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Sadistic Nation Revealed

March 15, 2015 by

OpEdEmpathy, a wonderful leveling of the field when we actually feel the pain of another being and thus act with some care or compassion towards them, setting aside our personal interest in favor of helping another person. Yes, in their best interest, or at least with kindness and care towards them. It doesn’t have to be a big gesture, doesn’t have to take you out of your head, your comfort zone; just has to be something small, something simple, a touch or a cup of coffee on a cold morning. How many of us think we can make a difference in the life of another? How many of us try?

I am more than certain there are those of us, that is members of humanity, who are not completely selfish and self-serving. The problem is, for the life of me I can’t find them in great abundance. My breath is knocked out of me right now, on every single level of my being, I look around and I think this nation has sunk to a new level of assholery and we are without a single overarching redeeming quality. Our failures, as a nation and a people pile higher than Mt. Everest, our disregard for our impact on the world a phenomenon I continue to be stunned to my soul by.

With each revelation of just how badly entire bodies of government are behaving, Ferguson or the 47, I am moved further toward a belief we are a nation in its final death throes. We are choking on our hate, on our fear and on the absolute ugliness brought out of the closet by the election of Barack Obama. Let’s not pretend otherwise, let’s not insult each other’s intelligence. The election of10801513_10153167396029255_486623207564289575_n this president, not once but twice threw a wrench in everything, brought all the animus boiling up to the surface and caused usually reasonable people to show their true colors; they couldn’t help themselves. Compassion and empathy flew out the window in favor of hate and destruction at any cost.

Since 1976 one side of the house has had it in its mind they would control the economy and thus the nation at all costs, they have run a game on us all. The very wealthy have controlled the direction of our nation through control of one party with little concern for a vast majority of its citizens. With the dogma of smaller government translated into cuts to services and paid for by constant cuts in taxes for those at the top of the earnings bracket our nation has become cruel, sadistic even. Until recently, until the election of this president these changes were small, incremental and went nearly unnoticed. Now though, now they are out there for all to see, no longer incremental but instead entire programs focused on those who can least afford to lose even ten dollars a month, let alone a hundred or more. Worse still, that same party has become adverse to science, adverse to facts and given to fear mongering, leading us into wars throughout the world.

Empathy and compassion cannot even be found from the pulpits of our churches, today. Instead, many of those who lay claim to the mantle of Christianity, instead preach against those in the most need, preach against compassion, preach against this president, preach against all that Jesus stood for. Many in the government who run on a platform of Christian morals, family values they also fail to evaluate what this means, fail at compassion, fail at empathy and of course fail at the greatest lesson of all, this is a nation of diverse people, diverse beliefs and a Constitution that guarantees us the right to live our lives without interference of Church in our homes, bedrooms or state run institutions.

We are destroying our greatest asset, our people; by making education out of reach for all but the wealthiest, we are undermining our future. By cutting funding to public education at every level, we are destroying our future for generations. By shipping our manufacturing off-shore and bringing in from elsewhere those who have the education to fill our white collar jobs, whether it is high-tech, science or medicine we have cut huge swaths across the American opportunity prospective, now and in the future. Soon we will not have a problem with immigration from Mexico or elsewhere to fill the jobs ‘no one else wants’, these will be the only jobs Americans are qualified for. Soon, we will be a nation of serfs in our own country; unqualified for anything but picking fruit and vegetables, cleaning toilets and begging for scrapes.

As a nation, we are without mercy, without compassion for our own. We have no sense of justice, no sense of right and wrong. It fascinates me, always; how we can point to Iran, call them a terrible Theocracy, or ISIS, and call them Terrorists when we have no space in either our distant or current history from which to hide. We who marched into sovereign nations and murdered, tortured with complete disregard for their right to self-governance. We who within our own borders have entirely ignored the rule of law, treating our own citizens to injustice, torture and even murder to enrich a criminal justice for profit system that has broken families and communities. No, we have no right to cry foul at injustice abroad when we only gloss over the offenses in our own backyard.

One where the police are free to murder twelve-year-olds in parks and blame them for their deaths, is this the nation we want? One where schools are crumbling and children cannot learn and the likelihood is if you are poor you will not graduate from high school, is this the nation we want? One where if you are a Black Man you have a one in three chance and a Latino Man a one in six chance of being imprisoned during your lifetime, compared to a White Man who has only a one in 17 chance; this says nothing about the crimes committed only how sentencing is handed down, how justice is served. Is this the nation we want?

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We as a nation are in descent. Falling rapidly into a fiery pit from which there is no way out unless someone steps in, someone with enough will to offend and enough backbone to stand up to all the old white men and women who have stayed on their happy asses in Washington and elsewhere in seats of power for far too long. Someone needs to start calling this out; someone needs to start saying no more, enough is enough. All of us need to start asking ourselves, is this truly the nation we want to pass on to our children?

I can honestly say it is not the nation I want, this nation disturbs me frightens me even.

Filed Under: Op Ed Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Our Apathy Pays Dividends

March 4, 2015 by

OpEdMy great and dear light at the end of the tunnel, Deborah over at Monster in Your Closet, reminded me today there are many ways to look at a problem, many angles to hold a prism to the light. When she wrote about panic attacks in the air here I burst out laughing, I remember well feeling exactly the same panic at wheels up. What I was really thinking about while reading her piece though is why I have not touched my fingers to my keyboard, why I haven’t wanted to write for weeks. I considered why what I have been thinking hasn’t been making its way from my brain to my blog. My normal righteous indignation has hidden under a tree, whimpered and cringed from the light of day like a beaten dog.

Here is the thing; this nation is descending into a morass of ignorance and no ignorance is not bliss, not by any stretch of any imagination or any measurement, we are growing stupider and we seem to like it that way. I am finally at a loss for words; I finally after all these long years am without the language necessary to say what is needed. I must admit to not understanding the people of this nation any longer. There was a time I understood, I even believed there was a necessity for both sides of the aisle to exist, it kept us all honest. Elyse over at FiftyFourandaHalf just today reminded me of that not so distant past in her piece on the suicide of Thomas Schweich, a contender for the office of governor in the not so great state of Missouri. I was reminded, once upon a time more than half my family were staunch members of the GOP, yet they were not Racist, or against public education, or against public assistance, or against Social Security, or against immigration; nor were they ignorant of the Constitution and what it really said about Guns or Religion.

I am without words, truly. I remember arguing with my father over the dinner table about real issues of the day he was a staunch Republican by the way nearly his entire life, he bled the party line of fiscal conservativism, he could not understand how he could produce such a hippie, such a ‘blasted Liberal, dammit’. The one thing about my father was he saw clearly and he hated across the DAD&Meboard; he hated LBJ, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Bush Jr with equal intensity and all for different reasons. He voted for Barack Obama and was very proud of that vote.

Today, those members of my family who retain their GOP card do so without any real understanding of what the party truly stands for. When called to the table to defend the latest horror story, the latest idiocy, the latest dumbass thing to come out of the mouths of those who would rule, they cannot do so only relying upon the sound bites, they picked along the way to defend their position in Right Wing LaLa land. When presented with facts they sniff and rock back, scramble for purchase on the quicksand of their position.

We get what we deserve, whether it is the government we deserve or otherwise. This time we truly did get what we deserve, those of us who wanted more and better we stayed home in droves. What did we think; others would pick up the slack of our apathy? We listened to those who said we wouldn’t go to the polls and thought to ourselves, well it is a lost cause so why bother; we stayed home. That is exactly what they were hoping for and they won.

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Ignorant really; GOP majority in the House and the Senate, the ability to make the next two years sheer hell for this nation and this President and we sat on our asses and handed it to them through our apathy. The absolute genius of it is astounding and we fell for it, not for the first time even we know the game and we fall for it every single time. This time though, we are going to pay and pay big, it is our fault and we should be ashamed of ourselves. We handed the keys to the nation to a bunch of low intellect know-nothing, bought and paid for members of the extremist coalition who are intent on destroying the nation and handing the remains to those who would rule without the will of the people.

fox-gop-2016-field-120114

Congratulations citizens of America, you have finally succeeded in showing your true nature and intent. What you really want is to be second class citizens of the world, ruled by those who don’t give a damn if you live or die, if your children are ignorant so long as you have them for their wars, if you live in poverty so long as you labor for their benefit you will be given enough to drag your azz to their crumbling factories for another day and when you are too old to do that, better hope someone loves you enough to take you in, cause there won’t be a safety net left to catch you ass.

All I can think is, rise up before it is too late. Do not allow this once great dream of a free nation to crumble at the feet of your apathy. Look around; do not allow what little progress we made toward unity be destroyed by the hate and fear of a shrinking minority. Rise up and look around, stand up and take back the power we own as citizens. Stand up and demand accountability of those in public office, whether they are elected officials, bureaucrats or the Police.

Honestly, look around and ask yourself is this the country you want? If the answer is no, what are you willing to do to change it?

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Godless Liberal

February 17, 2015 by

The other day I was called a “Godless Liberal”, not for the first time, during a political debate; I pondered this for a few minutes before I responded. I understood my opponent was angry with me, furious if truth were told. If we had been speaking face-to-face, I suspect the ‘Godless Liberal’ would have been accompanied with finger pointing and looked something like this:Anger

GODLESS LIBERAL

Before I go on, by the way my response was “Yes, but you will never understand the nuance.”

Perhaps the words I used were too big, maybe he didn’t understand them. Whatever the case was, the discussion went downhill from there, the content of his argument went from senseless fiction regarding the state of police violence to comments regarding my gender and my relationship to canines (Fucking Bitch was one of the least offensive but most frequently used).

The entire exchange got me thinking about the state of our national conversation, not from a political standpoint, not from what we see in media but, from how we speak to one another. It got me thinking; outside the usually polite boundaries we maintain in professional settings, we have none anywhere else. We are perfectly comfortable with name-calling, crossing any previously established boundary to disparage our opponent and we have not the least amount of shame in our behavior. What made this complete faceless stranger feel comfortable denigrating me in the most sexist terms?

Just to keep this all in perspective, he continued to pound me and everyone else with his moral superiority based on his Christianity, which apparently also magically infused him with intellectual superiority as well. I was frankly astounded.

Right-wing-Christian-hall-of-shame

Of course we only have this group of truly wonderful examples to compare him with.

 

That said and his point made, he viewed me as ‘outside’ and unworthy of anything approaching civil discourse. I did not surmise this, he told me he was under no obligation to treat me with respect as I was a ‘non-believer’ and bound for Hell.

Morals, Ethics, Principles, Values, Scruples, Integrity

Do these words have real meanings anymore? Can we say with certainty all societies have something akin to moral structures members willingly agree with and abide by? When my little friend called me a Godless Liberal, what did he really mean? Did he fully understand or was he just parroting mindlessly what he heard from others. Was this his only answer when he was no longer able to debate the issue at hand?

The question of Godliness and Godlessness, religious affiliation, worship both what and how, whether we recognize them or not, have been taking center stage in our public life for decades now. Though we are enjoined from doing so by our laws, even by our Constitution and by implication by our Bill of Rights, we judge each other by a set of Principles. Whether we subscribe to a ‘religion’ or not, we nonetheless subscribe to a common set of Principles, though some may be more porous, more flexible within the context of our day-to-day lives.

I have been thinking about this all week. This is what I have ultimately come up with, tell me what you think, am I right or wrong?

Morals: Primarily derived from religious thinking, all societies have basic frameworks that seem to be consistent though some are more deranged than others in their application of the rules.

  • Don’t be dishonest (Lie, Cheat, Steal)
  • Don’t be promiscuous and be faithful in your marriage (don’t covet either)
  • Don’t murder (killing might be okay though for the right reason)
  • Be compassionate to those weaker than yourself (feed the hungry, care for the sick and aged)

Ethics: Primarily defined for businesses to operate in the marketplace, organizations establish these to clarify the rules and ensure everyone knows them. Personally, I think in many cases Business Ethics are the organizations smoke screen but that is just me. I have seen these few from past employers they have rarely been adhered to.

  • Don’t pay bribes (Influence peddling)
  • Respect for individuals (Civil and Human Rights)
  • Respect for local culture
  • Respect for environment
  • Deliver profit to shareholders

Principles, Values, Scruples & Integrity: I have combined these because they are all personal in my mind. We develop personal and interpersonal relationships within society and with individuals, how we interact is based on our own evolution. Despite what some would have us believe we are not born Principled or with Integrity. When we come into the world, we are nothing more than empty vessels waiting to be filled.

I essentially filtered the 10 Commandments down to three (similar to George Carlin) and then added one of my own. Most religions agree with these as foundational notwithstanding the simpler language I used. I find myself in a quandary as I consider the issue of Morals, Ethics, Principles, Values, Scruples and Integrity –

OpEdStarting at the reading of my four Commandments, I walk the walk every day. Thus, I have Morals.

If I read my Ethics, as a businessperson who has worked in a variety of roles for Fortune 100 companies and as an Independent Business Owner, I walk the walk and talk the talk. In fact, I have been in trouble for doing so in the past. With this answer in mind, I am also a person of Ethics.

Continuing with my reading through the last group of definitions, I know my answers and believe I am a person of Integrity, a Principled person.

Godless, perhaps if I apply the definition as society does it this is true; I am not religious only spiritual. I do not subscribe to any religion created by man to control society, engineer preferred outcomes or oppress entire segments of society by gender, class or in some cases race. In fact I don’t just not subscribe, I reject.

Liberal, indeed I have been an agitator, a protestor and at times an ‘in your face’ type of Godless Liberal. I am now and have been since I was old enough to understand the difference a Progressive Left of Center Liberal.

Being a Godless Liberal wasn’t an illegal or immoral political stance last I heard, in fact some of the greatest men and women of history were staunch Liberals, including our own Founding Fathers. It seems we have lost our way. Stoning, burning at the stake, dunking have all been outlawed in the US of A for many years now; with Godless Liberal and public Slut Walking making a comeback, I have to wonder what is next?

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Call it Rain

December 12, 2014 by

statue-peeingThe House is such a lovely group of ne’er-do- wells’ it is difficult to believe this is the braintrust leading our nation. Lest I be too focused on those dunderheads in The House, The Senate will apparently follow them down the path of running grandma over with the Bentley. The President has already signaled he too wants to get the hell out of Washington, so he will get his signature pen ready versus his Veto pen and guess what, they will all be happy.

Don’t piss down my leg and call it rain.

Here are some of the highlights of what the Congressional House Republicans and Democrats voted on last night round about 11pm when most of the rest of us were fast asleep and paying no never mind to their high handedness.

Dodd-Frank, yes sir they gutted it. Don’t know what this is, shaking your head and saying so what are you? Well remember when the banks nearly failed in 2008 and we the people, the taxpayers, all of us that is had to bail them out. Do you remember that? I surely do, people lost their savings, their homes, their jobs and some of those people are still jobless and homeless. Remember that time, prior to this administration being sworn into office 9 January 2009.

money-cash-bills-paper-bank-piles-tons

Campaign Finance, can’t ever say these greedy SOB’s aren’t looking out for number one, no indeed not. Never say never, can you say Citizens United on steroids; if not learn to and post haste. They have taken out their best carving knives and shredded the McCain-Feingold legislation of 2002 that limited individual donors to $32,400 to either party this year would be able to up the ante, not by a few measly thousand dollars but by a whopping ten times (10X) the current limit to $324,000. How is that for feathering your own nest.

Egypt gets a $1.3 billion in aid, subject to Democracy and Human Rights conditions. Well my question is, who the hell in this country is fit to measure either.

The EPA gets another $60 Million cut from their budget, down in total 21% since 2010. According the Budget Office and gleeful GOP aides they will have to cut staffing, taking them to the lowest levels since 1989.

Cuyahoga River burns due to chemicals and pollution

Cuyahoga River burns due to chemicals and pollution

Once again, the Budget bans the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to any current facility in the US and bans the spending of any federal funds to build a facility to house them.

Again, the US continues to spend billions to fund Israel, to the tune of $3.1 Billion in random aid in addition to $619 Million in defense aid. Not to be gauche here, however Israel has their own economy and it is fairly healthy, if they would stop trying to steal what small bit of land and peace remains to the Palestinian people it would likely be healthier still. There is no one starving in Israel, there is no need for us to continue to give them billions of our tax dollars every year, especially when those dollars could go to things we need here in this country for our own people.

I love this one, simply because there are so many of those Tea Partiers and Libertarians running about screaming, “Small Government” and “Self-Determination” and “States Rights”, I guess they marijuana-weed-1200-drugsdidn’t really mean it. This lovely bars Washington, District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana. Now keep in mind there was a vote, the people of the District approved the initiative and like Colorado and Washington, citizens of the District should be able to smoke a blunt on their porch. But nooooo, the members of the United States House of Representatives forgot, they are only guests in Washington, D.C. not residents.

The list goes on and on, there is more. The cut funding on key education initiatives, they continue their ridiculous Abortion oversight moving it to the ACA to require all policies offered on the Federal Marketplace have a declaration whether they cover Abortions so people can decide for themselves not to buy that policy. They cut additional funds to the ACA, for the ‘Death Panels’.

There are some good things, expansion of sexual assault services for the military and expansion of Veterans Benefits. There is also the funds targeted to fight Ebola and funds targeted for the National Institutes of Health, some of which will go to brain and Alzheimer’s research.

Overall, though, this Omnibus bill is simply Congress working for a C- grade. They are hoping we don’t notice what they are doing and won’t complain. They are supposed to work on these things for the entire 24 months they are in session, dealing with each of the individual budgets and government agencies as independent entities rather than creating these huge Omnibus Bills in the Lame Duck session, two weeks prior to Christmas.

urine-dog-pee-upside-downDon’t piss down my leg and call it rain.

Talk about a boondoggle Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) apparently got in bed with Rio Tinto to grab native lands. Rather than doing it up front and with full transparency, he shoved in to the NDAA before congress. This little land grab of his was hidden on page 1,105 and both the Democrats and Republicans hid it from everyone until they could hide it no more. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton would simple walk right in and start the casual destruction of 2,400 of the Tonto National Forest, which includes Apache Leap, burial grounds and other sacred lands to the Apache people.

These lands are supposed to be protected, but never mind.

Just let me say this, I am disappointed our President made a deal with the Speaker of the House on the Budget. Why in the hell did he do that? Doesn’t he know, doesn’t he understand these people hate him. They will never do a damned thing that he wants, not one damned thing. Mitch McConnell, the incoming Majority Leader of the Senate has already said, his first order of business will be a vote to overturn the ACA. Doesn’t he get it? What doesn’t he understand? Isn’t it time for him to say to these old, nasty men and women on both sides of the aisle, ‘if you send me this shit I will veto it without a second thought’.

What the hell is he waiting for? An invitation to their table? Hasn’t he figured it out yet, it is never going to happen.

The best synopsis of the Omnibus Bill: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/12/09/whats-in-the-spending-bill-we-skim-it-so-you-dont-have-to/

The best synopsis of the NDAA and Land Grabbing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/ndaa-land-deals_n_6264362.html

Filed Under: Policy Wonk Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lesser Than or Better For

November 1, 2014 by

vote6We often hear one of the following, he / she is the “lesser of two evils”, said in connection with why a person voted for a specific candidate. There are times when we go vote and no candidate seems to be what we really want representing us, whether an election for dog catcher or President, there are times we look at the options and think, ‘Just Hell to the NO’.

I understand our apathy I do. Especially the apathy of those who call themselves one of the following:

  • Democrat
  • Liberal
  • Progressive

The country has moved to the Right. It is no longer normal, sane Conservatives, the Republican of your or my father’s day, not the Eisenhower Republican but the crazy azzed Tea Party ones who have taken the spotlight and the front page. These days they vie for the camera and the vote by just how crazy they can be, how many conspiracy’s they can manufacture, how many ignorant quips they can make against Women, Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, the Poor or some other targeted group of the moment and then blithely pass it off as a ‘joke’.

Yes, the country has moved to the Right, to even stay in the game Democrats run as pseudo Republicans. They run away from the President, the head of the party in fear of scaring away constituents. Telling who you voted for in the last election or what you stand for as a candidate is no longer considered the best strategy, instead it is better to straddle the fence; not sound quite as crazy as the other guy but not allow your Blue to show either.

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The mendacity of the candidates is terrible to behold, across the board, we are seeing money take precedence over the will of the people and the needs of the nation. Isn’t it time we all held our elected officials to a higher standard? Rather than going to the polls with the ‘lesser of’ mentality, shouldn’t we start asking the question, who is ‘better than’.

  • Who will better represent my interests?
  • Who will better represent the interests of this nation in the future?
  • Who will better represent and support the things I care about?

What is at stake?jfk

  • Voting Rights: Yes, that means you and me. Every last one of us are faced with being able to continue to go to the polls and vote without impediment. For years now, the GOP has worked diligently to narrow the field. They have succeeded in some states in legislating new draconian Voter ID laws, losing tens of thousands of new voter registrations, closing early voting and a host of other tricks that will prevent those who would traditionally vote a Democratic ticket from voting in the 2014 elections. See a trend here? You should.
  • Minimum Wage: I am sure you have heard it before but I am going to say it again. No one who works full time should live in abject poverty, yet across this nation that is exactly what is happening. We will not see a raise in the Minimum Raise nationally should the GOP take the Senate and retain the House. Hell, we will have a fight on our hands if things stay status quo.
  • The ACA and Health Care: love it or hate it, the fact is millions of previously uninsured Americans now have access to affordable health insurance. Because of the ACA (Obamacare) millions of Americans now have access to preventative healthcare, medicines, well child care, pre-natal care and a host of other things they did not previously have. Because of the ACA, millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions are now covered. The list goes on, the fact is without the ACA and despite its flaws, millions of Americans are better off today than they were a year ago. If the GOP takes the Senate, those millions of Americans and their health will be at risk.
  • Education: seems such a simple thing doesn’t it? Today though, more and more young people are mortgaging their future for a college education. Fewer and fewer young people are leaving High School with the necessary skills to begin a university education. Fewer college graduates are finding work. We must begin to consider what it will mean to this nation when we are no longer able to support our own economic needs by producing a well-educated work-force. Already, we outsource ‘low skilled’ manufacturing jobs and import a significant portion of ‘high skilled’ engineering and IT workers. What will be next?
  • Equal Pay: despite the many years women have been in the workforce and the strides we have made to break the glass ceiling, we continue to be paid less than our male counter parts. On average, we earn .78¢ on the dollar. If we don’t vote for candidates who believe as we believe, that we are worth 1:1, then hold their feet to the fire at both state and national levels to pass effective legislation, we will always be worth something less than our male counterparts; always.
  • vote7War: I don’t know about you, but I am weary as hell and would like to see an end to the United States of America fighting every single war that comes along and a few that don’t. I am tired of our young men and women being put at risk for every drop of oil, mad dictator, religious potentate or wild hair up someone’s azz about WMD’s in some sandy desert. I am weary as hell listening to the Hawks tell me why other people’s children should die while their child sit safely ensconced at home or school or wherever. We, all of us must send a clear message to our elected officials, NO MORE.
  • Choice: That is right; a woman’s right to choose is at stake. At state and national levels our right to make a choice for ourselves when and whether we bear a child is at risk. Old white men are attempting to tell women when they should bear children, what birth control they should use and whether safe and legal abortion should be accessible to them. This is not a discussion of whether you agree with abortion, don’t agree with abortion don’t have one; no one though has the right to tell another woman what is appropriate for her, this is especially true if the basis of the demand is religion. All I can say is get your religion out from between my legs and off the law books.
  • Guns: When will it be enough? When will enough people die at the hands of idiots with guns that you and I will hold our elected officials accountable to us and demand the passage of sane gun laws? What is the number? Despite the numbers of the dead, it clearly isn’t enough. So far, the NRA has beaten us every single time.
  • Civil Rights: Trayvon Martin wasn’t enough. It doesn’t appear Michael Brown will be enough. How many young unarmed Black youth will have to die at the hands of the police before we, all of us acknowledge there is a problem in this nation? What has to happen before we stop hiding our heads in the sand, buying the media narrative of ‘victim’ police and ‘thug’ Black youth, so we feel better and can ignore the problem.

vote4These are only some of what is on the table, there is certainly more. How about these?

  • Climate Change
  • Money in Politics, or better getting it out of politics
  • Supreme Court
  • Impeachment, I assure you if the GOP takes the Senate this will be back on the table and it is the only thing that will be on the table for the next two years
  • Social Security, make no mistake the GOP wants to dismantle Social Security
  • Long Term Unemployment, despite the real gains in our economy there are still those who need our help
  • Infrastructure, we need to be rebuilding this nation! Not only to make the investment for our economy but in our future.
  • Speaking of which, how about our Economy and Tax Reform!

Have you voted? If not, why the hell not? Even if this time it is voting for the ‘Lesser of’, get off your azz and vote; there is still time.

You have one voice, exercise it. Vote.

 

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Look Over There

September 3, 2014 by

OpEd

Today, in the United States of America, we have a national tragedy on our hands and we casually turn our backs, shrug our shoulders and with aplomb blame others, including the victim, for outcomes we own entirely. In the year of the Lord 2014, we continue the slow and sure genocide of those members of our society we first enslaved and then disenfranchised, no matter the dreck we pretend to, post racial my happy azz. Then throw in those members of society we stole the very land we call our own, the land we stole through hook, crook, death dealing and broken treaty, yes they remain on lands we continue to try to steal ‘back’. Finally, there are those who cross our borders in search of a better life, we have the gall to stand before them as if we ourselves are not the descendants of immigrants, demanding they return from whence they came pretending there aren’t criminals and other shady characters slipping about our family trees. We are a soulless community hate filled hypocrites that make me ashamed to claim my citizenship most days.

But just in case anyone doesn’t know the history of pap and dreck called Civil Rights, it includes:

  • Emancipation Proclamation of 1863
  • Thirteenth Amendment of 1865
  • Executive Order 9981, giving ‘equality’ within the Armed Forces
  • Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
  • Twenty-Fourth Amendment of 1964
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1964
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1968
  • Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 1971
  • Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988, overriding Reagan’s original Veto
  • Civil Rights Act of 1991, overriding a threatened Veto by Bush
  • Shelby County v. Holder, 2013 the current SCOTUS reverses the voter protections of section 4 and made section 5 toothless of the historic 1965 Voting Rights Act. In a strongly worded dissent, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “Hubris is a fit word for today’s demolition of the V.R.A.” (Voting Rights Act).

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The President said today, “We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists.”

No the President of the United States of America was not talking about the Terrorists in our midst, he was talking about others far away, others we in fact created. Created through our love for war and our propensity for nation building and the spreading of the falsehood of ‘Equality’, ‘Democracy’ and ‘Freedom’. This nation is built on a lie, a great huge sinkhole of propaganda. We are neither Equal, Free nor are we by any stretch of any imagination a Democratic Republic and we get further and further from this shining ideal every single day of our existence.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t talking about the police who are terrorizing and brutalizing entire communities. Killing children, men and women in the street and in their homes. Beating them on the side of the roads with impunity. Raping them without fear of retribution. Arresting them for no reason other than they are Black and sitting on a public bench outside a bank in broad daylight. I ask, what is the difference in these four killings?

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I personally do not give two tinkers damn if IS (ISIL, ISIS) continue to make their way through every nation in the Middle East, let them fight their own battles. I am unwilling to spend another drop of American blood, another drop of American sweat untangling the mess. I personally have no desire to see another American life destroyed for greed and the ignorance of rich white men who don’t give a damn whether any of us survive so long as their bank accounts thrive and they can ultimately negotiate another contract with another puppet government when it is all over.

This is what I give a damn about, right now, right here, today and without equivocation.

  1. Educating our young people from pre-K through grade 12 and making it possible for every young person to gain either a trade or a university education without going into a lifetime of debt. I want this education to be ‘real’ and I want it to include Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, History, Philosophy, Human Biology, Age Appropriate Sex Education, Science, Political Science and Comparative Religion and the Arts. I want sports to be secondary but PE to be mandatory. I want every child to have access to Head Start, Healthy Meals, Technology and Books (real ones). I want education to be PUBLIC and every school no matter where it is to have the same access to information, facilities, books, equipment and teachers. I want children to be taught to alleviate ignorance not to pass a f’ng test.
  2. Invest in our INFRASTRUCTURE, now and without trying to pick and choose who has the ‘best’ must kiss-ass-suck-up Senator or Congressperson. There are plenty of reports that identify the roads, bridges, ports and rail that are in the most desperate need, start there and work forward. This nation should be ahead of the curve instead of decades behind our competition, we should have high-speed rail for transporting goods and people. Our airports should be state of the art rather than third world nation, our ports should be pristine, we suck at all of it.
  3. Pass gun laws, now. No bullshitting on this one, no pansy ass negotiating with the NRA, tired of them. Let’s all face it, guns have one purpose to kill, that is their only purpose. Screw the Second Amendment, repeal now. Want to shoot stuff, want to kill stuff? Join the Army and volunteer to go over to the Middle East or wherever the latest hot spot is, otherwise no guns on your back, in your car, on your hip; no armory in your house. It is ignorant and stupid. We do not live in the Wild Wild West and guns are unnecessary.
  4. De-Militarize the police and start testing all applicants for sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies. Take away their toys first. Put cameras on their cars and their uniforms next. Anyone who turns a camera off is subject to automatic unpaid suspension. Establish external, citizen investigation of all complaints of police brutality. All police killings investigated by DoJ. Internal affairs essentially to become null, departments should never be allowed to investigate themselves, ever.
  5. Let’s start emptying our prisons of non-violent criminals, shall we? These mandatory sentencing laws are ridiculous. Three strikes, can you guess who this hurts the worst? How about life-sentences for juveniles, any guess who are sentenced most often? While I am at it, I want an end to the play for pay scheme all together, no more private prisons in the Good Ole US of A, no more Governors boosting their coffers by emptying streets into these horror shows.

I want; damn what I want is for all of us to be lifted up out of this soul sucking poverty we seem to have fallen into without a fight. I want an end to dead men, women and children of all races lying in the street at the hands of cops who are not held accountable for their actions. I want all of us to give a damn again, to give enough of a damn that we demand a change and demand it now rather than allow our horrifying descent into us-against-them feudalism, where all of us lose to continue. We have turned our backs on what we were supposed to stand for, what some of us did once stand for and now we are burying our dead, every single day without a tear shed.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BTNjeKqpEk

 

Filed Under: Op Ed Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Out of Dreams Nightmares

July 26, 2014 by

OpEdMany things are weighing on my mind, it is nearly impossible to turn on the television, open a newspaper or even look at social media without being bombarded by the most recent human tragedy. The problem I have is the magnitude of those tragedies; our response, as a nation and frankly as human beings saddens me. I am not a Christian, I do though subscribe to some basic tenets of the Christian system, this is my favorite:

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life”.

Matthew 25:31-46 parables of the Sheep and the Goats

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I find myself in a quandary as I consider our current national and international crises and the response of our citizens to them. We are a nation full of individuals who presume to call themselves Christian, who gather together and stand on their Bibles demanding their Rights and Privileges using their Christianity as a justification for what I consider mean, ugly and nasty behavior toward those in need. It seems we are a nation that has forgotten the basics of compassion, empathy and humanity toward our fellow man, while standing on a shaky platform of Christianity.

“The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources–because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.” 

Lyndon B. Johnson

I have been less than impressed by our response to the refugee problem at our borders, make no mistake this is nothing other than a refugee problem. Women and children, in some cases children alone, fleeing violence begging for safe haven, only to be met by screaming xenophobes telling them to turn around, die, starve no matter just go home. We helped create the problems in Central America, our money, our bankers and money laundering and our ‘War on Drugs’, we did this1. This nation helped create the cesspools these children are escaping from, where their lives are in danger, where they live in poverty so terrible none of us could possibly imagine even in our worst nightmare. We did this and some of us have the audacity to stand before buses and on borders, demanding they be turned away. We did this, yet governors of Border States find nothing wrong with patrolling with guns drawn and calling out the National Guard to shoot them as they come toward us, hands out begging for shelter and aid.

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Our President has found himself between a rock and a very hard place. Following a law signed by his predecessor, he is vilified by those who believe he is opening the borders to ‘thugs, criminals and disease ridden children’. With Congress taking Comprehensive Immigration Reform off the table for this year, everyone has something to say, it makes me wonder when some of these cretins will simply fade into the woodwork and shut the hell up. Everyone has an opinion, not a single one of them, from Hannity to West shows a bit of compassion, their snark and ugly shows only a partisan standard line of attack on the President, on those fleeing the violence and poverty we helped to create. Everyone who speaks up, attacking those in need and the President claims Christianity as their Rock, their guiding light yet fails to remember CHARITY, COMPASSION and LOVE for their fellow man as the foundation of that faith.

I have been anything but impressed; truthfully, I have been stunned by the actions of the city of Detroit’s Water Department. The city is in bankruptcy seeking any all means to pull themselves out of dire financial straits. The 04_Womenproblem with this solution is, water is both a fundamental human requirement of life and according to the United Nations a Human Right2, apparently the city manager and the head of the Water Department in Detroit didn’t get that memo. It has been suggested by some, famous and otherwise, those who do not pay their water bills can simply ‘tote’ their water from the lakes and rivers nearby. Others have suggested those private citizens who are not paying their water bills are doing so while they choose to pay other less necessary household expenses, such as cable and medicine. While the city cuts services to thousands of private residences they are remise in cutting services to businesses that owe hundreds of thousands, even the State that at last look owed $5M.3

To my mind, Detroit is a test ground for what the rest of the nation can and will become if we don’t stop this attack on basic human rights and humane treatment of our fellow man, now. This is an attack on at least two levels; one is the basic human level where those who have will continue to have (see Peter Brabeck-Letmathe4 and his assessment of what is a human right about access to water), the other is a continuation on the attack on women in particular. Wonder how this is an attack on women? How will women, in particular, be affected by a crisis of this nature, look at the world and ask yourself this question who will tote that water, who will be left to care for sick children affected by unsanitary conditions? Take women out of the workforce, cripple them economically and shove them backwards educationally, as a nation we are broken, we become the dreamscape of the nutjobs on the Far Right, a land of hopelessness for millions starting with women and extending to everyone else not of their liking.5

drought

For those who think racism and sexism are things of the past, think again. These are simply two stark reminders we are living in a nightmare reality only brought to a screaming head in 2008 by the election of Barack Obama. Every single xenophobic fear was outed when he shot to the office of President seemingly out of nowhere and fulfilled the hopes of those of us who believed he could begin to undo what eight years of the Bush / Cheney nightmare had done to this nation. His election flung wide the closet doors of all those who previously had agreed to keep their bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia and simple lack of core morality under the covers in favor of social acceptance. Of course, since the days of Ronald Reagan the Right had been working toward this moment, when White Sheets in the form of a well-tailored suit would find acceptance on the national stage and even a man or woman of color would join in the decimation of our nation, our civil rights and our laws.

Congress does nothing day by day but spends our money on conspiracy theories, threats of impeachment and lawsuits against the President; we sit back and shake our heads but do nothing. The Senate shuts down the government, deadlocks over things both vital and trivial; we sit back and do nothing. SCOTUS is bought and paid for, stripping us of our rights one by one; we do nothing but bitch and whine.

How do we change this trajectory of the United States becoming a feudalistic state? We stand up, get up off our apathetic asses and demand change. We engage locally, we stop whining and we start doing something, including Voting. We write letters. We go to City Council meetings. We hook up with local organizations and throw our name out there to volunteer.

Dammit we engage and we VOTE.

I leave you with this, I think it is appropriate for today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLX2jjg4kWs

1http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490

2http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml

3 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/26/detroit-shuts-off-water-to-residents-but-not-to-businesses-who-owe-millions.html

4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2P7lqDsle4

5 Statistics: http://www.wateraid.org/us/the-water-story/the-crisis/statistics?filterEEF299BDEFB04B4A89206672AC6D5578=92B3B8726E5549ECB87EFAA64D5E5B05#filterContent

5 Sanitation facts: http://www.wateraid.org/us/the-water-story/the-crisis/sanitation

5 Hygiene facts:  http://www.wateraid.org/us/the-water-story/the-crisis/sanitation

5 Water facts: http://www.wateraid.org/us/the-water-story/the-crisis/sanitation

Filed Under: Op Ed Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Duty, Privilege or Right

July 20, 2014 by

OpEdThe other day I was speaking to a young woman I have been friends with and a professional mentor to for several years, during the course of that conversation she revealed she doesn’t vote. I was and remain stunned by her revelation; especially given her reasoning, which was, she did not trust our voting system or believe her vote counted. I believe I got a bit heated with her, Michelle Bachmann and her idiocy was invoked more than once during the remainder of our conversation as my friend is from Minnesota. I explained to her, the reason idiots like Michelle were elected because seemingly smart people like her stayed home with ignorant excuses like, “I don’t believe my vote counts”.

Heated might be the wrong word, I was passionate and inflamed. Men and women died for our right to vote. For any one of us to stay away from the polls, whether during a federal election or a local Milhousdrawingelection simply shows both our ignorance and our apathy. For any citizen to fail to get up off their ass during an election and spend the time it takes to exercise their duty as a citizen, yes I said it, their duty as a citizen and vote is why we have the dysfunctional government we have today. I say it constantly as do many others, when good people fail to vote bad people win elections; when Democrats / Liberals / Progressives fail to vote Republicans / Tea Party / Conservatives win elections.

The problem we have right now, in this nation today in Congress and in many States since 2010 is we believed what the media told us, we believed we had already lost the House, the Governor Mansions and we failed to carry our asses to the polls and vote. Because we were so damned apathetic, we lost the House, we damned near lost the Senate, we lost many states and we handed this President a Congress he could not work with, a Congress that would not work with him. We, the people of this nation, the so-called Progressives of this nation did this and we deserve what we got for sitting it out.

We, the Progressive / Liberal / Democrats of the United States of America voted twice to put Barack Obama into the office of President and then we hampered his presidency with this Congress. We are perfectly willing to whine about them, we are willing to sign petitions on the internet, we are willing to send Meme’s around Facebook and on our blogs, what we aren’t willing to do is exercise our right, our duty to vote when the time comes to do so.

We, all of us, every single last one of us must stop handing over our rights as citizens, turning away from brutality and ignorance and begin taking back our nation from those who would strip us of our rights simply because we are too apathetic to stand up and stand against them. We must never forget those who came before us and fought, even died to gain the right to vote, the right to have a voice for us. We must, especially those of us who were left out of the original Bill of Rights and Constitution, we must stand up, stand in line and do what it takes to VOTE every single time and in every single election. We must not spit on those who fought for our right to do so; we must not turn our backs on history forgetting what it required of those who laid down their lives, their bodies, their social standing to gain us all the right to VOTE.

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We must not allow our rights to be stripped away, our history to be rewritten simply because we are too lazy to do our own research into how our government and voting really works. What voter fraud really is and thus we willingly believe our vote doesn’t count, staying home along with millions of others making millions of votes not count, millions of voices go unheard. The goal of those who would fix the outcome is achieved when good people stay home and don’t vote. Every single election cycle sees us losing ground to big money and nefarious agenda’s when we believe the hype, when we believe the race already won, when we believe our vote doesn’t count.

Make your voice heard; some of the races won in 2010 and 2012 were won by narrow margins and those uncompromising, unethical and directionless members of Congress are now out to destroy this nation for their own ends and without the least concern for you or me. The same will be said this year, 2014 will either see us taking back the House and winning a majority in the Senate, taking more Mansions in the states or we will sit it out because we will believe the hype and sit it out. I refuse to sit it out, I will vote.

One thing to consider, I hear this all the time and it simply yanks my chain even harder than I thought possible is when someone says the following:

“It doesn’t matter, it is only choosing between the lesser of two evils.”

No, dammit, no it is not and even were this the case isn’t it better to choose than to allow others to choose the worst evil for you, allowing you the opportunity to mitigate the potential for real harm, real evil and the fight for another day. Gad, how much ignorance, hate, bigotry and nastiness are you willing to live with before you say enough? Truly, if you are not willing to fight, with your voice at the polls than you do not have any cause to bitch at the results. You cannot complain when you are discriminated against in the workplace, when you are paid less, or don’t get the job, or lose your healthcare or don’t get a mortgage, or a car loan, or for that matter don’t get an apartment or a mortgage; you simply don’t have the right to complain. I don’t want to hear it when your taxes take your paycheck because your ass didn’t get off the couch to vote. I don’t want to hear it when your child is turned away from a school. I don’t want to hear it, not any of it if your life is harder because your rights and privileges are lost, when you failed to do what you should have done and fought to keep them.

Get your ass off the couch. VOTE

 

 

http://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs

2012 Election Results: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/election-map-2012/house/

2010 Election Results: http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/senate

Voting statistics: http://www.statisticbrain.com/voting-statistics/

Filed Under: Op Ed, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Your Azz is Showing

July 14, 2014 by

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt is difficult to believe we have fallen so far the lunatics are running the asylum and we sit back and calmly watch, no I misspoke we don’t watch we actively encourage their bad behavior. These miscreants who call themselves ‘public servants’ crawl and slither along the halls of our most hallowed institutions, where we put them and from their mouths come the most ridiculous, ignorant, self-serving trash talk it is all of our misfortune to hear.

We might as well be watching a game of Dozens in Congress on the floor of Congress.

Those who failed in their bid to join their partners in misbehavior continue to pollute the airwaves with their opinions and ill-conceived notions of where the nation should go next. These reprobates might be the worst as they live vicariously on their past glory days of the campaign trail where idiots worshiped at their podiums and wore buttons with their likeness.

Finally, we have the traffic police, those talking heads who never seem to be without an ugly thought they cannot keep to themselves. Those fools who claim Patriotism and Christianity, bundled up to create their superior positions of moral character (not) and grant them authority to spew their trash across the airwaves.

Combine these malefactors, criminals, liars and what we have is a nation divided and ready to implode. This is no more clearly seen than with recent polling results where two-thirds of Republicans think the President should be impeached for exceeding his powers, cretins. Before I go too far out on a limb though, let’s just stop and take a look shall we?

executive orders

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/orders.php

So the question becomes, how exactly has this President exceeded his Executive Authority? Is it because unlike past Presidents this President has done things the nation didn’t approve of, things that didn’t support those in need, things that didn’t move the economy forward or follow the law of the land? I cannot think of how this President has broken any laws, decimated our economy, ignored the Constitution or done harm to those who are most in need. Yes, he has been caught unaware by a few snafus, within a very large government; however, to lay the blame for these at the feet of the President is shows ignorance of management and how government hierarchy functions. It proves also, why we should truly be grateful those who do the most running of their mouths are not in positions of authority.

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What should we be considering in all this? Maybe we should take a quick peek at some of what has been taking place lately, some of what some of the cretins have been saying, elected and otherwise.

Shall we start with one of the all-stars of Texas, oh why not Louie Gohmert is nothing if not far too stupid to breathe free air, but there he is a Representative from the great state of TexAss as someone I know and love refers to my home. Louie has been on a roll this month first arguing with a minister on the merits of Hell, “Nobody plus nothing equals everything.” Then moving on to suggesting the influx of children on the Texas border is comparative to the invasion of France during WWII. Yes, Louie is perhaps the stupidest Congressman in the House. Nevertheless, don’t let that stop you for looking for others.

Louie Gohmert
Sarah Palin

Next up with have that ijit half-term Governor of Alaska, constantly running her mouth, spewing bile and nonsense, yes I am talking about Sarah Palin and yes I called her an ijit. Her most recent diatribe, calling for the impeachment of the President was simply another example of the depths to which these Tea Party puppets will sink to gain the attention their masters and make a dollar.  Just think about it, this foolish woman has a PAC, she is stumping for dollars and others just like her.

Darrell Issa

Darrell Issa

Then we have the tail that wags the dog, my favorite criminal in the house; Darrell Issa. Can anyone please tell me how this man was ever elected, please. Thus far, in his pursuit of bringing the President down he has run up costs of $14,000,000 (yes that is fourteen million dollars) for the IRS scandal witch-hunt. Costs for the Benghazi, has not yet been calculated however with better than 97,000 hours between the Senate, State Department and DoD it is likely to exceed the $14M thus far calculated in costs for the IRS investigation. Both of these by the way, in case you were at all under the illusion there was anything other than a political agenda, have yielded zero, nada, nothing.

Then there is the end run the House and its drunken Speaker are making with this entirely ill-informed Lawsuit. John Boehner knows full well he can’t make a case for Impeachment, he isn’t completely pickled yet, so instead to gin up the base, keep his seat and help those running for re-election (can’t lose another one of his partners in do not a damned thing), he has manufactured the, ‘Let’s sue the President.’ What a completely boner thing to do, guess it fits though. Boehner is suing because the President, to appease Republicans delayed the Employer Mandate and increased the size of the business from 50 to 100 it applied to; this is the backbone of the lawsuit. There is a small and ‘inconsequential’ issue call standing, these ijits in Congress may or may not be able to get around depending on the mood of SCOTUS. Knowing those blowhard political hacks though, they may well throw out their own ruling in United States vs. Windsor. This should be a good one.

Finally yet importantly, want a real cover up? These slithering snakes within Congress and their 148 ‘Jobs’ Bills they have passed and sent to the Senate for action, well it took a bit of digging but I found them. I read the entire list, I wanted to know what they were, wanted to know what this Congress had been up to besides not a damned thing and trying to repeal the ACA. I assure you, this list will rattle your brains and hopefully make you want to shake your local GOP member till their teeth fall out.

100913boehner2-590x441

http://www.gop.com/news/148-bills-the-house-has-passed-that-have-not-had-senate-action/

Just to give you some help, here are a few of the prime examples of what the GOP consider “Jobs” Bills.

  • 3. H.R.45 : To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
  • 12. H.R.273 : To eliminate the 2013 statutory pay adjustment for Federal employees.
  • 21. H.R.367 : Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2013
  • 32. H.R.668 : To amend section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, to require that annual budget submissions of the President to Congress provide an estimate of the cost per taxpayer of the deficit, and for other purposes.
  • 38. H.R.742 : Swap Data Repository and Clearinghouse Indemnification Correction Act of 2013
  • 50. H.R.890 : Preserving the Welfare Work Requirement and TANF Extension Act of 2013
  • 62. H.R.1120 : Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act
  • 84. H.R.1797 : Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
  • 93. H.R.2009 : Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013
  • 116. H.R.2728 : Protecting States’ Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act
  • 110. H.R.2565 : STOP IRS Act
  • 114. H.R.2655 : Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013
  • 117. H.R.2754 : Collectible Coin Protection Act
  • 126. H.R.3102 : Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013
  • 133. H.R.3350 : Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013

Want to look up a bill and what is inside, go here: https://www.govtrack.us/

These are just a few of my favorites; you know just a selection from the best and brightest our nation has to offer. I have my own opinion of what is wrong; Nero fiddles while the nation burns.

LBJ said it best when he said the following:

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I have only one thing to say, want a different world? Want a different nation? Want a different outcome? You have only one opportunity to change this, to fix what is broken in Washington and across this nation. Come November get up, stand up and march your happy Azzes to the polls. Don’t be fooled, don’t let others tell you what the outcome will be, don’t be apathetic. VOTE.

Another Idiot Texan showing his Azz-Rick Perry

Filed Under: Op Ed Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

You are not a Christian

July 1, 2014 by

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI have a bit of a bug, just a small itch I need to scratch. I tell you my dander is raised, my scalp needs to be scratched; all day I have been thinking of our Supreme Court and just how un-Supreme they truly our. I truly do believe it is time for all of us to take a long hard look at who we are as a nation, get up off our proverbial and begin to do something about the nation we want to be rather than simply complain. If we are unwilling to do something, we have absolutely no right to complain about the outcome.

 

No Corporation is a Christian and I can prove it, here are the core principles of being a Christian or living within the body of Christ.

  1. Professing a belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and following his teachings.
  2. Baptism into the body (church) or religious fellowship (it should be noted this is not required in all Christian sects).
  3. Evangelize and bring others to the body of Christ.
  4. Attend all church assemblies and give (tithe).
    1. Follow Church discipline
    2. Follow the will of God, as defined by the Church
    3. Read the ‘Word’ (Bible) regularly
    4. Pray frequently, confessing your sins to God and / or the Body (Church or its representative)
    5. Live an upright and moral life, giving up all worldly goods and desires to follow the teachings of the “Word”.
  5. Follow proper relations with other people including:
    1. Family
    2. Community, people in need
    3. Civil Government
    4. Church, religious government
    5. Business

There is no Corporation, not a single solitary one that is a Christian or for that matter any other Religion, what we have is human people who have decided the Constitution doesn’t matter unless it is convenient. What we have are five members of the Supreme Court who have decided they will strip any person with a uterus of their right to self-determination in favor of satisfying the political machinations of the Right and the racist intent of those who would do anything to deny this President a legacy.

Hobby Lobby = Hypocrisy

Hobby Lobby does business with China in fact nearly their entire inventory has a ‘Made in China’ sticker on it somewhere. Yes the nation with a low human rights rating for the manner in which people, especially women are treated, this is Hobby Lobby’s primary trade partner. Hobby Lobby somehow holds their nose despite, or maybe it is because of the execrable way in which China treats women, going so far as to encourage selective abortions, eliminating females in the womb.

Hobby Lobby does business with a nation that encourages abortion to the tune of approximately thirteen (13) million per year.

David Green, CEO Hobby Lobby

David Green, CEO Hobby Lobby

Nevertheless, when it came to providing for women’s health, providing birth control to their employees Hobby Lobby and their proselytizing CEO, David Green had something else entirely in mind and that was simply, “No”. Not just No, but Hell to the No. Never mind his 401K invested in Pharma companies that make all the methods and drugs he refuses to cover for his employees, including two that cover surgical abortions, that doesn’t count. Never mind the insurance he provides his employees covers Viagra and Cialis (can’t have a problem getting it up now can we). But damn those women if they should want to preserve their body integrity, their ability to raise the children they have, their health or their future.

Screw them, literally.

The Supreme Court of the United States of America listened to the arguments and decided Hobby Lobby; a corporation is human enough to hold religious beliefs and can impose those beliefs on others. In this case, those beliefs include denial of specific birth control methods including the following:

‘Morning After Pills’, Ella and Plan B, and two intrauterine devices (IUDs)

Last, I checked, I could be wrong mind you, but last I checked the first Amendment of the US Constitution said the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Unless I am crazy, I might be, this would mean Hobby Lobby and its hypocritical proselytizing CEO do not get to impose their crazy azzed religious beliefs on others. Mind you, I know I could be wrong, I could be sitting in my own version of Hope Land, resting in my garden of Lavender surrounded by the sounds of birds and water fountains, but as much of an idealist as I am I don’t think I wear blinders. I believe I am reading the Constitution correctly, which means there is something far more nefarious at work.

Supreme_Court_US_2010

What could it be that causes a body, in this case the Supreme Court of the United States to act in a manner so contrary to what we know is consistent with the law, common sense and all of this nations principles to now. What could cause case after case since 2009 to shift so far out to the Right, away from what is best for the majority and towards an ever-shrinking minority? What is the single element that has changed and what can we trace that change too?og-ab844a_schob_g_20140630134413

On 20-January-2009 Republican leaders held a secret meeting during which the agreed to sabotage the US economy and the success of President Obama’s administration. Since that time, Congress both House and Senate have done everything and anything within their power to do so. During this same time, SCOTUS has colluded openly and without restraint to provide aid. One only need look at the record of decisions handed down on Voting Rights, Women’s Rights, Workers Rights including the most recent Harris v. Quinn.

The list of goes on, our losses go on and we remain seated in our chairs. We remain apathetic, tired and seemingly powerless.

Three branches of government colluding to destroy one man and his legacy. We sit and watch.

Three branches of government and their minions, the ignorant of our nation whipped into a frenzy because one Black Man dared to dream and dared to cause us to dream with him. Don’t want to hear it, yet I believe it might be true, three branches of government full of old, fearful and mean Caucasian men and women who see their power being lost and trying desperately to hang on determined to destroy the first African American President, his family and his legacy by any and every means necessary.

The rest of us? We are collateral damage.

Want to stop this before it is too late?

VOTE, in November VOTE. Don’t stay home but get out and VOTE. If you stay home we lose.

 

Impeachment Process, Free Republic

The Plot to Sabotage the Presidents Administration

The ObamaCrat’s Take on SCOTUS Decision all the information is here

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