The Evolution of a Liberal

I know I alluded to a blog about Rick Perry, and that's coming.  However, a dear friend of mine at the reunion this weekend suggested I blog about this, so consider this personal reflection a little something extra.

This past weekend, I attended my class reunion.  We were invited to bring our memorabilia to the event to share with everyone.  Tucked away in my sophomore yearbook were several old football programs and a basketball program that I thought would be fun to share with everyone.  Since it had been at least a decade since I had really looked at them, I eagerly glanced at them in order to remind myself about those days.  I began to giggle as I saw the stars I had put next to the football players I thought were so cute back then.  But my giggles turned to a huge gasp and utter shock when I saw that I had written “fag” next to the picture of one of the coaches.  Did I write that?  I don’t even remember that man.  I don’t think I ever talked to that man—EVER! 
Waves of shame washed over me as I quickly looked through all the programs, to exclude any that might have those references.  My first reaction was that I would bury the evidence hide the hideousness that had spewed forth from my hand.  Who was that girl who had written those things?  The woman reading them back certainly would have disliked her intensely had they come face to face. 

But then I remembered the insecure teenager who would do anything to get accepted and loved.  Those weren’t my words.  I have a vague recollection of liking someone who was on the football team and he called the coach that name.  Since I wanted to be liked and accepted, and group hatred is cheap and easy way to accomplish that goal (or so it would seem) I think I wrote the word so he (that is the guy I liked and admired so much that I defaced my football program, and yet haven’t the vaguest recollection of whom it might be) would like me.  It didn’t work.  Hatred never does. 

And yet, I can’t help feeling that the worst part of this story is not the word, but that it wasn’t my word.  It was the word of someone else which I regurgitated like a pea brained parrot, trying to get a treat.  The mind that was churning and the heart that was yearning to step up and say “this is wrong,” were igniting, but insecurity was dousing them at the slightest hint of a flame.  I wasn’t ready.  I didn’t know that picking up the cause of something that is good and right, just because it is good and right, and not because I get a direct benefit from it, is the truest and surest way to empowerment.  I didn’t know the strength that this one small girl had inside of her, if only she’d try.  And because I didn’t know, I must offer that truly dislikable girl an olive branch.  She can’t be faulted for what she didn’t know then, because she did learn from it.   And that girl and all of her mistakes would give birth to the woman I am today. 

So I gathered up those programs and took them with me to the reunion.  And really, no one cared what I wrote on them.  The fact is, my classmates were too thrilled by the memorabilia to be offended by the offhand comment of a 15 year-old school girl.  My goal was to bring joy to my fellow alumni, and I accomplished that.  I offered an apology for any offensive remarks, but I don’t think I even needed to do that.  The word “fag” didn’t brandish me as a hypocrite, because even as the seasoned woman I am today, I still have much to learn.  And today’s lesson is a review of the chapter “it’s not always about me.”

To Wisconsin and Beyond

Last November, the Tea Party claimed all sorts of victory when they took "back America."  Cries that the American people had spoken filled the air, and people like Michelle Bachmann and Eric Cantor, smugly pontificated about how the American system was broken and they were going to fix it.  But they never said exactly HOW.

Shortly after taking office in Wisconsin, the elected representatives of the Tea Party began implementing a plan that no one signed on for.  They systematically began an assault on one of the cornerstones of our American society: our worker's rights.  Rights that many of our grandparents fought for.  Rights that ensure that we in America have a standard of living which has been the envy of everyone else in the world.  Rights that many countries we used to look down our noses upon, have copied and implemented for their people.

Tomorrow, on August 10, less than a year after the Tea Party "(Took) Back America," as our entire economy seems to be imploding, Wisconsin will be holding an election that may very well be our only hope for solvency.  They have the ability to erase much of the wrongs which happened last November and if they do, it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the country follows suit. 

I personally think that all the recalls will go through and that the entire state of Wisconsin will go blue.  However, I am also sheltered by my liberal friends and my emotional need at this time to keep hope alive by listening to people who, like me, think that the Tea Party didn't "Take Back America" as much as they "Kidnapped America, Beat it to a Pulp, Held it for Ransom and Will Probably Kill it Anyway."  Okay, so maybe it isn't the catchiest campaign slogan but it seems to be true. 

I am truly optimistic that tomorrow's election in Wisconsin will be the shot heard round the world.  Tomorrow's election will be the beginning of America fighting back.  Tomorrow's election will prove to the rest of the world that we the people are paying attention.  We the people do know exactly which  people are responsible for the economic mess we are in.

What I'm not so sure about is how long this message will last.  While I do believe it's true that the Tea Party is responsible for the actual policies and stall techniques that have brought us to this point, even more responsible are the people who don't vote.  The people who, up until now, haven't been paying attention.  People who spend nearly all their downtime watching sports or reality television because politics is "boring." 

To them I say this:  you know what's even more boring than politics?  Unemployment.  But you know what's not boring?  Poverty.  Get off your fat ass, turn off the television, wake up and look around!!! You have no one to blame but yourself if you didn't vote.  Tomorrow is your opportunity to make a difference.  Tea lies.  Tea is incompetent.  Tea doesn't really care about you half as much as it cares about the boss that fired you so there are all the facts you need.  Tea isn't about making your life better as much as it is about making sure they win at all costs. 

If you live in Wisconsin, you need to get out and vote tomorrow.  You need to recall all the jerks that were elected last November and you need to put the right people into place.  The right people who are true and patriotic Americans that love this country more than they love their party.  The rest of America is depending on you to fire back with a vengeance.  The rest of America is counting on you to reclaim our country.  The rest of America wants you to Flush the Tea. 

How Atheists in America will Preserve Christianity

This weekend I was at a fantastic conference for women bloggers through BlogHer.  The keynote speaker the final day we were there was Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo.  One of the things she said struck me as outrageous.  She was listing ways in which the world has changed globally.  She listed things like a shift of economic growth and power primarily from the west to include the east; a shift from women not being very important to women being a key factor in economic growth; a shift from a world where church and state were separate to a world in which they are becoming one again.  WTF? 
Now I might be misinterpreting her intent here, but all the other examples she gave were directions that showed growth and progress.  They were going from negative to positive.  So I believe she was inferring that this was positive movement.  If she wasn't inferring approval of this shift, as CEO of a global corporation, she certainly gaffed then.  However, her gaff gives me the opportunity to point out one very key thing to Christians:  eroding separation of church and state will ultimately eradicate Christianity.
Demographic shifts in population growth in the U.S. and the rest of the world put Islam as the fastest growing religion today.  In less than 50 years it will be the worlds dominant religion and I believe that in the United States that it will be the same.  Research in this area is difficult, because it is usually funded by groups with a vested interest in a certain outcome.  But nevertheless, across the board all surveys show that Islam is gaining members and Christianity is losing members.  Regardless of the timeline, it's only a matter of when. 
When this happens, the "gains" that Christians think they are getting by homogenizing religion and government and legislating according to the precepts of their religion, will be the very precedent that Islam will be able to use to enforce Sharia law at a secular level when it becomes the dominant religion.
Here's the argument: we live in a country that is based upon democratic principles and as such if we were to repeal the portion of the 1st Amendment (and even with the freaky five that are on the Supreme Court now and the asinine way they have been ruling lately I hardly doubt that would truly come to pass, but nevertheless, there are those people who would like it to be that way and I never thought they would completely rule against our political system they way they have, so anything is possible) it would mean that the religion with the most adherents would be the dominant religion.  When that religion becomes Islam, Sharia law will have the precedent it needs to become the law of the land.  Upon that happening, it would be possible for Christianity to be outlawed altogether. 
Now it's important to note that this is the worst case scenario and fairly far fetched- but then so was the collapse of our economy and the downgrading of our credit rating and both of those things have come to pass too.  When idiots like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry are out there displaying their Christian flag higher than their American flag, I think we have much to worry about.  And I think it's important to note that I don't mean to demean or in anyway diminish Islam.  Sharia law is fine for people who chose to adhere to it personally for themselves.  It becomes a problem when they want to impose it on others (even members of their own faith). 
Which leads me to the conclusion of my premise.  Atheists, agnostics, skeptics and apathists like myself, are the ones who are best suited to keep that precedent from occurring.  By not adhering to any religious belief we are the ones who will be best suited to make sure that all religions are treated equally.  We are the ones who will protect all religions equally.  By allowing those who are free from religion to legislate, we are really protecting those who most benefit from freedom of religion.  

The turd that raised the debt ceiling.

Generally speaking, I am not usually a conspiracy theorist person.  In my opinion, conspiracies are almost impossible to pull off because people are human and humans have emotions and egos.  People who are evil enough to pull off most conspiracies will usually also be very untrustworthy gatekeepers for a conspiracy.  So in order for a conspiracy to work, it would be necessary for everyone involved to have their hands equally dirty so that their secret can be kept, and even then that won't stop one of the conspirators from "cutting a deal."  That's why conspiracies involving 9/11 and Humans going to the moon, in my opinion are complete garbage. 
That being said, I would like to pose for you one conspiracy that I think that has taken place.  Now mind you, I have no facts about this.  Merely speculation and logic.  This theory involves the recent debacle with the debt ceiling and the turd sandwich congress passed that is essentially bringing down our economy and will be the economic undoing of the United States of America.
I would like to you to go back a few weeks when the big thing in the news was none other than Rupert Murdoch.  That lasted about a week.  Juxtapose that to the Casey Anthony trial before that which went on and on and on for several weeks.  Murdoch was in hot water.  He was being grilled by Parliament and decried by every political pundit out there until... warnings of the debt ceiling and rumblings from congress saying that they weren't just going to raise the debt ceiling but rather they wanted change.   And who was rattling their sabre the loudest?  Murdoch's darlings in the Tea Party.  And what did they end up doing?  Creating a turd sandwich so large that America will be eating it for decades. 
With all eyes off Murdoch, it went completely unnoticed that his son, James Murdoch, was reaffirmed as Chairman of the Board for British Sky Broadcasting.  In case you didn't know, Newscorp (Rupert Murdoch's company which owns Fox News) was set to purchase the controlling shares of BSkyB before it was forced to drop its bid because of the phone hacking scandal.  This would have made Newscorp the dominant media company in Brittan and therefore, it would have resulted in something akin to all propaganda all the time for England. 
As it stands, there is so much drama still going on with the Murdochs that I'm surprised they haven't turned it into a reality show yet.  First, they stopped paying the legal fees of the private investigator they used to get all the information for the hacking.  Second, two people very high up in Newscorp have come forward to say that James Murdoch, might have been very mistaken when he said he had no knowledge of the phone hacking.  There are no names of these two yet, but given that the private investigator will likely not be able to defend himself any longer, it is likely that he will quickly cooperate with authorities and spill everything he knows.  I suspect that the younger Murdoch is going to bet his cards on a game of  "he said, she said."
But back across the pond, we have our debacle.  We're scarcely paying attention to the House that Murdoch Built because we are watching our economy disintegrate before our very eyes.  Like the Twin Towers that crumbled before our eyes, our economy is doing the same.  Ironically, when Bin Laden attacked on 9/11 he said it was his goal to financially ruin the United States.  And now it looks like with the help of the Tea Party, his goal has been accomplished.  Who needs terrorists when you have idiots in positions of power?

Huffington's Hypocrisy

What? The Huffington Post?   But I thought they were supposed to be the good guys.  They're good as long as you cow tow to their Spanish Inquisition tactics when you have something to say about one of their articles.  I suppose at this point you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about?

It all started this morning when I got up and checked the front page of the Huffington Post to see that Newt Gingrich may not have the money to actually run for President (Wow Newt- way to show you have fiscal management skills).  In addition to this interesting headline was another one directly involving my congressional critter, Darrell Issa.  Those of you who know me better know I have a plethora of pet names for him, including Darrell Issa-hole and Darrell the Douche.  However, now the company he founded and is still on the board of directors apparently hasn't been paying the tariffs on the products they are having manufactured in China.  Of course I, never at a loss for the written word, wrote the following comment:

 "As one of Sir Douche-a-l­ot's constituen­ts, I can't tell you how corrupt this guy is. In addition, he outsourced thousands of jobs in his district to China. Furthermor­e, if you go to the web page, it will claim that the products are made in the U.S.A!!! Why would anyone vote for this guy?"

Unfortunately, my comment never got published (which has become a daily occurrence for me- at least one or several of my comments will not be published with no explanation).  However, with this one I pressed it up.  I wrote them a note asking for the explanation why it was denied.  I received a response from Stephanie H., User Support Specialist, Huffington Publications.  This was Stephanie's reply:

"This particular comment is unacceptable because you use the pejorative nickname of 'Sir Douche-a-Lot' to refer to Rep. Issa. This name calling is unacceptable and does not contribute to the dialog. If you were to resubmit it with his name or anything other than insulting name calling, the comment would likely be approved."

Now I could understand if I used profanity and even if I name called another reader, but referring to a public figure in a satirical way?  Really?  What gets me most about this is that the Huffington Post makes money off of First Amendment rights and yet denies those same rights to other people!! In addition, if I were someone like Bill Maher or Jon Stewart and used this name, they would have printed it.  This is selective censorship coming from a company that calls itself a "communications" company.  In my book this makes them not very much different from Fox News.

And if you look at my comment I call Darrell Issa corrupt.  But they aren't upset about that name, but rather the name Sir Douche-a-lot!  That's like going to a movie and seeing a woman get killed and being upset because you saw her breast.  Seriously?  I was starting to think that the Huffington Post was a credible news organization after being fairly skeptical about it for a year or so now.  Now I find this!  

A credible news organization would realize that the point of the comment was very important- namely that this guy is no good and doesn't really give two hoots about his district, constituents or even the integrity of the position he holds.  I hope that everyone will keep that in mind before linking to any of their stories.  Arianna, is this what AOL has done to you?

Reflections on Safety vs. Freedom

I have long maintained that democracy died in America on January 20, 2001- the day George W. Bush assumed the office of President of the United States of America, even though the people had voted in Al Gore as President.  9/11 gave Bush the excuse he needed to begin destroying the Constitution.  Aided by the traitorous media outlet known as Fox News, a propaganda spin capitalizing on the fears of an undereducated and self absorbed population the Patriot Act was passed as a knee jerk reaction to keep you and me "safe."  Since then the erosion of the power of individual human beings in our "free" society has continued to be hacked away by Orwellian type crises after crisis.  Yet how much danger were we really ever in and how necessary are all these precautions?
I don't mean to minimize the tragedy of 9/11.  Somewhere around 3,000 innocent Americans died that day (that we know of) and to my knowledge, it is the worst terrorist attack in history.  However, I would like to put 3,000 lives in perspective here:  those lives constituted less than 1/2 or 1% of New York City's entire population.  As for the entire population of the U.S., that amount wouldn't even be enough to register as a negligible amount.  Most terrorist attacks take out, at most, a few dozen people.  Our chances of getting killed in a car crash are astronomically greater.
Now according to the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) Bureau of Transportation Statistics in 2010 over 600 million passengers flew on airplanes.  While this is a raw number of bodies in seats on any given flight (and realize that some people are on more than one flight and travel more than once per year) if we divide that number by 365 days, we get  1,724,705 people flying per day.  A pure raw guess on my part would be that roughly 1/3 of those people would be double counted, so with my adjustment I would say that the actual number would be closer to 1,149,803 individuals flying on any given day in the U.S. who are subjected to the abuse of power that our government is perpetrating on us in the name of "safety." 
Michigan has passed a law saying that a person's smart phone can be seized during a routine traffic stop so that all of their locations during the past year can be reviewed and that information used against them in a court of law.  And today I read that the sheriff in Crown Point Indiana has said that if they need to conduct random house searches without a warrant, they will.
At what point to do we recognize that we are throwing away our precious freedom for a miniscule threat?  This is akin to trying to earn one's income by playing the lottery every week.  Or tearing down the house in order to kill a spider.
Things get even more macabre when we look at the private security corporations that have all but replaced our military.  Private mercenary armies stockpiled with enough munitions to kill every man woman and child in the state of New York and who have no allegiance to our country.  We've paid these companies the equivalent of the GDP of some small countries which gives them more power.  When they go into a place and wage their own terrorist attacks, they take out tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people.  Should they decide to turn on us then what?  As our government facilitates these people, they grow more powerful.  They become a military arm for the corporations.  Should they want to stage a coup, they could do it and we wouldn't even know.  Maybe they already have.

Barack Obama the Telenovela.

I was first introduced to Barack Obama when he announced his candidacy for president.  I wish I could tell you that it was love at first sight- but alas- my political affections lay with his opponent, Hilary Clinton.  Through the campaign, and the turmoil of her struggle of gender versus race, I found myself becoming more and more attracted to the tall man who spoke with such eloquence.  I knew very little about him, but was sworn to hate him for what he was putting my lady through.  But still...
It started innocently enough.  The stolen speech viewed when none of my Hilary friends were watching.  The quickening of my heart when he spoke of healthcare reform.  But true to my word, I stuck with my lady to the end.  And when she pledged her loyalty to Mr. Obama, I was both saddened and at the same time overjoyed.  At last, I could openly profess my love for the black man.
The campaign was such a lovely and innocent time of courting.  He wooed me with promises of healthcare and ending our involvement with Iraq.  I knew, this was the man that would hold my heart for the next 8 years.  Every once in awhile he would he would surprise me with a gem- repeal DADT or strengthen environmental protection.  I was truly smitten with this man and couldn't wait to give myself completely to him on election day.
I remember that second Tuesday so well.  It started with nervous anticipation, but slowly built into a crescendo of excitement, culminating in an explosion of joy when John McCain conceded the race.  I didn't think things could get much higher but then he appeared on stage and spoke.  He spoke of hope and change and I marveled at the things his tongue could do.   At the end of the night, I collapsed in a heaving mass of ecstasy eagerly anticipating the festivities of the coming weeks when my love would give himself completely to me.
On January 20, 2010 our union became complete, when the man that I so passionately loved, swore an oath of loyalty.  Our vows became complete.  For better or worse, we were promised to each other for at least the next 4 years.
The passion of the first year never waned.  Day after Day, my love would deliver me to new heights as he stealthily applied stimulus in ways I never imagined possible.  But still, he could only do so much.  When he announced that we were pregnant with a healthcare bill, I was over the moon!!
But unfortunately, our love wasn't safe.  Marauders from Fox News and conservative talk radio were stalking us and our unborn baby.  They were relentless with their talk of death panels and medical nightmares.  But in the end, our love persevered, and our baby was born.  Unfortunately, the raping and pillaging of the bill had taken its toll and the poor thing was severely underweight and vulnerable.  That's when the fighting started.  
I would remind him that he promised me a single payer baby.  And he would counter that it was better than no baby.  By the later part of 2010 things were strained between us.  We were still spending trillions in Iraq and unemployment was still close to 10%.  Stimulus just wasn't having the same effect on me as it used to.   Then he delivered unto me a healthy child-- the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell.  It was a beautiful bill and I hoped that this baby would at least bring my love to his senses and he would now pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq.
But then the 2010 election happened.   Something changed in him.  He was no longer talking about hope and change, but rather, he began talking about cutting spending and when I asked him point blank about the Bush Tax cuts, he amazed me by hesitating.  He had never hesitated with me before, but now he was.  More and more frequently he was coming home with conservative stench all over him.  But then he did it.  He did it in public and he did it without a care for me.  He slunk behind closed doors with Boehner and his band of pimps and emerged with the Bush Tax Cuts on his arm.  I couldn't believe that he would throw everything we had away for tax cuts!!  I began packing my bags.  There was no hope for our love anymore.  Not if he could betray me like that.  Not with Bush.  I could forgive him anything but that.
He begged me to stay by extending unemployment benefits.  He reminded me that we had a sick healthcare bill together that needed us.  In the end I decided to stay for the sake of the senate.  They were the innocent ones who needed us to stay together if there was any hope of a reconciliation it would come from them.  Today my president and I have a strained civility that is shows the scars hard times.  Oh every once in awhile he woes me with talk of peace and I really think he was listening when I told him that I didn't want Libya to turn into another Iraq.  In the end, I suppose time will tell whether or not our love will last four more years and he would once again have me mind, body and soul if he would just get rid of those tax cuts.  But I'm not holding my breathe.