short sided sight

Short sided sight! Seems that we have become a nation whose only goal is to remedy the immediate and forgo the future. Seems like more bandages are brandished and less homeopathic heaps of help are ever considered or chosen. The right now is a hue and cry; emergency fixes become the method of resolution, and the immediate is the cincher for solving the issue.

Add the selfish fixation of politics and politicians as they stand in place, or worse, as they move backwards as the only progress taken to find solutions. Pontificate on who is wrong, to blame, to scapegoat then speak loud, speak fast, speak incoherently facing your fingers at others and dance a mad jig never really owning up to a remedy. Do a cursory correction, hope the population forgets and never figure out how to find the cure.

We reluctantly pass a law which encourages whistle blowers to come forward and identify the culprit, but seem to never listen to the whistleblower until the evil deed is done. Then we ring our hands passing the buck to someone else for not taking the first hand knowledge when it was first hand and making change. We recite past history finding the details dubious and disastrous make our marketing attempt to disown ourselves from the past only to let the devils in the detail go unnoticed and never acted upon.

What? The record of accidents ignited with the incompetence and disregard for anything but the bottom line from BP was not public notice? What? During the Bush/Cheney dictatorship we had no bid contracts with Halliburton for faulty facilities, mechanics and drinking water in Iraq and Afghanistan learning they could care less about quality? What? Transocean’s history of cutting corners in building rigs and equipment was kept a secret? What? We didn’t have record of drugs, pornography, kickbacks to the MMS from the Oil Cartel? What? No one knew that ‘Dickie’ Cheney held, as one of his first official VP meetings, a private invitation only sortie with his buds the CEO’s of the Oil Cartels? Really? All of this is new?

Then there is public outrage and 'by gosh darn' we are going to make changes, or at least make a lot of noise to make those changes. Is it going to be like allowing Wall Street and the bankers to reform the finance system? Will it be like the Health Insurance Cartel handling Health Care Reform? Is it going to be like the Oil Cartels running the EPA? (In case you answered yes to any of the above you are correct because in the last dictatorship the Bush/Cheney regimen it happened). Too much government was bad because it infringed on the American way, except the fine print also read it infringed on the corporations getting richer. Americans may think they elect the politicians but it is lobbyists who run this country.

President Obama, you inherited so much crap from “mission accomplished” Bush. Why anyone would even want to take on the challenges left behind by selfish, self serving men such as Bush and Cheney is beyond my thinking. But Sir, you wanted the job and promised us change. How about adding insight, foresight and finally stopping the hindsight in dealing with the welfare of this nation.

You are a man of belief so start believing in what is best for this nation and stop playing politics. We all know about the cronyism, kickbacks, lobbyist influence PAC’s that afflict and affect our elected officials and government employees, so don’t act dumb act smart in stopping this flood of greed and gluttony. We had eight years of careless and carefree government how about a government that is careful and caring?

Short sided sight, Sir, does not look well on you.

nothin' but the facts

“The facts, ma’am, nothing but the facts”, so said Sergeant Friday on the detective series ‘Dragnet’. The Sergeant was out to solve some crimes and needed the necessary truth to help find the culprit and send them to jail. Most crime shows in the 50’s and 60’s relied on finding the facts, which usually were as solid as granite in knowing right from wrong, good from bad.

Somehow finding facts as this new millennium sprouts and grows is not a priority and far from helping anyone distinguishing truth from lies, good from bad, and right from wrong. Facts don’t count anymore. What becomes real is repeating falsehoods and fabrications, laying a few innuendos, and screaming shrapnel filled epitaphs to drown out anyone who demands honesty.

The great debate on Health Care Reform did not permit reasonable response from resonating much further than the offices of politicians who were either for or against this Bill to pass. When most politicians tried to hold ‘town hall’ meetings harangues of death panels, abortion clinics, sex change operations echoed as loud as the chambers on a pistol when fired. When trying to explain why all Americans would benefit from inexpensive, less restrictive health care, the response was socialism or communism. Because of the influx of fact less falsehoods honest and sincere dialogue never found its way to the tips of people’s tongues. We were told by the Republicans that too much control would hurt the insurance industry from lowering prices for services and informed by the Democrats that the only thing that won’t decrease in sum was the money the lobbyists used to bribe the politicians.

The great recession of the two thousands has devastated this nation and for many of the lower class and middle class families has left a scathing residue of poverty, depression, and emptiness. While many of us participated in spending endless dollars, purchasing our dreams on worthless paper, the people with the titles, like CEO, FOO, and Executives were busy developing a set of guidelines based on lies. We were all told by the professionals in the banking and finance business that more was better. Spending was king, and that there should be no worries because those in charge made big salaries and they making all that money was justification enough for us to spend ours on their make believe products. We were also told that the checks and balances were in place and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) was ready in their Teflon capes to protect Americans from any wrong doing.

The oil companies have boasted that they were capable of drilling for crude anywhere and everywhere. Starting with a secret meeting with then Vice President of the US, the CEO’s of major oil companies created a pact of lies in which they said how competent they were in drilling for oil and made up some blueprint of paying off those legislators who might feign concern, and infiltrate the various regulation committees of the government with lies sex and videotape. No one had balls enough to demand the public be privy to ‘Dickie’ Cheney’s private meeting with the oil giants and since he was Captain America most everyone swallowed his pack of mistruths and misconduct. We were more concerned about “Drill Baby Drill” as expounded by quitter half term Governor, Sarah Palin, (who has no need for facts but relies on fable and foible), then we were in finding alternate energy supplies. And now we find that the truth companies like BP espoused like “we have a back up system for failure, or our safety standards are the best,” were wistful fairy tales not ending happily ever after. And the heroes we thought were at the ready to save the day like the Mineral Management Service, (MMS) were lackeys and shills for the oil companies they were supposed to oversee.

And we are told by Family Values groups, the Mormon and Catholic Church, Republican Senators, that separate but equal is the correct way to treat the LGBT community in America. We are told based on selective scripture in the Bible not in the Constitution of the United States that God finds Gays to be the seed of the devil. We are told that the Institution of Marriage is so weak that if same sex couples wed it will fall. We are told by the same heterosexual people who cheat on their spouses, commit adultery that their actions and behaviors do not reflect on the stability of the Institution, but anything Gay will send it tumbling to the ground. We are told by men and women who have not served in the armed forces that the soldier’s marines and sailors who are serving this country will not feel patriotic or brave if they serve with a homosexual. We are told homosexuals make bad partners in the trenches and the dormitories, even the ones winning stars and medals for acts of valor and bravery. We are told that homosexuality is the root cause for pedophilia, but if the priest is a heterosexual and molests a girl it is not really that important. We are preached at that Gays are bad, based on some Biblical or made up American fact.No truth squad needed to justify the hate, just trust that God is on their side (the Tea Baggers, Evangelicals, John Birchers, Neo Cons), all calling themselves God’s mercenaries.

We watch FOX News, we listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and we rally around Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and never ask them why or how or really? We find leaders who divide and conquer, like Karl Rove who rather then find a friend told his Republican co-horts identify the enemy. We pray with religious leaders who ask what would Jesus do, but do the opposite. We use racism, homophobia, elitism, sexism, as truth. We permit our fears, self loathing, and self victimization and bide by them as road maps. We indulge in extremism to constrain any common ground; and we luxuriate in lies to define who we are.

The truth ma’am, ain’t no way we want that because admitting the truth is admitting we, us, as individuals are weak, are fragile, have failed. Better to live on lies in the twenty tens, safer to avoid what is real. And if we ought out the truth perhaps we might have to do the hard work and fix the injustices, the wrongs, and all of that would interfere with some corporation or institutionalized religion. Keep the dumb dumber feed them lies and get them so bloated in falsehoods they either implode or lose consciousness.

The truth, you can’t handle the truth!

haven't you waited long enough?

Dear President Obama,

I proudly voted for you because you were change I could believe in. You reminded me of JFK, a hero of mine during my years as a teen- ager. Like JFK, I believed that what you said came from the heart, and without knowing me personally you knew enough about me to make a difference, a difference that mattered.

You inherited some awful history left over from two men who believed in no one but their own selfish lives and who felt that the bottom line for the wealthy, the corporations, the greedy and the gluttonous was top priority. You ran for an office telling me that in becoming the president of the United States you would indeed be the president for as many and more and not for the few or fortunate. And I believed you, supported you and voted for you.

There is, I am sure, an agenda of a magnitude beyond belief, of ideas you wish to make into ideals. You inherited 2 wars, a recession, a country divided on what is constitutional what is American what is right and what is left. I am a student of American culture and American history and I realize that the promise is out there, and the reality of making change is sometime easier said then done.

But Mr. President, when it comes to civil rights, to human rights, when it comes to understanding right from wrong, taking time is taking up too much time and the present becomes the past and the unjust acts, remain untamed and untouched. Waiting does not allow the change you spoke of so proudly and personally to permeate. When you postpone any decision it sounds like political posturing. When you ignore the immediacy of change you become stale and stagnant. When you hem and haw, drag your feet, suppose and assume you derail democracy and you become too much consumed with due diligence and deny dignity.

How long will you wait to reclaim the Gulf from BP? When will you stop this corporation from dancing on the backs of Americans who live from pay check to pay check, who don't hassle over $750 million or $1 billion? When will you act as a leader and stop the bully from bulldozing the innocent, the people who don't have a cadre of lawyers, who don't receive perks from lobbyists, who don't fly on leer jets to pontificate about the environment only to retreat to some penthouse or estate?

How long will it take for you to stop the rhetoric and ruminations about equality for all Americans? When will you stand before America and say Don't Ask, Don't Tell is wrong, that denying gay marriage is wrong, that the LGBT community is not less than? When will fight for all of our rights instead of permitting homophobes to hide behind hypocritical religious dogma?

How can you tell places like Zimbabwe and Uganda that jailing Gays because of homosexual activity is wrong when in this country Gays don't have equal rights. As was the case in the 60's, with the Blacks, Mr. President, separate but equal based on nothing but fear, hate and loathing is NOT EQUAL.

How long will it take you find a plan for immigration in this country? How many more angry white fearful Americans will plot and plan their own lynching mobs and try to convince the cowards that the evil is others? How long will it take you to stop this casting of stones of those who don't look or sound like us? Who is the US we are supposed to be anyway?

President Obama, it was an honor to vote for you, support you. When you ran for President, there was no choice but to elect you to office. Now Sir, with all respect, you are turning into the lesser of two evils. I am so scared of the trauma and drama this country has permitted to take hold. I am worried that the stupid, the racist, the homophobes, the anarchists, the anti freedom brigades are gaining ground. Where has the leadership the promise, the change I so much saw in your abilities and talents gone to?

Enough of the grandstanding speeches, the forgotten promises, the cow towing to the lowest common denominators of bias and prejudice. Make a stand Mr. President, take back the leadership you so adeptly owned in your election. The longer you wait, the more the oil spills, the gay man and woman is denied, the true American is lost. Ignorance becomes king.

Haven't you waited long enough?

harvey milk

May 22, 2010 was the celebration of Harvey Milk's birthday. Governor Schwarzenegger (R) of California exacted a few flip flops and finally decided that he would acknowledge the slain civil rights leader and ask that all Californians take time to honor Mr. Milk and recognize his being the first openly gay man to win an election in this country, as well as Harvey Milk's efforts in raising the status of the LGBT community in America. Perhaps for some this seems another day to celebrate yet one more person who it seems has little impact on your life, or to make mention of a man who some deem as a demon seed because he was a homosexual, or to just shake your head and wonder why California even takes the time to honor people like Martin Luther King Jr. Cesar Chavez, and now Harvey Milk. One could say I am not Black, I am not Hispanic I am not Gay, so why do I care.

In California the Kern County School Board has decided they don't care, and have insisted that no school in their district can or should permit any celebration of Harvey Milk's life. A member of the the school board insisted on National Public Radio that to honor someone like Harvey Milk was not justified, not because of his lifestyle, he said, but because Mr. Milk was only in office a brief time and surely in that brief time he (Mr. Milk) did very little to alter the course of American history. And throughout the entire 20 minute interview the School Board Commissioner repeated four times it had nothing to do with his lifestyle, but if it had did you know the kind of lifestyle he (Mr. Milk) led.

Did you know that many states at first thought that Martin Luther King Jr was an anarchist? Did you know that many true born again Evangelical Christian in this country felt that his (MLK's) lifestyle was sinful and barbaric because he was black. Did you know many a John Bircher, an Aryan Race member, a Southern Republican spread rumors hat MLK had few affairs and was a part of the plot in killing JFK. Did you know that many American capitalist felt Cesar Chavez was a socialist because he wanted, what...fair wages for migrant workers. Did you know that many a staunch Republican and Neo Con were trying to trace a lineage between Cesar Chavez and Fidel Castro, because if anything they were both Hispanic.

For some fact does not out weigh fear. For some the only way they think they can maintain status quo is to fight the forces of reason, the factors of change, the fictitious findings of fault. For some anyone wanting to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps is misconstrued as pulling other down.

In the Republic of Texas the State Board of Education is planning on rewriting the annals of American history so those deemed true Christian/Americans get better play. Thomas Jefferson is being downgraded to one chapter because he was an advocate of making sure this was not a Christian country. He wrote too many papers on the division of church and state. And since division is good in some circumstance for the Republic of Texas School Board they are highlighting the the Republican Party's Contract for America which stated very clearly that there was only one way to think if you were to think a a true American. And in that Contract they made it clear, progressive and liberal thinkers were not true red white and blue, more pinko's like the Communists.

No one has to attend events for slain hero's heroines, no one has to offer effigies to people who fought a battle for civil rights, no one has to even acknowledge the trials and tribulations of those who tried to make a difference. But in the same vein, no one has the right to decide that the truth can not be spoken and no one has the right to deny the freedom of speech the freedom of existence of those who made and make a difference in this country.

I am so tired of a small mined minority of people jumping to judgement out of hate, self loathing, and fear of change making so many decisions that deny me my rights as an American and a human. Why is fact so dangerous to so many?

Happy Harvey Milk Day to a man who is one of my many hero's. I wish in my life I can be a brave as he.

the blame game

Mistakes happen. An easy explanation for the ills and wills of man is that mistakes happen. So no big deal if a mine explodes killing miners or an oil rig implodes killing oil workers or if derivatives derail and destroy the lives of millions. Mistakes happen. No one’s fault, its life, and to blame is so Un-American. Especially if those you blame happen to be huge corporations, captains of industry or business enterprises. And if those you blame happen to be the lobbyists who continue to buy and own the American politician.

Dr. Rand Paul has taken to the stump one more time to decry how the President of the United States is acting unpatriotic in his criticism of BP and their oil disaster. He is full of Tea and Libertarianism as he proclaims corporations and industry at no fault and trying to correct fault as the blame game. Is he reciting the rhetoric of the Tea Baggers that the average man is less than the man with the money?

On the oil spill, Dr. Paul said he had heard nothing from BP indicating it wouldn't pay for the spill that threatens devastating environmental damage along the Gulf of Mexico coast. If he was listening closely to the CEO of BP and not the clatter of BP’s lobbyists, Dr. Paul would have heard BP say we will pay the legitimate costs if we are found guilty of the blast. Dr. Paul also did not listen to the testimony of the past crimes committed by BP with other blasts in Texas City and off shore in Alaska.

"And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be somebody's fault instead of the fact that maybe sometimes accidents happen," Paul said. If you drill in deep water and lie about all the back up plans you said were in place should an accident occur if you by pass regular maintenance so your bottom-line for the shareholders is greater than the small expense to remain safe, those are not accidents those are premeditated acts of potential violence and doom.

The Senate candidate also referred to a Kentucky coal mine accident that killed two men, saying he had met with the families and he admired the coal miners' courage.

"We had a mining accident that was very tragic. ... Then we come in and it's always someone's fault. Maybe sometimes accidents happen," he said. Is it an accident that could have been avoided had the same coal mine operators taken heed of its record of incidents in other coal mines owned by them and remedied some of the fail safe measures it was ordered to fulfill?

We hear about how the Tea Party Brigade and their cadre of Tea Baggers are out to deliver a new America, to take back America for the individual. But which individual are we talking about. Is it the individual which recently has been given status as being an individual by the Supreme Court, the CORPORATION, or is it the American who must work dangerous jobs just to survive?

When there is a history of mistakes, of injury, or not correcting procedures or policy to safeguard the work environment because the CEO or the shareholder will receive less income is that just considered an accident? When the past actions indicate the behavior of the present and future motives are to be questioned and error once again erodes into calamity then blame must be acknowledged. When no one in the government takes responsibility away from the corporations who care more about the bottom line and less about the common man then blame must be noticed and called out.

Come on Dr. Rand, you and your band of baggers need to find a conscience. How selfish can one man one group of people really become? Accidents happen when no one has been remiss, refused to change or reminded time after time to make corrections. Blame should be owned by the people,Dr. rand who are trying to own you should you become a senator of Kentucky.

dr. rand paul...no polyanna

Dr. Rand Paul, the winner of the Kentucky Republican Party primary for senator, a man who spoke in eloquent terms of proudly being a member of the Tea Party and warning the country that the Tea Party is here whether you agree or not has made some national headlines by also speaking loud and large about the issue of civil rights in the U.S.

Dr. Paul most recently appeared on the Rachel Maddow show an was asked about his statements on civil rights which had been made twice during Dr. Pauls’ pre primary town hall meetings. Despite attempts to clarify his position, Senate Republican nominee Rand Paul has angered civil rights leaders and confused some supporters by getting involved in a contentious debate about whether the government overreached in its attempts to bar discrimination.

On the show, he argued that the government should not have interfered with the operations of private business -- even to enforce civil rights -- while emphasizing that he does not support discrimination. He has made similar statements to his hometown paper and to NPR

A spokes person for Republican potential senators said, "He's saying that private business should be able to make decisions on their own without the federal government telling them what they cannot do, and he believes that the Constitution mandates that the federal government has very limited powers, and he doesn't believe that the government should be telling private business what it should do," (Washington Post).

A candidate running for senate as a member of the Tea Bag Brigade is now stating that there is a difference in civil rights of this country as perceived by the government that is different than civil rights as perceived by private businesses. Government according to Dr. Paul has no right in assuring that separate but equal is okay in all we do in this country, but can only permit non discrimination if it relates to government affairs. Government becomes too big when it insists on equality in all we do as Americans. It is too far reaching if it tells a restaurant, a hotel, a ball park, you can’t have white only or black only spaces because it takes away your ability of free speech.

Hmmm. so as a nation we can not permit segregation but as individuals we can be as racist as we desire because this IS America.

Normally I would begin ranting and raving and become indignant of such a proposal, as what I believe sets America apart is the fact that the good of the lesser many times becomes the will of the greater; that inclusion is what defines most Americans.

But then I must remind myself that the truth of the matter is that “we” and “they”, “them” and “us”, live and thrive very well in this country when it comes to the separate but equal this nation takes in regards to the LGBT community. We are not an inclusive country when fears and lies are spread, innuendo, religious dogma smeared as truth, and are based on nothing greater than homophobia disguised as saving the Institution of Marriage, Family Values or Religious Morals.

Dr. Paul it seems is no different than the Catholic Bishops, the Mormon leadership, the Rush Limbaugh’s Sarah Palin’s, Glenn Beck’s, John McCain’s of this country who have decided a double standard. a fabrication of the Constitution, non equality is just. It seems that Dr. Paul is just taking the obvious, “we hate you because we think you are different” theory and re-addressing the issue of separate but equal in terms of color of the skin not just gender or sexuality.

There is an outrage from many, as there should be, that we are even discussing the civil rights movements of the 60‘s ever again. But many of those so appalled because they are no longer color blind seem to be blind, deaf and dumb when it comes to equal rights to marry, adopt children, and serve in the military for anyone in LGBT community.

I am not a fan of Dr. Rand Paul, nor of his close association with the Tea Bag Brigade, but the Republican candidate running for senate in Kentucky seems to be saying out loud what many Americans have been shouting and screaming about Gay Rights. So many personally insulted Americans who decry the removal of civil rights for those in a minority race in America, seem to be quiet and still in defending the minority of Gays and Lesbians living in this country.

Imagine one day when this country elects a whole bunch of Tea Bag Brigaders to take back this country, and all those Tea Baggers decide the Constitution states that this is a Christian country, and tell the Jews to convert or leave, or scream at the Mormons, Jesus only walked in the Galilee not Utah, and the Catholics that they are not the true disciples of their Aryan God. And insist that being an evangelical is being the only true American.

Dr. Rand Paul is the tip of an iceberg that is, if not stopped, will flood this country and destroy all in its path.

a new america

A new America! A new America defined by a group of people who rely on fear, loathing, self serving and finding the lowest common denominator. We have begun the path that Joe McCarthy started in the late 40’s and early 50’s, and Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin are continuing with the start of the 21^st century. No truth needs to be told, a reliance on foible, fable and fabrication are the only necessary weapons necessary to wage a jihad in this self proclaimed Christian nation.

The Republic of Texas has shot the next volley in this war on democratic values and has enlisted the so called social conservative members of the Texas state board of education. The 15 person panel is deciding on how history and social studies should be taught to the students of the Lone Star State. This board of education wants to present a picture of a new America by changing the facts of the old America. Some of the scrumptious goodies waiting to be cooked include the following recommendations:

Adding language saying the country's Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles and including positive references to the Moral Majority, the National Rifle Association and the GOP’s Contract with America.

Other amendments to the state's curriculum standards for kindergarten through 12th grade would minimize Thomas Jefferson's role in world and U.S. history because he advocated the separation of church and state; require that students learn about "the unintended consequences" of affirmative action; assert that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society; and rename the slave trade to the "Atlantic triangular trade.”

And adding language saying the country's Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles and including positive references to the Moral Majority, the National Rifle Association and the GOP’s Contract with America. (msnbc)

A whole lot of fiction added to the non fiction side of the American library, I would say.

In the book 1984, written by George Orwell in 1949 there is a quote that goes, “He who controls the past controls the future.” It is a slogan used by the Party a group run by Big Brother to keep the population in control in a totalitarianism society. In Communist China, in Cuba, in North Korea history was rewritten in order for the future generations to learn absolutely nothing from the past, so they could be guided into the philosophy of those wanting to control their future.

Hey Jews, hey Muslims, hey agnostics, atheists, hey Catholics you ‘ain’t Christian’ enough to claim this land as your land. Better convert or leave the land your anti Consevative Christian ancestors had raped.

In the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury written in 1953, the government in trying to control the masses of America, the burning of books became a national pastime. Reasons given that this was necessary included ‘it was necessary to equalize the population and promote sameness’, in other words no one should read any book which might offer a differing of opinion. There was a struggle, felt the powers that be, ‘which if they (the government) could eliminate the tension between knowledge and ignorance there would be an easier way to have the people thinking what they are told to think’. The characters in favor of burning the books said “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but every one equal.

In Nazi Germany they burned books, any book that asked questions, begged comment, spoke of difference of truth. Who knows once the new text books are published in the Republic of Texas, maybe a bonfire or two of the existing anti conservative Christian text books would be necessary to eradicate the foolishness, fairness of the past.

When groups try to end discourse, discussion or dialogue to resolve differences, when they attempt to eliminate any commonality and insist on creating chaos, when consensus is considered crap, as they say at NASA, “Houston we have a problem”.

Thomas Jefferson a lesser character, our founding fathers founding a Christian nation, NRA the heroes with guns, Newtie Gingrich’s contract with America an inclusive program, the slave trade just a blip something called the Atlantic triangular trade, what will our future Americans turn into?

Once the dominoes fall, in the land of make believe education, wonder what other facts will fall into tall tales? Wonder which individuals who fought for the rights of women. Minorities, equality for all will be erased from the annals of history and be replaced with Neo Cons, Evangelicals, John Birchers and Tea Baggers?

A new America sounds awfully much like a place where brown shirts roam the streets, Christian Crusaders hunt down the devil, and anyone different is dangerous.

This is not MY America is it yours?

i didn't do it...maybe

Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder announced Tuesday he would resign from Congress, effective Friday, because he had an affair with a staffer.

The eight-term congressman apologized for his actions but provided no details.

"I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff," Souder said. "In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon and twisted for political gain. I am resigning rather than put my family through a painful drawn out process." (Associated Press)

A man under his own free will committed an adulterous act, and as he said against God, and is angry not because of his actions but due to the fact that as a politician he is to be accountable for being a hypocrite. He is pissed off because he thought what he did in the motel rooms; Holiday Inn’s on back roads and out of sight of the public is his business and his alone. It would be but...

The same man who made it clear that the Institution of Marriage should remain a virtuous opposite sex institution, who delved into my personal life as a gay man, who classified any gay or lesbian as less than equal who had the audacity to speak for God is now upset because the public is commenting on a public figures life. He is kind of sort of upset also because he was found out, not man enough to admit his sins on his own. He is a goon a coward, a bully and he is guilty of those same acts he has accused so many others of committing. Boo hoo!

VATICAN CITY - Dragged deeper than ever into the clerical sex abuse scandal, the Vatican is launching a legal defense that it hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him answer attorneys' questions under oath.

Court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press show that Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has immunity as head of state, that American bishops who oversaw abusive priests weren't employees of the Vatican, and that a 1962 document is not the "smoking gun" that provides proof of a cover-up. (Associated Press).

So suddenly the Catholic Bishops scattered all over the world are not employees of the Vatican. Suddenly the Church is without authority or jurisdiction when it comes to the daily behaviors of Bishops and priests. Suddenly the all powerful Oz (the Pope) is seen as just “the man behind the curtain’, and really has no voice in the direction or discretion of those we just assumed he supervised. Suddenly the buck no longer stops at Rome and the holier than thou are hollering I didn’t do it.

So the Pope is just a dupe caught up in the messes of mere mortals and he is supposedly above the fray. The Holy See says that the Bishops run the ship, and if they did bad things it is no one’s responsibility but theirs, to clean up the mess. His hands are clean. (sounds like Macbeth).

I wonder if in his wiggle and worn out dance of not taking responsibility the Pope will then look the other way when his non employees allow same sex weddings or distribute condoms, or permit those couples who really never loved one another to divorce? After all they are ree agents aren't they?

The Vatican is a goon, a coward, a bully and guilty of immoral behavior and even more immoral acts by not taking responsibility for its actions. They speak as if they alone, have God’s ear, but listen not to one word coming down from the heavens.

How easy it is to condemn others, making them scapegoats, villains, and the evil doers, always pointing fingers toward them and never turning your wrist to point your fingers at yourself. How easy it is to abide by double standards laying blame for the ills of the world on anyone but you. How difficult it seems to be by those who swear their ethics, their values, their morals are better than yours to admit even a sliver of fault or misstep. How easy to feign hurt and insult when confronted with your own foibles and fallacies.

Most bullies cry when they in turn are attacked. Their bravery falls like pools of waters from a melting ice pack. They only know how to be on the offensive and swoon and shiver when the truth finds them out to be liars. Perhaps its time we introduce the goons, bullies, and cowards to the same dose of medicine they prescribe to anyone they fear and loathe. I know that spoonful of medicine would make me feel a whole lot better.

state's wrongs

The newest biggest thing in politics is the catch phrase, “individual states rights”. Suddenly the United part of the States of America seems to be tarnished and each state wants to act as a subsidiary of one.

As with the successful denial of same sex marriages by the individual states who felt that equality is not really equal, there is a movement that wants to press for laws and regulations which can deny anyone freedoms that the Constitution of the UNITED STATES insisted be included to make this country just and democratic. The individual biases, fears, delusions seem to be greater than the sum of the whole. And the minority, the smaller voice, the at risk populations are being cock blocked and discriminated by the vocal bunch of self loathing mean spirited men and women wanting to drown out fair and right.

Government is too big the Tea Bag Brigade scream, we don’t want oversight, we don’t want government to take responsibility for our every day existence, we don’t want people we perceive who don’t look like us, sound like us, hate like us to tell US what to do. It is not a democracy when those we hate are in charge.

By what standards are we to abide when it comes to too much government in this country. Is it too much government when states are flooded or tornadoes wreak havoc, or oil spills and destroy the livelihoods of fishermen and the federal government intercedes? Was it too much intervention when the federal government decided that inter-racial marriages were legal and not a curse from the devil? Is it too much interference when the federal government sets safety standards for baby furniture, automobiles, and food products? Was it too much government oversight when the government decided separate but equal was not equal and blacks in this country could drink from the same water fountain as whites?

By whose choice should liberty and justice for all be removed from the Constitution of the United States? Can some states decide that their state will only be a Baptist state or only welcome born again evangelical Christians? Can some states decide to disallow gays and lesbians from working as teachers, social workers, nurses, doctors? By whose choice is it that laws protecting minorities are no longer valuable because they do not suit the so called majority’s interests?

When we become fixated on us, and decide they are the enemy no one is safe. When the greater good is no longer valuable and is replaced with the selfish few desires, tyranny triumphs.

It started long ago with the Witch Hunt Trials of New Enland. It sifted over to the 19^th century with the Civil War, when the Southern States felt it was their right to own slaves. No federal government could dictate values. It seeped into the southern states later in the next century when white only laws were what each sovereign state government felt was just. It found its way in the 70’s when predicated on a misinterpretation of the Bible, (because then as now some states seem to think the Bible carries more weight) the LGBT communities were the demon seed and many states denied any right to this demographic. It has crawled into the 90’s when suddenly some states felt the Institution of Marriage would teeter and fall if anyone but one man and one woman wed. It is now amassing in Arizona where if you look like an illegal or a Mexican or brown skinned you must be one.

States rights seem so wrong when the right they wish for always seem to deny many of the freedoms and fortunes as described in the Constitution of the United States. Wonder who is next in being told we don’t like your kind in this state? Wonder how many independent countries can be made from 50 states?

I worry when state's rights turn out to be so wrong.

making unfair--fair

So the Tea Bag Brigade in their daily ritual of shouting hypocrisy is complaining that government is way too big, way too much. They have a litany of complaints as to how the lack of their privacy is being attacked and how their rights are being diminished.

But the Tea Bag Brigade is quite happy with the denial of rights for and toward others. Government, when denying rights for those deemed less than or not in the majority, by a group of scrupulous, immoral bigots, should be intrusive to keep the we from us so they say.

Government should indulge in deciding who can marry or can't chant the Tea Bag chorus. Only a man and a woman should wed according to them. Their baseless argument is blamed on an orthodox view of a distorted Bible, but in fact is based on homophobia. So, if government is never too big to decide who can or can't marry then I want one more detail to be demonstrated by the Tea Bag form of dictatorship government. Since Marriage is an Institution on shaky ground because allowing the wrong people to wed, then only a man and a woman can marry once. If they divorce they can not be permitted to wed again. If marriage is for an eternity then you only get one chance to do it right and if you screw up you may never try again.

Government should not permit abortions, callously call the Tea Bag chorus, it has the right to indulge its beliefs in the private lives of women say the holier than thou hooligans. It don't matter, say the good ole boys and the girls quoting scripture and verse of the New and Old Testament how the woman has a child that child conceived should be born and raised. Then I want the government to take taxes from each and every anti abortionist to pay for the education, rearing, feeding and life of each and every child. And if condoms and birth control are considered wrong I want a tax on those families who do have a child every nine months for as long as the woman can conceive. No more 2.5 babies per household, nope as long as the woman is fertile birth baby birth.

Government should deny rights to illegals, even though they may be Americans and asking anyone to show papers is the only protection from those illegally in this country, so vehemently voice the Tea Bag chorus. Then I don't want to stop there, I want government to issue stop and show your papers to those who are illiterate, who are stupid, whose intelligence is deemed by others to be an affront to this country. I want the police and the national guard to stop and ask anyone who looks dumb a few questions like reciting the alphabet, how to spell their name, and count to 100. I want them to go to Italian neighborhoods and ask the grandmas and grandpas to not speak Italian, I want them to got to the Jewish homes and ask the bubbe' and zaydes to not speak Yiddish, If English is the rue language and only legal Americans can speak the language I do not want any kind of crazy foreign tongue muttered.

If the Tea Bag Brigade want to pick and chose what is a right what is a privilege, what is American and what is big government then I want to make sure we include everyone in the re-making of America. If the Constitution speak about this country really being a Christian nation then I want the citizens of Utah to either stop believing in Mormonism (anyone knows Jesus never walked to Salt Lake City), or to declare the state of Utah a private nation and then I want the armies of the United Stares of Tea Bagging to invade them.

Isn't it about time sane people take back this country from the fringe and freaks who just don't like to play by the rules if they don't like them or understand them. Isn't it about time the smart re-inherit this country. Isn't it about time those of us with morals and ethics, refuse to permit the evil, the bigoted the racist, the homophobes, the derelicts from desecrating this nation. Lies and fabrications, loathing and fomented hate must cease, and it will only happen when those of us who remain silent begin to scream a loud as the hatemongers calling themselves Tea Baggers.

dumb and dumber

Imagine if the dynamic “mavericky” duo of Dumb and Dumber, Boris and Natasha, Loony and Tunes---McCain and Palin had won the election. Imagine if we now had in office a man who flip- flops more than a fish out of water, a fact less fabricator who has quit more times than finish anything, a team of people who cater to their personal whims always finding scapegoats and never once realizing their missteps or mismanagements.

One might think that in a land as great as the U.S. the recognition of losers deem the undesirables to hosting three a.m. commercials for get rich products or selling land on the moon. One might consider that after we elected to the office of President a man with whom we would have rather had a beer in a bar and brand cattle, a paranoid sycophant for V.P., sanity would rear its smart head and say NO MORE.

But with the successful release of the can of whop ass of the anti everything crowd, (except their own biases and bigotries), by a bunch of self serving, disenfranchised Republican low life Politicians, we now have a noisy batch of hooligans and malcontents who have permitted the inmates to take over the prison.

It seems that with the resurgence of anything but the truth or the attempt to find consensus, we still have dancing, singing on the main stage the Insidious Idiots, the Lying Lowlife, the Demonic Duo of Brother John and Sister Sarah.

Sister Sarah safe from any real questions by a non Tea Bagger positive press, has made it clear that the girls of a Highland Park Chicago high school basketball team should go to Arizona to play their championship game.

"Keeping the girl’s basketball team off the court for political reasons? Those are fighting words," the former Alaska governor and Tea Party firebrand said Wednesday night.

"An economic and political boycott of one of our sister states is not a way to secure our borders," Palin said, speaking at an event in Rosemont, Ill. Palin said supporters should help the team get to Arizona even if the girls have to "go rogue." (NY Daily News).

Sister Sarah acting as a mom more interested in her own fortunes is once again providing one sided advice to daughters and telling girls to go rogue. She is consistent in only presenting one side of the facts ( as she did with Bristol in not informing her daughter that if she chose to be sexually active without birth control the outcome would mean a teen pregnancy and being a kid raising a kid.) and telling the girls just do it. Of course from the land of Palin high on the hill in an Ivory Tower there are no consequences for yelling “FIRE” in a theater as hundred die in the ensuing chaos to flee.

Sister Sarah loves to insight from a distance. She shouted death panels, free abortions, sex changes for all as she stood from a far and tried to fill Americans with fear and loathing hoping to convince the masses to protest any kind of Health Reform. She loves to intimidate from a safe bunker and never admit to her mistakes as she planted little target signs on politicians who she deemed progressive, its time to take aim she tweeted, and Facebooked. And when she was called on the carpet for her insidious innuendos Sister Sarah as usual feigned indignity from the liberal press saying she was misquoted, misunderstood and misaligned.

Senator, (I can change my mind in the middle of a sentence), John McCain is running the campaign of his life seeking his 25^th year as Senator, (and if that is not a career politician what is?). He has decided this time around to truly show his bigoted, senile, the hell with anyone but me colors and has flipped on his original “mavericky” stance on illegal’s immigration and wants the Berlin Wall fence to be built and completed on the Arizona boarder.

Sen. John McCain is out with a new ad for his Arizona Senate primary in which he discusses the issue of illegal immigration with a border sheriff who tells the former GOP presidential nominee, "You're one of us."

Though tiny print at the bottom of the ad informs viewers that Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County is "appearing only in his personal capacity," Babeu appears in the spot in uniform, giving the impression that he represents all border patrol law enforcement.

"Drug and human smuggling, home invasions, murder," McCain says as the spot opens. He is seen walking with Babeu, seemingly next to a border fence.

"We're outmanned," Babeu responds. "Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through Arizona." He then goes on to tell McCain that the senator's border security plan is "perfect" because it brings together various law enforcement.

"And complete the danged fence," McCain says, as the URL CompleteTheDangedFence.com appears onscreen.

"It'll work this time," Babeu says, adding: "Senator, you're one of us." (Washington Examiner).

“…One of us…” said the sheriff, (pretending to be the sheriff of the county which actually boarders Mexico), in Brother McCain’s ad. One of whom I ask? He is not one of me. Is he one of the brothers of the Aryan Nation or the KKK or the anti Constitutional Un-American organizations, the Tea Bag Brigade? One of us, I wonder if he is an alien, the kind from a solar system far, far away? Does that make him an illegal?

Both Sister and Brother Palin and McCain have joined forces and are ‘darn’d agin’ any Health Reform using the argument that the Reform Bill allows government to regulate you because you exist. They both are anti abortion advocates but I suppose the government has the right to regulate a woman’s body and her choice in carrying a baby because she doesn’t exist? Telling a woman what she can do is ‘okee doekey’, mainly cause she is a woman (aren’t you Sister Sarah?) but insisting all Americans stay healthy is pure socialism or communism. (Funny how it’s okay to interfere in American lives when the talking points gain you notoriety, and fan mail from the fearful.)

You are told not to scratch a mosquito bite because once you begin the scratching the itching persists. You think you are getting pleasure from stopping the scratch but the result is an infected bite leaving an unsightly scab. What pleasure do the bigots, the lemmings the self victimizing, the I want something for nothing crowd getting from two people who have no other motive in life but to, use, squander and abuse the rights of Americans? What promise do the folk who use the flag as a hiding place for phobias, discrimination, inequality and hate find in two people who have demonstrated time and time again they go as the wind of fortune flows? And why might I have to suffer the consequences of an infected mosquito bite on someone else’s skin because of the poor eyesight, foresight, insight of the foolish few?

state sovereignty

Get ready for a new catch phrase as we enter the foray into the November elections of 2010 as well as the biggies in the year 2012…’State Sovereignty’.

For those who like to collect historical memorabilia, start collecting maps of the 50 states which used to represent the United States of America because if the newly identified patriots of the nation, the Tea Bag Brigade and their self serving Republican politicians, have anything to about it, it will be every state for themselves. Our union of 50 collective states will become independent bastions filled with local biases and bigotry.

For the Gay and Lesbian communities the lack of federal law and jurisdiction has already come to fruition. You can marry in Massachusetts but try and convince the citizens of Alabama that as a man you have a husband and they will laugh you all the way to jail. North Dakota permits single LGBT adoption but joint or second parent adoption is unclear, but in Arkansas it is really clear under something called Act One which prohibits unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children.

For Hispanics, Arizona has decided that racial profiling is the only way to decide who is a true American and who is not. Anyone with brown skin can be considered an illegal and all it takes is an eyeball from the police or an angry patriot to sort out the real from the ‘we don’t think you are real’. You can look Mexican in the other 49 states for now without showing your papers, but once there is a leak in the dyke the cracks soon find their way to other locales.

In Texas the state school board has decided that revisionist history is the Texan way to teach children because Joseph McCarthy and his army of anti communists were true Americans and positive lessons of his patriotic stance would be valuable to learn. In Virginia the love of the Confederacy is making a comeback and according to its elected official’s slavery were just a blip and vigilantisms and tyranny made the Confederacy great. The state of Michigan allows people from Florida to carry a concealed weapon but only if you are a resident of Florida and have proof that you have a license to carry a concealed weapon, but if you live in Vermont who issues no licenses for concealed weapons you can not carry a concealed weapon while vacationing in Florida because you need a permit in order to conceal your ‘heat’. And even though the District of Columbia has a ban on concealed weapons due to the high crime rate in that city, Floridians wanting to take aim at Washington can carry their weapons.

The Tea Bagger Brigade is protesting and screaming about too many taxes, that this country is too secular, personal rights are being taken away because the government would like all of its citizens to be healthy, not enough lax gun rights laws. They have convinced enough self loathing, I want something for nothing, I deserve it because I am white and Christian loonies to stop looking at this country as a nation of 50 states but instead as parcels of land unique and different from any other parcel. The Tea Baggers have enticed enough self victimizing individuals to point fingers at others to solve the problem without owning up to any or all mistakes, missteps, misconceptions of their own to try and find consensus rather than spread conflict. The voices of reason are being replaced with riot.

The picking and choosing of State Sovereignty is not really a scientific decision, it is based primarily on we don’t like something so we will no longer look at the greater good just stick with selfish gain. Wonder what would happen to the people in Tennessee suffering from a devastating flood if that state were left to handle the millions of dollars in disaster relief on their own because the federal government is too socialistic? Or the folks along the Gulf coast if each state, sovereign and self supporting had to handle the expense of the clean up. When the tornados in Oklahoma rip out the foundations of towns and property wonder if the Oklahomans could find the resources in their states coffers to rebuild?

The scary thing about the State Sovereignty movement is that it eats away at the Constitution, it wants to erode those laws which speak about fair and equal and replace them with hate, bias and bigotry. If it is good for me, I like it, if it is good for someone else and I get no residual from it, it is too socialistic, too communistic, too Un-American.

Wonder if the people of Utah will decide that the only true state religion is Mormonism. Wonder if the people of South Carolina will decide that the Confederate flag is the true emblem of that state? Wonder if the people of Oklahoma will decide all abortion are illegal and deny the women of that state from seeking help. Wonder if the people of Alaska feel that since the majority of drilling for oil comes from their state, they can control where it goes?

It seems this country is beginning to ignore the greater good for a selfish gain. We readily create scapegoats and just as eagerly forget about the contributions of others. We love pointing fingers at others while never turning our hands toward ourselves and asking what can I do differently. We seem to brush aside solving a problem and would rather lay blame for its inception.

I am sure if you ask some Neo Con born again right wing Christian evangelical the question “What would Jesus do” the answer would be ‘State Sovereignty’.

getting personal

“…this obsession with one’s personal life has got to end…”, so said South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford when asked about meeting his Argentine girlfriend last week in Florida.

Governor Sanford must have a case of Political Amnesia, which promotes hypocrisy; do as I say not as I do, and little recollection of being a bully speaking from a bully pulpit. The Governor is now asking for less indulgence in his personal life when throughout his career as the Republican Party’s golden boy, Mister Sanford minded the business of each and every Lesbian and Gay man and woman who wanted equal rights to marry.

Governor Sanford was one of the spokespeople who stood firm on insisting the Institution of Marriage remain one man one woman, (because as he stated God wanted it that way). Mister Sanford demeaned the personal lives of the Gay and Lesbian American citizen by insisting the love between a man and a man, a woman and a woman, was immoral, improper and unchristian like. He, without knowing any of those individuals personally delved into their personal lives, invaded their privacy and tried to stop them from loving and marrying those they desired.

Governor Sanford has joined the chorus of other recently acknowledged adulterers in the political arena, like Senator Jon Ensign, who after lying about an affair, reluctantly admitting to the affair, being scolded for the affair, are tired of people asking them about the affair. Senator Ensign is all pouty and moody whenever a reporter asks him what is happening with the family of the woman with whom you cheated on your wife. He tells the people of Nevada it was his personal life and we all need to move on. But until the Senator was caught being an adulterer, he was scrutinizing the lives of the Lesbian and Gay community, preaching how marriage was a divine gift from God given to only one man and to one woman to share and to share for a life time. Senator Ensign, spoke eloquently about his marriage and how gays in general would spoil the Institution. Mister Ensign knew none of the Gays about which he spoke, and had the audacity to dive deep into each and every man and woman’s life to be critical and corrective.

Marriage IS a personal contract between two consenting adults. It is hopefully built on love, compassion, respect, and full of emotion. It is a chance to meld two lives into one, creating a couple who provides strength and helps to confront the weaknesses and fight on for better. But marriage is as frail as the humans who decide to unite, to bring two worlds into one. However, Mark and Jon when you speak in the language of hypocrisy filled with hyperbole, and hearsay and indulge your views into the lives of those you really know little about and assume more than you should; you open yourself up to the same scrutiny as you shove onto others. So, if in fact, Governor Sanford, and Senator Ensign, you were busy minding my business without my permission, I certainly will be minding your affairs, especially when they so contradict your holier than thou attitude.

If marriage is and institution you both describe as a gift from God, a union for a life time then how come you both kicked it in the shins and probably would have continued to kick it had you not been caught? Sure there are a bunch of gay men and women who want to get married and will after a year or so decide it is not what they want or need, but then look at the two of you, you both sought greener pastures with different partners.

I am so tired of bullies victimizing others and when they finally face the same fingers pointing to them they cry and cry foul. You both have made inroads into my personal life by vehemently denying me the right to marry. So I will in great earnest point fingers at you and let you know what hypocritical fools, self serving jerks people you are.

You are ‘…tired of the obsession with one’s personal life…’ funny when the tables are turned the room seems claustrophobic and close.

un real reality

Reality shows, scripted attempts to showcase real people participating in real activities, with supposedly unscripted dialogue have been the bell of the ball ever since the start of the newest millennium. We love to watch drunken college aged spoiled brats become outraged because someone wore a tighter bikini then them. We adore wealthy housewives who demonstrate so clearly that money does not provide class. We swoon over some bitchy babe push around some macho dude. We watch mindless bachelor’s ogle over big busted women declaring while drooling over her body that all he really wants is a woman with heart and soul in a size D cup. And we gleefully explode with laughter as we observe some D list actor trying to make a comeback 150 pounds fatter.

The parade of idiots seeking 15 minutes of fame, portraying the most selfish and self serving behaviors litter our airwaves and anyone with a foul mouth, big boobs, nasty personality, demeanor of a devil becomes an overnight star spreading their fame and fortune as far and wide as the average American permits. It is like watching an accident, we become mesmerized hoping the victim is okay and thanking God it was not us, then tsk- tsking and saying had they not been so careless it (the accident would have never happened in the first place).

The problem is that some Americans actually perceive the characters cast in reality shows to be real. That the dialogue crafted to create conflict and chaos is actually words thought up by the TV personalities. The problem is that many a viewer does not want to question what they see or hear and take as a given that if someone says it, it must be real. And then, then by God it is real. The structure of the plot is crafted so good versus evil, the perceived underdog against the egomaniac, and the righteous against the demon seed. Make it simple, simplistic and for simpletons. Find the common lowest denominator of human kind and sell them the Brooklyn Bridge.

And not to be outdone, both Fox Noise and the non grass root originators of the Tea Bag Brigade have found their own cadre of fiction writers to present to the American political scene a reality show scripted, produced and promoted as real.

Each entity (and at times I wonder if they are the same creator), has scripted scenarios with lots of drama, conflict, havoc, chaos, villains, victims, bad guys, boogie men all fighting the wishes, whims and wants (the wishes, whims and wants are also spoon fed in a wonderful array of propaganda) of a person known as the TRUE AMERICAN. None of the scripts from both Fixed News and the Tea Baggers are based on fact or truth, but ooze with fabrication, innuendo and lies. As in the reality shows, both Fixed News and the Tea Bag Brigade speak a whiff of fact, then sprinkle the rest of the tale with corrosive fabrication filled with “out to get you’s, Un-Americanization’s, inflammatory bigotries, and Un-Christian like machinations to make the most milk toast dummies become enraged and insulted. And it works!

For those who have had enough of unreal reality shows a click of the remote can take them to either television with intelligence or a blank screen. We can avoid the soap opera antics of steroidal muscle boys, botoxed girls, spoiled brats and child like adults and read a book or take a hike. But somehow the remote does not work in stopping the sights sounds and smells of the residual echoes from people who just want to create divisiveness and avoid consensus. These demons are now in local and state politics, they are in the way of civil and human rights, they are pervasive in denying equal rights. They have become like an infected blister and have started to creep and crawl like a death defying rash.

Reality shows, an American cultural phenomena, soon, with the help of real writers, directors, educated people will be a fad that passes like a bad case of gas. Fixed News, the Tea Bag Brigade seems to be more like a stubborn stain that no matter how you try and remove it, it just lingers and lingers. It can be an infection that left untreated rots the body and destroys the mind. Both the reality shows and the Fixed News and Tea Bag Brigade are laughable, but I imagine the laugher demonstrated toward the later could kill you. And I do not want to die laughing.