or banning bump stocks. This is intended by the gun lobby to allow those fighting for NO GUNS, to have a false sense of getting change done. This is NOT ENOUGH CHANGE. Those who do not believe that a civil, peaceful, modern society needs weapons on hand by civilians, need to stay strongly in favor of the maximum level of gun control.

MY position on gun possession

I am vehemently opposed to all guns on the planet, save for sport rifles to hunt animals, for military, and with restrictions, to law enforcement.

The second amendment was created at a time when civilization was less developed and there were not controls and technology in place to help people defend themselves against the day to day goings on around them.

I believe that personal use of guns is outdated and should be abolished. There are tasers, tactical lights and pepper spray available to defend oneself. All of the arguments about how we need more guns to keep people safe ignores the reality that these newer technologies will defend against most gun confrontations.

Guns have been a part of life for so long that we have lost sight of just how dangerous an idea it is for a deadly object to be propelled by an explosive, in a hand held device. We recognized that a Swiss Army Knife doesn't belong in a plane or a school house, but we continually support the ownership of weapons under the guise of making society "safer".

Mass shootings are now occurring weekly in America. I've stopped logging them because I can't keep up. We have the technology to stun, immobilize and deter an individual without causing permanent damage, but our gun culture and lobby are so deeply ingrained, that we have placed gun ownership on par with basic human rights.

Gun ownership is no more a human right, than the right to use cocaine or to carry a box of grenades. Yet I myself, have often gotten sucked into the desire to own one, every time I hear of others being shot. I was in New York City with a friend, waiting for a bus, and a group of police cars came towards us. We backed away as a swarm of cops descended on the McDonalds behind us. And my first thought was, lets get out of here as fast as we can - thinking back of other mass shootings in fast food restaurants.

Now our problem is that America is going to become numb to the problems of gun violence, and a task which seemed hard, will get harder. My fear is that, if what happened at Sandy Hook, was not enough of a wake up call, nothing will be. All I can do is to continue the efforts of those who have been impacted by gun violence, to support the repeal of the second amendment and the move towards a contemporary society where people have less to defend against, and a little technology to use where needed. Instead of spending time, effort and money trying to defend ourselves from ourselves, lets spend those resources rebuilding the economy, feeding the hungry, helping the poor to train for jobs, educating and providing healthcare to all humans in our society.

the rise of gun abuse in america

• Columbine
• Virginia Tech Shooting
• 2011 Shooting at a Tucson Supermarket
• Shooting in a movie theatre in Aurora Colorado
• Newton School Shooting
• Popular School Teacher Shot by 12 Year Old Student in Sparks, NV
• Shooting of TSA Officer at LAX

Special report: the newtown tragedy

gun violence, responsible not just for so many public events, but thousands of suicides, drug deals and domestic homicides. Please join the Joseph Project right now in contacting your representative(s) in Washington and standing opposed to guns.

WELcome to the JOseph project

The Joseph Project is an evolving set of documents geared towards today's hot issue of BULLYING and in particular, of CYBER BULLYING and the immediate as well as the long term effects on today's youth. 

children have different capacities to handle it than others do. Identifying children who are at greater risk of injury, may help parents, educators and youth workers to head off some of the long term trauma associated with these activities, as well as curbing the most serious impact, which is suicide of young people. Copyright Mark Snyder Lexington

So, welcome again and please do feel free to email me if you ever have input at [email protected]

Over time I will better organize this site into several sections. For the moment (as we have moved to a new home at webs), all main material will be located here BULLYING & YOUTH SUICIDE and this link is also reachable from the menus above. Thanks for bearing with me during the move.Copyright Mark Snyder Lexington MA