i don't get it!

Tax breaks and incentives with over $60 billion given to the oil companies. And at the same time there is a hue and cry to cut social services for the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the unemployed. Cut the spending we are told but don't even consider raising the tax rate on the wealthy and God forbid the Corporations. America is about Capitalism and Capitalism is the motivator that makes the successful succeed and the lazy learn how to work. Does not matter we have seen the rich grow wealthier and the poor on the verge of hopelessness, but cut, cut, cut cause that makes America more red, white, and blue. I just don't get it!

So, now we need to cut funds for Planned Parenthood because among the many things they do including providing an outlet of care for women, education on becoming pregnant including the responsibilities,cost and care of a child, the values and responsibilities of having a family, they also provide a variety of choices in not becoming pregnant and if you are pregnant the freedom of deciding if the rape, irrational action need more consideration. And the same folk who seem to think that Planned Parenthood is bad for the health and welfare of women want to cut social service funds for children, women and families. So the group of Pro Lifers who insist they have more power over women's reproductive rights then actual women want the baby born and once born couldn't care less how it eats, is educated or where it lives. I just don't get it!

And we were told as people wore three pointed hats decorated by dangling tea bags, that America has spent too much of our money and enough was enough. We were scared by gun toting Second Amendment Right self identified Americans that according to Jesus and the Founding Fathers freedom meant less government, and no imposition on our personal lives. We were told that the deficit and jobs, jobs, jobs were JOB ONE along with smaller government by the Republicans/Baggers and when elected real CHANGE the kind real Americans want would CHANGE America. And what we have seen from Republican/Bagger dominated state Legislatures and Governors are bills that have little to do with finding jobs or working on the deficit but lots of energy on denying women rights to their own bodies, unions to exist, child labor laws being overturned, cutting unemployment benefits,limiting services for those living in poverty and any right for gay and Lesbians. I just don't get it!

And as America is being torn into we vs they, rich vs poor, haves vs have nots, interest in corporations vs lack of concern for the middle class, tax breaks for the wealthy vs, social services cut backs for working class and poor we still have people wanting to run for President of this country like Bachmann, Huckabee, Trump, Barbour and Gingrich who on their best days act like an earthquake making more and more divisions on the American landscape and I don't get it!

I don't get it and have not gotten it for a while. And the fact that all of this is still happening is very, very, very frustrating.

when, when, when?

When you can't face the truth, then remodel the facts and face the next best thing. If the facts don't fit, then make them fit into something less confining, redefining the truth making it fit the way you think you ought to look. While the truth is usually the clear choice for resolving many or any issue, if the truth is not on your side then remove its purpose and purposely speak of fable and fiction. Or become a Republican/Bagger and potentially run for President omitting anything with fact, truth, reality and replace it with Karl Rove speak, funded by the Koch Brothers, mixed in with pompous Evangelical Christianity spoken by self proclaimed false prophets and sell it to uneducated bigots who never look at themselves for the problem but point fingers at anyone else as the villain.

When you can't find the answer to employment but profess jobs, jobs, jobs are the numero uno priority, and really have no intention of creating jobs, turn to God. When you swear its all about jobs and you have ways to find them for all Americans but are not quite ready to share them turn to religion. When you say there is a better way to find work for all Americans use the unemployment mavens from Focus on the Family, the 700 Club, the anti abortion terrorists, National Organization for Marriage, The Family Research Council and the families from the Walton's, Prince's, and Koch's and speak loudly against same sex marriage, women's reproductive rights and unions/ collective bargaining and just utter promises that once we clear this nation of the devil and his devious demons we can begin to look for jobs.

When you are wealthy, really rich, the kind of rich that you have so many tax attorney's you need not pay any tax, no matter how in favor the tax code is for your circumstances, just insist as you buy politicians, Supreme Court activists judges that too much profit is never enough. Spend some of your income on a marketing agency that will swear on a stack of Bibles that we all can have more money if we disband unions, keep tax cuts for wealthy Americans, cut back on social services for people who now will have less income to spend on any social services, and make sure there are no rules or regulations for things like Finances/Banking, Health Care and Environment. Raise the American flag, pledge allegiance and call anyone who wants to diminish the crevice the huge yawning deep cavernous divide between the have's and the have not's as Communists, Fascists, Socialists. And by all means keep the dumb who follow like lemmings as stupid as possible. Make promises you never intend to deliver and keep the money flowing for the wealthy.

When you live in America of 2011 and watch as Republican/Bagger Governors and Legislatures increase tax cuts for corporations while disbanding collective bargaining and unions, cut programs for seniors the disabled, insist on big government intervention for women's reproductive rights, accuse teachers as the reason for state deficits, insist that no same sex couple will marry in my state and you have not begun to worry and wonder why...you must be living in a cave.

When the truth is no longer important, historical facts meaningless, the privacy of peoples personal lives more important than employment and keeping the wealthy wealthier seem to be the only things the Republican/Baggers shout and stomp about and you are not scared...you must be dead.

When this is what America is beginning to look like and you don't seem to care...shame on you, shame!

jerry and son's

On October 15, 1962, reconnaissance photos revealed Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. Suddenly the most unthinkable set of circumstances this modern world of 1962 could ever be faced with found itself facing. "Duck and cover," retention drills in public schools, identification of bomb shelters and talk of mushroom clouds suddenly filled the airwaves, the pulpits, and neighborhood get together's.

In 1962 my father would, every three weeks, pick me up at our school yard, and drive me to our monthly father and son haircut. We went to Jerry and Son's Barber Shop in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, a Barber Shop where my Dad, as a Policeman was treated like a king, and his son me, was given special attention. Including the actual haircut and then the time needed for the BS, we would spend about two and half hours at Jerry and Son's. This barber Shop was a mecca for die hard out of shape athletes, middle aged unhappily married men who could ogle at girlie magazines, blue collar families who thought $3.50 for an all American haircut was a respectable amount to pay, and a place to lament, languish and loudly pursue politics.

Jerry and Son's had a small television mounted on a rusted metal rack over the entrance to the restroom/workroom/lunchroom.Not just anybody could use that space but being 'Benny Buncher's son' I had special privileges and could enter whenever I wished. It was so gross I never used my special entry pass. However the one consequence of using that restroom was that all eyes were on the television above its entrance and lead by Jerry and then his son, whoever was in the Barber Shop would in unison scream "did it come out all right?" as the person using the facilities re-entered into the Shop.

My dad was a union man and believed that any community was only as strong as its weakest link. He also believed that no one deserved to be treated with respect, they in fact had to earn it through trust and honor. So, among the crowd at Jerry's who many times wanted to find a scapegoat or someone to blame their inability to achieve their dreams or just grunt and groan about everyone else but themselves, my father was not one to delve too deeply into the politics of the time. He would defend his being Jewish when a new guy walked in the Shop and had some kind of Sunday sermon derogatory comment to make about the Jews, but mainly he would listen. When fingers were pointed at an easy prey, the Negro (in those days the reference to Blacks), the Jew, again if they didn't know the policeman sitting in the shop in his uniform was Jewish they would somehow blame the greed of the Jews, or refugees,(in Pittsburgh in the 60's people started to arrive from other countries than Italy, Ireland or Poland and did not fit into the perceived ethnic make up of the city, my dad would speak up and ask anyone in the Shop "does your shit smell any better?"

But I remember it was the week after the announcement of Soviet missiles in Cuba that my Dad and I went to Jerry and Son's Shop. It was a cold rainy wet miserable bleak day in Pittsburgh and almost looked as dark outside as if we were approaching the midnight hour.The streets seemed deserted, anyone on the streets looked sour and sullen and it was hard to find any color outside except for grey.

We got to the Barber Shop and the place was filled, some old recognizable faces but plenty of people I had never seen at Jerry and Son's ever. It was standing room only and all eyes were on the television set located above the entrance to the restroom. Walter Cronkite was on the air and was speaking to a general and some Congressperson. The man was a Republican and he was smugly shouting that the Catholic President, Kennedy was busy taking orders from the Pope and was not acting in the American way. We took too much time in discovering the missile sights and now there would be hell to pay. The general said the US was on top of the crisis, and we had an arsenal of weapons that could blow Cuba off the map if we had to. Walter Cronkite asked if that general knew how close Florida was located to Cuba and in the blowing off the map of Cuba might not at least the Keys and maybe Miami be blown away also?

The discussion focused on the Atom Bomb and just whose bomb was bigger. (Had I been a bit more sophisticated at the time I certainly could have related that conversation to the many references of penis size and the power of the penis by most if not many of the customers at Jerry's.) When the conversation on television focused on the Atom Bomb and its destruction and the fall out and the devastation caused by the fall out the place grew eerily quiet. The only noise we heard was the rain falling on the sidewalk and as if it was a scene from a movie a clap of thunder clicked and made quite a few people jump, including my father. We were all scared. What scared me most however was witnessing the look of fear on all these able-ed body men and in particular my hero and saver of all things bad, my Dad.

I wanted to run home, go under the bed, build a bomb shelter, drive to my grandparents homes, my aunts and uncles bring them all to my house and just hide and wish away this horrible event. I wanted my Dad to say it will be all right, don't worry. I hated television and what I decided that day was its unrelenting communication of bad news.

Many wonderful experiences came my way growing up in the 50's, and 60's but that news cast with the word BULLETIN flashing under the chin of Walter Cronkite's chin still find its way into my psyche. The talk of doom and destruction haunted me many nights and every time we were at Linden School and there was a Retention Drill, I wondered if the Atomic Bomb was headed to Pittsburgh.

I trusted Walter Cronkite and somehow knew he would do anything in his power to make things right, to make my Father and those men at Jerry' shop stop worrying. I believed everything he had to say because, well because he was a news caster, a journalist.

I am a news junkie. I, like my Father still worry about the downtrodden, those easily scapegoated, the innocent who have little voice and listen closely to how the world around us is communicated. I worry about how the news is told and wonder often if like everything else of recent times what is supposedly reality is just scripted and marketed. I don't worry so much about the Atomic Bomb, but more so about the lies which many people seem to think is the truth, and the trust placed in people who are not journalists, just jerks.

The message from the television set above the restroom at Jerry and Son's had a powerful impact, one that still nags at me. The television in peoples' living room, computers, smart phones spews information almost twice the speed of light and the messages it delivers has an impact greater than that of radiation from an Atomic Bomb. It has scared many of us into believing things once unimaginable about our friends, neighbors, and family and fellow Americans.

America was on the verge of destruction in 1962, we heard it from Walter Cronkite's lips, America is on the verge of even more devastation in 2011 and we hear it from the lips of FOX, MSNBC, CNN, AM radio. We survived the Cuban Missile Crisis but somehow I still am reminded of that awful rainy day in Pittsburgh at about 5:00 pm when I thought it was the end of the world.

I decided to write a blog in hopes of speaking about things the common person finds relevant and important. I write a blog to help me cope with the bad guys in this nation who prey on people's need for a higher power, for their fair share, for recognition as equals and who use those needs as weapons.

I am not sure what I could have written about in 1962 after Walter Cronkite informed us of impending doom. But America did not give up then, and I sure as hell hope we don't give up now.

cause and effect

Cause-“kids who are engaging in homosexual behavior often look inward and know that what they are doing is unnatural, is wrong, is immoral, and so they become depressed and the instances of suicide can rise there as well.” Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber works for both Liberty University and Liberty Counsel.(msnbc.com)

Effect-While inside McDonald's in NYC Damian noticed 2 men staring at him – giving him “looks” – we have all been there, we know what this feels like. It was late, Damian was tired, he felt uncomfortable and he didn’t want any trouble so he left. He was across the street, walking away while on the phone to a friend when the 2 men from McDonalds approached him and asked him “if he had a problem” before he knew it he was punched in the face by one man, then instantly felt another punch by the second perp, and then he heard it – “You Fucking Faggot” , the words as hurtful as the punches.(msnbc.com)

Cause and effect

Call them names and make them the reason for your own inadequate life. Say it is unGodlike and in your own Godly ill mannered machinations, take his divine word and act like the devil. As long as I can still place you one rung beneath me I don't have to worry that you will notice my inhuman behavior. If I have them point at you I can weasel my way through one more lousy day in my life.

Cause-If Governor Scott Walker's concerns are truly budgetary, he could do a lot without pushing for complete abolition of public sector unions. He has the support, both from the legislature and the public, to pare back state employee benefits. It represents a pittance in the context of the budget (employee salaries make up 8 percent of total state spending, and benefits represent much less than that), but if he wants to do it, he can do so easily.

That's why it's important to understand that the motivation to push for aboliiton is primarily political, and bears little relation to fiscal concerns. Public sector unions are a powerful Democratic interest group, and their funding comes from member dues. There is nothing that would give Republicans more pleasure than to cut one of their largest political opponents off from its funding source, and there is no better time to make that move than amidst hysteria about impending fiscal crisis.(Isthmus-the Daily page).

Effect-Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leader of the Tea Party movement and veritable kingmaker for conservative candidates, made no bones about his desire to diminish the power of public employees. DeMint told ThinkProgress that he “doesn’t believe collective bargaining has any place in government…including at the federal level.” The South Carolina senator then went on to call public employees’ unions an “unelected third party” that enjoyed “monopoly power” in negotiations. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” DeMint quipped(msnbc.com)

Cause and Effect-Lie about your true intentions. Find a scapegoat, someone a group of someone's who you embolden with strengths they really never possess, but strength you desire and want. Destroy any power that equalizes the worker from the king. Say it isn't American or Christian, demand that wanting something fair is the most unfair thing a democracy is all about.

Cause-South Dakota today became the first state in the country to require women seeking an abortion to visit anti-abortion counseling centers. Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) signed legislation that is precedent-setting in several ways. It also mandates a 72-hour waiting period – the longest in the country – and requires two visits to a physician and a screening for risk factors, in addition to the visit to a pregnancy crisis center.

Effect-With one bullet, a gunman ended the life and the controversial career of abortion doctor George Tiller, killing him as he stood in the foyer of his church Sunday. "Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather. Today's event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George's friends and patients.

"This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace.

Protesters blockaded Tiller's clinic during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests during the summer of 1991, and Tiller was shot by Rachelle Shannon at his clinic in 1993. Tiller was wounded in both arms. Shannon remains in prison.

The clinic was bombed in June 1986 and was severely vandalized last month. His lawyer said wires to security cameras and outdoor lights were cut and that the vandals also cut through the roof and plugged the buildings' downspouts. Rain poured through the roof and caused thousands of dollars of damage in the clinic. Tiller reportedly asked the FBI to investigate the incident.(the Washington Eagle)

Cause and Effect-Demand that your holier than thou trumps anything holy that God might mean for anyone but you. Insist that it is your interpretation of the Bible and God's will that is correct, because among other things you are capable of more violent and virulent rhetoric and response. Decide that you are the one that God has decided to run his business on Earth. And above all else ignore any laws of the democratic nation that just don't jive with your own prejudices and ignorance.

We have among us, those who cause change, create chaos, challenge the Constitution never once caring about the consequences. They are indignant insistent and insidious in maintaining life as they and only they see it is fit to be lived. They swear they know the meaning of the Testaments and understand what the Founding Fathers of this nation meant and did not mention. They use the pulpits of Preachers, Pastors, Popes and Rabbi's to teach bigotry and bias. They care little for fact if it hurts their point of view and rely heavily on fiction to spread fear and loathing. They are relentless to create division and like a vampire looking into a mirror refuse to see their own heinous and hypocrisy for fear they will explode in smoke and fire.

They cause terror, angst, harm and fear. Their cause effects many of us with acts of violence, suicide, loneliness, poverty, denial. They hide in packs and claim they are of higher moral and ethical standards and never apologize for any or all chaos they create. And above all they think there is are no consequences for their behavior.

And in 2010 we elected them into power.

how does this happen

Slogging through your taxes right now? Maybe you could hire someone from General Electric to help.

The company has beaten Uncle Sam. It paid no U.S. taxes for 2010, The New York Times. In fact, it received a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

It's not that GE can claim poverty. The company rang up $14.2 billion in profits last year, including $5.1 billion from U.S. operations.

How did GE do it? Through what the Times describes as "innovative accounting" and fierce lobbying, GE has been cutting its tax bill for years. In a stroke of genius, it hired a former Treasury official to lead its tax department and filled its team with former IRS employees and Congressional tax specialists.

The top corporate tax rate is supposed to be 35% -- one of the highest in the world. But few companies actually pay that rate, since there are myriad loopholes and other ways to get breaks. Now, the Times reports, only 6.6% of Uncle Sam's tax revenue comes from corporations (down from 30% in the 1950s).(msn.money)

In Wisconsin we are told that unions cost the economy too much and must be diluted so more money goes to the black ink and less is draining the state coffers red ink. In Michigan we are told that municipal services handled by union workers cost way too much and in this land of democracy the Governor has the right to destroy municipal charters doing away with any and all unions and privatizing services. In Ohio teachers unions, firefighter unions, nurses unions are depleting the budget costing way too much and the only saving grace is to diminish or destroy such unions. We are told by the Ohio Governor, the Michigan Governor, the Wisconsin Governor that these are hard cuts but necessary.

We are told by Republican/Baggers in Washington that less money spent on taxes by the ultra wealthy, corporations, big business means more jobs and a better forecast for our future. We are told that taxation for the rich makes Capitalism weak and then we are told that less salary, less benefits, less healthy working conditions for the middle class will make Capitalism once again powerful. We need to sacrifice,(we are told by the Red State Legislators and the Republican/Baggers and the Koch Brothers and their sidekicks, Rove, Limbaugh and Beck) on the backs of the working class to make America more red white and blue.

In 2010 we were sold a bill of goods that smart is bad, minimum wage is bad, too much government is costly, health care for all is way too expensive, three meals a day is gluttonous, seniors need to work till they die, mass transportation and infrastructure are only tentacles for unions and since they create union jobs they are evil, and that unless everyone earning under a million dollars a year stops being so greedy America will turn into a Fascist, Communist, Socialist country run by the Devil himself.

In 2010, the purveyors of lies, fabrication self service, sold their wares and in 2011 we have begun to see a fault line as great as any which lies beneath the Earth begin to rumble and roll. We have seen the wealthy buy Supreme Court Justices, own Politicians, decide national policy, and deny rights, freedoms and respect for those deemed as undesirables aka the working class. We have been told falsehoods that the less the corporations pay the more they will create jobs…the less restriction and regulation we place on businesses the more they can expand…the less obstacles we place in the way of profits for shareholders the easier it will become to stimulate our economy. And the more we stop selfish workers from seeking a fair share of the American pie, the better we become in this land called America.

I am a member of the middle class and I pay more of a percentage in taxes then many Fortune 500 Corporations, CEO’s and Millionaires. I don’t mind doing my fair share but just don’t understand why…why separate but equal exists in this nation when it comes to fair share for all?

The Republican/Baggers shouted loud and long. They hummed tunes from the Revolutionary War, crooned hymns from the New Testament, shouted annotated comments from the Constitution all paid for by billionaires and made a case for more for the rich and less for the poor. And in all that hubbub and patriotic hallelujah they elected individuals who paralleled their banter.

And in 2011 we have the wealthy paying less, the middle class paying more and the poor barely surviving. Whose America is this and whose America is it going to be? Why does this happen? How does this happen?

strange

There is an awful lot of strange going on in this country.

We seem to debate the quality of the environment wondering if it is worth the expense now to correct the inefficiencies we as humans have generated. We argue if any of this so called global warming is real or just a fluke, and as we take sides on the issue of climate change, climate changes. We are told that too many rules and regulations by the EPA will hurt this countries economy. And we are reminded it is for the kids that we don't think about the health of this planet NOW, because by doing so NOW we will leave less black ink for the corporations (who pollute this planet) to help our kids grow into adults later. We are also told by the right wing evangelicals that Jesus thinks rules and regulations on the environment will make this Christian country a demonic socialist nation. God, we are told by these religious zealots created the Earth so only he, not the Oil Cartels, the Coal Industry, the Plastic makers have the power to destroy it.

We elected politicians who said they spoke, agonized, and sympathized with the average American. They looked into the cameras, stared at the three cornered hats of the Tea Baggers, spoke from the pulpits of Mega Churches and swore that jobs first, and smaller government second. They had too much of Big Government and way too much of the poor job this President had done to stop the horrendous bleeding of the economy by his 2 term Republican predecessor. They had amnesia of their participation in "Weapons of Mass Destruction", forgot that the Tax Breaks for the rich did little to encourage growth in the economy for anyone but the rich, and demanded that only someone born in the US and a good/real Christian could and should run this country. And blue state legislatures turned red and soon the only concern about jobs were those who had jobs in which they were a part of unions, and jobs that could not be controlled by their billionaire 'sugar daddy's'. And small government was cool unless it interfered with the rules and regulations of 700 Club, Focus on the Family, Killers of Abortion Providers, Church of the later Day Saints, Orthodox Rabbi's and the Pope.

Suddenly made in America means there is an identity test for who, what and how an American is, and who it is that should have the final approval on permitting real Americans to be real rather than a 'wanna be'. It seems that once we elected a black man to the white house America turned into opposite land. Just when we thought we were an educated, morally advanced, fair minded people, the creeps crept out of the house of bias and bigotry, the religious zealots more interested in not finding God but behaving as God, the sinister who seek scapegoats have taken over the airwaves, the voting booths and became poisonous politicians. Birth certificates became important, the belief in the correct edition of God sanctioned by anti-gays, anti freedom for women's reproductive rights, anti-immigrants, anti-union, anti-Muslim was a priority, and if you even stressed equality and separate but equal you were questioned. Suddenly there is a list of who is an American, suddenly the Constitution is worth less than the New Testament, suddenly history means very little if it does not agree with your own hatred, and suddenly a huge rift of 'we vs. they' is growing and swallowing up populations in this country.

And now just to make sure strange will remain solidly in place to haunt us for decades to come, the Republican/Baggers considering a run for President include Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump. Suddenly people who know nothing about the history of this nation, who tell his wife as he is divorcing her, I never do as I say, who quits before she is found out to be a thief, who swears he is God like then lies about things he has said, who will fire anyone that disagrees with him, forget that democracy thing. Suddenly the Republican/Baggers want descent not consensus, desire separate not equal and dream of a nation where the rich remain rich and the poor forever beholden to the rich.

There is an awful lot of strange going on in this country, and stranger than that many of us are letting it happen. Strange!!!!

in the meanwhile

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has denied an appeal to allow gay marriages to resume in California while the Proposition 8 case works its way through the legal appeal process.(msnbc.com)

And in the meanwhile let’s start guessing how many heterosexual marriages will end in divorce until this case works its way through the legal process…how many married partners will dabble in adultery…how many times will some one say I do to yet another partner…how many married people will be charged with infidelity?

And in the meanwhile let’s start wondering how many life partners within the LGBT community will not be permitted to sit by the bedside of their dying loved one…will not be permitted at the funeral of their loved one by other family members…how many people together for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years still get no recognition as a spouse…how many Preachers, Pastors, Rabbi’s Ministers will claim that America will fall into hell if Gays marry?

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is currently seeking to raise individual income taxes---primarily on elderly and poor Michiganders---by some$1.7 billion per year. Snyder is asking some of Michigan’s most vulnerable families to hand all this money over to businesses, in the form of a roughly $1.8 billion business tax cut. (abovetopsecret.com)

And in the meanwhile let’s start guessing if the elderly, the poor will decide which month they will splurge on paying their rent or their pharmacy bills, or visit the doctor or buy groceries? Which month will permit them, (after paying an increase in taxes), enough money for the poor to buy books for their kids, to have enough money to buy fruits and vegetables instead of the 99cent meals at McDonalds, enough money for clothes? Which month will the elderly find enough cash to visit the doctor on his/her own free will instead of being driven to emergency room in an ambulance?

And in the meanwhile let’s start wondering what the businesses and corporations will do with those extra billions in tax breaks? Will they just leave it in the bank adding to the existing trillions in profit, crying that they are still not sure of the political environment so it is too early to invest in hiring? Will they insist that the only way they can keep qualified CEO’s is to pay them millions in salary; you know the CEO’s who have taken any steps to not outsource jobs, create new jobs? And how many businesses will look the other way as the Republican/Baggers shout from one side of their mouth jobs, jobs job while from the extreme opposite of their mouth the Republican/Baggers scream but not for all Americans.

Women in South Dakota who want to terminate a pregnancy will now have to wait 72 hours, according to an abortion bill in South Dakota that was signed into law Tuesday. Supporters of House Bill 1217 say the heart of the new law is coercion.

Chris Hupke, president of South Dakota's Family Policy Council, says the state's main abortion provider is not addressing the coercion.(msncb.com)

And in the meanwhile women are once again being reminded that others (in particular, men) know more about their psyche, bodies and reproductive rights then they do. And in the meanwhile women are reminded that they once were no more than chattel and with the passing of a bill in Republican/Bagger legislature they can be reduced to being dumb blonds who are only as good as men permit them to be. And in the meanwhile the same group of predominately male legislators is humming the Republican/Bagger party line that agencies like Planned Parenthood are of the devils disciples and all they do is coerce women to obtain abortions. In the meanwhile it is promoted that Planned Parenthood’s only reason for existence is to teach those pesky women how to have sex, (maybe to then have some poor innocent man spend even more money on a baby or a court case) and then spend good government money that could be used to offset the Democratic/Progressive inspired deficit and go to Planned Parenthood and abort, baby abort!

And in the meanwhile the legislators of 26 states have decided that the law protecting a women’s right to decide upon her reproductive rights is not the way America thinks. In the meanwhile these same Republican/Bagger elected officials don’t want America to think for themselves and would rather have ALL of us use their interpretation of the Bible to demonstrate the correct morals and values written in invisible ink in the Constitution. And in the meanwhile, while a woman is supposedly being coerced by Planned Parenthood to have an abortion, these same legislators crusaders for God want to coerce or is it intimidate these women into making a decision about their bodies based on particular religious values in a country supposedly with a line in the sand between church and state.

In the meanwhile groups of people are being denied their rights to be realized as equals in a nation that found its identity on freedom and justice for all. In the meanwhile government seems to want to be bigger for the wealthy, the religious zealots, the bigoted and bias, and it demands to become smaller if you are Gay, Elderly, Female, Poor.

In the meanwhile while all of this happening or will happen people are suffering and somehow their cries are being smothered. In the meanwhile we are permitting the insane to run the asylum.

no pot...

When my father was down, and no longer could hold in his angst, his anger and felt at his lowest, he would sit on his favorite chair in our living room, thinking his kids were in bed or at least in the upstairs bedrooms of our house, and he would with great heavy sighs and I am sure deep tears falling from his proud eyes say to my mother, "I don't have a pot to pee in." He would repeat this sentence, and from our vantage point on the top of the stairs of the second floor scared and worried, listening to my parents discussion, we would assume would turn his head left to right, breath out a deep moan and then become silent. We knew he was finished speaking because my mother would say in a whisper loud enough for people next door to hear," no there is hope honey, there is hope." My father would then say "its just too much."

As a Gay man I have had to fight for my rights, my right to love whomever I want, my right to join the armed services, my right to adopt, my right to stop being seen as a devil child, my right for not being the reason for the end of the world, my right to not be blamed for the destruction of the Institution of Marriage. As a Gay man I have had to fight stereotypes placed in the world by fearful Rabbi's, Preachers, Priests, Popes, Imam's closeted Hollywood producers, and hypocritical Politicians. As a Gay man I have had to decide how safe it would be to ever come out of the closet and who along the way would have no concern with my life and who would rather see me dead. As a Gay man living in the supposedly most educated, sophisticated, ethical and morally superior country in the world I have felt and still feel like a second class citizen. As a Gay man it has taken me many years, in spite of the perceived animosity from those who don't know me and never will to overcome my fears, my lack of rights, my inequality and to be proud.

I work, I pay taxes, I pray, I eat, I have sex, I am a father, a son a brother, an uncle a friend a co-worker and an American. And sometimes I wonder if I "have a pot to pee in".

Now I wonder if I as a Gay man am not the only one who has to worry if he/she has "no pot to pee in." It seems that women in this red white and blue nation are now being taken to task for being female and are accused of being sexy teases trying the patience of male sexual libidos. It seems in Republican/Bagger State legislatures the men in charge wonder if women want to get raped for the fun of it and when they are raped and become pregnant they cry fowl and demand an abortion. 26 states run by a majority of Republican/Bagger Governors and Legislators are writing bills to stop abortion rights and stop women from any control on their reproductive rights. It seems that Rape is now a matter of legislative interpretation. In the state of South Dakota, a bill now says that anyone raped must wait 72 hours before being permitted to even consider an abortion, must attend a session in a clinic with a pro life clinician. They are also considering hiring the IRS to find any woman who is considering an abortion and having her show some kind of receipt that she had completed a police report and has not spent any government money for her abortion. These women are our Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, Friends, Neighbors. These women are Americans.

Then I wonder if women are not the only ones who "do not have a pot to pee in". The elderly, the disabled, the poor, the union worker, the middle class suddenly are reasons why we have a deficit in this nation. This vast demographic has come to the fore as the culprit for the red ink in government as stated by the Republican/Baggers in local and Federal government. It is the selfish behavior of these groups who have started to bleed this nation of black ink. It is the necessary needs of rent, health care, minimum wage, clean air, food that is in the way of the wealthy, the corporations to increase their bottom lines so that America can forge ahead. It is the teachers fault that schools cost so much money, it is the disabled who demand equal access that hinders businesses from spending their profits on bigger fish, it is the elderly worker who worked all his/her life who thinks they should reap any of the rewards form their years of labor, it is a union worker who wants a safe work environment, enough money to pay health insurance, rent and food it is all of those and many more who don't seem to understand that Capitalism can not survive unless the ultra wealthy, the billionaires like the Koch Brothers, the Wall Street mavens, the Bankers, the CEO's make more and more money and pay less and less in taxes. It is the declared greed of the poor, the elderly the disabled, the middle class the worker who are obstructing the necessary gluttony of the Royalty of this country. These scoundrels are your co-workers, your parents, your family, your congregants, your mass transit riders, your friends. They are Americans.

My father finally found his place in this universe. As he grew older, knowing that his family loved him and supported him, his never having "a pot to pee in" became less and less. He was a fighter and even though there were times in his life when he felt there was no more fight left, he did persevere. In his later years he would lament the fact that he even permitted the bad times to feel so overpowering, so in control. He wanted his kids to never have to sink so low by what he considered forces beyond your own control.

In America of 2011, it seems many of us are being told that if we even thought we had a pot to pee in, that pot was just something we never deserved. We are told by Republican/Baggers controlled by the wealthy that America can be great if the Gays, the Women, the Poor, the Elderly, the Union Worker make more sacrifices. Your pot to pee in will have to wait we are reminded by crazy legislations until we become richer and have much more than you deserve.

We who did not vote, or voted to kick the bums out or called ourselves Independent, or were spiteful, or who permitted Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter to lead us as lemmings have provided the power to the Republican/Baggers. We gave them a majority vote in which they now use that power to support a very limited minority.

I used to feel helpless listening to my Dad worry. I swore I would never let myself be in that position. It is not about having that pot it is about insuring that the pot is available for all of us, always!

Lets take back America.

Lets take back this America starting now!

stephen king like

I am a fan of Stephen King. I remember reading his early work and sometimes being so scared of the characters he created that I would physically take the book out of my bedroom before I fell asleep and place it in drawer in another room, hidden behind lots of other things, so nothing could creep out and find me while I slumbered.

When you are evil in a Stephen King novel you not only do bad things to others but you are sinister enough to encourage others to follow you as if they had no mind or conscience of their own. When you are evil in a Stephen King novel you use the most simple pleasures of life and somehow turn them into weapons of malfeasance and malevolent machinations and twist peoples insight into thinking what had always been good was bad, what had always been useful was now the work of the devil.

When you are the antagonist in a Stephen King novel you prey upon the naiveté of good people to question just how well those around you behave. When you are the antagonist in a Stephen King novel you share lies, innuendo, plenty of fabrications and little penchant for the truth. You help define a line in the sand of us versus you. You cause chaos and doubt by implying theories of dishonor, disbelief, distrust. When you are an antagonist in a Stephen King novel you insist that all of your actions are misrepresented when others find them callous or without cause. You insist that you are the victim standing up for the rights of the downtrodden and that educated, truly religious people, and fair minded populations are really devious deceivers who use their education their relationship with God and their so called welfare as tricks to capture your soul and hand it to the devil.

I was hooked on Stephen King novels and was always relieved, knowing that at the end, no matter how awful the bad guy, the bogey man, the bastard, that good would prevail and the innocent, the character least wanting to be a hero would emerge the victor. He/she would never quite understand the cause for justice, but would pursue persevering until the death and destruction would abide, subside and the first ray of fair and just would dawn with a more wholesome sun rise.

But now it seems I am living in a world of evil doers and antagonists created in the same image of fictional characters written by Stephen King (but who are real) in the form of Tea Bag/Republicans like presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee to current politicians like Governor’s Scott Walker (WI), Dennis Kucinich (OH), Rick Snyder (MI), political entertainers/ messiahs like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coulter.

They have taken greed and gluttony to greater lengths. They have lined up lemmings. They have decided that deceit and divide are delights in which to treat their followers. They have found more fiction than fact. They have conned their way into the lives of the uneducated, the angry, the racist, the zealot, and the bigots and have blinded all of them from seeing any vision of truth, compassion and understanding. They care less about individual freedoms like health care, women’s reproductive rights, marriage equality, less about workers rights trading them for profits of corporations, (Oil Cartels, Financial Institutions, Health Insurers), and less about freedoms like believing in a God of your choice, or none at all, breathing clean air, and the ability to afford an average income.

Stephen King has written about vampires, creatures clairvoyants, monsters, serial killers and aliens all who try and legitimize their way of existence by denying any other way of living. Stephen King makes the statement that all of his creations are here to challenge what is good from what is bad, what is right from what is wrong, what is the norm from what is abnormal. Gingrich, Palin, Huckabee, Walker, Kucinich, Snyder, Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter want to define how we live, who we live with, how we pray, to whom we pray, how wealthy we are allowed to become, how little we should receive, and how American we all are.

And like the villains in Stephen King’s novel they are sly in their sinister ways and means to contain and control divide and conquer. They go for the jugular but slowly so the victim bleeds a long painful death. There is great glee towards the suffering of those they declare he enemy.

I am scared every time I start a Stephen King novel. But I know if I can make it to the 580th page somehow a hero will emerge ridding the world of a mean meanie. In 2010 it seems we started a huge version of a Stephen King Novel filled with Republican/Baggers who have declared the US is theirs and they will take no prisoners in making a nation they define. I can’t hide this novel in any drawer as I sleep and in fact this novel keeps awake on many sleepless nights.

Fiction turned into fact is too scary for me.

curiosity

I am quite curious. I wonder so often how one plus one never seems to equal two when it comes to solving issues of human proportions:

We hear that eliminating safety net programs of the Federal Government, cutting back on social services, eliminating the protections unions provide for working families, defunding programs for people with disabilities, denying Gays and Lesbians the right to adopt kids who otherwise will stay in foster homes are suggested so OUR children will not have to pay the price of an out of this world deficit. We hear that these are tough cuts that must be made so OUR children do not suffer the consequences when they become adults.

What I never hear is that if we currently have less income, work in an unsafe environment, have inadequate or unaffordable health care, must live on the streets, remain living in an environment as a kid which tosses us about from one family to another... how exactly are any of us going to be able to do anything RIGHT NOW in helping those same kids we are supposedly saving from a horrible future, to actually arrive at that future? If families are broken up over finances, if poverty creeps into the family home, if unhealthy parents can not work, if priorities must made for just the essentials so any other kind of parenting can not take place THEN how will OUR children even have the tools by which to thrive in the future? Gets me curious to figure that out!

We are told by those who call them Gods soldiers, Pro Lifers (just the life of the fetus), that abortion is an abysmal behavior by careless and Godless individuals. We see them patrol women’s health clinics, we see them brandish guns in churches, and we watch as they harass women, nurses, doctors and we are told that life is something left to God. We hear, see witness all of this with the message that it is being done for OUR children.

What I never hear is that murder of those who choose to assist women with their reproductive rights is wrong. I don’t hear how all lives; if in fact they are created by God do count on an equal basis. I never hear how a mother carrying her child deserves the same attention as her fetus; the physician helping to keep the mother healthy is equaled as much as the fetus. I never hear how once the child is born into poverty or a home of uneducated adults, a broken home, as far as raising children is concerned, how those same groups plan on keeping that saved fetus from living a life full of no poverty, good health related issues and fuller, complete education? If life is so God like to preserve then how come it is NOT God like to make it thrive? We hear passages from the Bible but never see Bible like actions to help OUR children build a future. Gets me curious to figure that out!

We are told that the only way to cut the deficit is to cut spending. Not just any spending but spending reserved for unemployment, health care, education, infrastructure, seniors, disabled, retirement, single moms, and the homeless. We are told that many of the individuals who need these so called ‘social net’ services have abused the system, are lazy, should look for religious or private donations to help them take care of their careless and carefree lives. We must cut these programs so OUR children do not have to pay the piper in the future.

What I never hear is why the wealthy do not have to make sacrifices to curb our children’s future from failing. I never hear how even with corporations receiving tax breaks as they did for the past 10 years starting with the Bush Tax Breaks, the corporations have yet to hire more employees even though the intent of corporate dole was to create jobs. I never hear how the tax breaks for the Oil Cartels has yet to produce any significant break through in cleaner energy development. All I hear is that its for the children that we keep the wealthy, rich, the corporations from paying their fair share, and the Oil Cartel can still drill baby drill. What I think I hear that is that all we do is for the CHILDREN of the wealthy, the Corporate CEO’s, the Oil Cartel whose future will be better. Gets me curious to figure that out!

We hear we are all a Judea/Christian nation and that we are all God’s children. We hear that life is valued, is sacred, is important. Then we hear that it costs way too much to provide universal health care to every citizen in this nation. We hear that Pharmaceutical Cartels need to raise the price of their inventions, invented supposedly to save lives. We hear that a clean environment is too costly to the bottom lines for the share holders. We hear that abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancies and no other way should be suggested. We hear that it is too much like socialism if we explain how obesity, unhealthy eating habits can be changed. We hear that as many rounds of ammunition or as many guns as you own are okay. We hear that God hates Gays so any loving family they want to create is bad.

What I never hear is how do we actually take our belief in God, a higher power and perform human miracles to make life better, healthier, safer for ALL Americans and all OUR children. What I never hear is a debate on why the bottom line for corporations and the wealthy takes precedent on the bottom line of liberty and justice for all? What I never hear is why the dollar amount to living a full life is seemingly so expensive when that life is someone in the middle class, lower class or living in poverty? What I never hear is how OUR kids will, we say we are doing all this for, make it to the future when we abandon the road upon which they walk and set up dangerous detours. Gets me curious to figure that out!

They say curiosity kills the cat, I say without being curious we will all die way too soon if we don’t speak up and let our curiosity turn into answers.

hum a tune

“…Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me…” (Unknown)

Possible Republican/Bagger presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich described on the conservative radio talk show The Howie Carr Show, President Barak Obama as "a Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago elitist from the most expensive private school in Hawaii, who lives in an elite, radical worldview in his head.” Mr. Gingrich a man who places self service above ethics truth or morals is always at the ready to call names hoping that those who hear his harangue need no more than deceit and lies upon which to base their reality and for whom they will cast their ballot.

Mr. Gingrich is a clever man and carefully chooses his name calling only using the best slurs ones that will resonate with people who fear anyone different then them. He can marry three times but call the LGBT community destroyers of the values and glory of marriage. He can cheat on his wives commit adultery ruin his own family structure destroying any values gained and scream to the public that Gays only have children so they can destroy heterosexuality and the Christian way. And like a bully he smirks as he walks away and readies himself for the next victim and onslaught of name calling. And he wants to be President of the US. And there are people who listen to his every word ignoring his hypocritical deeds. And people who will vote for him.

“…if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with…” (Stephen Stills)

Possible Republican/Bagger presidential candidate, Reverend Mike Huckabee isn’t quite sure how much hate he must muster in his Christian heart. As a man of God he understands that all of us are Gods children but as a man with personal presidential political aspirations he understands that many of his congregants, who profess Gods love, love to hate using Gods imaginary image. The Reverend Huckabee is torn not from his conscience but from his considerable appetite to win an election at any cost and making sure someone loves him.

Using the same mouth to preach Gods graces, reverend Huckabee stated, during a radio interview that "one thing" he was sure of was that President Barack Obama grew up in Kenya "with a Kenyan father and grandfather." If Americans know anything about Kenya it would likely be that it was home of the Mau Mau, a secret society and fighting force that faced off against the British in the 1950s. The Reverend then went on associating Obama with the Mau Mau and that was shameful. Continuing to vomit lies the Reverend added Obama did not grow up "going to Boy Scout meetings and playing Little League baseball in a small town." Obama is "not a traditional guy," and that he's had a "different experience" from the "mom and apple pie" upbringing of most Americans. The man of God overlooked the truth that God stands for to get the love from a bunch of people who need assurance that how they hate has the favor of someone so close to God. And like a teenager wanting to be accepted by the popular kids saying and doing whatever it takes to be accepted the reverend Huckabee lets go of the truth and grasps to ghoulish gaps of reality. And he wants to be President of the US. And there are people listening to his every word ignoring his fabrication and falsehoods. And people who will vote for him.

“…smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies, and I got proof…” (The Undisputed Truth)

Possible Republican/Bagger presidential hopeful Michelle Bachmann a self proclaimed US History and Constitution Scholar was speaking to a crowd of fans in New Hampshire saying. "What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty," the congresswoman and potential 2012 presidential contender said. "You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord. And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors the very first price that had to be paid to make this the most magnificent nation that has ever arisen in the annals of man in 5,000 years of recorded history."

That shot "heard around the world" actually took place in the bordering state of Massachusetts.

When finally admitting she made a mistake she never admitted it was her lack of education that caused the mistake but instead she insisted "We all know that there's a double standard in the media," she continued, before claiming that "all 3,400 members of the mainstream media are part of the Obama press contingent."

Patriot Bachmann who swears she is redder, whiter and bluer than most Americans, who also swears, she is a scholar of the intentions of the authors of the Constitution and decipherer of American history, has also stated the following: The Founding Fathers "worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States."
-- The United States might "move off the dollar" onto a "global currency"
-- Democratic presidents cause influenza outbreaks -- The "Hoot-Smalley Tariff" caused the Great Depression. (There is no such thing as the Hoot-Smalley Tariff).

When Patriot Bachmann is approached as a fool with no lack of fact she immediately lashes out using terms like double standards, you misunderstood my intentions, it’s a conspiracy against me, and you fear me. She never admits to inadequate education, her need for facts, and the fact that as an elected official in the Federal Government it might behoove her to understand the complexities of this nation to better govern for her constituents. And like a fevered patient riddled with pain Patriot Bachmann unleashes inaccuracies, innuendo, and egregious commentary never finding fact but leveling fiction. And she wants to be president of the US and there are people listening to her every imaginary statement. And people will vote for her.

“My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty…” (Samuel F. Smith)

This is America and we are a nation that encourages opinions, debate, points of view. We are a democracy and we pride ourselves in inclusion, involvement and consensus. We are a country that speaks loudly about equality (albeit many times it is only words), freedoms and liberty. But when we hear the voices of Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Michelle Bachman, creating falsehoods, saying do as I say not as I do, omitting fact for fiction just to get the vote I wonder if all we ARE will finally change to all we WERE? When these Republican/Bagger contenders for the office of President confuse the meaning of God, the separation of Church and State, the mangling of fiction to be fact, the bragging about bigotry as a platform from they should be elected I worry. I could write these individual off as extreme self serving foes, but when I see the throngs of people who listen who will vote for them I worry.

So what song do we sing next?

“come out, come out wherever you are...”

There is a boogie man under the bed and in the dark recesses of the closet; he/she is waiting to pounce upon us. Sticks and stones can hurt, loving the one your with only excludes others and smiling faces sometime do tell lies. How many lessons do we have to learn over and over again in this nation of ours?

try...so trying

Try again next year. To the LGBT community living in Maryland if you want equal rights when it comes to marriage, try again next year. It seems equal rights don’t follow the religious values of some Marylanders who confuse this nation as one that only follows the rules and regulation established in the Judea/Christian dogma and not the words of the Constitution. Seems members of the Catholic Church in Maryland don’t want men who love men to marry, or women who love women to wed. Building a loving home, a solid family is the task of heterosexuals in Maryland according to the Catholic Church and that Church would rather spend their time denying their role in child molestation then supporting LGBT families who as a family will raise their children with love and respect.

Try again next year. Yep you Gays and Lesbians you seem to offend a great portion of the Black community in Maryland with your arrogant display of unconditional love for same sex partners. Maryland is a Christian state and as good Christians loving only happens when it is one man and one woman. Many members of churches with a majority of Black parishioners just could not accept one man loving one man or one woman loving one woman. How short memories become when they are filled with bias and bigotry. It was a bunch of predominately white churches in Maryland and throughout this nation who preached that God did not want the races to marry and have multi-colored children. Truth is told said the Preachers and Ministers it would be an abomination mixing the races. It was many predominately white churches whose preachers read portions of their skewed Bible stating that Blacks were not equal to whites. But that was then.

Try again soon. In California we tried it once, it worked then it was denied with much hoo-hah and hooliganism by the Church of Latter Day Saints. Yep, it was a big moneyed push by the Mormon Church stemming all the way from Utah stating that love is not love unless it is one man loving one woman and one woman as long as she realized she was chattel loving one man. The minute the Gays lined up to get licenses and say ‘I do’ there was a hurricane force of divorces from the straights because the institution of marriage was about to topple, did you feel the wind blowing and hear God crying?

The Church elders in Utah got together with the Evangelicals and the Orthodox Jews each reciting their own Bibles as reason why equality was not equal for all Americans if in fact they were Gay. Seems there was silence about the adulterers, cheaters, abusers, currently married, not on Gods radar, but a loud noise about denying the rights of those who simply love and through that love wish to marry.

Try next year, try again. No one is in a hurry. Nope, if you loved someone for 20, 30, years what is one more year? So what if they die before you say I do, if you are Gay you are going to hell anyway. So what if you are raising kids, they must be bastard kids anyway? So what if you want equal not separate but equal, the founding fathers did not have the LGBT community in mind (like they did not have women or blacks in mind) when they wrote the Constitution!

Try again…wonder how great of a nation we would have become if we tried and tried and tired again never finishing what we tried... women’s suffrage civil rights, interracial marriage, voting rights. Try again…wonder how many believers of the wrong God, the wrong interpretation of the Bible, the wrong religion would have been burned to death, punished jailed if the Founding Fathers hadn’t made it clear of the separation between church and state. Try again…seems some citizens of this Nation have a lapse in memory of the times they were in the minority, denied of their rights living a separate not equal life. Try again for what, equality!

I am sick of trying for something that is rightfully mine!

gift keeps on giving

On November 8, '2010' America received a present. The President called it a shellacking, the news media called it a first of its kind, the racists, bigots, homophobes called it a victory...but in reality it was a gift, a present, presented to us by those who voted for people who preached hate, paid for by billionaires and delivered to us by those humble holier than thou humans who stayed home because they were mad at the Dems, forgot the immediate past or just were too lazy to stop the madness.

And in 2011 the gift has been unwrapped and it is in fact a gift which keeps on giving.

We were told that the Dems did not run this country right. They had two years and somehow that was not enough time to turn around the horrendous and egregious arrogance and irreverent laws and lack of laws the Republican majority had in place during their run at the monarchy. Somehow the scare tactics of Rove, Armey, Koch Brothers with the assistance of the activist Republican Jurists of the Supreme Court defining that corporations were like people and could in fact fund politicians and pay for any propaganda worthy of swelling their bottom lines and of course paying for the lobbyists who pay for the votes of politicians prevailed.

So we were presented a gift wrapped in red white and blue but when unwrapped came in a black box, black for profits of the Oil Cartels, Financial Cartels, Health Insurance Cartels, and the newest of Cartels the Koch Brother Cartels. It was a gift designated for the wealthy not the worker, for the private lives of the wealthy not the public lives of mere plebeians, and for the religious bigot not the regular boy or girl. It was presented to the American public by those who claimed they were Independent minded voters who expressed angst, Log Cabin Republicans who thought no one would notice they were Gay, Evangelicals who knew God wrote the original Constitution and wanted it back so he could do some re-writes, John Birchers, White Supremacists, Sons of the Confederacy who swear the South won the war, Orthodox Jewish Rabbi's who could over look liars, adulterers and tax evaders as long as they hated the homo, the Catholic Church who took time from protecting molesters to shouting they were the owners of morals and values.

And it is a gift that keeps on giving.

It is a gift that when opened has provided the US with:

Republican/Tea Bagger New Hampshire State Senator Marty Harty saying that "disabled and mentally ill people should be shipped off to a Siberia like place to freeze to death."... Scott Fitzgerald, Republican/Bagger Wisconsin State Senator confessed on FOX that the union busting just accomplish­ed in Wisconsin will make it difficult for Democrats to win elections in Wisconsin, especially President Obama. It never was about the budget. It was all about destroying the Democratic Party.” Not about the Wisconsin State budget crisis... Legislation introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith Republican/Bagger from New Jersey, with Republicans proposing that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion.

When all these Republican/Baggers were running for office they were ruminating about jobs, jobs, jobs but once in the majority all they rant about is no woman really has the power over her reproductive rights, workers do not need equal pay, health care and disabled people are not worth the time of day. When the Republicans wrapped their gift to America they covered it with jobs, job, jobs but under the gift wrap was no taxes for the wealthy and corporations, this is a Christian nation, and women, workers, Gays, Muslims have no place in this land.

And they have provided us with a gift that keeps on giving.

In 2010 those who took time vote, those who did not care for consensus, those who were told to hate and how to hate went to the polls and delivered a big gift. Those who found every reason not to vote, who wanted to prove a point, who just like to complain and do nothing about it stayed home waiting for the gift of Republicans/Baggers to arrive.

And it did...Now waiting to deliver their gift for 2012 is Bachman, Barbour, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Romney, Palin, Gingrich, Trump. Just image what kind of surprise gift they have waiting for us!

Isn't it about time we started wrapping our gift so when 2012 comes around the only thing to surprise any of us is equality, freedom, fair and democracy.

wide world of wonder

Just makes me wonder:

If I have three houses and times are bad I might have to sell one of the three homes to make my own economics better. So instead of a winter and summer vacation home I must choose a season and live in that home and then endure the trauma of a regular year round abode. If I have only one house and times are bad and I must foreclose or abandon my home where do I live? Do I move into the second home of very wealthy people?

If I am Newt Gingrich full of red white and blue patriotism and that American spirit courses through my body finding its way to my libido and eventually my sexual organs, do I just salute the flag singing God Bless America or take that star spangled glory and cheat on my first, and second wife while schtooping my girlfriend/future third wife? Do I blame my overzealous affair on my love for America never once stating that I am just a selfish hypocritical horn dog? And as I express my mea culpa do I assume there are so many stupid people out there that I even think this cock and bull story will permit them to stop thinking of me as a cocky bull and instead place me in the White House?

If I am a teacher, a firefighter, a sanitation worker, a nurse and I want to eat, pay my rent, pay attention to my medical needs should I decide each and every month which one I can afford to do? Should I enjoy the explanation that because of my selfish need to eat, live and stay healthy this country is in a deep recession? Should I then worry that if I do not give up on simple pleasures like food, doctors, housing the very rich will suffer?

If I am a member of the Oil Cartel of America, receiving generous tax breaks and subsidies for drilling baby drilling, avoiding many EPA standards for cleaner air, cleaner energy, being told by the activist jurists of the Supreme Court that like every other citizen of this nation I have rights should I try to do my fair share in this time of economic downturn and unrest? With the so called rise in prices for crude thus creating a rise in gasoline prices for American drivers should I maybe try and earn one less billion in profits by not passing on the rise in the price of a barrel of oil to the consumer? Should I look out for all of America or just reward my CEOs and shareholders and oh yeah the Politicians who let me run the country?

If I am a born again preacher proclaiming God is my best bud, say like Mike Huckabee or a part time governor full time reality star, sex educator say like Sarah Palin, or a Confederate States shall rise again the Civil War had little to do with slavery governor say like Haley Barbour and I am caught on video or audio lying, fabricating just mis-representing the truth should I ‘fess up’ to my indiscretions as the good Christian I claim to be, or should I blame everyone else for not hearing what I said? Should I continue to discover the devil that dwells in all those who disagree with the way I believe life should be lived our do I forget that the devil is in the details and no one needs to know my details are very shady?

As an American should I continue to believe that the rants and raves from Republican/Tea Bag operatives is only about deficit reduction less government and nothing else as they continue to reward the rich and pulverize the poor? Should I take them at their word that smaller government provides more freedoms as they stop me from owning my own body, loving and marrying who I wish, stopping me from believing in the God of my choice, denying me access to health care? Should I believe them when they say funding for NPR is wasteful but supplying NASCAR with millions is the American way? Should I just acquiesce to the fact that democracy is better when you permit people like the Koch Brothers and their pay to play lemmings define it for you as they see fit?

Perhaps if I wonder about these things, I can stop worrying that life in America is headed toward the dark ages. Perhaps if I wonder about these things I can face the facts that life in America will be so full of the haves and have not’s, the healthy and the ill, the Evangelical Christians waiting for the resurrection and the rest of the world waiting to rot in hell I’ll be okay. Perhaps if I wonder about these things then those who preach--- do as I say not as I do, who say--- its written in the Constitution not the form you have but the one I Xeroxed, who pronounce--- greed and gluttony is good, mere existence is bad, then I can understand that by doing nothing to stop this insanity I am just passively going with the flow. You know the flow that ends in a huge abyss.

Just makes me wonder in this wide world of wonder...