Wednesday, July 27, 2011

MY REPLY TO BONER (BOEHNER)

If I was President, I would have told Boehner the following:

Listen, you bought and paid for orange-faced son of a bitch:  You and your Republican/Tea Party henchmen are nothing but a bunch of lying idiots who know little about what the American people are going through.  You scream through your spittle offering nothing but unintelligible, incomprehensible drivel.  You offer nothing but lies, lies you hear from your idiot moron talking heads on Fox & right wing talk radio. 

Everyone wants to cut this country's expenditures but you can't cut the life out of the American people while keeping your corporate masters wealthy.

You can't slash what you call "entitlements" when people have paid into those with their hard-earned money all their lives.

You can't slash money from public education without condemning low income kids to a life of poverty because they can't afford  charter schools.  You can't make educating America's children a privately run enterprise because it will then become a throwback to segregationist schools.

Your union-busting will just insure that the average working American gets paid as little as those in third world countries. 

You can't keep giving millionaires and billionaires more rights than the average American.  They are, indeed,  job creators but NOT IN THIS COUNTRY.  Your corporate masters have slashed jobs by the thousands in the U.S. and sent them overseas.  That means your corporate masters are the cause of high unemployment in this country.

Corporations and all big business enjoy tax loopholes....... for what?  They line their pockets with billions in profits which they don't ply back into the economy.

You can't cut the deficit on the backs of the workers in this country by cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while still allowing your corporate masters to wallow in their tax cuts, not pay ANY taxes and enjoy tax loopholes.

You can't keep screaming for cuts when your precious Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times, the idiot G. W. Bush raised it 7 times to pay for 2 wars and tax cuts for the wealthy.  Republicans got us into this mess and you blame me?  Fuck you.  I inherited this pile of crap and you do nothing but kick it in my face?  Fuck you.

You can't keep screaming for less government while sticking your nose into people's private lives and cramming your Christian jihadist beliefs down everyone's throat.

I'm sick and tired of people calling this a Christian nation when it is a nation of diverse beliefs.

Republicans and the Tea Party are made up of racist, homophobic, xenophobic assholes who don't give a crap about anyone other than themselves and their very narrow-minded agenda to make this into an all-white, Christian nation run by their corporate masters and worked by slave labor.

Congressional Republicans have no intention to do what's right for the citizens of this country, only to do whatever it takes to keep them in office and make obscene amounts of money while there.

The people have had enough of Republican voodoo where you turn established facts into lies, you place your very narrow-minded social agenda above the welfare of all Americans, you spew hatred of anyone and anything who does not believe what you believe, you stomp on the rights established by the Constitution while professing to want to adhere to it.  It's obvious you never read it with any understanding of it.

You deny women their rights.  You deny a great deal of the US population the right to the pursuit of happiness if they are LGBT.  You deny much to a lot of the population if they don't think as you do.

You Republicans haven't got a clue what a real democracy is.  You are taking this country back to the 17th century. 

The United States, once the most wonderful country in the world, is descending into an oligarchy and because of Republican hooliganism, will become the Saudi Arabia of western civilization.

Boehner, get a grip on reality.  You and your ilk won't be tolerated much longer.  You and your Republican friends are the bane of everyone's existence and you will be excised out of being in no time.  Now cut the theatrics and the lies, try to find your brains and get your wealthy friends, you know those head fund managers, to pay what they owe so we can get on with governing this country in an equitable, egalitarian, unbiased, unprejudiced and intelligent way.
©

Sunday, July 24, 2011

WHAT SHAPES YOU?

I was a nondescript student, average, without a favorite subject in school.  In the early years I was good at math but then it became hard and didn't hold my interest.  I loved, loved, loved to read.  I read everything I could get my hands on.  My dad would send me to the corner store to buy the newspaper.  Then we both settled down with it, me on the floor, my dad in his favorite chair and we'd share the paper, section by section.  The only part I didn't read was the classified section. Many times we would discuss what was in the news.  My trips to the library were often and I would come home with as many books as the librarian would allow me to have.  I tried my hand at writing poems but a fifth grade teacher made fun of my attempt and that stifled my enthusiasm quite abruptly.

I took a test in junior high to see where my strengths and interests were headed and the test came back....inconclusive.  Several of my classmates, though, were strong in several areas.  I wonder if any of them pursued whatever the test results showed.

High school was unremarkable and mundane for me.  After  high school I commuted to a state college about 30 miles away from where I lived.  Wasn't crazy about commuting but since I needed to pay my own way through I didn't complain.  But damn, I got a really good education there and became an elementary school teacher.  I found that I absolutely loved teaching and enjoyed the classroom experience.  I loved seeing kids' faces light up when they understood a lesson or did something well because they worked hard.  I loved making them happy to be coming into my classroom because they always knew exciting things would happen there.

During my childhood I watched my parents struggling to make a living.  My dad worked several jobs: he was a master antique dealer, he worked part time in a liquor store and part time as a butcher.  My mom worked as an executive secretary for a non-profit, you know, the kind of place with no benefits and pay at almost the lowest level. But I saw her give her time and energy doing good works and random acts of kindness, almost on a daily basis.  I watched my parents being good human beings, looking out for others, doing for others, going out of their way for others.

I worked several jobs to get me through college: salesperson, club leader, camp counselor.  It never occurred to me that this was too much, along with my commuting to school, classes, studying & homework.  I had seen my parents doing many jobs and this was what was normal in my household.

My mother wrote the most hilarious letters to me when my husband and I moved all the way across the country.  We wrote back and forth constantly and, thank goodness, I kept all her letters.  Her wit and wisdom still rings true to this day.  Her writing was inspiring and I wrote what I thought were wonderful letters back. No email or internet then.  Writing was our connection and something we both enjoyed immensely.

In between all of this my mother saw to it that I took piano lessons, ballet lessons, tap lessons, swim lessons and yes, finger-painting lessons.  Creativity became part of my life.

So, with that kind of a background I appeared in semi-professional variety shows, I appeared in a play at college, I became an elementary teacher, I became a radio news broadcaster and reporter, I became a radio talk show host, hosting  a show with new guests every day and a show for teens to call in and talk about anything, I became a law office manager and a legal assistant.  And now I still read voraciously, I volunteer, I take photos, and I blog because that writing gene kicked in again.

What shapes any individual?  Your entire background shapes what you can become or what you have become, whether because of it or in spite of it.  You make yourself into what you are with the tools you've been given and if you're very lucky you use those tools to shape a life worth living.
©

Friday, July 22, 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS #1 ('cause there'll be more)

I actually love living here in Arizona.  The beauty of the state borders on incomparable.  The Arizona sunsets are glorious to behold. For someone who loves to capture natural beauty with her camera, this is a photographer's paradise.

The politics in this state, however, makes my skin crawl.  The nastiness and viciousness with which the legislators in this state attack the working class is beyond nuts.  Stomping on the rights of the weak is despicable.

It would be nice to have a governor who exhibits at least a modicum of intelligence.  Alas, Arizona does not have one.

My husband and I have surrounded ourselves with some of the nicest people since moving here.  We've been very fortunate in making friends with some very wonderful, kind, intelligent, caring, erudite, funny and loving people in all the places we have lived.  And having moved 16 times in 45 years, that's a lot.

Dogs are the most comforting four-legged creatures on the face of the earth.  I just look at the faces of my two beauties and my heart melts, my wrinkles disappear, my soul soars, my face breaks out in a huge smile and the giggles bubble up like a sprinkler gone wild!  Looking at my wonderful husband elicits the same reaction!!!!!

There are days when I read my Twitter timeline and I am enlightened, educated, exasperated, angered, and heartened.  There are an awful lot of people out there who are erudite, really intelligent, caring, active, sharing, progressive, enterprising, & engaging.  It's good for the mind.

I have much to be thankful for, not the least of which is pretty good health.  I wish everyone could enjoy good health.

For all the bad crap the U. S. is going through now, everything is cyclical.  The numb nuts and whack jobs won't prevail for very long (and you know who THEY are... hint:  begins with R.)  The sane group will always win in the end.  Amen.

©

Friday, July 8, 2011

A WEEK TO REFRESH THE SOUL

Just spent a little more than a week visiting family and friends on the east coast.  Having virtually no access  to a computer and much of my email, I decided I wasn't going to listen to the news on TV, either.  What a glorious week it was.  I didn't get outraged, my blood pressure remained normal and there were no political discussions of any kind.  All our friends are bright, intelligent non-Republicans anyway.  We do have some bright, intelligent registered Independent friends, too.  But Republicans?  Who would want to associate with that ilk? It would be like stepping into a pail of swill.

Every once in a while it is a good thing to turn off the garbage emanating from everywhere, kick back and just enjoy the genuine friendship and love humans have for life, family, friends and the serenity of the gorgeous landscapes appearing before us.  I have been rejuvenated and almost feel ready to jump into the fray of everyday life once again.

I did manage to take so many beautiful photos during that time to remind me of our week of bliss.  That should hold me for a while.