Lies

Everyone abhors lies and liars right?  Everyone lies?  Even if they set out to be totally honest in their interactions with others, at some point individuals will inadvertently tell a lie, either through carelessness, misunderstanding or by the convenient omission of the truth.

In my own personal life I strive to always tell the truth because I really never want to be found to be incorrect when spouting off my opinion or facts that I have somehow ascertained.  I expect people I deal with in business and my personal life to be equally honest and truthful.    I especially hope that our elected official and candidates for office will be truthful and honest and display the highest level in integrity in their communications with their constituents.  I know some of them have proven to be more than humanly fallible and failed the American people miserably (i.e. Richard Nixon, John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin, etc.,). 

So, I have a question for you.  How can it be that one of the leading candidates currently campaigning to lead our country is found and proved to be lying every single day of the campaign?  I recently read a great article sent to me by my friend Holly, written by Michael Cohen who writes on guardian.co.uk.  He meticulously spells out the pattern of lies that Mitt repeats daily, despite being disproved or disavowed by credible authorities.  It hasn’t stopped Mitt one little bit.  To read the entire (rather lengthy ) article go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/21/mendacious-mitt-romney-bid-liar-in-chief?INTCMP=SRCH

Also see Rachel Maddow’s blog community page and compare the data compiled by Steve Benen, a blogger and producer. http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12010806-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xx?lite

When asked how he gets away with it, Benen replies, "Romney gets away with it because he and his team realize contemporary political journalism isn't equipped to deal with a candidate who lies this much, about so many topics, so often."

Romney is charting new and untraveled waters in American politics. In the process, he is cynically eroding the fragile sense of trust that exists between voters and politicians. It's almost enough to make one pine for the days when Sarah Palin lied about "the Bridge to Nowhere".

How long will the media give Romney a pass?  How long will he go against the very standards of his own church that purportedly values honesty?  Is the church expendable as long as he gets the presidency that he feels so entitled to?   How long will his nose actually get?

Too Much!!!!

When is too much too much?  When is it way over the top?   Where did the respect go?  Respect for our fellow citizens, for each other, for elected officials, for the Office of the President of the United States?

It starts at the top when someone in authority or aspiring to power pretends not to hear a derogatory comment or they choose to interpret it as harmless and inconsequential.  When the so called leader refuses to refute or even repudiate a slur or accusation that is basically an out and out lie, they are in essence giving credence to the lie.  The enormous amount of race-baiting and racist inuendo in our country's politics is alarming.  "The president is a Muslim"; Black people want to just lounge on the safety net built by hard working White Citizens".  "Black youth are all strong and dangerous to White people in particular - you had better buy a gun to protect yourself when they inevitably will come to car-jack your vehicle.  You can always through the gun away later and claim self-defense."  These last words come from the writings of a current presidential candidate (Ron Paul).  "I don't want to take money away from hardworking white people and give it to Black people"- Rick Santorum.  When Chuck Grassley of Iowa calls the president stupid in Social media,  or Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina yells out 'You Lie' during the State of the Union speech in January 2009.

The loss of decency in our  civil discourse does indeed trickle down.  If people at the top don't need to refrain from derogatory comments about our leaders, then why do we as individual citizens need to do likewise?  It's open season on name-calling, lying through our teeth, and casting aspersions on the 'other side'.  The blatant disrespect shown by Joe Wilson was so enamored by gun lovers that the line has been commemorated on a line of AR-15 assault rifles by being etched on the metal plate.


As a former teacher, I recall all too clearly how name calling and bullying almost invariably lead to fisticuffs if not out and out violence on the playground.  Quite often it spilled out into the community following the dismissal of school.   My perspective today is that the harsh, vitriolic language being used at the higher echelons of our political rapport is rubbing off and spilling out on all of us as American,  and we have no one to hold us accountable because the leaders are so engrossed themselves in one-ups-manship in an effort to make the other guy or other side look bad, they can't restrain themselves long enough to caution us on the dangers of deriding and denigrating each other.  What is to really be won when in effect you will end up with a populace incapable of being governed peacefully or bi-partisanly?  Is our future to be based totally on who can call out the worst and loudest names or challenges.  Have the most derogatory commercials.  Tell the most lies.  On who can tarnish the reputation and character of the other guy the most?  


Have we totally forgotten how that diverse group of founding fathers worked together, sometimes against their own interests, to bring together a nation founded on ideals that would benefit all of it's citizens, not just the privileged or wealthy?  We haven't reached the pinnacle of that dream yet, and we never will if we can only look forward to name-calling and destructive dialogue, rather than holding our elected leaders accountable for being the best they can be, as well as doing what is best for all of their constituents.  

Decisions and Actions

Part 1

This is an exciting time in my life.  It gives me pause to reconsider many of the decision and actions I have taken over the course of 65-plus years.  I have so many regrettable decisions, but I also have a million good ones that I consider with awe. 

When you are eighteen and just leaving high school, you literally have the world ahead of you.  It's a big, unknown, scary world that you are going to be asked to navigate by yourself.  Forge the way for your future without the wise leadership of your wise parents (funny, how they didn’t always seem so wise in the not too distant past) and family?

So many questions…

·      What kind of job?

·      Should I still continue to go to school?

·      Should I get married soon, while I am still young?

·      Will I still stay in this community that has nurtured me?

·      Will my friends remain a part of my life?

·      Literally, where do I go from here?

·      Should I get married or not?

One thing seems obvious – you’re lucky enough to be in Southern California, Sooooo, let’s go to the beach!!!!  No problem.

Today, I approach decisions and actions from a totally new perspective.  Unfortunately, it still involves fear.  It is scary to contemplate the waning years of your life knowing that resources (mainly money) will be more and more limited, and that energy and enthusiasm can be sapped by the day-to-day problems of a senior citizen.  While individuals and agencies that provide for health care and social needs are still available, that too is had at an alarmingly increasing cost. 

The government and agencies that we used to trust and count on for their integrity and good will toward all American citizens no longer really exists nor represents the best interests of the citizenry as a whole; but only their own few vested interests.  Representatives only want to court corporations and entities that will fill their pockets and help them get re-elected.  Our courts are tainted by political affiliations and a lack of concern for true, balanced and fair decisions that will assure justice for years to come.

I never really anticipated feeling helpless or hopeless in my life and so far I still don’t.  I can see however, how some individuals who don’t have the modest financial security or familial support that I do, might feel an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.  I feel bad that you are considered a blight on society if you are old and are in need of assistance of some kind.   It is also true if you are in need because of bad decisions that you have made at some point in your life and are now suffering (living in the) consequences.  

I feel overwhelmed by the challenges that face us as individuals and as a country.  No one is given a pass as we make decisions that will impact our children and grandchildren’s future.  We should be afraid – very afraid that our way of life will soon disappear and we will become an Oligarchy where only the very rich and powerful have control and are able to live a good life.  The American Dream in severe jeopardy….  Oh dear, what more can I do?  What more can I say?  One thing seems obvious – although I’m not still living in Southern California, I still say, let’s go to the beach!!!!  However, please understand there will be problems and consequences if that is all we do.

March against the 'War on Women'

Joyce's Photo Essay

April 28, 2012 - Denver, CO

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Women are Mad and They will Remember in November

Last week I attended the We Are Women Colorado march against the War on Women.  There were women of all ages, ranging from great-grandmothers to infant girls.  Most refreshingly, there were many men supporting their women as well.  We met at Civic Center Park in Denver and heard lots of enthusiastic speakers including, politicians, candidates and civic leaders.  A great band ‘Foxfield Four’ provided great music and even a mini-concert at the conclusion of the march.

I came away exhausted but exhilarated by the participants, the music and some much needed exercise.  We walked around the Civic Center and the State Capitol before retuning to the park.  The Denver Police department were great, holding the traffic at all intersections to allow all marchers to cross. 

  

The big message is, Women don’t want to go back to the 60s and seventies to the days where you were literally doomed to reproduce on a whim rather than plan your life and have a successful career in addition to having the number of children you can afford to care for and feed.   They are not going to vote for the party (Republicans) that has legislatively attacked women’s economic and reproductive rights and have even bigger plans to do away with it in a Republican administration.  Just look at the 29 states with anti-abortion governors that are a part of the 2010 sweep of Tea-Party governors and legislators who have already introduced or passed such laws at the state level.  What out for that boiler-plate legislation that has been written by groups like the Koch brothers and American Crossroads (Karl Rove’s group).  The overwhelming Republican votes against the ‘Violence Against Women Act’ and the unrivaled attempts to get rid of Planned Parenthood, the largest health-care provider for women in our country.  In addition they are trying to get rid of numerous federal programs that aid women and children. 

 

I won’t say more, I’ll let my photos and their signs tell the story! These women aren’t going to be putting any aspirin between their legs!  Vote for the people who best represent your interests.  Vote Democratic!!!!    See my March against the War on Women post to see the photos!

Participate in the Democratic Process

  This means more than just voting!

I just spent a month participating in the American election process.  My first participatory endeavor was to attend the Colorado Democratic Convention in Pueblo, CO.  There were lots of enthusiastic people and all of them, to a person were pledging to help re-elect President Barack Obama in December.

It was a diverse group of citizens representing all ages, all ethnic groups, men and women and an age span that defies enumerating. It was exciting and refreshing to be in a group that actually looks like America.  Even more refreshing was the unified commitment to fighting against the Republican rhetoric that Corporations are not people. Another recurring theme was that Big Money is not going to take away our constitutional Rights and control our government.

Everyone attending had been elected from their precinct or district to speak on behalf of the constituents they represented.  My big hope is that the rest of the Democratic electorate will be as excited and as committed to keeping our country and it’s citizens safe.  I hope they are Committed to keeping our middle-class, seniors and students safe from pernicious budget cuts that will disable us and send us into the same tailspin as Europe is experiencing.  We want to put people to work, re-building the infrastructure, repairing roads and bridges that are in danger of collapsing.  Put construction workers to work rebuilding our schools and other public buildings.

We all must take part.  No one can stand back and expect the other guy to do it!  The time is now for all of us to act.  We are making progress out of the 2008 recession, but we have a ways to go yet.  We don’t want to go back 50 or 60 years to the period that Republicans want to take us.

Here are some points to remember:

The stakes couldn’t be higher….

Major pushback points:

1.   Mitt Romney has been radically anti-women in the primaries

2.   Mitt Romney wants to repeal Affordable Health Act (Obabmacare)

3.   Mitt Romney Constantly shifts positions

4.   Mitt Romney Economic plan heavily favors the billionaires over the middle class

5.   Mitt Romney backs the Ryan Budget and wants to end Medicare as we know it.  Wants to put Seniors on a voucher system

Democrats need to spend the next 6-1/2 months hammering these points home.  Don’t let the etch-a-sketch candidate move back to the middle

·      Opportunity exists only for the top 1% in our country

·      We want full healthcare

·      Safe environment

·      We only need 25 seats to win back the house

·      Repeat continuously, Osama Bin Laden is dead and Detroit is alive!

Republicans vs. Democrats will be clearly defined in this election

                    R = reverse                  D = drive or forward

Some of the things Democrats want:

1.   To make sure every eligible citizen can vote

2.   Battles against women that were fought 50 years ago have to be won again

3.   College opportunity for all kids

4.   Support for the Asset and Dream Act

5.   Fairness for all

This will be the biggest grass-roots campaign in history!  Get involved!!!  Join Organizing for America when they call and ask for you help.  Even if you only have an hour to give, it is better than sitting back doing nothing.  More than ever we have a chance to make a difference in the outcome of this election.  Be sure to see the DVD “The Koch Brothers Revealed”.  It is available at your friendly , nearby Organizing for America meeting.

Who’s Watching Out for Us?

EPA or Congress?

Sadly, It May be No one!

They should actually give you a greater sense of vulnerability...

The status of corporations in this country place us all at risk and make future generations vulnerable as well.  Everyone hears the cry about pollution and global warming but most people make the decision to let their leaders fight it out.  We can no longer take it for granted that our elected officials will look out for our best interest or even assume they are interested in what our best interest might be. 

A few weeks ago I saw a news cast where Oscar-nominated documentary film maker Josh Fox was arrested and literally thrown out of a Republican led congressional subcommittee hearing simply because the people in charge of the meeting didn’t want to have the session filmed and documented.  It made me more than anxious to find out what it was they were hoping to hide.  That spurred me on to see what it was they objected to.  I implore you to see Fox’s movie Gasland – Can you Light your Water on Fire? ©2010), by Docudramafilms, learn more at docudrama.com.  The film is available from Netflix for rental.  Gasland publicized concerns among critics of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and of the technology’s possible effect on water supplies. The oil and gas industry and its supporters argue that the film misrepresents the risk from fracking, which they say is minute.  This raised my alarm hackles when I realized through the film, that less than 70 miles away in Garfield County, CO, under the corporate banner of Halliburton, among others, this unsupervised and rampant practice is being heavily utilized.  The health and environmental problems that have ensued have had life changing effects on the citizens who live near and around the drilling sites.  The chemicals, both poisonous and hazardous long term to the environment and wildlife, are showing unbelievable damage to victims and the water supply.  Citizens in a Democracy or not expedient!  Politicians are!!!!

This is not my first rodeo round on chemical waste being allowed to permeate the environment in the name of helping industry be more efficient.  In all the years that I lived in West Covina, CA, and worked adjacent to the City of Industry, I never got over the fact that we periodically received letters informing us that carcinogens were being released in the air due to manufacturing processes being used by nearby businesses.   We were also warned periodically not to drink the water at our school site.  I always assumed that this was allowed only because some astute civic agency, or a political or environmental group was working enthusiastically to curtail the practice.  Wrong!  I’ve been in Colorado almost eleven years and according to my former neighbors, it still continues today!  Shameful!   Go to Fracking pro publica at http://www.propublica.org/series/fracking to catch a snazzy and educational music video as well as to read more about the current problems.  We all need to be more cognizant of industry practices and the long-term effects it will have on our lives and the environment we leave our children.  Indeed, lots of jobs are created, but what damage do these chemicals do to the workers themselves?  Our local and congressional representatives are too busy courting these corporations for campaign donations and future job security as lobbyist to care what we need and want!  Stand up, speak out and demand to know!

Costs of Living

How High Can they go?

We didn’t go blindly into retirement.  As is my bent, I studied and researched it thoroughly.  I knew the projected retirement income we would receive after 35 years of gainful employment on my part as well as 10 years of graduate work.  My husband chalked up another 49 years and his income would include Social Security as well as retirement income from his job.  Both of us felt that we would be very secure on our retirement income for years to come.   We were ready for the future!  Bring it on! 

What we didn’t see coming down the road was escalating prices for everything!  Food, fuel, utilities, clothing, travel and healthcare co-pays.  What a shock to the system!  Do we have no recourse?  Do our elected officials not see or feel this unprecedented pinch on our budget.  Where is the outrage and the congressional hearings on gouging by supermarket chains and others simply because they can?  I want to demand a hearing today.  I understand that peanut butter will go up this year because of problems with the peanut crop.  Okay, fine, I accept that.  At least there is a rational explanation. 

Today, I literally hate going to the grocery store.  I have hated it for more than 2 ½ years now and I keep waiting for the prices to stabilize and allow me to budget adequately to put decent, nourishing food on our table.  I have been so appalled at the rapid increase in food prices that I have begun to keep a diary of prices for selected products.   As an example, since 2011 the price of the generic sourdough bread at my town’s Wal-Mart has gone up 16%.    Generic French bread has gone up 7%.  This reflects the overall rise in the prices I pay for everything!  Initially, higher gas prices were blamed for the first severe rise in cost, but since then gas prices here have fluctuated vastly, and for a period of time were relatively low, but none of the prices have come down.  The cost of all commodities continues to go up.  I have a theory that supermarkets continuously change the location of products in the store so that we are so frustrated we won’t be as liable to complain about the price hike when we do find what we came for.  For some reason, after a frantic search, we simply have a sense of relief.

Today we take better care of our cars than ever before in order to postpone the inevitable built in obsolescence we know is coming.  We take advantage of every relevant bargain we come across.  We drive less than ever to conserve on our gas consumption.  We use our fireplace all the time during winter to avoid higher natural gas prices.  I say we are doing everything we can to cope with this situation.  I am truly concerned with family members and friends who don’t have the assurance of a guaranteed monthly income (which doesn’t increase by the way).  Every recent conversation revolves around the high cost of living.

I suspect very strongly that we, the citizens are being manipulated and put  through a corporative ringer and that no one, except the shopper is paying any attention to.  I’m stretching my dollar as much as I can.  Is anyone listening?   I am going to write my senators and congressmen as soon as I finish this post.  Hey, why don’t you join me?  Take a few minutes and contact your representatives too.  You have nothing to lose.  Below is a link that will help you find out how to contact them.  Contact the Congress (there are 539 electronic contacts for U S elected officials as well as their office phone numbers),  either is equally effective in making a point.  Go for it – Express yourself.   http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

The Courage of Your Convictions

   “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

                                                                            Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Do you have convictions?  Strong beliefs about right and wrong, about justice (criminal as well as social), moral obligations, and good old every day ethics!  Do you see regrettable things happening all around you and sometimes feel helpless to stop them.  Do you consider yourself to be a strong, brave and even a visionary leader of sorts?  If you answered yes to any of these questions then you must act!

If you really have the courage of your convictions, you are brave enough to do what you feel is right, despite any pressure for you to do something different.   Sometimes your choice is between doing something different or doing nothing!   The real danger lies in thinking it won’t matter either way.

For generations Americans, great and small, have demonstrated the courage of their convictions in ways that made them vulnerable, disliked, vilified and even made outcasts from their immediate society as well as the greater world at large.   Because they were willing to stand tall and speak out on important issues that face our country they were susceptible to pain, torture and even death.   So think about my question again. Do you have convictions?   Do you have the courage of your convictions?  What are you, individually, or as part of a group, willing to do?  What are you willing to risk, to make sure that America not only lives up to it’s promise but also ensures and disseminates those rights and privileges equitably. 

We all know and readily acknowledge the sacrifices of leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan.  Individuals who also gave their lives and were martyred for what they believed include James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman; and Michael Schwerner, three murdered freedom riders for civil rights.  See this link from the Southern Poverty Law Center http://www.crmvet.org/mem/41lives.htm that lists some individuals you may not have heard of.  They are all listed as martyrs for civil rights in the U. S.  I am positive that the actual number is incalculable.

A story about one such individual that stands out in my mind is that of Harry T. Moore, a former Florida Educator that devoted his life to fairness, social justice and civil rights in a time when the local, state and federal government either had no interest, power or incentive to protect him.   I’ll bet most readers will never have heard of him.  Read more about Harry at http://www.pbs.org/harrymoore/harry/index.html, and see the documentary about his life from PBS, Freedom Never Dies.  He is a real unsung hero.

We must speak up about our beliefs at every opportunity while we can.  Educate your children, family, your friends, your neighbors about what you see as injustices and threats to our freedom.  The worst they can do is reject your message.  In the end, what have you lost?  On the other hand, you may have awakened a fellow vocal patriot!

The Political Money Game

We, as part of the 99%, don't really stand a chance in terms of supporting a candidate or even running for political office ourselves since the U. S. Supreme Court made Citizens United decision legal.  Two years ago the Roberts Supreme Court issued its most controversial ruling to date.  Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, overturned long-standing campaign finance laws restricting corporate political expenditures.  The court reasoning that the political speech of corporations was as important to the marketplace of ideas as the voices of human citizens.    The opinion allowed groups to raise and spend unlimited amounts supporting or opposing candidates.  President Obama criticized the court while delivering his 2010 State of the Union address.  Who can forget Justice Alito shaking his head in denial.   As the rise of the super PACs has already shown in the current Republican primaries, the coming presidential election will be swamped with cash, and our representative democracy will not be better for it.  The transparency that has been so ballyhooed doesn't happen until after the election.  How will you feel when you find out the opposing candidate was backed by a corporation bent on exporting their production to some other country, resulting in many more jobs.  Suppose it is some group of corporations devoted to developing franchises to replace our public schools, civic leadership or even public service employees.  Don't you need to know before you vote?  Or, it would be like sticking your hand in a bag blindly and pulling out your reward for a hard days work.  


Of course, this doesn't take away the blatant dishonesty the permeates the system.  Look at the agendas of Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Mitch Daniels in Indiana who now support laws that take away collective bargaining and even the right to belong to unions.  Stances that were not even mentioned in their platforms as they both ran for governor of their respective states in 2010.  As a prime example of big money influencing politics, research shows that super PACs backed by the notoriously wealthy, Kansas based  Koch brothers lead the way in attempting to control the actions of our elected officials.  In June 2011, near Aspen, Colorado, the billionaire industrialists David and Charles Koch welcomed hundreds of wealthy guests and legislators to the latest of the secret fundraising and strategy seminars they host twice a year.  Political leaders included in the June  strategy meetings (entitled “Understanding and Addressing Threats to American Enterprise and Prosperity”) were governors Rick Scott, Florida, John Kasich, Ohio,  and Bob McDonnell, Virginia.  Rick Perry, Governor of Texas addressed the group on Sunday.   “The purpose of this conference is to develop support for the kind of free-market policies and initiatives that can get our country back on the path to economic prosperity and sustained job creation,” a spokeswoman for Koch Industries told The Denver Post. 

Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch of Koch Industries

Koch Industries is the second largest privately owned company in the United States, and earned $100 billion in 2009.  They have donated more than $100 million to conservative GOP causes over the past three decades, according to a New Yorker profile. The pair have recently donated to tea party groups and organizations opposed to President Obama.  Now, I call that big money.  I call that a threat to fairness and to a true representative Democracy.

Can you imagine the people behind the $16 Million dollars spent by Mitt Romney in bombarding the people of Florida prior to the 2012 Republican Primary?  The airwaves were swamped 24/7 with negative campaign ads against Newt Gingrich.  Rational people in Florida were appalled if not actually repulsed by these practices.  Nonetheless, the less astute populace went for it!  Big money won!

I have nothing against wealthy people running and winning political office.   I do have a problem with people running for office in order to become a member of the 1% themselves, and thereafter doing only what the lobbyist tell them to, as well as everything they can to perpetuate that new found wealth.  Forget what is best for their constituents.  In our system today, it really appears that the citizens back home in their districts are the last things on their minds.  Do they even hear us?  Do nationwide polls mean nothing?  Or, do they just hear the rustle and clinking of money?


If you think you have problems now, just wait until corporations and millionaires fully usurp your voting power and your vote!  People count more than money.  Keep your political power - vote!

“The Good Ol’ Days”

They’re Planning on Bringing Them Back 

Acceptable behavior in the 'Good Ol' Days'

Governor Jan Brewer sticks her finger 

in the face of President Obama - Jan. 25, 2012

We have to take our country back?   We hear this ringing throughout the Republican and Conservative rhetoric that permeates our airwaves currently.  The same rhetoric that is tinged with racist and segregationist ideology from the days of yore.  Only now, in 2011/2012, they usually have a more politically correct way of expressing those same feelings that have long lain dormant put persisted nonetheless.  Some politicians, whether through gaffes, emotional breakdowns, or inexperience state their feelings overtly and proudly, regardless of the consequences at the polls.   Recent incidents demonstrate that these no longer dormant feelings have brought an increased disrespect to the office of the President, simply by virtue of the occupants skin color.  Take our country back from  ‘Whom’?  Didn’t we have a legal presidential and congressional election in 2008 and again in 2010?  Aren’t our leaders the people we elected.

These politicians have been emboldened by the laid back attitude of the larger populace (who seem to think someone else will handle it) and the popularity of the Tea Party attack plan.  Recently, I I found it to be amazing that none of the presidential candidates would stoop (or is that stand tall) to correct an incorrect statement by one of their colleagues when they say something that is overtly untrue or even an outright lie.  When Rick Santorum went along with an audience member in one of his Florida meetings who accused President Obama (once again) of not being an American and said that someone needs to be working to get him out of the white House.  The gist of Santorum’s answer was that ‘he was doing his best to do just that’.  No outcry from the Right to demand that he corrects the impression that he was going along with her accusation.  How about the "You lie!" shout during the President's speech before the joint session of Congress in Sept. 2009.  The posturing, walk-outs 

and tantrums thrown over the debt ceiling debate, which eventually led to our country's credit being downgraded.  Newt Gingrich constantly referring to the President as "the food stamp president" and saying that President Obama "knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit."  Senator Mitch McConnell's bold proclaiming that his main objective as Senate Majority Leader is to make sure that Obama is a one-term president.

Rush Limbaugh, less than a year after President Obama was elected,  saying that he wants to see this president fail.  The rantings of Former Fox News host Glenn Beck declaring on the air that the president "hates white people" and "the white culture."

Take your right to vote seriously.  The power you show at the ballot box will help determine the direction this country will be going in over the next four years.  If you take it for granted, there is a group waiting that has demonstrated that they are willing and ready to return us to a time when things were extremely good for them and the rest of the citizens were on their own.  Safety nets!  Who needs them?  They need more money for Corporations and millionaires so that their leftovers will trickle down to the rest of us.  It has never worked and it never will!

The Conservatives and the Republicans in particular want things to go back to the way they were.  The good ol’ days!  What exactly were the good ol’ days?   A bigger question is who exactly were they good for? 

Acceptable behavior in the 'Good Ol' Days'

Angry white crowds heckling Elizabeth Eckford   

as she approaches Little Rock H. S. - 1957

They were the days when no African-American or Hispanic would even dream that he or she had a chance at being the leader of the free world.  They were the days when voter’s rights were determined on the whim of a majority population who did not consider minorities to be even citizens, much less human.  They were the days when separate but equal was the accepted attitude of legislators, the courts, and the average American as well.  The days when your very life could hang in the balance if you were accused of doing something the majority populace in your vicinity didn’t like or allow.  They were the days when a family member could be abducted in the middle of the night, only to be found beaten and hung in a nearby tree at dawns early light.  The days when you were not granted employment based on your merit, because you had none!  The cruel, unjust and violent Jim Crow Days are mostly associated with the Deep South but were evident in employment, real estate and economic practices all over America.   The 'good ol’ days', who wouldn’t want to go back?  Right?

Acceptable behavior in the 'Good Ol' Days
George Meadows, lynching victim
Jefferson County AL, January 1889

Me, for one!  I am sure I represent a lot of the not so silent majority out there who are still hoping for someone else to handle it!  The reality is that we each, individually, have to fight back to make sure it never happens.

Getting To The Truth of the Matter

The Real American - Photograph by Joyce Corley

Sometimes the greatest failure of all is the failure to act when action is needed. 
                                                                                                                 - John Wooden


I believe in the freedom of speech just as much as the next logical American.   Something I have repeatedly noticed lately is really bugging me today.  

In our system today truth no longer really matters.  Politicians, so-called media stars (read that as Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, etc.) and citizens in general can say whatever they want to without any documented facts to back up the comments they spew.  The lack of accountability on the part of these individuals is totally left up to the audience members, journalist or the interviewer they are speaking with.  I find that so often no one questions the accuracy or truth of their statements even when they are obviously wrong.  

Often, a good journalist will throw out a few facts or poll results to refute what they are saying but a skilled demagogue will brush right over them and continue with their scripted lies.  I marvel at how one politician in particular paints an untrue picture of President Obama every time he speaks.  He has literally made up a new individual to run against.  Despite fact-checker websites and astute print and TV journalists who do point out the inaccuracies they speak, the audience and the populace eats them up.  They literally devour the untrue concepts even when the policies being promoted by the candidate will bring into effect laws and practices that go against their own best interest.  People are just so happy to hear people saying what they themselves believe or want to hear (or what someone else has told them is true) that they never take the time to investigate or read to find out for themselves if they are telling the truth.  It is unfortunate that we as a people are so lazy and so laid back that we will allow ourselves to be bamboozled into believing anything.  If it sparks our emotions or makes us feel good, we’ll go for it. 

American citizens must be more discriminating in selecting their leaders.  The 'Do-nothing Congress' in place right now is a prime example of what happens when we go with our feelings, whether they be liberal or conservative.  So often the comments I hear from fellow citizens and young people sound like their views or positions are meaningless or powerless up against the tons of money being poured into politics today.  How sad, when in reality they are some of the most powerful and influential voices as long as we still have access to the vote.   I believe elected officials need to represent what is best for their constituents and not just what is best for them and their re-election prospects.  We the people must hold them accountable.

You have the power... If you don't vote, don't complain!