some resolutions for politicians

Senator Ted Cruz: Most cowards never own up to their deeds, in fact they place blame and motivation for their inactions on circumstances/cohorts/confusion/ and chaos initiated by others. Always one to brag about how tough they are, cowards love the limelight until the limelight turns into a spotlight highlighting the ugly and hideous. Always one to be initiator of the illicit act, cowards never want to take credit when credit comes in the form of discredit. Ted Cruz if you were half as tough as you pretend to be you would stop insisting that President Obama or Harry Reid caused the government to shutdown over the Affordable Health Care Law (Duh)! Ted Cruz if you used the same venom and vehemence (as you did to stop the functioning of our government) by being straight with the Americans who don’t believe the sun rotates around the Earth and dinosaurs roamed the Earth with Adam and Eve and admitted it WAS your plot and plan perhaps you might gain a bit of respect. The Cowardly Lion of Oz needed to find courage and no matter how hard he looked elsewhere for it the only place to find it was within. Are you that void of anything but platitudes and veneer to be honest? 

Governor Bobby Jindal: Stop running for president already and run your state government so all your citizens enjoy fair and equal. Your cow-towing to Grandpa Duck is obscene and an obvious ploy to patronize the most ignorant of your constituents hoping that the hater casts his rednecked/homophobe/racist vote for you. God certainly has place in the politics of this nation but God does not discriminate divide and conquer speak to men and women who use him as a scapegoat for their own insecurities.  There was another southern Governor named George Wallace who like you wanted to run for president, who like you insisted those who hate under the guise of God have a right to express themselves over the freedoms of others. That Governor decided that Jesus hated blacks and was motivated to discriminate against blacks finding passage and verse from the Bible to do so. He urged his followers to use the Bible instead of the Constitution and said just as you did “its not about the hate for others but the love of God that we permit racism or homophobia to exist. BTW Governor Jindal, some folks may think you are white man like them because you discriminate so well, but don’t be too surprised when you are reminded Jesus was white and they discover your brown skin. The Tin Man in Oz needed a heart to feel things, understand the meaning of things. Get one of those first Governor Jindal, be a true Christian American.

Congressman Paul Ryan: Use your head please; if a dad of a family is unemployed because the  Republican/Tea Party led House of Representatives had spent less time trying to defund Obamacare/on Benghazi-Gate, closing down Planned Parenthood clinics and even tried once to pass a jobs bill to help the dad of the family find a job maybe he would not still be unemployed. If the Republican/Tea Party led Congress spent less time on tax breaks for the top 2%, insisting that President Obama was a Kenyan, pretending the IRS was a partisan agency and more precious moments on hiring American labor; then dad would not be long term unemployed. You identify as a Catholic using precious photo ops to demonstrate your charity and giving but insist that unemployed are lazy, deserving to experience pain and humiliation, unAmerican and yet your Pope the leader of all Catholics wonders why men like you act as inhuman as you do. Use your brain Mr Ryan austerity begets poverty, poverty begs hopelessness, hopelessness equates  to helplessness, helpless people sometimes need HELP to move ahead. Use your brain Mr Ryan no one can pull themselves up by their boot straps if they cannot afford the boots in the first place. The Tin Man inOz so much wanted to be smart to think not only for himself but for others, right now I would say that your brain is not located on the northern hemisphere of your body. Go find it and use it much wiser then you have.

oaks and acorns

Gay and Lesbian couples in the state of Utah able to wed are probably as happy as Newt Gingrich was the first, second and third time he said “I do.” The Governor and Tea Party Republican led state legislators of Utah are probably as pissed as two of Newt Gingrich’s wives,when he looked at them while they were very ill and said “I don’t”. Gay and Lesbian couples in Utah are probably walking on cloud nine with great anticipation of their legal marriages similarly to the anticipation ex Governor Mark Sanford had on his so called  trip to the Appalachian Trial to meet his mistress from Argentina. The LDS Church the people behind Prop 8 in California are most likely as angry as Mark Sanford was when he was found to be an adulterer since the LDS so far cannot stop equality from happening in Utah as they tried in California. It seems that the Utah Republican/Tea Party marionettes and their major donor puppet masters the LDS Church want America to think that if same sex couples wed it will doom  opposite sex marriages. But in fact most of the doom and gloom comes from heterosexuals like Newtie Gingrich and Mark Sanford.

Sarah Palin is at it again, she loves to make noise thinking it is news and finds all the wrong issues to support. Never far from the oak is her darling acorn Bristol at the ready to add a negative voice whenever something positive is trying to take place. Just like her Momma Grizzly little Bristol is angry that the LGBT community is upset with Grandpa Duck’s come to Jesus moment and his anti gay homophobia. Forgetting that freedom of speech also has consequences one of which is other’s have the same freedom of speech, little (I will have my baby out of wedlock even though Jesus said don’t so that) feels that Grandpa Duck’s Christianity is not tolerated. Like her gun totting, I can see Russia from my back porch, yes I read all kind of books but just the ones with pictures on them mother, Bristol uses words like hypocritical and UnAmerican and of course UnChristian in describing a demographic responding to slurs and bigotry. Nothing says God or Jesus or America to the Palin twins Sarah and Bristol like hate, bias and baloney!

We are now told that long term unemployment insurance makes people lazy by the least productive Republican led House of Representatives in American history; this from a Congress that has yet to pass one jobs bill, consider a fair wage for all Americans  equal pay for equal work for women, has taken us to the brink of financial disaster reducing any real savings any Americans may have had. We are being told that unemployment insurance to buy food, pay rent, go to the doctors is not the American way. Add to that an interpretation by Evangelical Conservative Christian Republican/Tea Partiers of a Bible and Jesus who hate the working class, and the poor and you have total confusion of morals and values. With the current crop of Congressmen and women who earn a paycheck for doing very little work except working on their next election cycle, America is walking down a vey narrow road which sadly will lead to a dead end. Why are the wrong people employed?

cockroaches

Cockroaches are durable little creatures. They literally bug the shit out of you when in their presence and can always find a way to annoy and agonize you. They seem to be attracted to waste but will forage from the food you have purchased caring little how that food arrived in the first place. No respect for the homes they invade nor the people they piss off it is as if these little buggers are placed on earth to try the patience of mankind. Is there a purpose for cockroaches, (I am sure in the scheme of things as nature goes there might be), but it is hard for anyone to really figure out why the hell they exist. Perhaps once we pass on and if our souls find a final resting place and wisdom becomes the food upon which we eat we might discover the why’s and how’s of cockroaches.

Once an unknown critter a Governor who called herself a maverick, discovered by a very uninterested bunch of politico’s, never vetted for anything sensible or intelligent, Sarah Palin entered the world of non Alaskans. The McCain for President Team never really concerned about the welfare of the nation just the election of their own maverick, recruited an unknown person and with the magic that puppet masters hold, presented Sister Sarah to the world. Many times monster makers do not realize the power they give to their creatures. Finding that the ignorant/bigoted/uneducated/hateful citizens of the nation craved an idol Sarah Palin without any hesitation/fact/honesty or conscience started feeding off of their fears. It was as if crumbs of food were left on the counters and kitchen tops and similar to the cockroaches Sarah Palin milked the hate filled lemming dry. Annoying, ignorant, arrogant and for the thinking person stupid as hell Sarah crept into the lives of even the most clean and well kept homes.

I believe if you want to really know which side of the argument to take you listen closely to the voices of those on FOX, the radio rantings of Limbaugh, the ramblings of Beck or the endless run-on sentences of Palin and do the opposite If it there is a reason to hate, a point to be made to justify inequality, a statement made of anything but fact most likely FOX/Limbaugh/Beck and Palin will say it. Sister Sarah has now come to defense of Grandpa Duck, a douche bag of a person who has blamed religion and God for his own personal bigotry. As is often the case, Sarah states she has no time to read or investigate what vile was spewed, but since she is the voice of the common man/woman she instinctively knows which way to act as a racist or homophobe. Hate speech is a speciality of Sister Sarah and like those pesky cockroaches she is at the ready to bug the shit out of you in a most annoying and aggravating manner possible. 

Cockroaches are pests carrying disease and cause disgust, I often times think of Sarah Palin in the same way.

christmas eve day

I usually train clients early in the morning, my two morning training sessions were cancelled. Being up bright and early 6:30 am to be exact, I felt motivated to hit the gym for myself rather then return to bed. I live about a mile away from the gym and walk from my home to the gym; this usually in the afternoon when I am finished working with my clients. But today, here I was on the streets of West Hollywood trekking up the hill leading to Santa Monica Boulevard almost alone sans car traffic and very few pedestrians. Sometimes this early in the morning you forget that LA is such a large city as peace and quiet, a bright blue sky and the noise is that of the birds is all you see and hear. However, when the busy streets of WEHO are empty and the passerby's are few and far between the people who sometimes lurk in the shadows or are never seen populate the streets; or at least  are more evident. 

Walking up La Cienega hill I heard what I supposed to be was a car engine in dire trouble of breaking down. Arriving closer to what I thought was an engine backfiring was instead a man sitting without shoes, in a white tank top next to bags of half eaten food trying to catch his breath. He rocked back and forth with each exhale and seemed to shiver as he inhaled. He was across the street from me but his gyrations and heaving sounds were easily seen and heard from that distance. A woman approached him I suppose asking him if he needed help but his body would not rest long enough for an answer. She took out her phone and called 911. She looked at me and said she could handle this.

I got to the peak of the hill, a very busy intersection where two major streets meet. Even though this is Christmas Eve Day traffic was still flowing, slower but steady. Thank God it was slower then usually. A  very heavy woman  with one foot wrapped in a dirty bandage, sitting in a wheel chair way too small for her very large frame. She is a regular in WEHO, very disheveled, hair matted always carrying a few plastic bags on her lap and always with her right foot bandaged in a sloppy, messy, filthy piece of gauze. She is usually on the sidewalk asking for donations but this time she was dead center in the middle of the intersection stopped. Usually quiet, today this lady was screaming, not necessarily at the cars stopped at each intersection but to someone with which she saw and did not like. I started to walk toward her to at least help her move her wheelchair (touching her chair is taboo for her), when a traffic meter person ran to her. The woman in the wheelchair screamed a few profanities, but the traffic person paid little attention and pushed the lady and her chair to the side of the road. The traffic meter person took out her walkie talkie and I assume called for assistance.

I walked a few feet almost at my destination when I noticed a man lying on the sidewalk. His head was tucked neatly on a stoop of a building, his feet straight out facing the street. He had a cigarette, unlit, lying on his chest, with a book of matches in his left hand which was facing the sky showing his palm.  He was snoring very loudly and as I watched him the cigarette was doing a semi dance bouncing all over his chest and stomach but not falling to the ground.  Next to this man was a semi wet puddle just around the area of his crotch. I stopped not sure of what to do and sadly did nothing but let him sleep.

I went to the gym with a whole lot less motivation and wondered about the three people I saw and paid little attention to the cardio equipment and weights. I was jarred out of my thoughts by two men who were all frayed because Christmas shopping is tedious and trying. A third man entered the gym floor speaking loudly on his phone and apparently was telling a friend not to go to a Christmas party because he (the man on the phone had been snubbed). Two women were pissed because they just found out that an unexpected guest was arriving for Christmas dinner and now they had to buy her a gift. having heard enough of these first world problems i decided to cut my work out session and needed to head home. 

I am not sure what to make of today. There is reality then there is the reality in which we live. Life is tough and then for some life is miserable. It is Christmas Eve day, the day before an event of beauty, hope and promise supposedly happened. I am Jewish but I love to see the joy in the eyes of my friends who celebrate the birth of Christ. I listen intently as they describe the meaning of this day. I hear the Christmas carols, see the decorations even send my cards for the season. But today, I was taken aback, trying very hard to understand what this day means and how it can mean so many different things to so many different people. If there is a war on Christmas, I think for a brief moment I was walking in the battlefield.

hero's

Hero’s often time never know how their actions impact those around them. Few women or men start out with the capital H emblazoned on the their chest and most never end up with a cape or for that matter tight fitting leotards. Hero’s often time take action because making change, separating the right from the wrong, finding justice is all that makes sense. Miracles seem magical but quite simply when you combine equality with fair then mix in reason with purpose finally shaking them well with intent; wham bam you have something special. Hero’s often time create miracles and hope.

Christmas is a celebration, for some of a birth of a hero, for others the delight in goodness and for many a beacon leading to hope. It is a holiday appreciated, decorated in colors and ribbons or just in a plain and simple enough a way to identify peace and purpose. Christmas is a time we find our own magic, magnificence and meaning. It can be a time when we seek out heroes around us or realize we too are heroes.  

Christmas can be a moment which resonates with bigger, better, bolder or one of a personal matter with silence, inner peace and solace. It is an event when wrapped or unwrapped is about the gifts of love, kindness and sharing. Christmas can be a moment in time when we stop, look, listen and learn.

On this Christmas and into the new year that follows Joe and I wish our friends and family the opportunities to identify a hero, recognize heroic acts and perhaps become a hero yourself. We wish you a Christmas and new year filled with freedom, justice, equality magic, miracles and mostly hero’s.

being human

We say the spirit of the Olympic Games must go on while the soul of a group of people is diminished, darkened and destroyed. We send a gaggle of Gays personally proud of who they are (and some still hidden in the closet) pretending that this demonstration of contempt against the laws of Russia will make a difference. We insist that athletics have no politics but watch as a nation housing these Games is playing politics with the lives of the LGBT community and wish it away as if that doesn’t matter. We will hem and haw as the Russians jail, harass and murder homosexuals in their nation and pretend that during the days of the Olympics none of this prejudice is of any concern. We place our heads in the sand while bodies of men and women are being denied freedom and equality. We forget the human condition hoping bandages will stop bleeding.

We laugh and wise crack about a bigot who pretends he represents a Christian value. Those who hate as vehemently as he say its a matter of free speech, religious candor and never once admit to the hate from which he speaks. The argument no longer is about the words this homophobe spews but about his right to diminish, disrespect the lives of people he really doesn’t know. He speaks for his Lord and Savior we hear from individuals who only understand their God to be a vengeful one. This is America where it is better to permit free speech of course if the harangues in that speech are against people we hate. No punishment, no consequence keep saying someone is bad, evil and keep invoking the name of your God and somehow racism/misogyny/homophobia/and bigotry are okay.

We are told by self proclaimed Christians that a War on Christmas is in progress and the sinners of this nation are relishing in a so called prohibition of say “Merry Christmas”. After all tis the season is not a season if you can’t say “Merry Christmas”, even to those who don’t want to say it or hear it. But as the soldiers fight to regain the season of Christmas from the pagans, hedonist, anti Christ’s these same crusaders are adamant that the unemployed stay poor, that poverty is a self inflicted wound and that Jesus would have never included any kind of minority into his flock. During this supposed time of reflection and hope it seems that any promise that Christmas might bring is diminished by hypocrites who can only hate.

Why is being human such a difficult task for so many so called humans?

duck soup

How do the Republican/right wing/theocracy/Tea party jihadists/ always manage to act like racists/homophobes/misogynists/ saying the most unChristian like statements and end up acting as if they are victims became it is it their purview to hate? Some Grandpa of ducks has declared his hate for Gays and Blacks based on sick selected sections of the Bible using his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a scapegoat for the venom he spews. Then, suddenly this man who either has sex with ducks or encourages his family to sleep with them  is a saint a true American at the ready to be worshipped because he is loud and proud bigot. 

I have never watched Duck Dynasty and my original knowledge of this millionaire man of the swamps is that  in October Huffington Post placed an article about how so many people wanted to dress like him for Halloween. Now, I read about his disdain for Gays and Blacks and know that he must really be a bucket of duck pooh because such luminaries of morals and values like Gingrich/Palin/Cruz/Hannity and most of the white’s only entertainers of FOX are standing solidly by his side. (As an aside, in America 2013, if you want to know which side of an issue is truly not about the Constitution/fair/equal/democratic principals, wait until you hear Palin/Beck/Limbaugh/Ingram/ take a stand for those so called American values). These Republican/Tea Party self proclaimed patriots insist that the racist/homophobic content of Grandpa Duck is not the issue (there is no time to spare debating that Gays are anything but human and that Blacks hate freedom cause in the old days they could sing their songs while picking cotton) but that speaking for Christ, quoting the Bible (once again edited and abridged segments of the Bible which sound really racist and homophobic) was Grandpa Duck’s crime.

Hmmm, Grandpa Duck hates Gays, lets tell A&E to single out this one reality star. Some loony woman on Big Brother not only trashed her Gay roommates but made sure everyone knew how uppity the black contestant was. She was not fired. The Ugandans are up to their same old shit now passing laws to place any Gay person in jail and the US still trades with that nation. Russia is taking a play from the Nazi’s and singling out a segment of its population (the Homosexuals) of course but far be it from the major US corporations pulling out of the Olympics in Sochi or having held the Miss Universe contest in Russia. Some man found wandering the swamps toting a Bible in his crotch/probably a Confederate flag up his ass/ raising a family based on bias and bigotry who when first discovered and made famous was known to hate is now singled out as public enemy number one. This Duck Grandpa is just one more Jesus spoke to me/the Bible guides me to hate fool who has become a pop culture icon. He is just like NBC/Universal/the Jesus and Santa is white entertainers at FOX/Coca Cola hypocrites/ Americans who have displayed their disdain for the people of a nation supposedly based “…life, liberty and justice for all.” He will continue his evil ways and probably be paid a prettier penny for doing it.

Cathy, hon!

Dear Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers,

On Wednesday, December 18, the year of your Lord Jesus Christ, you wrote the following in a fund raising letter to your jihadist Republican/Tea Party followers: “This is a Democrat party that has no interest in working with Republicans – one that’s openly hostile to American values and the Constitution,” Now Hon, I think I can call you Hon because the GOP likes to patronize its women folk you know (via legislation that denies women’s rights and privileges toward their reproductive lady parts and of course less pay for equal work), so the word Hon is in my male purview okay to use in addressing you. Oh yeah Hon, you are quite a looker for a Conservative Christian woman (does your Lord and master, not Jesus but your husband know you work didn’t Jesus, after he wrote the Constitution insist that women be seen but not heard)), so let me warn you that if you decide to go to Michigan to support your Michigander Republican/Tea Party misogynists perhaps considering how you wear your hair and wear those tight fitting tops you might want to get rape insurance. It’s the insurance coverage your GOP cronies declared as law for nasty, sexy, asking for it kind of women…did I say you are looker?) But I digress.

Now Hon, I don’t blame you for being angry about the Dems wanting immigration reform, same-sex marriage, health care for all Americans. We both certainly know when the British arrived in the New World they never considered themselves immigrants, (invaders are never aliens) They only had opposite sex, thats why it was okay to rape the Indian women and those pesky African slaves. And Hon, your GOP is so right in its assessment that if you think deserve affordable health care you should pay for it yourself or die trying.

Cathy, Hon, Babe those damn Dems only think of the poor, the unemployed, the elderly, the ill, people of color, the Gays while your Grand Old Party is more concerned with the trues of Americans the 1% the folks who want to own all the other 99 per cent. Now, Cathy you are a woman, and I am not sure in the land of Republican/Tea Party hypocrisy you should be taken too seriously; after all you have no idea what to do with your reproductive parts of your body so I am sure your brain is just as ill-equipped.  Maybe , Cathy Hon you should check with your husband and the men of your biased, bogus and bigoted party to see if you should continue making noise. Oh and by the way if you think I am a bit sarcastic and demonstrating no respect towards you, you are finally using your pretty little head correctly!

Whose your daddy?

On Tuesday December 17 in the state of Michigan,if you did not plan ahead to be raped either by an intruder or your father or brother you are in serious trouble. If you were not one of those savvy women always planning ahead for that rainy rape day and did not purchase insurance and you are raped you must pay for your hospital visit and any other expense that may ensue. The Republican/Tea Party jihadists of Michigan voted for this rape insurance bill because being of moral superiority and irrefutable character themselves they had the foresight to know that good women will never get raped and bad girls need to pay heavy for their anti Christian behavior. So now in the state of Republican/tea Party dominated Michigan if you you don’t plan ahead for a rape or two it will cost you big time.

Once again the Republican/tea Party cadre of Christian soldiers have marched across a female’s vagina and have decided that she being nothing more than a rib from Adam, has little knowledge of her own body and forfeits any rights to that body because she is just a woman. Of course this rape insurance bill is not one to punish any female just the ones luring the lecherous sexual attacks from strangers or the ones flirtatious enough to entice daddy or any one of her brothers. The Republican/Tea Party legislature reminded the public that rape really happens to women who ask for it. Be good and you will NEVER be raped!

As pathetic as this misogynist bill really is,is not that the Republican/Tea Party majority passed it but the fact that they feel empowered to do so; it took only 4% of the citizenry in Michigan to ask that this bill be made law. More disgusting is that most likely the Conservative Christian right wing puppets in the Michigan legislature fed by haters of anything female will more than likely be re-elected to office. I have often stated that as bad as the monster might be, it is the townsfolk who ignore the monster who are most worrisome. Incest, rape don’t count in Michigan neither does the right of a female to declare possession of her own body.

Come on Michiganders, is this the kind of legislation you tolerate, accept, permit? Are you that oblivious to rights being denied, women being denigrated, religious zealots displacing freedom of choice for no choice at all? Michiganders will you be a passive puppet yourself and permit this crazy obsession with women’s bodies and reproductive rights to trump your own conscience and decision of fair and equal? Michiganders will you let the stupid continue to lead the way? In Michigan apparently you voted in misogynists and now that you see for yourself just how evil they are will you do it again? Really!!!???

finding truth

My Grandma Braff used to tell her family that truth is only real when it is not a confirmed liar telling it. Grandma Braff would say that one lie is enough to never believe the person again and it takes only one lie to confirm he is a liar. If you need to disguise the truth even for a moment you have little respect for the truth and of course you should have even less respect for the person pretending to tell the truth. Grandma Braff had a younger sister Aunt Celia. Aunt Celia believed that truth could be stretched. If your cousin is an ugly girl she would say over and over again, but some nice rouge and red lipstick, a good brassiere and corset helped her be less ugly even though they were applications and not natural who would call you a liar if you called your cousin pretty. Truth is sometimes like a hemorrhoid Aunt Celia would say (especially when she had a few peach schnapps) , if you don’t sit on it or push too hard on it you can still go dancing without too much pain in the touchous (butt).

Truth has been hijacked, propagandized, polluted and made into a political sham especially in the US. Everyone it seems knows THE truth and has their cadre of facts to support it. If a preacher from atop the mount pontificates about it with his abridged version of a Bible in hand it it is the truth. If a bone fide Republican millionaire radio talk jock states the truth because after all he is closer to both George Washington and Jesus it must then be truth. If you are against something with great vehemence and vitriol repeating the same accusatory words over and over again minus anything but adjectives and perhaps an adverb or two it is the truth. If someone hates the same things/people/purposes as you all they need is your wink of the eye and it is the truth. The truth need not beg the question are the facts solid. All the truth needs is a bit of rouge, a brassiere a corset or two and some ruby red lipstick.

We have been told by the team at FOX, first Megyn Kelly and now Bill o’Reilly that Jesus and Santa are white. We are told by FOX entertainment specials Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly that there is indeed a war on Christmas simply because we can’t place nativity scenes on government property or let government workers and teachers say Merry Christmas. Sean Hannity from FOX has solicited Americans who swear they are telling the truth when they say the Affordable Health Care Law did them dirty, until they were found out to be liars. We are confronted by a savvy corporation with so called truths until they are found to be lies. But the savvy thing about them is that once these lies are told they are like a virus making them contagious and often times deadly.

Perhaps my Grandma Braff was a bit too rigid with her definition of truth and the name calling she labeled those who did not tell it. Perhaps my Great Aunt Celia was a bit too  easy in her definition of the truth thinking all it took was makeup to make it real. I am however confused and confounded as to  the chaos behind the truth. We talk about a nation divided, one in which many Americans are at extreme polar opposites. Common ground is always the goal but never found. Maybe if we all decide to seek truth via trust we could find our way; or maybe not depending on who you believe.

the words I mean

When most bullies/liars or propagandists get caught in the act and are finally called out for their gross and ridiculous remarks, they love to play the part of victim. Words like misconstrued, out of context, I didn’t mean it to sound the way you heard it, or the best one if I offended you I hesitantly  apologize usually fall out their mouths as empty as the lack of oxygen in space. It usually doesn’t matter if the foolish, often time bigoted, biased or racist words are caught on camera or tape, the bully still refuses to recognize his or her direct actions for demanding that someone else is to blame for the their own trash talk.

Megyn Kelly of FOX Klan tried to inform the people of the USA that both Santa and Jesus were white. She spoke with conviction and sincerity and of course read off the biased script written by the right wing haters at her station. Like many other FOX Klan members Ms Kelly never likes to be told she is either a liar a fool a bigot or a racist  and when approached as one or all of the above becomes infuriated. Like many of her conspirators and deniers of anything laced with fact Ms kelly had a hissy fit and blamed the liberal bad guys for accusing her of being stupid. Like so many other FOX Klan members Ms Kelly loves the lie but loathes being called a liar. I am sure, now that she has infuriated anyone with a conscience, a brain and at least a 40 IQ, Ms Kelly will be paid a pretty penny and become one of the grand wizards of FOX.

Johhny McCain decided to use a Hitler parallel and reminded the US that President Barack Obama's handshake with Cuban President Raul Castro to one between Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain. The senile Senator let the words spew out of his empty mouth without any problem. He is still a poor loser and no matter the hero he might be from his days in Viet Nam is much more a loser in his later life. This is not the first time MCCain has disparaged the President with Hitlerisms so the comparison is not new nor a random piece of shit falling from his breath. On the Sunday news or is it noise shows McCain did say his comparison was a gross exaggeration, but like the bullies who at heart become cowards when cornered McCain never quite apologized instead tried to justify his context.

“Gays want free medical because they are dying of AIDS”, so said GOP National Committeeman Dave Agema. Well that is until Mr Agema was confronted with his stupid homophobic lies when Mr Agema so like another cowardly bully and said he was taken out of context. When even members of his own GOP group of politicians insisted this statement about Gays might have gone to far, Mr Agema said he said what he said and was proud to speak his mind but what he said was reported without a full understanding of what he meant. Except, whatever he meant to say in addition to Gays dying of AIDS was never said. Huh!!!! Yep one more politician thinking he could marginalize a group of Americans based on nothing but smarmy, shit and walk away from it as if it was not spread all over the bottom of his shoes as he trudged along his Christian white road.

Words have great meaning and is often times spoken to deliver hurt, harm and a heartless blow. Bully’s love to use words to misdirect, misrepresent the truth and those same bully’s turn into cowards whenever they are confronted, caught owning those words. Not me…not I…I never…you have it wrong… always an excuse for a bad deed. Indeed isn’t it time we talked back to those fools with words of honest, sincere and responsibility.  

bottom lines

When corporations were told by American consumers that their participation in an apartheid run government was unacceptable, and by either passively or aggressively assisting in a form of government limiting human and civil rights to any or all of its citizens was appalling; corporations realizing that what might become oppressed were their own bottom-lines and profits, cut ties with South Africa. Corporations reacted to a threat against their own stability and future (not the South Africans of color) and only when the consumer found the balls and backbone to threaten the well being of corporations did the CEO’s and Boards act in a human and concerned manner toward the minorities in South Africa. 

NBC/Universal the owners and operators of the 2014 Winter Olympics are insistent that the oppressive and punitive laws against homosexuals is really not that important to pull out from sponsoring the Games. Along with their sugar daddies (Coca Cola, GE, Mc Donald’s, Panasonic, P&G. VISA, Samsung), we are told the spirit of competition will continue. Somehow these corporate giants think that permitting the games to go on,will show the Russians that their bigoted and bogus business of apartheid will be ignored as homosexual and heterosexual athletes vie for medals. Somehow these corporations believe that the Russians will not behave badly during the games and once the games have ended well, what the hell it is the business of the Russians anyway. Corporations also thought that the apartheid in South Africa was the business of the South Africans never to interfere with the bottom-lines of the the corporations in that nation. Most of the marketing mavens at the corporations paying for the homophobic games have provided dour and dreary treaties about how not one of their homosexual employees will be impacted by this unfair and inhuman law. But the bottom-line is the bottom-line and soft drinks burgers, electronics bank transactions must feel safe so the Games must go on.

NBC/Universal in an insincere and patronizing way has used two of its Gay identified personalities Thomas Roberts and Johnny Weir to speak up and out about the homosexual thing; sending Roberts to the Miss Universe pageant and Weir doing whatever weird things he does. If our homos’ have no problem with the Russians, so say NBC/Universal then all is okay. Each day, more and more LGBT citizens of Russia are brutalized, bullied and attacked. Each and every day rights and freedoms are being denied because suddenly there is a law stating that if you are a homosexual you are not a citizen and not human. In South Africa blacks were told that separate but equal is fine and dandy also. In South Africa until real humans interested in human and civil rights intervened separate but equal (or in the case of Russia separate but not equal) was tolerated. Once the people of America said separate is not good and threatened the corporations did the practice of apartheid stop. Ringing their hands, promising that their homosexual staff will not be harmed or even stopping their homosexual employs from being in harms way so far is the ONLY reaction corporations funding the apartheid laws of the Russians have behaved in curtailing this discrimination. The games must go on say the corporations because we have invested so much money in the Sochi Olympics.

Corporations in America have recently been added as the newest species of people. One might wonder then if corporations  are people where is the conscience, concern, empathy, emotional impact to stop injustice, demand fair and fight for equality?  Too often we ignore history, many times to the detriment of building a future, and refuse to learn from the victories achieved. Apartheid, discrimination, racism, misogynism, homophobia when sponsored by governments and paid for by corporations can be stopped. The corporations who refuse to stop this discrimination must first realize how it feels to be the brunt of discrimination. Boycotting the products of these compliant homophobes is a time tested remedy to stop this injustice.

once again women

Hey Gals, sleazy asking for  sex all the time Gals,you know who you are but if you don’t the GOP in Michigan certainly does. Any red blooded male and his female chattel misogynist knows darn well that eventually your hussieness and inappropriate behavior like walking down the street, bending over when something is dropped or flirtatiously fixing your hair is nothing but a sham and all you are doing is begging to be raped. Yep, you Gals are asking for trouble because this is Amerika and gosh darn unless you are at home raising your children, cooking your mens food or cleaning his house you are a floozie on the loose and one day or another you’re gonna be raped. So to protect you from yourself, (because according to the Michigan GOP and God you eventually will make any honest heterosexual man wanna rape you), so out of the goodness and godliness of their male hearts and a few self loathing female hearts Michigan has rape insurance just for you.

Plan ahead the Michigan GOP lawmakers say. Rape is inevitable because among the many things you happen to be is a female and females ask for trouble. Now this ain’t no war against women, no it is a blessing in disguise. Who else but members of the GOP care for the welfare of women, especially when they are too stupid to fend for themselves. Its all part of the GOP plan to protect women, from themselves just like voting against equal pay, restricting reproductive rights, blocking Planned Parenthood, defining legitimate rape from just any ordinary garden type rape, and now rape insurance. The GOP is a friend of the female a guardian of sorts. Men will be men of course and a tight dress, too much makeup, a sassy stride or just being a woman is tempting for good Christian men, and being good Christian men establishing rape insurance will balance thing out. God takes and now via the Michigan GOP God gives back.

There are countless reasons one has to wonder why anyone calling themselves a GOP/Tea Party politicians should be elected to any office. There is distain for people of color, immigrants, homosexuals, Muslims, non religious Americans and once again women by the GOP/Tea Party. There is disrespect an arrogance, elitism from the men of the GOP and their self loathing female counterparts. How much more of this sad state of affairs will we take? Rape insurance because you know you are dirty! Once again women!

white as snow

Jesus according to the Conservative blog-a-sphere, Conservative Christian crusaders, Tea Party terrorists and of course FOX News is a Republican gun carrying, anti women’s rights, hater of anyone poor or old, friend of the banks and Wall Street and a racist homophobe. He was the author or the Constitution, conferred with George Washington in establishing a nation only on Christian principles and hated immigrants. Add to that, even though Jesus was born in the Middle East, he hated anything Arab (of course and was in denial for being born in Bethlehem) he was a white man.

Now, no need to argue historic facts, FOX news has little regard for them, No need to consider the location of Jesus’s birth place, its just a place on the map. Of course no need to even question Megyn Kelly’s presumption, after all she speaks for FOX and anything she might say has to be fair and balanced. According to Ms Kelly Jesus was as white as snow and just as white as Santa Clause. There is a war raging on Christmas say FOX entertainers like Plain, O’Reilly and now Kelly and all those atheists, pagans and unAmerican charlatans need to know that it ain’t gonna be tolerated. Jesus, and Santa are white and if you are of color just too darn bad because your God and saint don’t match your skin color. 

Look around this nation during the Christmas season and you will find all kinds of behavior that means anything but the celebration of the birth of Christ. Families are asked to leave their homes for bargains at retail stores on Thanksgiving. Workers are asked to leave their families so they can sell merchandise most of which they cannot afford themselves. Unemployed are being reprimanded for being lazy during this season of giving for being unemployed. Food stamps are being denied because the lawmakers don’t want to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share. Greedy kids are shown on commercials wanting a dozen toys. And now on FOX News a white chick is telling non white families go find your own Jesus because the real Lord and Savior was white. Oh yeah and the man in the red suit is also a honky. 

somebody else's

In somebody else’s America women should remain as the original rib torn from Adam’s body, be blamed for insisting that the snake was wise, and of course let men ogle at their breasts ad nauseam. In someone else’s America women should remain on their backs giving birth, when of course not house cleaning or preparing meals, perhaps in dire situations work but never earn an equal wage that men might, and decide if they are going to be raped is it legitimate or just because they were wonton and wanted. In the world of Republican/Tea Party fringe Americans (their gerrymandered politicians/paid for by corporations who seem to be puppet masters who have little respect for anything female) the world ahead for women is that of a submissive passive toy without the brains to think for herself or act on her own.  If those of us who find females as equals, as humans as Americans finally protected under the Constitution who have mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, aunts etc, etc if we don’t begin the battle to stop this mysogynistic Republican/Tea Party disease we will find that somebody else’s America will become reality.

In somebody else’s America the poor live in poverty because they choose to. Receiving food stamps is a ploy to live in dire need and an easy way to make it through the day.In somebody else’s America the unemployed really no REALLY, do not want to work.Living off the dole is cool and you can purchase all kinds of bling that way without ever having to work up a sweat. In  someone else’s world Jesus only had harsh words for the poor, the downtrodden the people of society who had no voice and if he were alive today in America, (well maybe he is in the guise of Ted Cruz’s pastoral father Raphael, or Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly all of whom have sworn to God Jesus has spoken to them) he would not only cast these poor leaches with pox. Jesus would take those starving homeless souls along with the drug ridden unemployed and make them slaves. In an America perceived by the Republican/Tea Party terrorists currently in Congress poverty is the fault of a faulty individual and unemployment is the result of being a lazy loser. If those of us who have compassion for the poor, the unemployed who believe that in order to pull yourselves up from your own bootstraps you first must be able to afford the damn boots, our lack of will to silence the bully will lead to an even deeper divide between the have’s and have nothings.

In somebody else’s America it is okay, peachy keen, red, white and bluish to never ever be able to afford health care. Being sick is a sign of weakness dagnabbit! In somebody else’s world the argument against health care supersedes the need for health care. Never argue the merits of affordable health care just insist that Lenin, Marx, Castro and perhaps Mao are laughing in their graves ready to turn our stars and stripes into one hammer and cycle on a red background. In somebody else’s America there is belief if you can’t afford quality health care then you either deserve to die or at least wither away in pain. In an America governed by a far right band of Republican/Tea Party jihadists we all DO NOT DESERVE to be healthy. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as translated by the Republican/Tea Party to life if you deserve it, liberty if you are not a minority, and any pursuit of happiness only if it is a Conservative Christian form of joy. If those of us who believe in freedom, equality, fair, and just don’t stop doing the denial dance we will be left as wall flowers wilting, wilting, wilting.

Our current Congress will go down on record as the most divisive, destruction do nothing group of elected officials this nation has ever seen. Our current band of Republican/Tea Party brothers are happy to ignore the plight of its citizens due to ideology, bigotry and religious dogma. Are we going to make this country of our somebody else’s America or something we are proud of?

monsters among us

One has to wonder, is it the monster we create that we should fear or perhaps ourselves for permitting that monster to thrive? One has to wonder is it the rampage in which the monsters   ravage the land we should worry about or the mere fact we established that course of destruction almost mapping out their evil conquests.One has to wonder is it the monsters who pillage, prey upon or participate in the removal of morals. values, honesty and integrity or the crafty maker of that monster who love the lies, loathing and fodder of fiction they leave in their wake to whom we need to be afraid?

FOX News thrives living on lies, mistruths and made up stuff. They insight fear via fiction, they present innuendo without one moment of conscience, they divide and conquer always insisting it is a war against we vs them. FOX News places homage to hate bolstering bias and bigotry. But FOX News is one of the most watched cable stations on television so one has to wonder should we be more wary of FOX or the folks who love a good hater and love to hate? Listen closely to the doctored stories of the Affordable Health Care Law, the butchered fables about anything Obama, the antagonistic anecdotes about progressives or liberals or good old Americans who actually believe the Constitution is above the Bible and if you listen close enough FOX will be anything but fair and balanced. But try and beat them in the ratings. This communications monster is hungry because the townsfolk are constantly feeding it.

The Republican Party afraid that truth and honor were too much for their weak political platform decided to reach out to a fringe element in America. They courted a group of people who thought Jesus fought in the Revolutionary War, still flew the Confederate Flag, decided that Gays were as bad as blacks, blacks as awful as immigrants, immigrants as stupid as women and women as annoying as anyone in need of a decent minimum wage or a job. The Republican Party denied voting rights, equal rights, created scapegoats, abridged both the Bible and the Constitution and refused to pass any law that had the words fair, just or equal in it. They won elections with empty promises but dance to the tune of bigots and the bogus, and they created a monster calling themselves the Tea Party. And the monster created by the Republicans started to eat its master, but even with that the Republicans continued to support the Tea Party. So who do we blame for chaos and lack of any discourse in our politics the monster or the mad scientists who created it?

How can the stupid the inane, the fool the monster be so powerful, easy; when the townsfolk, the scientist, the bystanders let them. Madness might be manageable if those not afflicted with the disease just say enough is enough. But somehow in America  even when we are aware of the infliction of the dumb and dumber we somehow remain silent thinking a lack of action will eventually be enough. One has to wonder who is to blame, the monster ot the people who created it?

hope less

Hope or hopeless. Hopeful or Hopelessness. Why would or should or could there be any debate in finding hope? Why would or could or should there be any question that finding hope, living hope having hope something so common be something we have to prioritize? Why in a nation which prides itself in being one of Christian-Judeo persuasion and values fights a continuous war against hope, hoping instead to maintain hopelessness for some of its citizens? 

Long term unemployment benefits will expire in 22 days…food stamp allotments are being lessened…immigration reform is dying…more consternation about the web site for the Affordable Health Care Law then concern about just how many Americans might finality enjoy health care…the environment of the Earth is changing leaving ugly pock marks on our one and only planet…YET voices loud and angry insist none of the above is of any real great concern permitting a sense of hopeless and hopelessness. It is a season of miracles and joy in both the Christian-Judeo religions  from Hanukah to Christmas yet our politicians led by self serving puppeteers promising big bucks to evade hope want to deny, divide, demean and decide that hope for some is okay but hopelessness for others is even better.

What have we become when less food, less health care, less retirement dollars, less income, less equality is a norm. When did we wander away from being a village caring for all of its individuals? How did selfish grow in stature while selfless goes into hiding? When did hope become a matter of cost, an issue of selection, a meaningless attribute? Why have most of our politics focused on hopeless chiding the less fortunate as drug users, lazy, burdensome? How has a nation which now considers the Bible more important than the Constitution permitted the greatest inequity in income to become common place? When did hope become a commodity traded on Wall Street, praised by the Corporations as only affordable by some and pandered by politicians who would rather find an enemy within then a friend?

Hope or hopeless, hopeful or hopelessness? why and how did we even find ourselves in a conversation even begging this question? Who are we becoming in this great nation of ours when we are okay with hope for some and hopeless for others?

what do you mean, a war

One of the main messages my Dad provided me while growing up was to never let the noise of nonsense play louder then the voices of reason. He would remind me that the clatter of the crowd could sometimes chip away at the facts creating a din obstructing rational and truth. People who are either insecure or down right fearful make noise he would say, they often times act like caged animals who think hissing, growling, barking or yelping will keep a perceived enemy at bay. Those who can’t find satisfaction with their own lives will never look too deep to remedy their own issues but will chip away at others in hopes of dissuading honest and articulate. Be afraid of the fearful but never cower, he would add, be wary of them but never step aside.

Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly are two best selling authors (amazing how we define best selling or  for that fact author) are marketing their new books each about the War on Christmas. This war, according to these two sad sack individuals, pits good Christian citizens against the marauding hordes of either atheists, liberals, or godless anarchists who of course do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This war on Christmas is waged while every single mall in America is decked in red and green with tinsel out the kazoo, every radio station playing Christmas carols and some stations doing so 24 hours until December 26, main streets bouncing with Christmas lights of sleighs, stars and Noel strung from corner to corner and huge sequoia firs erected from Rockefeller Center, capitol buildings and the White House. This war against Christmas is waged because in a nation founded on freedom of religion and freedom FROM religion not a nationalized religion; wishes to include happy holidays along with Merry Christmas. These two bullies would have their lemming like insecure, unhappy in their own lives followers believe the fiction that this is a Christian nation and all true Patriots act accordingly. As my Dad would say Palin and O’Reilly never look to remedy a situation but prefer to defer and avoid. 

I am afraid of people like Palin and O’Reilly because they are smart enough to understand the insecurities of the stupid, the dumb, the angry, the bigot and manipulate them. I am afraid of people like Palin and O’Reilly because they plot and scheme leading the loser to frantic and frenetic machinations. I am afraid of people like Palin and O’Reilly because they care little for facts but push the fiction knowing that lies are loved by the lonely. But as my dad told me I will not cower from these fools nor step aside. I believe the more we remain silent pretending that the stupid will dry up and diminish the more stupid we become. I believe that silence in so many cases does equal death; death of freedom, justice and equality. A war on Christmas, really, when Christmas shopping starts the same day as Thanksgiving, when most corporations tell their employees to take vacation time from Dec 15 to the first of the year. A war on Christmas when  unless you live in a cave on the moon you are not bombarded by carols, decorations, or commercials in red, green, nativity scenes or Santa Clauses. 

Sister Palin and Brother O’ Reilly the war is not on Christmas but the lack of meaning that Christmas has taken generated from hypocrites like you. There is a war on the poor, the elderly the unemployed, the ill all of whom should be basking in the glow of Christmas. There is war on the meaning of love, kindness, giving, sharing all of which the two of you consider anything but Christian. We all must be wary of your intentions they are sad, spiteful and sick. saying Merry Christmas is meaningless if the true meaning of the holiday is absent. You both, Sarah and Bill make that absence way too apparent. 

both sides

Two sides of a question amazing how we view each side depending on where we stand.

Two Republican Congressmen are about to propose legislation which would end the sequestered cuts from the Defense Department adding millions of dollars for our military while increasing cuts from social security diminishing what they call wasteful spending on entitlements.  Maintaining freedom these republican/Tea Party Congressmen say is not cheap; living in that land of freedom well that’s gonna cost you! Somehow its okay to fight for freedom but the fight to be free is not in the budget. The seniors who must decide to pay for food, medication, health cafe, housing are not a priority to members of the Congress because they never have the extra dollars to lobby. The military contractors however are a key priority because of course there are bushels of money to play puppet master. So, we must keep America free but it ain’t so free to live here.

Focus on the Family a right wing demagoguery band of bigots is always demanding that the family structure in America is at risk of collapsing or being overrun by heretics and homosexuals. They caution the Bible totting Christian crusaders that Adam marrying Allan is just the start of the apocalypse and the definition of the family as one white man marrying one white woman with a white son and a white daughter will never see the light of day again. While Focus on the Family is fighting that homosexual agenda, they seem to be oblivious about many other matters of family values. Not a word of dismay or disgust is spread aloud regarding the low wages that mom and dad earn working at fast food outlets or Walmart. Not one thump on the Bible about the moms and dads who had to work on Thanksgiving having to prioritize work over home. Not one warning of imminent doom for the family if the Affordable Health Care Law is replaced with the old system of poor coverage or no coverage. Somehow with groups like Focus on the Family, the focus has nothing to with the quality of life but the quantity of hate.

Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly have authored books about the War on Christmas. (remember when best selling authors could write with creativity and intelligence and actually did the writing themselves)Filled with dire warnings of atheists, non Christians and a few Socialists for good measure, stabbing Father Christmas in the heart and at least re-crucifying Jesus, the two authors warn America that this Christian nation will never again be able to say Merry Christmas. These two hypocrites have little to say about how merchandise,marketing have become the reason for Christmas. These two charlatans never raise a eyebrow as to how low income families must seek food banks for their Christmas dinner. These two fools never once talk about the passions of Christ to help the poor, the sick, the stranger. Why is it so easy to declare a war against Christmas when the real war is about the lack of compassion. 

other side of NO

My Grandma Buncher was in my life a very short period of time. She passed when I was 8. She was a practical woman perhaps for her generation a modern woman as she was very culturally hip/aware and was born in the United States (she used to say some European Jews never quite unpacked all their baggage when they landed at Ellis Island.) She was a female who stood her ground and would have very little to do with the supposedly male dominated world of the 50’s (she would often time tell her grandchildren, men know they should wear two socks because they know they have two feet, but ask them to find their socks in the first place and most likely if they have to look on their own they will go barefoot). She considered herself a practical woman but always added being practical means “you always can find what is on the other side of no.” I quite never understood what she meant about the other side of no. I thought NO meant NO and there was not another side. When I was about 7, old enough to be considered more then a little kid but cute enough to not be a brat I remember having a discussion with my Grandma Buncher about finding the other side of NO. “Gerry”, she would chirp, “it is very simple.” “When someone says no they do so because they have nothing else to add. They become lazy, often times mean spirited and would rather walk away from finding a solution then resolving it.” Most people become submissive when they are told no and become dumber then the person who originally said no.” Push them hard, she would say as she pointed her index finger in the air as if talking to God, “and simply ask them what is on the other side of no.” “The other side of no may not be yes, but it is a place with whole lot more options.”

Living in America in the past half dozen years, as a citizen it seems a lot of NO has been bandied about. NO, seems to be an easy reply for change, equality and freedoms. NO, seems to be the response at the ready to fall off the tongue of politicians, pundents and people who would prefer to walk away from a solution then remedy it. In the current atmosphere in which I live I more and more hear my Grandma Buncher saying to me you should find what is on the other side of NO. The Republican/Tea Party clan say NO to health care, NO to Gay rights, NO to immigration, NO to a fair minimum wage, NO to equal pay for equal work for women, NO to reproductive rights. Not one time do these men and women even venture past saying no and hardly ever are challenged or asked well then what is on the other side of NO. I am even more amazed that no one asks them well then, what is on the other side of your no. It seems there is never a yes or a plan or even a compromise. Many Americans just settle passively in their own cocoons permitting the people of NO to control the conversation.

The more aware I have become of my responsibility in this world, my ability to make anything from a modest to meaningful change in this world, my capabilities to be a part of the solution; the more I want to know what is on the other side of NO. My Grandma Buncher also would say, “it is an argument when all you hear is NO, but a conversation when you ask what is on the other side of NO.” Isn’t it time we all began asking…  

tzekel

Grandma Braff would insist that the water in her cup of tea be scalding, hot enough she would say to make the three drops of lemon from a fresh piece of fruit sizzle as it dripped and made a noise sounding like a long breath of awwwww as it settled into the cup. “Better you should burn the lemon juice then your own lips,”she announced. She would stir the freshly squeezed lemon juice in her cup of tea then place the sliver of lemon into the center of her cup look up at whomever was sitting next to her and add, “being sweet is never easy.” Grandma Braff would sip her tea, offer another cup made the exact same way as hers, look you in the eye as you tasted that first sip and say “you should never be foolish enough to think that anything in life is easy. You taste that tea but look at the effort necessary to give you that feeling of satisfaction.” Grandma Braff was insistent that the energy of the effort was too often ignored. She believed if you were not the one working for the outcome you should at least have enough ‘tzekel’ (insight, inner thought) to understand just how the effort came to fruition.

Today is World AIDS Day. Not quite a holiday or a festival or even a celebration but more so an acknowledgment of the struggle, battles, wars  and victories fought and sought by those living with AIDS with assistance from their loved ones to just survive and hopefully thrive.  It has been sanctioned as World AIDS Day for 25 years a reminder that this disease can and never should be forgotten or taken for granted. This Day has been established to educate and inform and never let you forget of its devious deeds. It also has become a Day for providing promise and is presented as both a cup half empty and half full. As my Grandma Braff would say you see the cup half full but must never forget how the bitterness of the half empty cup was overcome by effort and energy. Grandma Braff would surely shout aloud “being sweet is never easy. 

25 years ago chaos reigned, rumor ran rampant and lives were ruined as this horrific, disease reached epidemic proportions. As is the ugly case of being human prejudice, religious dogma, bias and bogus replaced fact as truth and suddenly a segment of the population was seen as minions of the Devil. Fear mongers paraded their devious muscle, self proclaimed crusaders of God roamed the airwaves, the governments with armaments of hysteria and sense and sensibility were trampled on as senseless. But some persevered working for an outcome and demonstrated energy and effort. Great strides were made and many lives saved. Today 25 years since its inception it is still World AIDS Day and like that cup of tea prepared by Grandma Braff many of us look at it and think very little about how it got her. Like that cup of tea some of us give little thought. Perhaps, however a little ‘tzekel’ is necessary in understanding the origins of the preparation of the tea and some understanding of what it is all about. Grandma Braff  would slowly sip her tea and remind those in her company it is the effort, energy that makes change never take change for granted.

hero's

Hero’s often times never know how their actions impact those around them. Few women or men start out with the capital H emblazoned on the their chest and most never end up with a cape or for that matter tight fitting leotards. Hero’s often time take action because making change, separating the right from the wrong, finding justice is all that makes sense. Miracles seem magical but quite simply when you combine equality with fair then mix in reason with purpose finally shaking them well with intent wham bam you have something special.

Tonight is the first night of Hanukah and ever since I was a youth I remember lighting our Menorah and listening to the tales of the Maccabies the tribe of Jewish men who fought injustice, persecution and against most odds prevailed. Freedom it seemed has no caveats, you either live it or not and if not you fought as hard as it took to maintain it and then flourish in it;  never take it for granted. Hero’s see cause understand effect and try very hard to take actions to make the necessary change when fair is unbalanced and equality very biased.

Tonight is the start of a festival of lights an eight day celebration of either divine intervention or the insight of men and women who wanted to make a difference. Tonight is a festival encouraging family and friends to share in their hopes and dreams to never ever permit those particular flames to extinguish. Tonight is the beginning of a festival that speaks loudly of heroes; the people of the past but most importantly those who in our every day lives making a difference via defiance and with plenty of deference. 

Tonight with the company of my family I will light the candles, say a few prayers and recall the hero’s in my life who have made a difference, the men and women whose heart followed their soul whose hands took action from their heads. Chag Urim Sameach, Happy Holiday of the Lights!

giving thanks

It was almost Thanksgiving, my lesson plan as a student teacher at Point Park Lab School was to teach the integrated class of first through third graders a bit of history leading up to turkey day.  The assignment was to be more of a ‘touchy’ ‘feely’ experience as this school focused on the senses of learning and after all it was the decade of the sixties (you know the Age of Aquarius). The purpose of this lesson plan was to have the children identify with those Americans of the past with their various backgrounds and how that is relevant to the present and our individual backgrounds. As most I was once was a student teacher knows this was a challenge and lots of prep time, creativity and bulletin boards were readied. (Back in the day we also used a lot of mimeograph paper). 

As I was thumbtacking my 85th addition to the Thanksgiving bulletin board, Maureen, a very vocal young girl started yelling at her fellow classmate Ezra. Expression of self was promoted at the Lab School, but this discourse was unusually loud, and a bit frenetic. I think I had one more set of wings to add to the turkey for the board, but being the ever present student teacher placed my arts and crafts on the table and rushed over to both Maureen and Ezra. As I approached the two, Maureen began screaming “…it is not your holiday, it is for Christians, my mother told me we give thanks to God for Thanksgiving and your God is different. Before I could even muster up my wise and sage voice to intervene Maureen looked at me and continued, “Mr. Bunch (it was the late sixties I was a cool teacher), tell Ezra that it was the Pilgrims who invented Thanksgiving and remind him they were Christian.”

And there I was, suddenly my lesson plan was irrelevant, suddenly this holiday that I knew as American as apple pie was being perceived as a religious event and suddenly what I considered the innocence of youth was turning into a misstatement by the not so young. Happily my classroom teacher walked in called the kids into a group and dealt head on with the subject of who can celebrate holidays. If we want God to bless us during Thanksgiving she said we do so because this is America. If we wish to thank only our family and friends for the bounty we received we can do so, because this is America. If we don’t want to thank anyone and not even celebrate Thanksgiving we also can do because this is America. My teacher added as she held Maureen and Ezra’s hand because this is America no one has the right to say how they celebrate the holiday is the right way. This is America children, she added and the beauty of America is we all are equal and no ones God or lack of God makes us any better or worse.

When the kids were dismissed my teacher and I sat down to decompress. Quite the day she said in a very nonplused voice. I suppose we have a to look closely at how we educate our students regarding Thanksgiving. Perhaps the folklore plays a much more important role rather than the facts and instead of wanting to know reasons we prefer to be lulled into fudging the truth. Maybe if we can stop this generation of students from assuming the truth, the truth might be freed. We can only hope a day like today made a difference. That was almost 50 years ago. As I begin to celebrate Thanksgiving 2013, I still wonder how this holiday is perceived and if in fact is about permitting all Americans no matter their differences the right to give thanks.

THEM

Like so many other Americans at least 55 and older I too can remember where I was when the  assassination of JFK  was announced. I was only a ninth grader but even at the point in my life, I remember having experienced great joy at the election of the young president, the trauma and terror during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the sadness, grief and fear of his death. I was young enough to believe that a president could and should make a difference in my life, naive enough to think that the rest of the nation could follow his lead, and hopeful enough to believe that change was good. Like so many other Americans 55 and older I can recall the somber, silence of those around me; crying, ringing their hands, looking to the heavens for an answer. But I can also remember the creepy fingers of paranoia at the ready to grab any form of reality and replace it with dire, dubious disaster. It was Coach Dunlap’s gym class when the principal rang the gong on the loud speaker asking for everyone’s attention. We were playing basketball and the coach blew very hard on his whistle, longer then when he called a fowl and heavier even to announce the end of the game. The principal with a very wobbly voice and too many choking sounds chomped on his words but finally told us the president was shot. It was the first time I heard an adult use the word assassination other then my history teacher speaking about Lincoln.

School was dismissed, all we knew was that this prince, this handsome young man, this man of the people, this idol of mine who asked what it was I could do for my country had been shot. Walking home from school my two friends began to share the gossip they had heard; anything from the Communists did it, to we had better get home because the foreign troops would be invading the country. It was a 20 minute walk home and as we passed men and women waiting at bus stops all we saw and heard was sobbing, shouting of oh my God. Some people seemed frozen, others were in a hurry, the kind of hurry foreshadowing the announcement of something very bad! My friends and I were terrified, walking home from school had never felt this horrible of a task.

I arrived home to both my mother and father sitting in front of the TV watching Walter Cronkite. Usually my mother would be home to greet me, but to see my father still in his police uniform staring at the television made me quite uncomfortable the kind of upset that makes you dizzy as your heart races. My mother was crying, my father’s eyes were red. My mother looked away from the television and told me the president had died. They killed him she said, they shot and killed him. Suddenly the word they had ominous meaning to it. So, my friends were correct THEY killed the president now THEY most surely would come after all the other Americans. My little sister arrived home from elementary school and was sobbing as she entered the house shouting, is it world war three are they going to drop the bombs. Rumor was rampant, fiction was formed as facts and in my house on my street in my city, my state and my country fear had found its footing.

JFK was a hero for me. He seemed like a movie star, an older brother able to show you the ropes, a best friend always pushing you harder and a man who cared. At 14 years of age, I was inspired, hopeful that the United States was truly a leader among nations not because our weapons were bigger or better, but our leaders were real people. JFK’s death left an emptiness for me and a rude awakening that good does not always prevail, and evil is always lurking. It has been 50 years ago today when the chaos reigned supreme and innocence was lost. That is one thing I will never forget and the loss of innocence I still morn.

how hungry

How hungry is hungry? If we are on a diet and decide to cut back our food intake… lessen the per portion sizes…refuse that dessert…is that hungry? How often have we gone hungry? We have the flu lost our appetite…decided to fast so we could fit into that dress that bathing suit…had to finish our tasks at work or cram for a test no time to eat…is that going hungry? How do we feel about being hungry? I hate the service at this restaurant at least there could be bread on the table…we were stuck in traffic for hours had nothing to eat…we missed the last exit and the next food court is two hours away…is that how we feel about hunger?

Our US Congress is deciding on how hungry is hungry, who should go hungry, and how to define hunger. The men and women (most proclaiming first to be good soldiers of Judeo/Christianity, secondly better Americans) elected to establish laws in this nation, want to cut back funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) a program established to provide food/nutrition for those under the poverty line, at the poverty line or just enough above the poverty line to not completely drown. These self proclaimed soldiers of hungry want to decide just how much food is enough and when too much food is kind of sorta like socialism, communism or anti-Americanism. These demigods of hunger who have only wined or complained because they missed a meal or two insist that cutbacks in the SNAP program are really for the good of our children, not the current crop of kids but the next generation. Food stamps, they shout from their ivory towers, just make you lazy…three meals a day as they preach with a Bible in their hands makes you selfish…you want to eat, they demand, then find a job.

The divide between the very rich and the very poor has widened. The have’s are clearly enjoying banquets while the have not’s are settling for scraps. We are reminded just how much this nation has strayed from Christian values as we are told that the hunger is not really on God’s to do list. Hunger is being debated by men and women who have only experienced a delay in the waiter delivering a meal, a forgotten trip to the grocery store, left overs because no one was able to cook a fresh meal. We are told that while tax breaks for the rich, corporations are people, the military budget is the key to our success as a free democratic nation, those poor citizens, non corporation people, and any one not producing a bomb, battleship or bazooka are non essential for democracy or decency. We are told primarily by Tea Party/Republican jihadists that if you are hungry it is your own fault and the government has absolutely no responsibility to help out. Just how hungry is hungry?

why oh why wyoming

Liz Cheney is a chip off the old block of her dad. She has learned the lessons in politics to cater to the haters, feign innocence when accused of lying or insincerity, and push your momma, papa, first grade teacher, and sister under the bus when necessary. Liz Cheney is the product of heterosexual parents who pretend to have morals and values and who only promote that which is important to their own survival. Liz Cheney most likely has a tattoo on her ass stating weapons of mass destruction forever and water boarding is a romp in the kiddie pool. Why else would Liz Cheney demonstrate no real emotion as she went public and said her sister Mary who happens to be a Lesbian is less of a being when it comes to marriage. Liz’s disregard for not only the same-sex marriage of her sister and the children being raised in that same-sex home for most would be shameful, pitiful and loathing but when it comes to standards set by momma Lynn and poppa DICK Cheney it is nothing but normal behavior.

Perhaps if the Cheney’s led a private life this issue of ignorance would just get a sigh of sorrow from passerby's but this very political family is anything but private citizens.  Liz Cheney found herself back in her daddy’s right wing playground of Wyoming and wants to out red any red neck bigot as she makes a run for the Senate. Liz’s message is not about fact but insistent of fear. Liz’s message is never about inclusion but just how wide and deep you can exclude. Liz Cheney’s message is not based on fair and equal but oozing in hypocrisy and hyperbole. Just like her dad, Liz contends that to win elections is not about doing the right thing, but more about finding enemies and blame. Make sure you cast some people as “others”, as strange as misguided, corrupt, immoral. Never really state your principles (DICK Cheney showed us just how few he had when he not only sent our Troops to a made up war and then outed a CIA agent), just scream as loud as you can that either they are at fault or they made me do it.

Sadly, Liz Cheney is running for office. Not just any office but the Senate. Sadly there are people in Wyoming who still think daddy DICK is a darling, momma Lynn just lovely and daughter Liz perfect to represent bias and bogus for them in Washington. Liz Cheney is DICK Cheney in waiting and does America really want to wait for that again?