pavilions

I am standing in line at the checkout lane at our local supermarket called Pavilions. I have my usual four grocery bags of items to purchase and watch as the prices are scanned and appear on the register. I submit my Pavilions Grocery Card, and the cashier says to me, Mr. Buncher, you saved $ 18.32. Knowing she is the innocent and working hard for a living, knowing that most likely when she goes grocery shopping she probably pays the same prices as I, and knowing that I am one of at least 100 customers she must have repeated you saved x amount of dollars using your Pavilions Card, I could still not refrain from saying the following. If the prices were not jacked up to begin with perhaps I wouldn’t need this scam of a card to try and convince me I saved money. Perhaps if you kept prices reasonable to begin with and not try to fool everyone that shopping at your store was penny wise and a real reward to the shoppers, you would not have to remind me of the savings. Perhaps if your prices didn’t change day to day or week to week, when the cost of your merchandise has stayed the same then I wouldn’t have to hear what a favor shopping at Pavilions has done for my budget.

I said all of the above in one breath,without any punctuation in a monotone but sarcastic voice, looking her in the eye and upon the uttering of my final accusation feeling foolish but relieved had her say to me, do you need help carrying the bags to your car?

I am standing at the deli counter at the same Pavilions Super Market. This is not a location you should attempt to stand if you suffer from ulcers, have jittery nerves, or find that when time goes by so slowly with no movement you feel faint. There are two other women standing there looking as if the Grim Reaper has just warned them that they are going to die, but think maybe it was just someone in a Halloween outfit so they were not sure if they should be scared or not. When I entered the no service zone the two women looked at me not saying a word, but expressing to me via the rolling of the eyes, and swaying from one foot to another that if I stayed too long I might turn to dust. I tried to prepare myself for the possible WAIT, but somehow seeing the severity of angst in these ladies eyes, I thought no way, no how. I asked them if either one was being helped? I asked if they had seen the person working behind the counter? I asked how long they had been waiting? But I did not wait for the answer and walked two feet away to the bakery counter where there were 4 employees standing, joking and laughing.

“Excuse me” I said in what I consider my most obnoxious, don’t you know the customer is right voice, “but do you know if we can get any help at the deli counter”? They looked at me and over to the deli counter, and some woman with a smile so sickly sweet said “oh I am sure someone will help you soon.” I then smiled even harder than she, and with out once actually moving my lips said there are three people over there, and no service person, there are four of you over here and no customers, I don’t want to wait.” The sweep of the heads of the four people behind the counter as they all looked to the left, the deli counter, then back to me, and then back to the deli counter was as if a Category One Hurricane just hit the place.

The smiley women was about to say something to me as I could see her trying to place the smile on her lips, when a young woman with a cake in her hand said to me as she stood in front of the smiley woman, “of course we can”.

It took five more minutes to find someone and when they did, the woman said something in Spanish to the young girl, looked at me a if I just had a voodoo hex placed on my head and said to the three of us sorry we kept you waiting. The two ladies demurely smiled acted awkward and said some silly thing under their breath like I guess it is alight. I said, realizing that this person was only making minimum wage and probably didn’t create the counter schedule. I realized that she might have been on a break or sorting out deli meats or cheeses. I realized that maybe she just started this shift. But I was not going to stand there and say oh its alright, when in fact it was NOT alright or okay, or just a one time circumstance. And the voodoo cursing woman said to me “we have a special on baked ham.”

Same Pavilions and for some reason there is no reason or rhyme as to where some types of food are on display. I needed bread crumbs and immediately went to the bread aisle looking for them. Not seeing them at first I thought that maybe I didn’t look close enough or they were right in front of me so obvious to see that I was blinded by the ease at which I should have found them. Scouring the aisle and the shelves literally looking high and low and not finding the bread crumbs I went on a hunt for assistance.

At Pavilions some Vice President of Communications or some marketing firm must have had a brain storm and decided that their employees, when actually in the front of the store and not in the back, should walk up to customers and say, “hello have you found everything okay”? There must have been an in-store workshop, where the workshop leaders ran out of time or patience and forgot to teach the employees two important features of working with the public. One is that you must look the person in the face as you speak to them so they know you are actually talking to them and not the ketchup or pickles and two, that you should also stand there and wait for the answer to the question they just asked.

I found hello my name is Bill, and politely said excuse me sir. He looked up from some of the boxes he was opening and said, “hello, have you found what you are looking for is everything okay”? I tried to jump in on the first part of the question but he was on speed dial and had to ask both questions before he could breathe. Apparently the three seconds it took for me to wonder if he had just one more thing to say was way too slow and hello my name is Bill turned back to his boxes and his work. I said “no I have not found what I was looking for and it is not okay.” He looked up at me as if he was a deer in the headlights, he was about to repeat the lines from the script the marketing people told him to say but to ease the pain of hearing it once again and perhaps embarrassing him I said, bread crumbs, just tell me where you hide the bread crumbs”.

He stood up and said to me “oh, well I am not sure, let me find someone who can help”. He sped away and about 5 minutes later brought hello my name is Shirley. I was about to ask where I might find the bread crumbs, but Shirley looking at Bill said “hello, have you found everything okay? I intervened before she finished with her heart rendering rendition of “and is everything okay” and said “it is not okay all I want is for you to please just tell me which aisle I can find the bread crumbs.”

Not hearing the part of my question , please tell which aisle, Shirley walked away as if she had become a GPS, a silent GPS, with me following. We got to aisle number 8 just one aisle east of where we were standing. Shirley walked to the bread crumbs handed me the carton and said to me “have you found everything you were looking and is everything okay”? I said, understanding that she was just following orders. That she was doing what she was told. That she was being pulled away from some other grocery store business. “Do you ever listen to the people you are talking to”? Do you realize that they may have more to say then the two questions you ask”? And aded “how frustrating this is”? And Shirley said, “can I help you find anything else”?

I have reached the point in my life where false promises, lack of genuine, pretense and pretend don’t do it for me. I am tired of being told someone did me a favor when in fact nothing was accomplished. I don’t want to accept second best when the potential for best can be reached. I will no longer listen to fabrication as truth, and falsehoods as the norm. Pavilions is just a small microcosm of life but a perfect example of never trying hard enough or only trying to reach mediocrity.

Maybe I got angry at the wrong people, but when does it stop? Who should take responsibility to make change happen? When does anyone take notice? When?

in the meantime

In the meantime...

During the few weeks that the President was on his vacation, the one that we were told was a well deserved respite, and the few weeks Congress was supposedly home meeting with their constituents, except many didn't because meeting with their constituents meant actually listening to their constituents complaining about Congress's poor job performance, and most of the Congress would rather listen to their well healed donors instead. In the meantime how many people needing jobs, employment, unemployment checks, social services were left to fend for themselves or just be ignored?

In the meantime...while the Congress sparred and spatted about the deficit and permitting it to increase or stay the same or have the USA implode or turn Communist or Socialist or Libertarian or into a big pot of tea how many more homes were foreclosed, how many newly unemployed people were added, how many seniors needed better medical care and how more trillions of dollars did corporations reap while not increasing the prospect for jobs?

In the meantime...while we debated on how small government should be because we were told that the reason for the deficit was a too BIG government, as we debated the merits of small government we spent time screaming about just how big government ought to be when it should intrude in our lives. We were told by he same holier than thou crowd that big government is only big when it comes to economics not when it comes to telling us who should marry whom, who has a right to their own body, who can pray at a holy sight of their own choosing. In the meantime how many more people needed basic health care, jobs, more money to spend on rent or food or medicines.

In the meantime... Labor Day is approaching Congress and the president will be back at work, Fall Primary campaigns are blossoming, fund raising is rising with all kinds of PAC's money is being handed out in the millions by those who have millions to lavish on politicians and life still goes on for the millions who need a job, financial help to ease the burden of their own debt, affordable health care, equal rights, equal opportunity and we are told there is no money to spend right now on any of that!

In the meantime... we just sitting idly by letting the politicians worry more about their careers, their book deals, their lobbyist opportunities, their stint on FOX News. We still go hungry, stay unemployed, can't make ends meet, prioritize food or rent or medicine. I want to end that cycle of in the meantime. I want our voices to grow louder than the promises of presidential potentials, louder than special interests, louder than the bigots, louder than billionaires who refuse to invest in OUR America, louder than the men and women who refuse to find commonality and consensus.

I have waited patiently in the meantime and I have run out of patience.

suddenly once again

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?"' Bachmann said at a campaign event in Sarasota, Florida on Sunday. (msnbc.com)

Religious superiority, moral indignity, God directive…suddenly once again, the name of the Lord taken by those who have decided He/She has spoken to them and only them is being bandied about. And this selective conversation has been used as a method of maligning, misinforming, strangling and separation. Suddenly once again, God has entered the world of politics but as a bully, a prejudiced predictor, a one dimensional divisive who denies, destroys and divides.

I am a man who believes in God. If you ask me I will share why and how, if you do not want to know then our conversation can be about 8 million other topics. I am a man who prays to the God I believe in, and in my life I have witnessed miracles that for me I can only define as coming from the God I believe in. If you want to hear about them I will share, if not then we can chat about 10 million other things. I am a man who is troubled that this world seems to have gotten more about greed then good, more about me then you and more about mine and not yours. Those concepts need no asking and I will openly share my opinions on all of them. I will talk about the poor, the minority, the downtrodden, the troubled and when I talk about them I do so hoping that men/women will try and find a commonality to first agree these are important issues and secondly to find consensus on solving theses issues. I am hoping that those who do believe in a God or Higher Power or the will of Mankind can take that belief and make a difference. I will never say that God is human enough to pick and choose sides based on our own biases and bigotries.

When Michelle Bachmann states God is angry with politicians why doesn’t she mention how those same politicians who speak for God want to deny Universal Health coverage for his creation? Why doesn’t she state that in her own legislative district LGBT kids are being bullied by God fearing citizens and no one is trying to stop that harm? Why doesn’t she state that poverty runs rampant and those with little to no income can not afford to raise their kids, God’s gifts to the human race, and that the lives of the young will remain tortured and tormented. Why doesn’t she state the elderly can not live on less and that the end years of their lives are made of misery and loneliness? Why doesn’t she state that if we are all made in God’s images those who look black or brown, or love the same gender should find God’s love and equality for all? Why doesn’t she state if abortion is bad that we should spend more time and resources on educating the parents, providing health care, include education so all of those children enjoy the life God seemingly created? Why doesn’t she push for environmental policies that will save the lives of man instead of environmental practices which only line the pockets of corporations?

I grow tired when the politicians claim God as their ally, and that God is a Republican or a Democrat. I grow tired when God is just a convenient way to demonstrate hate, fear and loathing. I grow tired when God is used to divide, exclude, reduce and ridicule.

Suddenly once again it is about God. Suddenly once again it is about God with those who scream his name as their own savior ignore any and all responsibilities to make this world better. Suddenly once again, it is about My God not your God. Suddenly once again, God is a good reason to hate, to blame, to destroy. Suddenly once again, God!

oh God

In the 50’s in Pittsburgh, my dad was one of about 8 men who happened to be Jewish and happened to be a police officer. When holiday time came around we received a Christmas card from about 75% of the members of the police force and invitations almost the entire month of December to join the Christian families in their celebration of this American holiday.

Many of the families with whom we broke bread over the holidays had no idea Jews did not celebrate Christmas and thought that Jesus was the official God of this nation anyway so what harm would it be for us to enjoy his birthday.

I thought, originally, that Christmas was not a religious holiday but rather a national holiday similar to the Fourth of July, Labor Day or Memorial Day. And being it was the 50’s we also celebrated Christmas in our public school, Linden Elementary with our annual Christmas pageant, where Miss Cyphers, the Music teacher, and Miss De Turk the Art teacher had the students learn all the verses to almost two dozen Christmas carols, and have grades K- 8 create festive murals celebrating December 25.

We would all gather in the foyer in front of the principal’s office, a very mean and goulash looking woman, named Miss Patterson the principal, would welcome us with a psalm and verse from the New Testament. Then each grade dressed in a Christmas theme outfit would stand in front of the tree a follow spot in red gels angling at the angel on the top and sing their Christmas carol, including however many verses each song included.

In the 50’s in Pittsburgh we had the Blue Laws. It was a prohibition on sales of alcohol for this day of the Christian Sabbath. No booze served at all or with special compensation from a politician at least until the last church service was over and the parishioners would no longer have to make a choice of attending church or drinking a few “boiler makers”. Television channels carried messages from many a preacher. Billy Graham had his radio and television hour and presided over his crusades to educate the nation about his Lord and Savior. He was deemed by many a conservative wealthy business man as the anti evil of the Communists and through his vision of a Christian America we, counting on the American Lord could keep our democracy strong. In many of his crusades and hour long Sunday presentations Mr. Graham made it very clear that a good American was a Christian American.

I grew up knowing I was Jewish, understanding as best I could from Hebrew school teachers teaching me Jewish facts in Sunday school the reasons for my existence. But all around me, in school, on the television, on the news from my parent’s co-workers to politicans I was told over and over again that there is a right way to be an American and if not a wrong way a very unpatriotic way…this was a Christian nation, like it or leave it.

For a while after we fought the first of many Civil Rights battles, battling the preachers and ministers who said God created Black and White and one is superior to the other. When we fought for Women to be more than chattel and heard from rabbis’ preachers, and ministers that surely a woman’s right to her own body or voting would destroy the kind of family God wants for all Americans. For a brief period there was some idea that America was great because of its diversity. That being an American could include God,or not. During the days of personal rights we learned that we could pray to God but not necessarily one God or any God at all if you so desired. There was a brief period of history in this nation where were were Americans first and anything else like religion came second or third.

But now as an adult with many more years behind me then in front of me, I watch as once again, via the politics in this great country of ours, the questions of whose country is this come to the fore. Whose God is the correct God to worship? And whose moral standards are accepted and whose inappropriate behavior as based on my interpretation of Gods word and the Scripture will be rejected?

And I wonder, really, really wonder with great consternation and worry, where this acting like God will lead all of us? And then I ask the question, is this Divine Intervention or Human Intention? Are we God’s Children or Children of the Corn? Are we one Nation indivisible by God or one nation divided by God?

There are many people so afraid but instead of looking to God for help, for guidance, they think that God has given them permission to scapegoat and blame. They are so afraid that they turn inward and they turn their God into a tyrant unforgiving and angry.

Oh, God!

i need a hero

I need a hero, I'm holding out for at hero 'till the end of the night
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero 'till the morning light
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life (“Holding Out for a Hero”, Bonnie Tyler)

So it seems that Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin have become hero’s to many an American. It seems that for some these individuals have honed in on the fears, the prejudices, the phobias and the biases of certain Americans and have won over the hearts and minds of like minded people. Hero’s have no real definition as to who can become a hero, but they do seem to morph into a definition of they are ‘just like me’ but better, but bigger as ‘I would like to be’.

We all look for hero’s I believe, but many times never find them. We search for men and women to ask the questions we think to demonstrate the behaviors we believe to be true, to act upon the moment with fervor and resilience. We want to be led and we want to be led in a direction we think will make us all happier and healthier. We will provide our hero’s with our energy, enthusiasm, and excitement once we identify them because he/she knows what we are thinking and knows how to assist.

I am dismayed and disappointed that recent political polls have found people like Perry, Bachmann, and Palin even stand a chance of winning more votes than Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential race. I am annoyed and angry that anyone would consider people, who divide and conquer, separate and diminish, exclude and deny to be worthy of running this nation. But then I realize that these three Republican/Bagger candidates have succeeded in ways Obama has not by becoming a hero to many and for many a cause to celebrate and support.

I found in 2008 a hero in then candidate Obama. I found a man who spoke in plain terms, who spoke with honesty who spoke with heart and spoke with so many words of truth that he became a hero for me. He would, I was sure, stand sure in his ideals, understand compromise, but not acquiesce easily, and would build an America of inclusion and equality. He spoke to my vision of America and I supported him and did what I could to convince those in my small world to feel the same. But recently my hero has turned into just another politician wavering on ideals and idea, ready to give more than take, and eager to worry more about his political future then my future. I have found my hero to lose his superpowers, his cape and his ability to save the day. I want my hero back!

It seems that Perry, Bachmann, Palin are brighter stars not because they shine bigger, but because the shine on the star of President Obama has tarnished. It seems that Perry, Bachmann, Palin are bolder not because they have substance but because President Obama has lost his core of substance. It seems that Perry, Bachmann, Palin are leading the conversation, not because what they say is true it just resonates with those who worship them, but President Obama speaks in so many circles that no one is sure of what he is saying.

My anger toward politicians who carry the baggage of bigotry, bias, hate and deceit has moved away from blaming them for their evil ways to becoming worried more about the people who support their evil ways. The truth for me is that none of these people would garner any attention if there were not minions out there to encourage them. For the minions people like Perry, Bachmann and Palin have become heroes.

President Obama, it is not too late to put your cape on, strap on your weapons of truth and honesty, fly through America on a platform of equality and inclusion. It is not too late to reintroduce yourself to those minions who found you as a hero in 2008. It is not too late to demonstrate right from wrong, equality from inequality, good from bad. But the longer we wait for you to reemerge as a hero; others will take your place.

I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero 'till the morning light
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life.

like a canker sore

Palin wants you to think she’s thinking about running-one more time for the first time.

Dear Mrs. Plain,

And I thought you went away. But then, like a canker sore on the edge of a lip all you did was go into hiding, lurking, at the ready to re-infect the unwitting person yet one more time. And like that canker sore your timing is unpredictable. But once you reveal yourself all the ugly and infectious materials from which you were born rear its ugly head and you shine like a beacon in the night not warning ships but destroying them as they enter your harbor of hate.

You are a great con artist Mrs. Palin. You have surrounded yourself with loyalists who hate the truth, prefer fabrication and love to divide and conquer. You are an amazing magician and your use of smoke and mirrors is phenomenal. Your slight of hand ingenious and your art of illusion would make most Las Vegas performers swoon and sway.

You are a scary individual, almost a character Stephen King might imagine. But then in Mr. King’s novels the scary characters, as malicious as they might be, are championed over by really righteous and intelligent people. I fear however that your cadre of blame someone else first, hate has a place in America, no points made in speaking the truth, minions are a worrisome and strong group to overcome.

And speaking of hate and anti American traitors, I see you as a patient zero. (You know, or maybe your handlers have never explained this to you), that every recent epidemic or pandemic has an original carrier. When the senile John McCain, reaching for straws, invited you to be his running mate, he unleashed the first of many homophobes, bigots, self serving, me first America second Republican/Bagger fools to embrace the American political theater. He opened up Pandora’s Box and you with no idea of the Constitution, fairness, equality, political prowess suddenly jumped from that box and started infecting the mind and emotions of people looking for scapegoats looking for blame and not looking for truth. You were the first infection and your disease of ignorance, irrationality, and ideologue has enveloped this country.

So you want us to think you are back. And it works Mrs. Palin, somehow the stupid buy this and the men and women who are fearful afraid and foolish buy into it. I am afraid of you Mrs. Palin and your secessionist husband Todd. (How are his secret meetings with the men and women from Alaska going, do they still want to join Texas, and Rick Perry in seceding from the union) are making the rounds. You have quite the machine out there and perhaps if we still can write history books (if you become president I can picture the banning of books), I can see how the era of the 2000’s becomes the reality show era, where reality is not real but scripted. Where the audience never wanting to think for themselves just had to pretend that the pop culture stars were smart, and clever and real. And future generations will wonder if Sarah Palin was just another sitcom character, someone must have played her, because no one could really be like that.

I used to blame liars like you for the dismantling of civility and culture, but I have learned, that you could never be as powerful or carry as much prestige unless the public permitted you to do so. As much angst and anger as you provoke I am more worried about those who insist on listening to your fabrications and fables. I am worried that because of their inadequacies my American life is on a very fragile string, ready to snap. You are good at seizing the moment, especially when there are monetary rewards in that capture.

So, you are making the rounds yet again. Your ego, fed by FOX News, members of the 700 Club and lemmings paid off by the Koch Brothers, is difficult to contain. I am curious Mrs. Palin do you have a conscience? Do you ever wonder what really might happen to this nation if you are elected? Do you even care?

Like a canker sore, on the edge of a lip, all shiny red with patches of puss emulating from the center, you once again reappear…ugly and painful indeed!

time marching

In the early days of the 50’s the Braff/Katz family in Pittsburgh was a group of people that must have ranged in the 100’s. The first immigrants settled in Youngstown Ohio, moved to Detroit Michigan and after two of the three uncles found semi fame and fortune in Pittsburgh, their other brothers, sisters’ sons and daughters followed. At the age of five I can remember having at least 5 cousins named Blanche 7 named Hannah, 12 named Hymie and a handful of Charlie’s Claire’s and Irving.

Jewish holidays were divided between certain families and in most cases certain aunts owned the right to first refusal in housing the rest of the family for the occasions. I suppose one day in the annals of history there was a meeting of my great aunts and their daughters dividing up the Jewish holidays and who would “make” the holiday”, such as the Pope divided up the Spanish speaking portion of South America versus the Portuguese portion of that continent. When it came to American holidays, there was little argument as somewhere in the Constitution there was an amendment stating that immediate families should only invite immediate family members. The only exception to that rule was the Fourth of July and my mother was crowned the Betsy Ross for the day and she was given compensation from the Grandma’s of the family to make her finger licking good fried chicken, exceptionally sweet Romanian potato salad, and her extravagant chocolate cake with coconut icing. She would make this for about 50 adoring fans.

It seemed that during the months preceding the holidays, gossip was common and sometimes ran rampant. Someone was rumored to be a ‘shicker’ (a Yiddish word for alcoholic), a ‘schtooper’ (fooling around with either his secretary or worse the wife of a neighbor who was not Jewish), a putz (stupid person doing stupid things), a shyster (stealing money or doing under the table transactions), or a schmuck (just pure evil to anyone in his/her company). During Maj Jong, Canasta games, family poker night’s innuendo would boil like the steam from a witches caldron and hearsay, and fabrication would rise to the top like a batch of fresh made cream. No more then a sentence needed to be said to actually sentence the cousin to some punishment he/she may have never committed or the rolling of the eye or an Ahf Tsores (in trouble) gurgled with gritted teeth with a brief poo-poo spitting off the tongue added for good measure. Some times the accusation were true, many times they were magically created out of nothing but jealousy, anger and imagination.

But no matter how great the suggestion of wrong doing by some or the misdeeds by others or how unfortunate their actions might be, when the holidays arose, there was a laying down of the swords and all were welcome for the gathering and the meal. Of course there were some consequences and ground rules such as preferred seating, how big the Matzah Balls would be in the soup and how big the portions of seconds could be or even if they could have seconds. My family back in the 50’s had a great love hate for one another. They wished each other well, but at the same time wished better for their immediate band of children and parents and more of an okay for the rest. But they were family and even in the worst of Romanian curses, none would ever find a family member alone.

As time moved forward, some family members got richer and more successful. Some family members struggled and their incomes stayed stagnant or worsened. Some family members held on to memories and some forgot their past. As time moved forward, the holidays were no longer a family event, and families moved away and smaller enclaves of family existed inclusion less a priority and exclusion the norm. By the mid 60’s the Braff/Katz Families were scattered in geography and intimacy.

It seemed our roots were no longer strong and whatever had held us as a bond was non-existent and lost. We had the same genealogical similarities but more than that was not important. In Pittsburgh there is a cemetery called the New Light Cemetery, about 90% of the Braff/Katz family is buried there. That place it seems is the only recognition of the families that once thrived and relied on one another. Perhaps the resting place after life is still the family poker night.

I believe to spend the time to understand our present condition we must spend some time on our past. I believe that moving forward is contingent on how we traveled to this current position in our life. There is much to learn from the past, much to never repeat and much to emulate because there was some good. It seems that much that occupies my current 61^st year of life is involved with the politics of this nation. I am a student of history and often times find great value in reviewing the warnings and wonders it presents. It seems like the Braff/Katz family which once thrived on the energy of inclusion and acceptance for all its members, like the United States also grew strong from its family. It seems like the Braff/Katz family successes, failures, lack of involvement with cousins, selfishness has also begun to isolate this nation separating us into too many groups, too many segments, too many we vs. them. The joy of beginnings disappears.

My nuclear family, where once I could count 100 people no longer exists. I am sure the generations of offspring since the 50’s would find that number to have quadrupled, but I know very few of those relatives or have interaction with them. Is that what has happened to America. Have we isolated ourselves from one another, defined our differences as more important than our similarities? Have we forgotten we are family?

But then the adage that ‘time marches on’ rings loud and clear and I wonder if in that marching of time we must give up all that we come from?

go ask Alice

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall (“White Rabbit”), Jefferson Airplane

Confusion- Impaired orientation with respect to time, place, or person; a disturbed mental state.

Corporations are sitting on trillions of dollars in profits. They say, since corporations are people, as defined by the Supreme Court, that it is most important to hoard their money as none of them really know the state of our economy. They say that jobs are important, but they who have trillions of dollars refuse to spend their money on hiring because what if the economy goes into recession again. Corporations say that workers are the bane of the problem in this nation, no they don’t speak openly about that but instead they either secretly fund super PACS supporting their puppets the Republican/Bagger politicians, or they filter their talking points to the inept marauders of mischief on FOX News. They have the anti American propagandists on FOX News say things like unemployment insurance makes people lazy, that food stamps dis-encourage people to work.

I don’t understand, how if a person has little money to spend, how she/he can become a consumer purchasing the goods from corporations or businesses. I don’t understand why the corporations don’t stop this incessant circle of no new capital, no new jobs no new products, by saying the American thing is to help. I don’t understand why the business/corporate community does not take even one third of their trillions in profit and begin to hire workers who receive money who then become consumers to buy the products manufactured. I don’t understand how those Americans who have little to spend are expected to spend when they are poor, unemployed or underemployed. I am confused!

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small (“White Rabbit”) Jefferson Airplane

Flabbergast- to overwhelm with shock, surprise, or wonder

Mitt Romney is looking to quadruple the size of his $12 million California home, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The GOP presidential candidate has filed an application with the San Diego government to bulldoze the 3,009-square-foot beachfront house in La Jolla and replace it with a 11,062-square-foot property.

Mr. Romney, the Republican/Bagger presidential hopeful, who tells those awaiting him at rallies that he like many of us is unemployed, wants to expand his home because it is inadequate for his 5 married sons and 16 grandchildren. This home by the way is the third for the Romney’s, the other two include a townhouse in Boston and a $10 million vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

Mr. Romney wants to become the president, because he has stated over and over only he truly understands the needs of Americans. Because of his experience in the private sector he is the only one able to connect with the worker. Because he understands the strife of being unemployed he can solve the issue of jobs. Mr. Romney said he is not in favor of increasing taxes for the wealthy, he has not said anything about stopping the shipping of jobs overseas, he did say he would have let the debt ceiling go sky high. And he still has the audacity to think he represents the average American. This is America and God bless him for being able to afford three homes and remodel any and all. But this man speaking for my needs as the leader of this country “ain’t” no way!

When men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

Frustration- a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs

The 1967 Oil Embargo began on June 6, 1967, one day after the beginning of the Six-Day War, with a joint Arab decision to deter any countries from supporting Israel militarily. Several Middle Eastern countries eventually limited their oil shipments, some embargoing only the United States and the United Kingdom, while others placed a total ban on oil exports. The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC (consisting of the Arab members of OPEC, plus Egypt, Syria and Tunisia) proclaimed an oil embargo. The 1970s energy crisis was a period in which the major industrial countries of the world, particularly the United States, faced substantial shortages, both perceived and real, of petroleum. A crisis emerged in the United States in 1979 during the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his country in early 1979, allowing the Ayatollah Khomeini to gain control. The protests shattered the Iranian oil sector.

We were told that US would never, ever, ever, never, be held hostage to the whims and politics of the Middle Eastern and OPEC nations. Self sufficiency new technologies, the American know how would never, ever, never, never lead us to this road of relying on others. By God this is America we were told by politicians who never told us just how much they owed to their puppet masters, the oil conglomerates.

44 years has gone by since the first Oil Embargo hit the streets of America, and we are still arguing that drill baby drill is the answer to our oil needs. We are preached to that we need oil too much too fast to even think about alternative fuels. We are told alternative fuels are job killers and we are even told as politicians hold the New Testament in their hands that Jesus would not want us to save the planet from polluting this planet. And so, when we had the chance 44 years ago to plan for the future, 44 years later we did nothing but ruminate, blame and promise. And we have some elected officials who still look at the value of their kickbacks rather than the values for America.

Delusional- A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness.

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head
Feed your head
Feed your head" (“White Rabbit”) Jefferson Airplane

In 1966, I was finishing my junior year of high school. I was clean cut, trying to be popular and involved in the Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh. I had seen pictures of hippies, protestors and perceived to be Un American hooligans dressed in colorful T-Shirts, bandanas, men with tattoos, and women without bras. I knew some BAD kids tried drugs, I could almost pronounce the drugs they used, had no idea what they did but tried to be cool enough to sound like I was up on my pop culture. In 1966 Gracie Slick wrote “White Rabbit” and for me this song was all about debauchery, depravity, and destruction. As I grew older and I presume a bit wiser and maybe bitter I grew to LOVE this song, and loved all of the hidden, subtle not so subtle innuendo and accusations brought to life in the lyrics.

Here I am in 2011, and when I contemplated the news and the news makers of the day, thinking about my Blog, my brain suddenly went to this song. Seems that all of America is on a pill that we are told will make us happier, make us richer, make us more productive, until another pill is found that we are promised will make us do all of the above but better. My pill, my way, no my pill my way is recited we are bandied about as yo-yo’s on a string. We are told my pill is good their pill is bad. And I find myself feeling like Alice who fell through a rabbit hole hoping to find a better way. Perhaps I will awake in the year 2012 to find, like Alice this was all a dream a delusional delirious dream and all that I thought was tall is small, all that I thought was wrong is right, all that I thought was bad is good. All that I thought was Un-American is AMERICAN!

Or maybe I should just go ask Alice...

bring what now?

Better bring your wallet if you want to ask your Republican Congressman a question in person. Some Republicans, including House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, are charging constituents $15 or more to meet them in person and ask a question. No open-to-the-public town hall meetings for Congressman Ryan or several of his other colleagues including Ben Quayle (R-AZ). So much for open government. (bluestategigital.org)

The August recess by Congress, we were told was necessary because our elected representatives wanted to go home and spend time with their constituents. They needed to confer with the masses and wanted to make sure they were on the right track or some kind of track that took them close to those who voted them into office in the first place.

It seems however, that some of the Congress People don’t like confrontations at least from some of their constituents, and it seems that when the possibility of being held accountable for your actions might be made public the fear of being found out a fraud is way too scary. The big, bold braggarts who say they speak for the public standing on the steps of the Capitol or in the hallways of the Senate or Congress, or in front of the entertainers of FOX, somehow want a little less limelight when they must stand at a podium at an Elks Lodge in front real people, and in front of those not in the same financial range as the Koch Brothers. They seem to think that democracy is not so much about give and take but more so about what can I get and then what can I get away with.

As with most bullies when confronted with fact or truth or their own words, the bully seems to diminish in stature. He/she feigns distress from wanting to hear their rhetoric re- recited, and he/she complains that his/her own words on tape or on video were misconstrued and misunderstood. The bully loves to become the victim when asked to account for their actions and they pout, walk away, deny and then of course accuse and go on attack trying to defer their lies and fabrications as ‘gotcha’ questions. Bullies love to hit and run but when they are caught they whine like babies and never ever claim responsibility. And for some reason the dumb permit this behavior and when the smart start asking questions the bully becomes insulted, infuriated, and irritable.

So now some of the politicians want to make a discussion on their actions or inactions, depending on your view, a fund raiser. They also think by charging a fee for access to them those with little income but lots to say will disappear. No You Tube cameras, no gaffes, and no real examples of their lies or hypocrisy they seem to think. And a long with all of those no’s no more real democracy. Senators, Congress Men/Women supposedly work for us yet this year we have to pay to speak to them? We suddenly are being denied access to members of our government.

What next will this lead to? We ALL must realize that we can have the control of this government by voting, by insisting, by protesting. We won’t have control by not voting or by wanting to the vote the bums out, without thinking of which bums we vote in, or by stating that voting for the lesser of two evils we get people in office who don’t care about much else then their careers their potential income and their 15 minutes of fame. Bring your wallet to meet your elected governmental representative! What is next kiss is ring, courtesy as he enters the room, sell your first born so your family can keep the house? This needs to stop NOW! Instead of our wallets we must bring our consciences and will.

begging for answers

Questions begging for answers:

Governor Rick, I want to be President of Texas America, Perry claims he is an Evangelical Christian, who follows the principals of Jesus Christ. He is a creationist, believing that the history of the world is told through the Bible, and that this Earth was created by God and is a gift to mankind. Yet, Governor Perry wants an end to the Environmental Protection Agency, claims that Global warming is a hoax and that the economic downturn in this nation is based on the EPA having too many restrictions and regulations including protection of the water we drink and the air we breathe. Governor Perry, did the Jesus you say you believe in create Earth and its inhabitants so we could just destroy the Earth and the environment in which we live? Is the God you say who founded America really out to get all of us with pollution and ruin because he thinks that corporations should make a profit no matter what? Is the Jesus you say is your Lord, taking on any human who cares about the creatures living on the earth and feel that people come before profit? Huh?

The Catholic Church is almost one beat behind the polls when states decide that civil unions, or same sex marriage is part of the Constitution of this nation and ALL citizens living in this country deserve equal instead of equal but separate. They are at the ready to protest, deny and fight any and all civil rights that Americans deserve in this nation. They are quick to respond to people who want to marry out of love, and speedy to find scripture and verse explaining the evils of people who love people having the access to do so. But when it comes to responding to pedophile priests, to come forward and look at the policies of the Vatican which seemingly protect and deny any pedophilia, to firmly put a foot down and say any child abuse done by anyone is wrong. The Church, the Pope, his minions of Bishops and other pedophile protectors drag their feet, hesitate, refuse, repudiate, and ruminate about any and all injustices, immoral and Un-Catholic like behavior blaming everyone but the people they employ. Dear Pope, what would Jesus do? And dear Catholic Church why is people loving people wrong when people who bully, intimidate, and abuse people over looked?

Why is it that the banks, Wall Street, the ultra wealthy seem to never be the problem when the economy tanks and the poor, the elderly, the unions, the disabled, the middle class receive the blame as the evil doers causing all kinds of recession and unemployment? Why is it that the wealthy never have to give up their income, their health care, their vacations, their spending, but everyone else seems to have to continue to make sacrifices? Why is it that it is okay for corporations, businesses to accumulate trillions of dollars in their bank accounts, to increase their profits, to say we are not sure of the future so we will not hire. Yet,it seems the only recourse is to deny any stimulus money to hire, to cut back the simple wages of a worker, to blame the teachers, to accuse the greed of the poor as the only way corporations with trillions of dollars will hire again? Why is that white collar crime is never considered as bad as a mugging or petty theft? Why have almost none of the criminals who lied, stole and hid the truth about our economy not facing the wrath of justice?

Why is this nation permitting hypocrisy to run un-reigned? Why is this nation permitting fiction to be claimed a fact? Why is this nation even considering candidates who want to President who not necessarily want to be president of all Americans, just the chosen few? Why does this nation think reality is only real when it is scripted? Why, why, why?

Shouldn't we demand answers, and answers based truth, honesty, morals and ethics?

getting real

“Get Real” To be realistic, understand what's going on, start acting realistically…

For all of those Americans unemployed, underemployed living off of unemployment checks I wonder if this year you are planning a vacation? For all of those who must prioritize, mortgage, rent, food, health care, utilities paying for some and ignoring the others, I wonder if you believe Hawaii, Martha’s Vineyard, playing golf at an exclusive club or a weekend in Vegas, a trip to your country home should make it to the top of your “to do” list? I am wondering if you need a break from solving your employment problems.

For all of those Americans wondering about this months adventure of living from pay check to pay check I am curious if you will be sending hundred’s of thousands of dollars to a political candidate or some PAC hoping when he/she wins they might throw some business your way (or cash, or jobs). I am wondering if you will be finding the resources to help them find their own jobs with great government benefits forgetting your needs but feeling all altruistic in helping them succeed.

For all of those Americans trying to find more from less, little from nothing, maybe a minimum wage, even a part time job or two or three part time jobs are you listening to the “talking heads, the “mavens”, the authors, the researchers, the journalists, all who are gainfully employed, most who make six figure paychecks many who have great health and retirement benefits as they say we must perceiver and then the future will be better. Are you absorbing their every empathetic nuance as they say they know how rough and tough it is for you (never them), and how they really, really, really understand?

For all of those Americans who constantly hear that corporations have trillions of dollars in their accounts, those same corporations who are now considered people like you me, who watch as the salaries of their CEO’s CFO’s COO’s rise higher and higher, do you wonder when, they as people like you and me will act like people with a conscience and assist the rest of us in creating jobs? Do you wonder when too much money, too much salary too much power is just TOO much? Do you wonder how much more money they must acquire before they are no longer cautious to help with our economy?

For all those Americans just like me who have had enough of this greed, gluttony, gorging by a small but extremely powerful group of people, when do you say get real? For all those Americans like me who are tired of being lectured by career politicians, theoretical intelligentsia, self serving managers, marketers, of political campaigns, when do you say get real? For of those Americans like me who hear the harangue and hallowed tune that the problem is because you are poor, you are old, you want a decent wage, you want something for nothing when do you say get real? For all of those Americans like me who watch the division of wealth grow more skewed and out of balance, the depth of have not’s grow deeper and more divergent from the haves, the blame of poverty placed on the lack of will or will power from the poor, when do you say get real?

For all of those Americans like me, when do you say stop, pitch in now, not tomorrow, not for the generations to come, not for your children’s children and get real? For all Americans like me when do you say to fix it we must do it now? When will we all finally stop this passivity and help those who have little connection to our reality please GET REAL?

when is too much

I was student teaching in the K-3 classroom of the Lab School for Point Park College, I had 15 kids ranging from the ages of 5 to 8, some of whom were children of the professors of that college many of whom were from affluent homes with high income earning parents, and about three children who happened to be the children of the maintenance people working in the college. It was the early 70’s and Lab schools were the rage. It was an open classroom in approaching its curriculum, older kids mentoring younger kids, younger kids expressing fresh ideas. And it was also an attempt at an open look at society where income levels mattered not, varied environments were a good thing, and the classroom was a kind of collective bringing it all together.

This I thought would be ideal. I could be creative in my lesson plans, I could have the children share their various experiences, never once stating that one was better than the other, and I could relate to these students without any kind of barriers hindering my communication. I was, for me, in Student Teaching heaven!

Once a week we had a share and tell (show and tell seemed too Capitalistic and materialistic) and sharing seemed more egalitarian. We encouraged the students to share anything tangible to anything less tangible such as thoughts or ideas. We had explained to the kids and their parents that sharing can be as big as you wish or as small and intimate as you desire. Flowery words and phrases were so 1970’s

Each week four kids would offer to participate, this was an open classroom and once the child agreed to be the shower and the teller, a note went home to the parents and the presentation was left to the family. My lead teacher and I were so damned proud of our selves!

It seemed that the parents understood the purpose of share and tell. The first three weeks saw the kids share poems, songs they invented, some brought in a pet and some displayed pictures of their family. Surely, my lead teacher and said aloud, we are creating a generation of kind, empathetic, and emotionally rich children. The future will shine brighter because of our work in the Lab School of Point Park College. (Aww youth, sweet youth!)

It was the fourth week of this inspirational, amazing, before its time program and Abagayle, Abagayle with a Y not an AI, had agreed to participate. Abagayle was the only child of an investment banker and corporate attorney. They both worked for PPG, and since their offices were located downtown, they found the location of Point Park College Lab School conducive to their schedules and convenient to their place of employment. They were a bit hesitant about our open classroom environment, but enrolled Abagayle, saying we will judge it one year at time. What harm can happen in a year. Usually Mom or Dad dropped Abagayle off patted her on the head, said hello to me and left. But today, neither Mom nor Dad dropped Abagayle off in the classroom, but instead it was their chauffeur. Abagayle entered the room with a box as large as one of those boxes women use to carry to hold their Easter bonnets. Immediately following Abagayle was her chauffeur, carrying four of the same sized hat looking boxes. Hmmm, I said to myself, what in the world is she bringing for share and tell.

The chauffeur, a very business like person asked me where the display table was located. I must have had a puzzled, confused look on my face, when the chauffeur asked the question again and added; these are precious materials and need to be located on a display space, not to be touched by anyone but Abagayle. I pointed to the one table we used for everything from snack to art projects and said here it is. (It has been too many years since this happened but I still remember receiving a look from this man that was a combination of I could run you over in my fancy car to even I wouldn’t eat off of that table).

He walked away from me and proceeded to the one table. Then he opened the hat like boxes and inside each were at least 6 Barbie dolls. When he opened all the boxes there were 30 Barbie dolls on display. Some were still in their original box and some all dressed in colorful and extravagant outfits.

Mr. B, (my lead teacher thought that only using the first initial of my last name made it less formal for the kids. She thought the Mr. was okay for the first semester and maybe after winter recess they kids could call me GB), I am ready to share and tell. Okay, Abagayle I said, still in awe of just how many Barbie’s she had, lets gather the class and we can begin.

Abagayle shared and told. It was a long share and tell, as she explained who bought her which Barbie and for what special or for that fact no special occasion she received one of these dolls. When she was finished and the chauffeur was helping to place the Barbie’s in the hat boxes, Kiefer, one of the kids of the maintenance person’s child and his friend Laura came over to me. Laura started by saying Mr. B. those were a lot of Barbie’s. Does she really have time to play with all of them? Then Laura said more as a statement, I guess she doesn’t because some are still in a box. Then Kiefer said to me, when is too much, just too much? Mr. B. when do we all stop needing so much of anything? I only have two hands so maybe two is okay, but 30? After that day of share and tell, a kind of race began,it seemed the more you had the cooler you were. Most of the parents tried way too hard to impress.

Today, Billionaire Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers Monday to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments.

"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice," The 80-year-old "Oracle of Omaha" wrote in an opinion article for the New York Times. (Reuters)

To this day, I still see Abagayle with her 30 Barbie’s; I hear Laura and Kiefer wondering about when is too much too much. By now all three kids are in their 30’s and I wonder if they still ask the same questions, or still indulge in more, more, more?

for your consideration

Ladies and gentlemen of America, for your consideration, the men and women, who want to be president representing the Republican aka Tea Bagger Party:

It wasn’t a good night for the entire Republican Party, especially since it was such an opportunity for the party as this debate took place in the midst of what happens to be President Obama’s worst week in the White House. Team Obama could not have asked for a better visual than every single GOP candidate raising their hand saying they’d refuse to support a debt deal that had a 10-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases. (First Read, NBC News).

To the man and the one woman, all of the Republican/Bagger hopefuls stated that an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting same sex marriage would make this nation, well more American.

The candidates decided that the free market should run free and indulged with little discussion about the middle class except for the fact that if you stop taxing corporations and the ultra wealthy somehow the middle class will, um still exist.

The lady and the gents decided that health care for all Americans is so un-American. Again they proposed ‘in that I have health care and you don’t mode’, let the markets decide who can afford to live and can’t afford to live, so I guess the markets can decide who dies.

They found a common enemy in the Gay, the Muslim, the poor, the middle class, the worker and somehow pretended that the trickle down effect of the Bush years was a blip on the map and that this time they could make trickle down gush like a water fall. Pay no attention to history I suppose or the man behind the corporate curtain.

And lurking, lying in wait two other candidates who love to use smoke, mirrors, hate bigotry and bias are ready to pounce upon the scene. Sister Sarah is riding her bus to Iowa or is it her broom stick, and Governor Rick (Texas can and should secede from the union if we don’t like your rules and regulations USA) Perry is cooling his heels in South Carolina.

So, America, here we go. One of the many candidates will get the nomination for the Republican/Bagger Party to run for president. All of the candidates have decided who is an American and who is not. They all claim to be religious people, yet love to discriminate, alienate, and repudiate anyone who does not view God the way they do. All of the candidates like the wealthy love the corporations; have little interest in the poor or the elderly. They all talk about future generations but seem to lack the wherewithal and knowledge on how to help the current generation of Americans.

For the faults of our current president, and I am becoming less of a believer in his change you can believe in, at least President Obama has said words like Gay is okay, middle class need to earn money to pay their bills, Americans should have access to affordable health care, even Muslims have a right to pray in their own houses of worship, women have the right to freedom of choice in regards to their own bodies. To my dismay the president has compromised (so much) that many of the ideals I hold valuable for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have been abandoned. But whether for the sake of this nation or his chances to be reelected, he has at least tried to find an agreement even though it sounds more like I will give in and I give up.

I care less if the person elected president is a Democrat or a Republican (the Tea Baggers scare me), but I do care a whole lot that the person in the White House understands that majorities are not the only ones to cater to, difference is good, it is not wise to ignore the weaker links, and equal, is not the same as separate but equal. I care more that she/he understand that we are the reason he/she is running for the office of president.

So far all of the Republican/Bagger candidates and the two undeclared individuals seem bent on “us vs. them”, division is greater then the whole, and my country or leave it. They are eager to please the hater, the blamers, the ignorant.

For your consideration, Mr. and Mrs. America the Republican/Bagger candidates, is this the America of tomorrow?