Motherhood America

I stand for Motherhood,
America,
And a hot lunch for orphans
Take off your hat, sir
While your country's flag is passing
Do you see him
On the hill at Gettysburg
'Neath that great triumphal arch?
If you see him as he's trampling through the grapes of wrath
Stand up and march, march, march! (“Motherhood March”, Jerry Herman)

On, Wednesday, April 12, a bit of tit for tat was expressed via a CNN political television show and Twitter, between Hilary Rosen, a nationally recognized democrat political strategist, and Ann Romney, the wife of Mitt Romney. The exchange focused on motherhood and a definition of who and what is a mother.

Seems Ms Rosen stated correctly that Ann Romney raised five boys, and never worked a day outside of the home. Seems Ms Rosen’s delivery however sounded as if just raising 5 boys was not really considered work. Seems Mrs. Romney at the behest of those men and women running the sound bytes for the Romney campaign alerted her followers she was upset and emotionally distraught that anyone would assume raising kids was not work. Seems Mrs. Romney at the urging of the PR boys and girls for the Romney campaign, decided that there was a war on women, and this time the war was against non-working mother-women.

Seems once again a discussion on the lives of women has been twisted and mangled into nothing more then name calling, with each side rather calling names then discussing the real issue at hand.

We all know that any stay at home parent raising one to a dozen kids is as difficult a job as any. For any parent who has stayed at home raising kids this job is filled with emotion, stress, joy, difficulty, and pleasure. It is more of a 24 hour/7 day a week job. When Hilary Rosen stated all Ann Romney did was stay at home raising her sons, Ms. Rosen should have added the following: Ann Romney was lucky enough to have had not to seek employment... was lucky enough to be wealthy enough that raising her sons included paid help...was lucky enough to not have to make that dreadful decision of how much time do I give to outside work and my stay at home duties.

Ann Romney was correct in stating raising kids as a stay at home mom is tough work and should have added the following: but I was lucky enough not have had to worry a teeny, weeny bit about the finances in making this decision...that because of the lack of financial worries being a stay at home mom was an easier choice to have made...that being wealthy enough to have all kinds of assistance and aid from paid staff eased the burden a bit.

Then both women should have started the discussion of the real issues which plague women who stay at home who don’t have a choice, who must jiggle work and home issues, how having financial stability help make the raising of any kids easier.

And instead of creating a derisive issue between, both women could come together to find a consensus for something so relevant.

I stand for motherhood,
America,
And a hot lunch for orphans
Take off your hat, sir
There's a tear-stained eagle passing
Do you see him
On the field at Waterloo
'Neath that great triumphal arch? (“Motherhood March”, Jerry Herman)

Not to let any water under the bridge escape, the Catholic Church had to chime in that Mrs. Romney a heterosexual female gave birth to her 5 sons, the way God intended via heterosexual intercourse. Ms. Rosen, a Lesbian, only adopted her two sons, something in the eyes of the Catholic Church which is considered a sin. Then the Republican National Committee came to the rescue of Ms Rosen, and said adoption by loving people should not be shunned. Then after realizing that many of the religious bigoted voters who vote Republican don’t like Gays or Lesbians as parents, the same Republican National Committee, amended their defense of Ms Rosen buy adding adoption is okay, but not if Gays or Lesbians do it.

And once again the war of words has escalated. And once again, the welfare of the single mom, heterosexual or homosexual is being ignored.Those women who want to just raise a family, be financially able to raise that family, would just like to have her kids receive a fair share of the American dream are not the talking points waiting for resolve. Once again the bull shit used to exploit the voter is being discussed while the attempt to solve the real problem is ignored.

I stand for Motherhood America, but with the politics of America in 2012, one would have no idea what any of that means.

bootstraps

We are lectured to by the leadership from within the Republican/Tea Party that gratification and success are bred from less government involvement in our lives and more effort as individuals to “pull ourselves up from our own bootstraps.”

The less government regulation of course is for a cleaner environment, less rules and regulations regarding the banking and finance complexes, no intervention on matters of health insurance and absolutely no infringement on the so called job creators who for the last 8 years did little to create the jobs. All of this lack of involvement by government is a standard bearer assisting with the bottom lines of the corporations and the wealthy, with a false premise of the trickle down effect. If history can be believed just review it.

The Republicans/Tea Party-ers of course create a line in the sand for government involvement however when it comes to the personal lives of Americans. The freedom to marry, the freedom of control of your own body, the freedom for fair wages, the freedom to worship or not to worship as you please are intimidating and defined as cracks in sustaining the Constitution. In cases of human dignity the Republican/Tea Party feel an overwhelming desire to dictate your decision.

We are told that all of us, at least all of us without an earned income of $1million a year must sacrifice, and that sacrifice is a cleanser of souls, and a disinfectant of a lazy loser life. We are told that self esteem can only come to fruition when you suffer. Being given medicaid, food stamps, retirement benefits, scholarships for college, unemployment benefits weakens the backbone and most importantly causes an ugly cancer called Un-American. Don’t be envious of the wealthy, be just like them. “Pull yourself up from your own bootstraps!”

But I wonder how we even consider buying those bootstraps when most of them are made overseas? How do we have time to try on those bootstraps when our days are filled with seeking employment? How could we even afford those bootstraps when first we must pay the rent, purchase food, try and keep our families healthy? And after the indulgence by the 1% are there any bootstraps that fit even available?

I am amazed how gullible some Americans seem to be, thinking that the wealthy donors supporting the Republican/Tea Party candidates, who also are wealthy have any intention to provide any of us with bootstraps. (That is unless we must pay to lease them while using them.) I am disappointed how biased, bigoted and stupid some Americans are to permit their hate for minorities and women to sway their decisions. How they will vote against their own good based on hate for others. ( No one will get to wear bootstraps) I am saddened that somehow welfare for all is usurped by welfare for me first.

We are lectured to by the Republican/Tea Party that sacrifice is good, but not necessarily sacrifice for all. We are now being told by the Republican/Tea Party that suffering causes character. We are being told by the Republican/Tea Party don’t hate us because we are rich, but don’t give us more reason to hate you because you are poor.

tis a season

In time for this holiday weekend, where we are reminded about redemption, freedom, and perseverance, the Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker, whose political career is being paid for by the Koch Brothers, has decided to act as Scrooge and impose his own version of the future. Governor Walker or is it Lackey Walker, has decided (with of course no press hoopla or hurrah because when you feel guilty doing the work of your paymasters there is shame) to sign two bill into law: 1) The Wisconsin State Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill that will limit abortion coverage, as well as a measure imposing abstinence-only sex education in schools. 2) A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill.

In Wisconsin, thanks to the Republican/Tea Party majorities in that state’s Legislature and of course Governor (I hate women, and families,) young teens will be told about the risk free, sexual path of abstinence as a very reliable source of contraception. (Maybe they could fly Bristol Palin and her Mom in to Wisconsin and talk about the merits and success rate.) Teens in sex education classes in Wisconsin will be lectured to that they as teens can and should have control over their immature desires, and that abstinence is what God intended, if you are a devout believer, agnostic or atheist. The government is too big to supple you and your baby with meaningless social services, health care, food or jobs, thus to to avoid your frustration with any of that socialist stuff, the Government of Wisconsin must be big enough to control your freedom of choice.

It is always so easy for so called Christian Conservative hypocrites to establish morals and values for anyone but themselves. Never look at the psychology of those whose life you are imposing your own standards, never worry about the results because you think you have God, and bunch of wealthy donors on your side.

We are lectured to one by one by Republican/Tea Party politicians, pundits, and propaganda puppets from FOX, that there is no war on women. It is just a sinister ploy used by those pesky Democrats to take the anti woman words used by the Republican/Tea Party disparaging and assailing women to the Democrats advantage. Of course as has been the motto of the cowardly Republican/Tea Party politicians if we say it and you remind us we said it first we will deny it if we get blamed. The Republican/Tea Party leadership love to accuse the Democrats of making a mountain out of a molehill. (A molehill dug as deeply in the ground as a mountain reaches the sky.)

And in this absence of a so called war on women, it seems one more attack has been made by the Republican/Tea Party leadership, Governor, (women are not equal) Walker has repealed a Wisconsin law permitting equal pay for equal work primarily for women. In the quiet of his office, Mr. Walker has decided that the worth of women in Wisconsin is just that worthless. Mr. Walker and his cohorts of Republican/Tea Party men who hate women, women who hate women is ready to embrace the idea of women once again being chattel.

Conservative Christian Republican/Tea Party politicians love to attack, always hoping no one will notice the deadly wounds. They first love to maim the victims, saying we did this out of defense, then they love to have their victims suffer, and finally hey love to stand over the kill. Their shield is doing God’s work, their sword is a mangled interpretation of both the Constitution and Bible their reason is they made US do it, so blame me us.

This is supposedly a holiday weekend with promise and prosperity as its theme, but no in Wisconsin, and who knows which state is next.

Yep, makes sense to vote those Republican/Tea Party candidates into office in 2012.

celebrate

Once again the calendar tells us it is time to celebrate

a renewal,

a birth of freedom, justice,

the hope of harmony and

peace.

We can approach this season politely,

celebrate the holiday with the same old razzamatazz

participate with some enthusiasm, enough to enjoy but not really

excite.

OR

We can recite the stories, find the lessons, apply the old with the new

and embrace the days ahead with the energy driven from the past permitting us to perceive the future in colors and hues never ever imagined.

Lessons of strength, moments of passion, symbols of triumph should never go

unheeded, unheralded

but embraced as one step toward our happiness

keeping us complete.

It is Passover and for some, time to set a direction toward freedom and equality.

It is Easter and for some, time to provide all with grace and glory.

It is Spring and for some, time to learn how from the darkness is light, from dormant is life.

And for some, it is the season for all to remember the worth of new beginnings.

dollars and senseless

Dollars: Shop at Walmart and save. So those of us who have less disposable income then others spend our weekends and afterwork hours of free time scurrying through the aisles at Walmart. And all the while we think we are smart because the prices are cheaper then most other places to shop, so we are happy as we have saved money.

Senseless: But from what country do the inexpensive products primarily originate? What scale are the salaries and benefits of the Americans working at Walmart? For all our proud savings what really was the cost to the integrity and value of anyone except the shareholders for Walmart?

Dollars: The Oil Cartels insist that Government Welfare in the form of tax breaks is a necessary feature to keep the price of gasoline low while they supposedly look for alternative fuels. The Oil Cartels tell us to keep the cost of gasoline lower, we must drill in as many locations as possible and ignore any to all possibilities of danger to the environment. The Oil Cartel reminds us that with all the increased use for carbon based energy now is not the time to cut back production.

Senseless: During the oil embargo, we had to wait alternate days to purchase gasoline, homes stayed cold in the winter due to shortages and we were told America will build better automobiles with improved gas mileage. We were told that now, during the embargo, was the time to end energy dependance from the Middle East. We were preached to that America finally understood the lesson that reliance on carbon fuels was obsolete and no matter the expense we would release ourselves from the bonds foreign oil.

Dollars: the Health Insurance Industry is a product of the free market of a true democracy. Money is invested to keep Americans healthy, but that investment must be recouped. Nothing in America is free so why assume that all of us should have affordable health insurance, this is America so pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps. This is a for profit business, charity belongs to the church or a non profit.

Senseless: Somehow permitting all Americans access to affordable income is counter productive to a Government who prides itself with Capitalism. Somehow expecting the Health Insurance to insure ALL Americans is Socialism and anti religious. In America the health of bottom line of a corporation is what keeps America strong.

Dollars: A very wealthy American who has known wealth his entire life is running for president. He boasts of owning at least 5 cars, three homes, has money in Swiss Banks, hangs with owners of Nascar and Football Teams and likes to fire people.His credentials seem to glisten as would gold bars in Fort Knox, if anyone really had access to them. He lectures that he is not really concerned with the poor, and that if yo really, really, really want to be rich like he is its only your fault you are not. Oh yeah and when he pays taxes it is only at a 14%.

Senseless: And many Americans embrace this man as representing the true values of this Christian oriented nation. He explains that the current president is out of touch with the real needs of Americans, but as he builds his elevator in his garage in San Diego so his collection of prized can be showcased, he thinks most Americans can do the same as he. He wants to continue reducing the amount of taxes the 1% pay and to offset that revenue he plans on cutting the waste of any social service that permits any American to survive even at the poverty level.

All we hear in this year of presidential politics is a story about dollars and how we need more. And it seems to me the resolution for getting more dollars is a might bit senseless. We hear too many dollars are being spent on silly things like social services. But keeping the wealthy wealthier, the corporations happier, the politicians paid by the lobbyists is the senseless resolution.

When did human life, human needs, fair and equal become a form of Socialism and a taboo of anything a democratic nation should stand for? When did the issue of dollars become sensible for the rich, but uselessness and senseless for anyone else?

confounded

Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) slammed the media’s focus on the issue of women and contraception during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” Tuesday. “Women don’t care about contraception. They care about jobs and the economy and raising their families and all of those things,” Ms. Haley said. (The Sate Column).

I am confused, concerned, chagrined and confounded!

Confused: because had the Republican/Tea Party candidates running for president and the Republican/Tea Party majority led state legislatures not continued to either include anti contraception to their potential party platforms, or passed intrusive and restrictive laws toward their own citizens, and left the rights for women intact then indeed Governor Nikki Haley, no one would HAVE to talk contraception. Your Republican/Tea Party politicians started this war on women and now you want to pretend it had never happened?

Concerned: because even as you insist, Governor Nikki Haley, that the only thing ALL women care about are jobs and the economy, your candidates running for president and your compatriots in power in Republican/Tea Party states continue to deny and restrict women the rights to their own bodies. And by the continuation of a religious based platform in a country founded on a division of church and state, the conversation will NOT be just about jobs and the economy, but the lack of personal freedoms for women.

Chagrined: because you Governor Nikki Haley, like so many other bully’s hate to be caught in the act of trying to intimidate those you bully. You love to cause the pain and injury but never have the backbone to admit you started it. You love to cower behind lies when the truth is pushed in your face. You love to deflect when evidence proves you the culprit. And you love to stamp your feet and insist they made me do it.

Women in the United States care about a whole lot of issues, Governor Nikki Haley, and they had supposed that contraception would no longer have to be one of them. But the good ole boys and some of their spineless good ole girls decided that contraception should arise to the fore. Your party (the Republican/Tea Party) all full of denying most demographics of personal choice and freedoms started a battle and now want to claim you are the victims. You and your Republican/Tea Party haters love to yell “fire” in the theater as you safely stand outside the building watching those morons run for their life. You and your Republican/Tea Party bigots love to insinuate, insult and indulge yourselves in the lives of others while never owning up to your deeds of doom.

Confounded: because you and your Republican/Tea Party clan of clowns can sleep at night, pretend to be self righteous, insist your exclusionary vision of most Americans, is all red, white and blue, and somehow think by mentioning God’s name your shit does not smell.

Governor Nikki Haley how do you face yourself in the mirror and not get sick? I look at hypocrites like you and all I want to do is vomit!

April fool

It is April’s Fool Day here in the good old U S Of A. Practical jokes will abound, and someone will be found with pie on their face while others will be the ones throwing those pies. By April 2, the jokesters will fade into the sunset waiting to plot new tricks of the trade for the naive, innocent and gullible. How nice if all we had was one day to fool one another. But sadly Aprils Fool Day lasts much longer when it comes to the politics of this nation.

There are Americans who hate the president because when they look at him his skin color is too dark for their satisfaction. It is a fact that the president is among many things a black man. Most to many of these same Americans who don’t like the leader of America to be black also dislike the president because they have been told he was not born in the United States, is not a Christian, IS a Muslim. Of course those pieces of information are nothing more than well written and well rehearsed propaganda. But sadly for some who rely on bias and bigotry as their spiritual guide this resonates as truth.

There are Americans who use the Old and New Testament not just as books to seek God and spirituality but as actual accounts of history. They say they read these holy books in their entirety and each word written is like reading dictation from God. If it was not listed in the Book it just ain’t true. And if it is written in the Book then the wording used is the only way to describe events. For these Americans, dinosaurs are a figment of a pagan imagination, the Constitution a secondary dime novel, and anyone who states that man evolved from apes is vomiting pure blasphemy. Truth is selective for these Americans and fiction is always trying to be found.

There are some Americans who thrive on hate to get them through the day. These Americans are always the self appointed victim and always on the search for a propagator of their imagined self imposed sad life. There are some Americans who need a scapegoat permitting them to ignore the truths as to why they have not succeeded in their own lives. They are told same sex marriage will destroy their own opposite sex marriages. They are told working women destroy family cohesiveness. They are told family planning only leads to abortions. They are told they can be vengeful in practicing Christianity but anyone practicing any other religion only does so to seek vengeance. Truth for these Americans is too painful a pill to swallow as if it is taken may lead to self discovery, a real taboo. Fiction is a soothing lotion to ease the ever increasing itch of hate.

Usually once a joke is practiced or said and we all get a good laugh the task to fool is complete. It is over and we move on perhaps a little embarrassed or satisfied with our plot. But in our Nation, since the beginning of the 21st Century, too many Americans have become a part of a huge joke that is seemingly never ending and seems to lead to a very unhappy ending. The pranksters are delighted as the fools either wittingly or ignorantly play along.