It doesn't affect me much so why do I care?

My children are grown so I have none in school.

I'm past childbearing age.  No worries there.

My husband and I are both professionals.  We each have/had great jobs throughout our working lives.

We've always had a nice home to live in, enough food and clothing.

We've always had what passes for health insurance in this country (I have other words for this) so, thank goodness we've enjoyed good health for the most part.

I've never had a personal need to go to a women's shelter, a food kitchen or a charity for help.

With the exception of one incident decades ago, I've never been the object of religious hate.

I've never been the object of hate because of the color of my skin or my sexual orientation.

I've never been denied to right to vote.

I'm able to live my life with never having to worry about the myriad of hateful things that millions of people all over the world are subjected to.... and especially the millions who reside in the United States, that bastion of democracy that is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave where freedom and equality are supposed to apply to every citizen.

So, the Ferguson, Missouri horror; the denial of the right to vote for so many that just occurred; the laws passed regulating women's health issues by men who shouldn't be sticking their noses in where they don't belong; the gerrymandering; the decimating of social services; the defunding of all the things that help the poor, the disabled, women, veterans, education, and children; the privatization of prisons and schools; the dumbing down of education in America and replacing facts with religious fiction; and the drive to make this country a right-wing Christian nation should really have no affect on me but yet, IT DOES!

It does because I have a heart, a brain and I understand what a democracy is supposed to be.  What we have now is an oligarchy, a form of government with power vested in a few, not a government of, by and for the people. The Republican/Tea Party faction in this country doesn't want a government to benefit the populace.  They want control of our lives, the country's assets and a population of uninformed puppets doing their bidding. Our Congress is populated by a plethora of absolutely the most stupid and crass individuals, filled with hate for those unlike them

How can I stand by and watch this country sink into a quagmire of never-ending greed, hostility, intense hatred, racism, bigotry, misogyny, corporate greed and disregard of civil rights?  I can't.  I'm choking on my rage. So I write to my Washington Congressional representatives and senators, to my local politicians; I sign petitions and add my own comments; I email to these same people; I make my opinions and positions known; I support organizations who believe in equality and civil rights for everyone; and I BLOG because I have to have a place to vent my frustration with what passes for a society in this country.  It's not civilized.  It's simply crazy.

If this country doesn't change into a humane, caring country that welcomes diversity and offers equality and civil rights to all and offers ways everyone can live without fear (of so many things and people), this country will go down in flames and we'll have the vicious Republicans and Tea Party to thank for the demise of the United States.  They will cause the death of this country. And no one wants to see the younger generation put up with that.

So, yes I care and I do what I can do.  And anyone who reads this should be doing something, anything to combat the viciousness and stupidity so prevalent in this country now.  Perhaps it will take another couple of decades when these nuts will have died off for progress to be made.  But rage against the Republican machine needs to begin now before there is nothing to save and nothing to care about.

We, the who?

I am a consumer of many things.  I use commodities and services.  I pay for what I consume and it doesn't matter how much I pay for what I consume.  The fact remains, I do pay.

Some of the things I pay or have paid for come from the government like social security and Medicare.  I paid for those things all my working life and I have a right to get those services for which I paid.  I also have paid or continue to pay for the US government to work so that ALL CITIZENS BENEFIT from the laws passed in the US Congress.   However, I'm not getting my money's worth.

I, and many tens of millions of my fellow citizens, are getting the shaft.  We are paying for wars we do not approve of, for environmental disasters occurring with regularity, for laws strangling women's rights, for laws being pushed through that favor the Christian religion over all others, for laws that restrict freedom of speech and assembly, for laws that counter the Constitution.  I and the rest of the 99% are NOT getting the roads or the infrastructure repaired, the air and water cleaned up, the research and development for eradicating diseases funded enough, the superior PUBLIC education everyone is entitled to receive, the exceptional health care seen offered in other countries but not here, the reasonable prices for medications, the assurance that all people will be treated fairly regardless of race, origin, gender, or age.  Ah, yes, I could go on but you get the idea.  There is no "liberty and justice for all," only for some as long s they are white, male, very rich and mostly Christian.

Through taxes, my money and the money from my fellow citizens (read the 99%), pays the salaries of 535 individuals who are supposed to be working for (the collective) me.  They do not.  Most of them are sick, greedy bastards who come to Washington with their hands out, ready to do the bidding of and work for the likes of the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Warren Buffet, Big Business, Big Pharma, the polluters, the sneaky, dishonorable, disreputable businesses who line pockets of Congress with bushels of money.

I'm not getting my money's worth because I'm not a gazillionaire.  The money I pay won't get me an audience with any of my congress people.  They don't listen to anyone other than those who find a way to funnel huge sums of cash into their offshore bank accounts.   So yes, I'm saying that many in Congress take bribes although they wouldn't call it that.  I would suggest that Congress has become peopled with high-priced prostitutes.  So, I write to my Senators and Legislators on all kinds of issues.  What I get back is the work of an underling who emails a stock answer that has nothing to do with what I commented on or had concerns about.  Just a nondescript "thank you" for contacting the office.

My voice is not being heard because I don't have the money to buy anyone in Congress.  I would bet that the majority of people who run for seats in Congress start out with decent intentions but it doesn't take long before the bigger picture standing in front of them is that of a bulging bank account which gets bigger the longer they manage to keep their Congressional seats.

And then there is the partisanship of politics.  When did compromise become a dirty word? Sane intelligent people who have differences of opinion usually discuss, consider, examine, reason and explore solutions that will benefit as many people as possible without kicking an opposite view down a hellhole.  And doing so without resorting to lying, bribery, stupidity, denying established facts or being influenced by money-grubbing corporations, businesses or individuals who want special privileges or special laws made for just them.

Democracy is supposed to be government with power vested in the people. We keep electing people who have lost sight of that. What we have is not democracy anymore.  We have a plutocracy with government power invested in the few, the 1%, the ones with the multitudes of money, the gazillionaires who want more money, power and act as if this country belongs to them personally. This country has become ruled by the wealthy.  Which one of the Kochs will claim to be THE KING when the GOP/TP get their way?  Will they fight over the crown?  Will Sheldon Adelson muscle his way in with his corpulent, elephantine body and claim the throne?

So, the Preamble to the Constitution starts with, We the People of the United States.  That is no longer true.  I ask:  We the who?  The answer now is: We the Corporations.  We the rich, white, privileged .....

We are the laughing stock of the world.  Will there be another revolution?  Perhaps there will come a time when the 99% will be so fed up with being treated like second-class citizens or worse that they will be willing to take that stand against the mostly Republican greedy bastards who have destroyed what the United States is supposed to be.  And just to make it abundantly clear:  THIS IS NOT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FAULT.  I lay the fault at the feet of the GOP and their particularly stupid friends from the Tea Party.  They are a war-mongering, illiterate, lying, intellectually-deficent bunch of religious fanatics who are happily led around by the rings in their noses as long as the money keeps flowing.  I hope someday soon they'll fall into that hellhole they've dug for everyone else.

A caveat:  I do have some wonderfully bright GOP friends who ARE NOT part of the group I have assailed above.

(Thanks to Politics USA for the meme.)

How I engage in the process...........

I get so pissed, frustrated and angry when I read such stupid, uninformed, deliberately lying comments emanating from the mouths of Republicans*, all because they intensely hate President Obama, among other things.

Some examples:

1.  Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot says people in the 1% should be proud to be there because, "while money doesn't buy happiness, try poverty.  That doesn't do very well, either."  Does he think those in poverty are trying it out to see if they like it?

2.  Remember Joe the plumber?  The favorite peabrain of the Republicans!  He had this to say to those families  whose kids were killed on the UCSB campus:  " Your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional rights."  I can only envision what he'd think if one of his g-d guns took the life of one of his kids.  I feel sorry for his kids, knowing they rank behind their dad's guns in importance.

3.  Dr. Ben Carson, a conservative Christian, said on Fox news that the VA scandal is a "gift from God," and placing the blame directly on President Obama.  Never mind that because of two unjust wars, the VA is overloaded with vets who need help.  This can clearly be laid at the feet of the Bush/Cheney cabal.  Now, President Obama has to clean up this damn Republican mess.

4.  Ted Cruz, purported to be a Senator from Texas, but in reality is a lying lunatic posing as a Republican.  His latest dustup:  He claims that Senate Democrats will be voting on a constitutional amendment to repeal the First Amendment, thereby muzzling the political speech rights of U.S. citizens.  The man is giving the Mad Hatter a run for his money.

5.  Blake Farenthold, R-Texas congressman told veterans who lost their disability checks due to the GOP government shutdown that they had make sacrifices!  This extremely fat jackass apparently hasn't made any food sacrifices.  But he has sacrificed the use of any brain material he might have had.

There are so many more examples but a few names should remind you all of the amply moronic utterings of some really stupid, sly and mean people:  Louie Gohmert, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Phyllis Schlafly, Rand Paul, Mary Fallon, Bobby Jindal and the incomparably brain-deficient Sarah Palin.

Reading about these people day after day (there's no escaping it) can really make me crazy, frustrated and highly angry.  BUT, at my stage of life, what can I do about it?  I tweet (after doing research), I sign petitions and add personal comments to them, I write to my Congressional delegation (and get only automatic replies that have no meaning or connection to what I wrote), I tweet to these same people and let them know my positions, I write and tweet to government entities like the FCC and the FDA and let them know where I stand.  I used to share a lot of political stuff on Facebook but I'm trying to cut that down and keep that stuff on Twitter only.  And I BLOG!  This is where I feel I can vent.  I read voraciously and research everything so I don't sound as if I've shooting from the hip.  I support those who I feel have the intelligence and the ability to do the most good for the most people; who care about all U.S. citizens, not just the rich; who will uphold the Constitution (and not reinterpret it with their own narrow-mindedness)  and keep religion out of government; who will make sure women are treated with equality; our veterans are cared for.  You get the idea.

I don't think I can get physically involved (canvassing for signatures, hosting a meeting, etc.)  so, if any of my tweets, petition signings, letter writing and/or blogging help to educate, elucidate, and or clarify the myriad issues I'm interested in then I've done my job.

And then my attention gets turned to all the good things that are in my life.  And I revel in the wonderful family I have:  my two magnificently wonderful sons and my fabulous, comedic husband; our extended family in Chicago, Massachusetts, Nebraska and California; our incredible friends in Connecticut, Virginia, New York and Florida.  And the best furry friends in the world.  Ah, life is good.

And I want life to be good for everyone so I will continue to speak out, to write and hope that someday the unintelligent, highly partisan, narrow-minded, misogynistic, bigoted, racist, lazy nut jobs that make up Congress and many governorships will disappear to be replaced by those whose education embraced science, technology, the arts, social studies (not just white history) and a working knowledge of how the world actually works and endeavor to do what's right for everyone, not just a select few.

A caveat: *Republican
When I refer to Republicans, I'm talking about the really crazy, Tea Party types, NOT my Republican friends who are erudite, thoughtful, intelligent, kind and don't go along with the extremely far right wing of their party.  They are usually described as moderate and have valid concerns and positions.  I value their friendship.

Screwing America, the GOP way.

"I support the troops."  These have become empty words with no real meaning anymore.   We have the Republicans to thank for that.

This phrase has no meaning at all to most Congressional Republicans and the Tea Party. It's just a slogan, a propaganda piece.  What support?  Our troops are not paid a living wage yet they are away from their families for months at a time, living in the worst of conditions, worrying about their families, worrying about their comrades in arms, worried about getting seriously injured or killed.

Now, with the GOP shut down of the government, supporting the troops has given way to "screwing the troops".  And not just the troops.  Screwing the country is what the GOP is after.  And make no mistake, this IS the fault of Congressional Republicans.

From the moment President Obama was elected, to this very minute, their goal was to take down the United States Government (and the Black guy in the White House), trash the Constitution they profess to believe in (but have no idea what it actually says and means) and place a "jackboot" on the necks of all those who are not white, Christian and European-descended.

Republicans' actions amount to sedition, a stirring up of rebellion against the government and that's a crime.  It is subversion of the Constitution. In my view, what the GOP is doing is plain and simple:  domestic terrorism.

Anyone with a working brain understands that the GOP hates the fact that they lost the last two elections to President Obama, that the ACA was part of that victory, and that Americans want that affordable health care.  They just can't stand that the deficit is going down, the economy is improving after the trashing G. W. Bush gave it.

The GOP-Tea Party:  whiny, kvetching bullies, filled with intense hatred for our elected President, inhumane, racist, bigoted, liars, utterly ignorant, anti-science, anti-education, anti-elderly, the sick and the poor, anti-women, anti anything that isn't just like them, narrow-minded religious fanatics intent on making this a Christian nation, easily duped, devoid of critical thinking skills.  They are all mamzers (Yiddish for untrustworthy bastards).

Ah, there are so many more descriptive words I could use but if you're not a right-wing Republican, you already know what they are.  What we need to do is get these Tea Party crazies out of Congress, out of any elected office and out of our hair.  They are killing the American dream and killing the reputation of the United States.  They are the worst of humanity because they don't care for humanity. As my sainted mother would say to these mamzers: Ich hob dich in bod! (Use your imagination)!

I am a Proud Liberal. How did I get this way?

I am a child of the beat generation.  I am a child of the 60's.  I am a child of the era of free love.  I am also a child of the working poor. And I am a child of a diverse city of ethnic differences.

In recalling all those years, I never saw "color", I never saw "wealth", I never saw "ethnic differences".  All I saw were kids who were friends, acquaintances, popular and not so popular.  We liked doing the things kids do together, whether at school or at camp or at the local "Y".  We had a community center where everyone mingled and, in doing so, we got to know each other pretty well. There was no room for hatred because of skin color, religion, or ethnic background.

I grew up in a city of Jews, Catholics, Protestants, black, white, many from Eastern Europe or Ireland, Holocaust survivors, rich, middle class, poor and struggling, all hard working families with an interest in making the city a great place to live. The diversity was never an issue.  No one disparaged anyone else.

I was surrounded by good people, people who cared for those less fortunate, who demonstrated caring, compassion, and understanding.  I was brought up to be kind to others. Sometimes it was a tough lesson but a lesson learned, nevertheless.

Given my background, is it any wonder that I grew up thinking that most everyone, at least in my city, got along for the most part.  I, personally never encountered bigotry, racism or anti-Semitism.  Is it any wonder why I grew up to believe in the liberal, progressive philosophy, respectful of individual rights and freedoms, open to new opinions, free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant with a liberal attitude toward others.

And now, I look at what this country is becoming and I weep at all the outright hatred and loathing a whole segment of the population shows to others.  I look at the Tea Party section of the Republican Party and cringe at their utter bigotry, racism and complete stupidity, their utter lack of respect and compassion for those who serve: military, firefighters, police officers, teachers, nurses; those who are poor; the elderly; the sick; children; the low wage workforce.  Their thinking is so convoluted, so utterly lacking in compassion or understanding.  They are fed lies which they believe because they have no desire to check facts out for themselves and they have no critical thinking skills.  Life, to them, is summed up in sound bites that they get from nasty, bigoted, homophobic, religious nut jobs.  They don't understand that LIFE IS MORE THAN SOUND BITES.       

What the hell are we celebrating today?

What, exactly, are we celebrating today?  That women's rights are being decimated?  Women are becoming second-class citizens? That Christian religious beliefs are being shoved down our throats? That the right to privacy has eroded?  That the US is becoming Taliban-like? That Republicans have never found a war they didn't like? That Republican politicians even exist to make lives miserable?  That the cloud of utter stupidity, imbecility, and viciousness has surrounded and engulfed the GOP?  There is nothing to celebrate when homophobia, misogyny, bigotry, racism, religious scapegoating, gerrymandering, and new Jim Crow laws are engulfing this country. 

I've been around awhile and I've been through the fight for women's rights.  I am more than enraged when Republicans, especially MEN, stick their noses where it doesn't belong, practice medicine without a license, denigrating everyone who doesn't agree with them or look like them (read white males), changing the rules to wipe away the voting rights of those they look down on, chuckling as they wipe away help for the downtrodden, enriching their own pockets with blood money from corporations who take obscene profits by sending their operations overseas.

This is, indeed, a horrible country when the Republican/Tea Party is allowed to even exist since their only reason to be is to dominate every aspect of our lives, private or otherwise and to return this country to the 18th century when women were treated like property, blacks were enslaved, and white men had all the rights.  Insanity reigns supreme in this country now because the Republicans/Teabaggers are full of intense hatred of President Obama (read the black man) and everyone (read Democrats) who doesn't agree with them.  Their hatred, though they think it's disguised, is plain to see by those with critical thinking skills. The GOP doesn't believe in great education for everyone, they don't believe in science, technology, women's equality, freedom of/from religion or the Constitution.  They are bound and determined to kick this country into oblivion.  And they're doing a damn good job of it.

But, GOP, be warned.  You will rue the day you think you have won.  The time is coming when your craziness will be stopped and your party will implode.  It can't come too soon for me and every single person in this country who has a good heart and a working brain.

So, what are we celebrating today? Nothing but a good time. And I am celebrating the promise of kicking the hell out of the GOP in 2014.  I have two words for you, GOP, that will make you shudder:  Hillary Clinton!  2016 - She'll beat the crap out of you!

ANOTHER GUN RANT

I can tell you as a former teacher I would do anything to protect the pupils in my care. But if I was a teacher now and was expected to protect them with a gun, you'd have to pay me, at the very least, the salary of a police officer in addition to my teacher's salary. If I had to be someone who works two professions, I better be paid that way!  And of course the multimillion dollar NRA would never put up the money to pay for all the security they're proposing for schools.

Given my background regarding how I feel about guns, (see my previous post of January 22nd) never in a million years would I take up a gun thinking that I would really be able to shoot the damn thing straight enough to take the bad guy out.  So, arming teachers, most of whom don't want to be armed, is the answer?

And then after we arm teachers, what's the next place to be armed and who?  How about arming the ticket takers, ushers and concessionaires at theaters, the cabana people at resorts, waitresses and waiters in all restaurants, all members of sports teams (they'd have to be extra careful not to bump into each other while they carry) T.V. news camera operators while they're filming reporters doing their jobs on scene, cashiers and stock people at grocery stores, all the seniors who walk the halls of the local mall, every medical person in hospitals and clinics, every student in high school and college, everyone in all office buildings from janitors to secretaries to the business people, : in other words, let's make EVERY SINGLE PERSON living in the country carry a gun.  Will the F***** gun manufacturers and their parasitic NRA be happy then?????

In light of all the guns then being carried by literally everyone, how many tourists would want to come here?  How many scientists, exchange students, business people?  When the thought of everyone you pass on the street or in buildings in the United States is carrying and given the huge amount of nut jobs, gang members and generally pissed off assholes who think (and I use that term loosely) the "guvmint" is coming for their guns and stamping on their "rights" roaming the streets who are also carrying (because the NRA is against background checks and closing the gun show loopholes), why would anyone come here?  There are other countries to visit that are just as beautiful.  There are other ways to do business without actually stepping foot on US soil.  There are other universities in other countries just as good as what we have to offer here.  There is nothing here in the United States that is not offered by other countries.

And please don't start yelling that we have a democracy..... and freedom..... and rights..... That's a bunch of bullshit.  With the crap dished out by the Republican/Tea Party, women's freedom and rights are going down the toilet, along with voting rights, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  What we have is a desperate war for the very soul of this country and it's being stolen by the rich who don't give a rat's ass for those who are not in their sphere of society.  Those bastards must be stopped but given the bazillion dollars being poured into Republican coffers it's an uphill battle.  If we have any students left in the coming years who haven't been blown away and haven't been infected by the dumbing down of all things taught in those schools which disdain math, science and critical thinking, maybe, just maybe the future can be saved for the good, the intelligent, the caring, the  people who have hearts and souls.

Marco Rubio isn't the one

Marco Rubio looks nice, speaks well but still tells the lies the GOP has been spouting for years. He doesn't offer much by way of original thought.  He relies on GOP sound bites and marches to the GOP handbook, despite its not being relevant to the 21st century. The GOP position is to damn everything President Obama, Democrats and non-Christians say and their narrow-minded, backward thinking will sink them.

Repeating lies long enough doesn't make them true. Bashing the middle class constantly doesn't endear you to them.  Trying to pass laws that hurt the middle class, the elderly, the infirm, children, women and generally most of the citizens in this country won't convince them you're looking out for their best interests. Up is not down and right is not left.  Right is not even right, in this instance.  How can one party be so 'against' everything that helps the majority of Americans?

The tragedy of the Republican Party is that it has become the party of rabid Christian, bible-thumping white men who pick and choose the parts of their bible which they think authenticates their perverse, misogynistic view of the world.  Those GOP women who agree with them are from a different era when women still "had their place."

The Republicans are not even a whole party anymore.  They are populated by so many Tea Party members, people who are hell bent on destroying the government, people who believe that most, if not all, of government is useless and has no place in a free society. 

The Republicans/Tea Party are not interested in what's good for the country.  Marco Rubio, no matter how he is packaged, can't salvage the savage attacks on President Obama, immigrants, women, the old, the young, the middle class.  He just can't make it all go away, regardless of how well he speaks Spanish or tries to appear as if he cares.  It's just too obvious the he and the rest of his party care only for their billionaire handlers, big corporations and getting the rest of us to pay their way.

Marco Rubio isn't the great hope for the GOP in 2016.  They are just wrong for America.

I may be liberal but...

I may be liberal but I'm not crazy.  Democrats, liberals, and progressives, for the most part, have not gone off the deep left end of the political spectrum.  We are patriots, we are intelligent, we think things through, we analyze. We understand that this is a country blessed by people who have come here for better lives, lives that give them  freedom from tyranny and fear.  America is indeed a smorgasbord of ideas, of individuals who bring their hopes, their dreams, their traditions and beliefs, their skills and abilities.  But mostly, they bring their desire to live in a country which values individual rights, justice for all its citizens and the freedom to be heard, respected and valued.  We were a country which produced the best and the brightest.

But, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.  Thanks to the Republican Party which has been taken over by the Tea Party, the ideals that I thought described what the United States was all about are systematically and deliberately being sabotaged, state by state, and through the obstinate and narrow mindedness of a group of people intent on denigrating our first black President at every turn.  The vitriol, the venomous comments, the intent to thwart everything Democrats propose, regardless of whether it benefits the country is beyond reason.  They have decimated every program that benefits the elderly, the young, and the infirm. The twisting of words, the outright lies, the breaking of unions, the disparaging of teachers, police officers, and firefighters, the  attempt to dismantle the government's ability to protect the environment, to educate every child, the effort to privatize everything so that corporations can squeeze humongous profits , using race-based politics, the gutting of regulations insuring the safety of of our citizens, the insertion of Christian-based beliefs into law contrary to the separation of church and state, insisting that this is a "Christian" nation when it most definitely is not, denying healthcare to millions of Americans...this is the Republican way.

It is the road to Fascism, led by a selfish, self-absorbed, bible-thumping cadre of insolent, contemptuous, disrespectful, homophobic, racist, and bigoted people from a segment of the American populace who have become the most intolerant human beings the United States has ever experienced. It is criminal, it is shameful, it is unpatriotic, it is un-American, and it is a disgrace.   And they must not be allowed to strip this country of its claims to democracy, freedom, opportunity for all and the pursuit of happiness for every citizen.  We must not let anyone "take our country back."  We must take our country forward, ensuring equal rights for everyone, a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people", not run by the rich and their corporate friends.   Republicans are against a real democracy; Democrats are for a real democracy.  It's an easy decision for those who really care about the welfare of the citizens of the United States.