Has 9/11 Changed America’s Intelligence?

In my opinion, with an election coming up in 2014 and Congress doing absolutely nothing but forming another committee to try to find unfounded tie-ins with the Obama Administration to scandal, without any proof what-so-ever even existing, we now have another leak being promoted as proof of Government becoming Big Brother in the minds of the paranoid, far-right, far-left with strong support from defense attorneys, and the GOP.

I offer my own opinion in today’s post along with others’ who have been here and done that, and after observing years of trial and error with both the media and politics in general. I remind everyone the Obama Administration is also being accused of spying on individual citizens and the media in an effort to stop the leaks, at the very time they are accused of promoting leaks for political gain, by the exact same politicians and media.

The more the attempts were made by many of the same type of groups during the Roosevelt Administration during the recovery from the Great Depression, and later on the Clinton Administration following the decline of the 1980′s, the more FDR’s and Clinton’s popularity increased with the American public. These Presidents simply did not have as much of the made-up speculation, due to the fact the number of the Conservative and Tea Party groups and Social media have increased greatly during the Obama Administration.

Isn’t it enough that Rep. Isis is calling Eric Holder and President Obama, along with anyone who speaks for the Obama Administration and disagrees with his witch hunts, “Liars?” At no time in history has our President or Attorney General ever been shown such dis-respect by the Congress who are elected to carry out the Agenda of the President or come up with a comparable agenda of their own in order to give aide to the American people in need. Are any of us still so blinded by lies that we believe that Congress is doing their job for the American people?

“Fast and Furious”, proved nothing other than it was the Bush Administration who provided the guns that got into the hands of the drug cartels in Mexico and the Obama Administration did not act soon enough to stop the program, but stop it Eric Holder and his team did, even though the GOP, themselves, initiated the program before President Obama took office. The committee was not even formed until after Eric Holder had already stopped it. This Isis led committee, did not prevent the funding of this witch hunt, by tax payers, over a three year period while a Republican controlled Congress did nothing toward job creation.

We currently have not one but 5 different GOP Congressional committees investigating the exact same unfortunate occurrence that happened in our Embassy, while they still do nothing about job creation, making the changes that they criticize in Obama care, education, or lowering the deficit.

Corporate America is still sitting on a mountain of cash and slow to hire, not only because of European markets, but also because of the uncertainty of Congress to do something in regards to the jobs market. Luckily because of the programs by the Obama Administration, that did not require Congressional over-sight, all areas are improving and 7 conservative Governors, in their own States, are accepting Obama care. They were amongst the most vocal of all conservatives against President Obama’s health care.

9/11 changed the landscape of America forever. We are forced to accept the fact that we will all be monitored in interest of public safety, as a result of the attacks. It is our new reality. Anyone who thought we could continue as a Nation under the same lack of intelligence gathering, as was in place prior to 9/11, just were not considering how wide of a change was needed for government to gather the necessary intelligence to keep us safe.

The press comparing President Obama to George W. Bush is ridiculous except for the fact that both men knew then, as they know now,we have the capabilities to shoot down any attempts to attack America from outside of our borders but the concern must be for gathering of intelligence inside our own borders.

Government then, just as it does now, needed to put together a list of the names and telephone numbers of all of the American people as well as those who are here on visa and green cards, to have a clearer view of the contacts outside of our borders as well as those inside our borders.

Regardless of the media coverage nothing exists that government is doing anything differently from doing exactly that, and in doing so Homeland security is doing their job. Their own Agency was began by the Republican majority, as a new agency to government, following 9/11. Any thing being spoken of as fact beyond this type of gathering is nothing other than pure speculation on the part of both social media as well as previously established media.

If any of us are surprised the intelligence gathering is necessary within our own borders then just where do we think it needs to be gathered? The terrorists attacks, just as the Boston marathon attack, was done by terrorists already inside our borders. They may be influenced or brain washed by outside factions, through the internet, or over-seas visits, but it is inside our Country we need to be the most concern about protecting. I repeat: No one has a better military or defense system than America has, if anyone would decide to attack us from the outside.

Terrorist attacks did not come from outside of United States, but instead by people already here. This means that intelligence gathering occurring in the United States needs to be gathered in the United States.

We have over 1000 hate and subversive groups within our borders who are home-grown. There are any number of groups outside our borders who would work towards gaining sympathizers within our borders and gladly finance terrorism within the borders of our Nation.

In my opinion, taken from already established fact and history, all the media Bru-ha-ha over government over-reaching and paranoia spreading, over being able to trust government, is just more of the same politics being played out on the platform of the media. When they have no proof of the same and the facts speak for improvement in the economy, then attack the current Administration in office. This is especially grievous when those attacks are originating from the exact same sources who are not doing the job for which they were elected. It has always been the behavior of opposing parties but it has never before been when Government is doing their job to protect us.

Are we, as Americans, truly so paranoid we would think Government cares if Johnny is potty trained or if Aunt Mary is going to the casino or if Ethel missed Church on Sunday, and government is listening in and gathering intelligence on the same? There are not enough hours in the day or Agency’s available to spy on the pretty boring and non-eventful not to mention shallow conversations a great deal of us have on both the internet and cell phone.

The media making a mountain out of a mole-hill on a leak of intelligence gathering that should never have happened in the first place is just more of the same, in my view. Are there any Americans left who do not already know that government is hated by the far-right Conservatives, the Tea Party. and Republicans in general, and they pay their own media to promote the same?

Much of the broadcasted attempts by media found to be scandal, are the same behavior and programs that have been used and are currently being used in Corporate at their own conventions in an effort to inspire workers who must sit hours behind a computer program, and to give them a chance to let down their hair. They are seen as a reward for record profits or as a program to motivate the workers. Corporate just as government will use exercise programs to promote the health of their workers. These programs cost Corporate no different from what they do government and are used in an effort to compensate their workers for and to increase productivity.

The deficit is going down, jobs are increasing even with 10,000 Americans per week turning 65, and while many are drawing unemployment benefits until they reach the age of 66 and retire. Other seniors decided to continue to work while drawing Social Security and have since been laid off and continue to draw unemployment along with their Social Security checks. In both cases it shows up on the unemployment records or as people no longer looking for work and helps paint a gloomier unemployment number. The GOP’s refusal to prevent our going over the cliff has hurt job growth just as the uncertainty of Congress acting in regards to unemployment, a poor European market, and a slower demand for product has left big business slow to hire.

Despite All of the GOP investigating committees, instead of doing the job they were elected to do, they cannot discount the economy is coming back with 37% of big business announcing that they will be hiring thus making the economy still stronger by 2014, despite the Senate filibusters and the “do nothing” Congress. When they can’t point a finger of failure at the party in office, or the Obama Administration to be precise, then they will attempt to create scandal based on nothing other than speculation.

Housing is up, interests rates remain low on both housing and student loans, the stock market hit record highs, health care costs are going down, Social Security solvency has risen another 6 years and increased through 2032, despite the rate of retiring Seniors, People who could not buy insurance before and students are now able to buy or stay on their parents’ policies,consumer confidence is up, and Americans are about to see a greater over-all improvement in the economy ahead. America still has an economy that other Nations wish they could come close to matching and which most economist grade a medium to strong B with the majority of all economists being very optimistic about the increased growth over the next 2 years.

If the Republicans do not attack the Obama Administration now, then they will not gain the seats they want in the Senate and Congress in 2014. They and the few members of the far left have plenty of media who will suggest Government is becoming Big Brother even though intellectually they all know or should, that 9/11 changed the nature of intelligence gathering in America forever.

I remind everyone the law of our land based on common sense is, ” The hand of one is the hand of all.” Basically it means that just because the hate propaganda began out of our borders and entered into United States or was already present and home grown, all parties who conspired with or planned or will conspire with or plan attacks in the future, are as guilty as the person who plants the bombs or pulls the triggers.

If Face book, Google, Micro-soft, or Verizon or anyone, for that matter, are knowingly or unknowingly helping Government to track down criminals or terrorists, in an effort to keep Americans safe, where were our minds when it came to the future of intelligence gathering after 9/11?

These same internet groups, along with search engines when we allow them to establish cookies, monitor us anyway, and have always monitored us for far less reason. They want to find out what we like and what we buy and to pass that information on to Corporate America. Haven’t you ever asked yourselves how it is that they have any criminal records, our phone numbers, our credit rating, where we are employed, for a price and made available to anyone who pays for the same, or how they can map us exactly to the houses or apartments we live in?

Chat lines, Twitter, internet dating services, and any social media that have chatting, along with Face book,when we try to increase our friends’ list in an attempt to appear popular, know what we say to any number of strangers we include on our friends’ list. Anyone else who is part of that same Star’s, politician’s or new agencies’ repertoire also have access to what you say.

What we don’t know many times is if the name they are using is real or made up because all they need is an email address. Anyone can get those through any number of outlets such as Hotmail, AOL, I-cloud, or G-mail without showing proof of identity. We don’t even know for sure if they aren’t related to News Agencies, terrorists, criminals, or Big business. They do not just have our information and conversations but also have the same of everyone else on our friends’ list and their friends’ list as well. There was a reason our parents told us not to speak to strangers.

Clearly all of us should have known, if not then but certainly by now, that this is going on. We all need to accept as fact; every time we allow a site or search engine to set cookies, we are being monitored as to what we like, buy, or our public record, and what sites we visit.

Our Social sites very well may be monitored by the criminal element, terrorists, or Big Business, if we are angry or disgruntled Americans who promote hate we can be a candidate to be drafted by subversive or hate groups who are often very charming in their agreement with us, if we have a close relative who dies and they need their ID to use as fake ID, if we sound like people who would make good mules to take drugs across the border or into the United States without suspicion of the same, if we announce plane reservations when we are leaving America and when we are returning and even on what flights, we are often telling the World, come get me.

If we promote hate or swear, or brand others with labels, have a felony record, brag about being wiped out, stoned, or getting drunk, or put nudity in Social venues or on-line and talk about deviant sexual behavior, it can be used as a reason to fire us for our views or behavior. It can also be used as a legal reason as to not hire us in the private sector, when we are qualified in every other way, by Big Business. Americans talk entirely too much about their personal lives and research facts way too little, in life, on cell phones, and on the internet, thinking they some how have anonymity or only their friends can see it.

Government cannot do the same nor can they listen to our conversations but instead they can investigate through phone numbers and internet contacts, any correlation we may have to or with acknowledged and registered hate groups, deviant sexual behavior that is considered criminal, those who have huge potential to turn terrorists through their associations, have legal reasons to be suspected of crime or been found guilty of known criminal activity, or are already known terrorists through gathering of our telephone numbers and internet contacts. This has been the law going back to my farthest memory and way before the establishment of Homeland Security or waaaayy before the establishment of Social media or before the Obama Administration.

Do any of us really mind if government is now doing their jobs more effectively, since too many of us have been too slack in our own behavior of allowing strangers into our lives or our own children on-line? Don’t we need government to monitor or look for that kind of activity in order to keep “We the People”, safe, against our own naivety?

If we want to, instead, become out-raged and believe the media hype and speculation against the Obama Administration and those who protect us; currently being played out by the media, is not for political gain by the conservatives of both parties with strong emphasis on the Tea Party and like members of the GOP in 2014, then what can I say more, than I have already said? Not much. Have a good weekend everyone, knowing no one has the time or hours to spend listening to the mundane subjects and conversations, the great majority of us talk about or are forced to listen to, now or at any time in our lives.

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And So It Goes…………..

While I took a break to remodel, read, paint and to travel I have experienced the dichotomy of the American and political brain when it comes to words not being put forth into actions and the handling of disasters.

Sadness spread by the hurricane on the East Coast followed much later by the tragedy in NewTown, only to be brought to an increased crescendo in Boston and now the disasters in Moore, Oklahoma will certainly(or should) rain on the parade of the Isis witch hunts or the GOP’s strategy sessions to degrade our President’s attempts to help the American middle class even further.

I will explain myself further if I am the only one who is correlating the dichotomy of the contradiction of the American politics in America:

1. At a time that politicians in Oklahoma are passing the personhood bill to ensure all rights of human life to a fetus who in many cases may not even be viable to sustain life outside of the womb and in other cases can lead to the death of a woman, they fail to see the importance of providing tornado shelters for the alive children in their States.

2. AT a time when Isis appears on the network and cable news assuring the public that he is going to work with President Obama to pass immigration changes he continues to attack and berate Eric Holder and President Obama as being in cahoot’s to lie to The American people and of intimidation and corruption, while off camera.

3. While the GOP and Conservatives in the Democrat Party reach out in an effort to express horror over the NewTown shootings they hands down vote down measures that would and do protect the American people and our children from future attacks in our schools, on our streets and in our homes. 

4. The above mentioned; along with the Tea Party, white supremacists groups,members of Washington D.C.’s political power, lobbyists, and our States show up at the NRA Convention where they help promote the lies to the NRA membership of 75,000 strong that these efforts to safeguard our children are only efforts by the Obama Administration and the Liberals to take away their guns.

5. Anyone who can not see the dichotomy of the Tea Party and Conservative cause that bans equal rights to women in their National Platform but profess concern for future generations while professing to be God Fearing and protectors of the Faith, Constitution, and Democracy clearly are not seeing reality.  To continually operate opposite of speech in action is a clear cut reality of not just the far right, Tea Party, and Conservative cause but also of the way too many amongst us vote.

6. The two headed monster of dichotomy in America is alive and healthy in too many of the burbs and rural areas in the Red States and the Conservative hold outs in the Blue States across America.  I noticed the very large billboards advertising the various number of Churches while we were driving into Pensacola Florida. 

Would Christ truly approve of such commercialization knowing over a 5 year period that those billboards cost in the neighborhood of $100,000.00 per sign and each Church has their own sign of advertisement? Couldn’t that money be better utilized elsewhere, since all the churches are also listed in both the motel room directories as well as the yellow pages? 

I also saw many of the Breadbasket and Bible belt States accusing a caring and compassionate Democracy that treats ALL American’s needs as being the practice of Socialism. Those billboards and signs are interspersed amongst the States that claim Christian values along our highways as well.

Since so many, I noticed, are also driving around with bumper stickers that read: “Put Christ back in Christmas,” to the point they fail to see the over-whelming generosity towards the less fortunate and the most innocent amongst us at Christmas time, of non-Christians and Christians alike, is the most Christ-like behavior we can express; couldn’t we argue that perhaps the majority of us are failing to see the obvious while the politicians and their paid for media are playing us for fools because too many of us are disengaged or in denial?

Where is the outrage when the IRS does question legitimately the huge numbers of groups who clearly are political that hides behind Religious or freedom of ideology just to get tax breaks that are not legal? 

Where is the outrage when the same people who start the witch hunts failed themselves to legislate the necessary funds that would have safeguarded our Embassys over seas? 

Where is the outrage when the innocent amongst us are left unprotected because the members of the GOP refuse to allocate the funding necessary to keep our children safe, or for that matter pass laws that would limit the amount of fire power by limiting the number of bullets in the size of the magazines?

We the People keep speaking to the political leaders across the Nation and their reponse is to actually accuse the government for interfering while we continually see the need for government to help us but our elected officials are refusing to do anything that will help us. 

Perhaps the only part of government we truly do need to down size and eliminate are our elected officials in Congress who claim to be on our side when tragedy strikes but votes against us when they have both a moral responsibility to vote for our needs and are elected to show competency as our elected officials.

While the media broadcasts and the GOP tries to tie a link with the mismanaged, scandalous and sometimes misunderstood depts. of government to our President has anyone even noticed that the deficit is going down, the previously uninsured can now get insurance while healthcare costs have gone down, the interests rates charged to students who are interested in improving their education and skills have remained low, the students who wish to go on with their education are now covered on their parent’s insurance, The GNP (Gross National Product) has doubled, housing has gone up and the economy is improving due to the changes made by the Obama Administration that is putting Americans back to work?

Where is the media reporting on the truth when Americans need to know? Hasn’t our President gone the extra step when it comes to tragedy and disaster in our Nation? Isn’t his concern and efforts for immigration change once more being stymied by those who insist they want the Latino and Hispanic vote, as usual? What bill other than the ones that apply to them personally along with their lobbyist, who purchased them, have the Conservatives in the Senate and the Congress passed in the last five years, that they were not pressured into doing because of their fear of not being re-elected? Have we forgotten that they only begrudgingly passed funds necessary to help those hit by the hurricane on our East Coast or to bring relief to the middle class and unemployed?

I will continue staying tuned in with my concerns while enjoying the retirement that my husband and I balanced the budget for that enables our enjoyment in the last quarter of our lives.

Every now and then when nothing has changed; as the GOP readies it’s strategy, with the help of the TEA Party, to enter under qualified candidates who are financially supported in the 100s of thousands and even millions of dollars and owe their souls to the cause of the Tea Party political machine; over those candidates who would put the American people first, I will check in with my readers. The Conservative and Tea Party groups claims of Social ideology over political based control or greed hurts my ears if it doesn’t yours.

With the 2014 elections coming up in less than 18 months can we not all smell the manure of another attempt to denigrate the Obama Administration
with increased witch hunts and lies spread by the Tea Party as we heard in 2010?

My empathy as always is with the suffering and tragedy of the American people. Will we ever have Republican and Conservative legislatures who acknowledge that the needs of “We the People”, needs to be their first and main concern by doing something in Congress and our States that would indicate the same?

Don’t we already have enough proof of the stall tactics of the GOP and Tea Party sponsored candidates to do nothing but to eliminate the pay scale of the middle class jobs, to lower education abilities,to protect capitalism over the people, or their failure to do that which is right for the American People as equals? Will we the majority of the electoral body get out of denial and get engaged in the true dichotomy of American politics? And so it goes………..

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Steubenville Exposes Ugly Truth About Rape

We currently are hearing so many feigned voices of shock and surprise about the rape in Steubenville,Ohio, after having had an election while one Republican candidate for the Senate spoke of legitimate rape after having co-sponsored the same bill with the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan in Congress, to define legitimate rape as opposed to regular rape. Another Virginia Republican candidate called rape and the children born out of the same,” The intent of God.”

If women raped men we could all bet that women would be accused of being Jezebels and inspired by Satan if the reverse happened.  We could also guarantee ourselves it would be discussed as the most evil of acts and no woman would be left severely unpunished, regardless of how the rape occurred.

Men have gotten off with the excuse of going into a blind rage in an act of murder and instead charged with manslaughter when they kill another where women are often charged with murder 1 since the judicial system does not equate fear in women with the level of rage in men.  It totally discounts the idea that women can to act out of rage after years of abuse. Where women need a well documented history of rape or abuse, men need to establish little to no history either supportive or contrary to their own word in order to get a lesser sentence of manslaughter or for lawyers to refuse prosecution for rape charges.

When women are prosecuted for twice the amount of time that men are when death occurs in a domestic dispute, but treated more justly in other charges, we do not need to even guess how much harsher Society would be on a woman rapist than they are on men. Why so much shock and surprise over a statement that has been promoted for generations by the “Good Old Boys”,caused such a stir in the elections this year is beyond me.

Let me take this time to clarify the fact that rape amongst athletes has been taking place for generations just as the mentality has existed for Centuries, “That good girls cannot get pregnant from rape”, has existed as well. for the Republican Party or Press to deny the same is what is at the root of the ignorance in America.  To feign ignorance over rape amongst athletes or the idea that a child born from rape is a “Blessing from God,” are new ideas should leave us all sickened with those who continually dismiss the truth.  These ideas have existed since the beginning of time.

In the minds of the “Good Old Boy System”, and unfortunately some women as well, a legitimate rape is one that involves Street mugging or when a rapist breaks into the home of a woman and rapes her.  Any rapes that happen when a woman is in the company of men or marriage or in the man’s Apartment, barracks, frat house or territory, provocatively dressed or drinking, and the woman is raped it is no big deal to this mentality.  To many of both genders feel when this happens a woman is just asking for sex and rape does not happen under these circumstances.This attitude has always existed over the years, and continues being the attitude of to many.

Etiquette stated years ago, and perhaps still does,”One should never speak of politics,sex, or religion while in mixed company.”  Although I believe we have developed too casual of an attitude towards good manners, I do believe that not talking about politics,sex, or religion has left too many of us brain-dead on the issues that should matter and be discussed by all of us.  When we say the subject bores us then we are the ones who lose.  This post discusses all three subjects.

Allow me to tell you,the not so uncommon stories of its’ day in regards to women and rape.   I change the names and do not name the locations but I will not tell anything but the facts in the telling of these three stories. The names or locations are not important as these stories took place across our Nation in Jane and John Does and in anywhere U.S.A. during the era in which I write, along with years in advance of the same.

One generation does not often tell these kinds of stories from previous generations because it has to often been bred into the older generations to keep secrets in the past, or perhaps with time memory does get lost, behind both denial and disease.I begin from the truth of my own memory, that is still well-preserved. I Thank You for that Dear Lord, as I also inherited the mouth to tell the truth! Way back when there were the Landers Sisters writing and publishing the Nations problems, I was nicknamed Ann Landers since both men and women felt comfortable in telling me things that they would not even tell their husbands or wives.

1. It was the Spring of 1959 and an eighth grade girl ,who was rumored to  have been molested by a family member, was dating a young man,and together they had sex,previously,to the young girl attending a keg party with highschool athletes.  She was severely gang raped that night, as a result of drinking at the party.  No local lawyer, would take her case. The young victim had a wealthy aunt who lived 75 miles distance from the town, who could afford to pay for a lawyer, so they were able to hire an out-of-town lawyer.

When the case came before the judge, the victim’s boyfriend had been rounded up and forced to acknowledge that he had sexual relations with the girl who was the victim in this story.  The Judge threw the gang rape case out of Court and his finding stated,”No young man much less young boys could be held responsible for rape when the young girl in question, had previously de-flowered herself and was drinking alcohol under age.”Nothing was said about the young boys drinking illegally,of course.

2. In the Winter of 1964 a Catholic Priest, who the Church knew had a History of molesting young women, was given dispensation from duty as a Parish Priest and instead sent on the rounds of filling in as a speaker while conducting retreats in Convents and All Girls Catholic boarding Schools.  The same happened during this time with Priests celebrating retreats in all Boys Schools, when they had a history of molesting young boys.  The Catholic Church has come clean about their history but so many other Private Schools and Colleges are still denying that this still continues in their schools.  The Penn State Coach is NOT an uncommon story but just one of many.

3.  Going back to my farthest memory, any Sports player or Coach who brought fame to their sports program whether it was highschool, college, or the pros, were entitled to take anything they wanted to take, regardless of the size of the Town, City, or Religious affiliation. If the athlete is part of the team but not a star player then they will be used as the fall guy for the stars to remain clean. Unless it was burglary, where a Store refused to drop charges but in most cases even they could be bought off, if the athlete was a star and changed his ways.  Most Teams, while traveling elsewhere to play outside of their own town or City will have a team of scouts scouting out the local scene for a Party for them to return to.  These Parties since the 1960′s have both girls of questionable morality as well as virgins rounded up to attend.

Highschool girls have always been amongst the attendees of both sports and fraternity parties. It may be cool to a 16-year-old virgin, or not, to think they look older than they do and to go ahead and drink but when these girls do, it excuses the boys from showing the girls, respect. To many believe that when a girl says “NO” they are only teasing and instead they really want sex.  Boys have been told for generations that some girls need more convincing and when they say “No”, they really mean yes. Dress and drinking in women has always been grounds for rape, if they get drunk or even if drugs have been placed in their drinks, at these parties. I certainly do not accept that this mentality has ever been right but pretending we have not only tolerated it but promoted it for generations, makes it even more deplorable now when we deny the same.

A woman or young girl who is unconscious from drugs or alcohol has never been hands off in the minds of some boys and men and to pretend that this behavior does not happen or has not happened in the past is just another lie of the “Good Old Boy System.” I do not deny that there are some girls whose morality can make some mens’ behavior, pristine, but until we accept that prostitutes are raped, then we deny reality.

We fail women and our sisters alike, when we hold all women responsible for the behavior of a few.  All women have always been held responsible for those few women; where as all men and their behavior has been excused because of the behavior of the few women, who would set up men and yell “rape.” Rape is as unpleasant for most women to have to divulge the details and to relive the rape in a Court of law, regardless of their background, as it is for a man to get his penis removed, and yet we have always blamed victims of rape, for causing rape. Women, not men, are raped again by our judicial system.

Regardless, if it is a house party or a frat house across America the boys and men of the crowd are egged on to feel that rape is justified because “Good Girls” would not be there drinking if they didn’t want sex, has always been the mentality of the “Good Old Boy System”This mentality has existed in the “bad boys” as well as the Sports teams going back at least to the 1950′s when I first heard the stories told to me by the girls who had been raped.  Going to a man’s house or apt. under the guise of having a cup of coffee or to listen to his music, has existed for just as long, as a reason for rape.  It doesn’t have to be alcohol and to pretend that it does is only promoting the same lies. I’m sure those older than myself will tell my readers the same statement of fact, if they care to be honest with their grandchildren.

For a bunch of right-wing Republican men and the media that backs them,to feign ignorance or to act flabbergasted at the same while they continue to deny women,that this has been and remains the mentality amongst the “Good Old Boy System,” for centuries, sickened me in the Republican elections this year.  The fact that the media is now pointing a finger at Steubenville,Ohio, as being small town and unique in their cover up of the most recent rape being broadcasted, leaves me equally sick.

No one who has ever served as a cheerleader or been part of the popular or un-popular group could not possibly have attended highschool and had a successful Sports team, without knowing that this behavior took and takes place whether they were or are girls or boys.  The mentality that allows whole communities to protect rape and the behavior and mentality that broadcasts,” That these women deserve to be raped”,comes from a background in which we began early, hearing these stories as always being the fault of women. Too many women who serve on Juries are even worse than male juries when it comes to pointing a finger at the rape victims. To many times the lives of all boys, girls, and women who are raped, are destroyed by the men and women who protect these lies.

To deny that as a fact, has to make all of us ask,”Just how far has America slipped into denial?’  Will we deny that 67 Republican Tea Party members attempted to hold up funding for the Hurricane Sandy victims while FEMA was saying they were going broke and could not pay back the families who had paid into their flood Insurance?

Will we remain in denial of the fact that 183 Republican Congressmen and Senators could have cared less if it cost the middle class 100s of thousands of jobs, if we had gone over the fiscal cliff?  Did we elect them because their ideology is more important to us, than are our children and elderly, who will go hungry or without effective medical care? Will we all do better living on the Republican and the N.R.A. ideology that makes us feel unsafe without a gun in our homes even though a third of all deaths of children result as our having a gun in our homes. Will their ideology make us a better Democracy if we cannot provide for our families?

Does the N.R.A. lobbying the Republican Congress, who followed through on their bidding, to disallow funding to the Disease Control Center, make us feel even safer against Disease? If this sounds like a stupid analogy to those of you who protect the Republican Congress, rape, and guns, then just think of what you, yourselves, must sound like to the rest of the World!

Will we keep denying the fact that 50 some economists outside of Washington are saying that the only thing that is stagnating the American Economy is the 67 Tea Party members voting against the needs of the people along with the far right in Congress, who clearly want to see government go broke before they serve the needs of our elderly? Even Wall Street has joined the side of the Democrats on the damage being done to Business growth and jobs by the uncertainty of the Republican Congress. How much more can we deny until denial renders us all brainless when it comes to human decency and common sense?

I ask you,”Are we now going to pass the blame on to a bunch of kids in Steubenville,Ohio, for doing what men have always done or are we going to finally acknowledge the injustice of it, ALL! The guilty in Steubenville needs to be prosecuted along with others in our Nation.  I certainly do not mean to make allowances for the people responsible for such an ugly crime in Steubenville, Ohio, but it is our Nation’s problem. We all must take responsibility for denying these problems have always existed and still do exist.

We begin by eliminating the mindset that allows us to remain in denial, to the point that those amongst us simply accept it as “Just being the way it has always been,” before another election brings in more of the same mentality that cripples us as a Democracy. To accept it as being the way it is, has always been a second crime of humanity, against both our children and women. Those who tell us they want to go back to the 1950′s morality are lying to all of us about the truth that existed then just as it does today.

I warn all parents to think twice when they think popular,”is all that,” because a cheerleader and a popular girl are twice as likely to be raped than is a less popular girl. These girls also peak early just as the ball players do, and their best memories are as children or in highschool.  They learn ,too often, to settle for less and have a far greater chance of becoming pregnant as teenagers.  The “nerds”, on the other hand, have far greater statistics when it comes to those who go on to challenging careers following a College education and happy and contented lives.  If we parents cannot consider long-term results as a priority in our lives, then how can we expect those younger than ourselves to have common sense?

When we set up our own children to continue under the system that many of us tried to stop, we punish our children for the sins of the parents.” When we lack common decency,our children lack the same.  When we make everything about ourselves then our children do as well. When we as adults deny truth of fact and our children are raised on the same, we create the monster that often leads to more half-truths and false accusations against the victims of our Society.

Ultimately the same mentality leads to an increase failure in families and a bigger concern of increased crime in children at a much younger age. We cannot deny that the viciousness of our youth crimes are not increasing with the mentality that blames the victims over the perpetrators. As a Society brain washed in gun ownership our children have emerged as the losers. We need to hold both parents responsible for the failure of the child while we increase our endeavors to spot and treat both mental illness and drug addiction as the diseases that they are.  We need to give trained professionals who recognize the need for early intervention and parents the ability to get the help these children need through our Court Systems.

Those who claim family values would not need to talk about family values, if they had any.  Conversation along the lines of family values or the worsening of morality ultimately gives our Churches a bad name for failing at their jobs. The Conservative right is doing a bang up job of destroying Religion along with the Republican Tea Party, when they are not doing it to themselves. When questionable and charismatic Religion preaches the “Prosperity Gospels” while bleeding money from the poor and middle class and then blame the poor and middle class for their own poverty due to a lack of Faith, it is time we all voice our outrage. It takes the voice of the people to stand up to the injustices taking place and have taken place under our noses for generations. It begins with placing the emphasis on the right priorities without attacking the victims.

It never solves anything to talk when we need to be acting to stop the mentality in all of the new generations while charging those,” who do not get it”,in a Court of Law.  The mentality of,”Boys will be Boys,” has always laid at the root of the corruption in morality, since the beginning of mankind. If we want to make a difference, then we must begin today in telling the younger generations, who are our future, the ugly truth of yesterday.

To tell our grandchildren that children and women experienced a kinder gentler time in History, is and always has been a lie. Any adult who refuses to accept reality, needs to also accept that they are jeopardizing the future of their children and grandchildren, when they choose denial of the facts, over the truth. When we know better then we need to do better as a Society and as a Nation of laws.

To blame Steubenville alone is ludicrous, because if we leave them carrying the bag for what has been wrong for generations,around the World, we leave all of our children unprotected against rape,guns, and our own stupidity.  For the sake of our children, we must begin with changing the mentality, that we have allowed to go on.  We can no longer deny our own behavior and motives when technology shows us the truth and refuses to tolerate lies.

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The Irrational NRA Leadership

When Wayne LaPierre, Vice President of the NRA held his press conference today, and got up to speak I got so sick to my stomach of his propaganda that I hate to write this post drawing attention to his speech.  If I don’t talk about it and point out just how severely insensitive the man was then, I like to many others will let that type of mentality pass off to those who do not know the heart of the American citizen, think his brand of callousness lies in the hearts of the majority of Americans.  As expected he blamed everyone but the NRA. Politicians politicizing it, demonic behavior, gun free school zones as an advertisement for the disturbed,video games, the lack of guards in our schools, the entertainment industry and the media.

If anyone read my post yesterday entitled,”Why Do We Lead The World In Suicide’ then you know I pointed out the cultural differences that we all must share in and the responsibility we all must take to keep our children safe.  We do not need guns in schools because they offer a false sense of security to those who carry a gun.  They also offer a challenge to those like Timothy McVeigh who went to a bomb where armed guards were, instead.

The facts are that the majority of us who own a gun will not and cannot shoot to kill another human being and we will either freeze up when called on to do so or we will shoot wildly into a crowd and kill more innocent people. Even policemen, who are trained to use a gun, know to shoot their guns is the last possible choice they have to make,since we have an established record of collateral damage and more lives lost as a result of having to use a gun in a crowd, throughout our History. Armed guards in banks and air ports know not to shoot where people are gathering.  The guards only end up being another victim when a person enters the space or establishment and far more guards are killed in businesses,Court Houses, or banks than are armed robbers, because they do not want to harm the innocent around them.

I don’t know what kind of sick home Wayne LaPierre grew up in or raised his children in but his statement that,” today’s children will see 16,000 murder scenes by the time they reach the ripe old age of 18,” is so totally inaccurate that if it wasn’t such a serious subject it would be laughable.  Movies of sexual or violent content are rated in America and children who do not have an ID of proof of age cannot get into a PG13 or R rated movie.  I know that to be a fact, even when they are accompanied by an adult.

I don’t doubt there are irresponsible parents who could care less about the movies their children watch at home but to declare them as the norm is totally adding salt to the wound of parents who do not allow their children to watch these movies or play these games.  Many homes have controls on their computers and televisions that will not allow the viewing of these shows and television warns adults when something is not appropriate or wrong for children to watch as well.  Even our news programs will place a warning prior to showing it.

Facts number two are that the very same movies named and the very same video games that Wayne LaPierre named play in Countries like Britain and Japan and are the very same video games played in both Countries. A ten-year study shows that they do not influence children to kill but violence in a home acted out by parents can and does. The Industrial or Civilized Nations have as much porn and as many people who prostitute.  They work to buy and over spend as well.  All the same things we have in our culture they have as well.

Britain and Japan are as civilized and advanced as we are and have the same kind of Democracies as we do. Britain’s Military is as strong as our own. The prices and costs in Japan are extravagant along side of what we pay for the same. The raining London skies and the Cramped Tokyo Apts. lead to as much depression and thoughts of suicide in these Countries as much as they do in our own but they do not stigmatize mental illness the way we do. They have free treatment facilities where anyone who is suffering from mental illness or delusional thinking can get help free, at any hour.

What separates all other advanced or civilized Countries from the United States is they do not have a powerful lobbyist that has brain washed gun enthusiasts into believing that the right to own a gun is a higher right than the right for people to be able to live.  When murder happens they do not have a Wayne Lapierre blaming everyone and everything else but themselves for the murders in their Country because they have gun laws that lessen those deaths.  Britain averages 600 murders per year in total and Japan has practically none while the United States has 18,000 suicides or 32,000 murders per year.

The facts are that no other civilized Nation tolerates the mentality that the NRA has and the irrational thinking that they hold nor do they use the lies or the scare tactics and the despicable words the NRA uses to blame everyone but themselves. The National Rifle Association leadership, needs to convince gun enthusiasts that everyone else is wrong and they are right otherwise they may lose their own power through lost of membership dues.

They are amongst the most powerful lobbyists in the Nation and no conservative politician from either the Democrat or the Republican Party can get elected without the support of the NRA.  Other Countries refuse to fight murder and suicide by using guns to protect against guns because they are rational enough to understand that people cannot kill unless they have months of training or are disturbed enough to commit suicide/murder. These certified programs that Texas and Utah like to talk about are three-days of watching videos and training at a gun range while shooting at a target in order to get a certificate to carry a gun in school.

To give teachers and school workers,  in places like Utah and Texas a certificate of completion of  a gun training course does not qualify them for training that allows another human being to fire under threat of gun fire or to kill another human being while looking into the eyes of someone who is just a kid themselves. How much more desensitizing of our behavior towards the power of the gun over the value of life are we going to tolerate in teaching our children, as a Nation, before we yell enough! Do we really want our youngest and most innocent strapped with the knowledge or fear that their teacher or the nice man with a gun or themselves can be killed at any given moment?

Teachers are trained to keep our children safe and we want their thoughts to go first towards protecting our children, over running in fear or stopping to kill. Teachers who care are not trained to kill the next young man who walks into the building armed to shoot. Many times they are students or past students of theirs and they are not going to be able to shoot to kill.  It is irrational thinking on our part to think they can and equally as unfair as to think they should. We may think if it is our lives or the lives of a child we all can shoot to kill but it is pure and literal nonsense. Firing a gun is not like going out to the paint ball course and shooting paint balls at each other. The fear or the need to survive under pressure of assault in the untrained, takes over control of all rational thoughts that we have when our lives are not under threat of danger. We freeze,run, or if we shoot we shoot wildly injuring far more others than lives we save.  Firing at a target is not the same as looking a human being in the eyes and firing.

It takes a well trained or a disturbed mind to do so and even then that trauma follows those who are trained perfectly, the rest of their lives.  Ask any military personnel or policemen how devastating the effects are of taking another life in defense of the Country, is on their lives, even when it is done for a higher honor.  I have lived with the results of those who fought in wars and too many times they are haunted by it forever. Many come home and turn to alcohol just to live past the nightmares that enter their sleeping hours or become workaholics in an effort to forget.  Their marriages and their lives quite often fall apart.

The mistake the media made was to allow that kind of propaganda that is spread across America by the NRA and some of its followers to even be broadcasted. As soon as they knew they had been had by the National Rifle Association they should have shut them off just as they do when a politician says something that is not of their political persuasion.  When this propaganda is spread it only leads to desensitize the minds of those who are already desensitized to the point that it starts making perfectly good sense to them.

No person who hunts wild game, even after hours of target practice, will escape what is known as buck fever. It takes practice to be able to shoot game animals before becoming an accurate enough shot to make the bullet connect with the game animal being shot. Even seasoned bird hunters will experience buck fever when switching to larger game animals.  Buck fever is the name commonly given to the hunter who will both sub-consciously and automatically pull up on their gun when shooting rather than to kill the animal.

It is not an automatic reaction in clear thinking humans to kill with a gun on instinct and it requires months to train people to kill out of a necessity or a higher pursuit of justice. Both the Police Academies and Military training requires men and women shooting blanks or live rounds above the heads of those in the fields to acclimate them to the reality of being able to fire at a human being every bit as much as it takes hours to train humans to remain calm, in order to kill out of necessity in war or when under attack. These are not normal traits that we adapt to on a first reaction under attack.

The guns Mr. NRA said the media is lying about and the politicians are trying to find fame in and that are being politicized hold magazines that leads to massive deaths.  Does it really matter if they are military or assault weapons when they fire in rapid succession?  Don’t they kill just as quickly and destroy the lives of our innocent just as well. They certainly cannot be used for hunting anymore than the ammunition they protect can be used to hunt when its only purpose is to pierce the vests of policemen and police women who are killed in the act of duty by the same.

I have acknowledged that it is our culture and the love of the gun  that needs to share responsiblity with the NRA for gun deaths in America but it does not hold a candle to the deaths that are caused by people arming themselves with a false bravado of thinking they will be able to shoot to kill.   Nothing inspires the fantasy  or gives forth the power to kill more than those who are too meek to murder or encourages those who are disturbed enough to murder faster, than the thrust of a gun. The gun feeds those fantasies in the minds of the disturbed faster than anything else that they can do.

Those who will cause murder have no conscious and we cannot try to rationalize  our minds with theirs. I repeat, people who are armed are killed  far more often by the perpetrators than what the perpetrators are killed. They always have the element of surprise over us and a great many of them do not have the same fear of death because many of them are seeking out suicide by cop.

Guns in the hands of those who are not thinking realistically only offers us a false sense of security that is quickly over taken by the perpetrators. Those who are disturbed do not hear the noises and sounds we hear as many are disturbed or can only hear the voices in their own heads.  They do not even hear the screams around them that make us run out of fear but as soon as we think we can pull a gun and shoot we will be dead with or without our three-day certificate that gives us a license to carry a gun. It is a fact!

I am sick of the hate and the fear tactics of the NRA and if you viewed the same that I did and could not see that expressed yourselves, I can only respond that Americans are much more sicker than I thought.  The NRA fear and propaganda tactics are not only false but they are irrational and have no place in the power that runs America. It sickens me that such trash talk was allowed to be spoken on our media services at a time we are already sicken by the deaths of our innocent, by guns.

Instead of talking about banning ammunition and magazines that only serves to kill humans along with high powerful and assault weapons, Wayne Lapiere and the NRA paid for monkeys successfully changed the subject to arming personnel in our schools where our children would be subjected to even more violence.  Anyone who thinks the bullies or gangs who hang out in some of our schools across America would not find a gun a worthy challenge to be taken, are not being realistic about what really does go on when the disturbed are made to feel powerful behind a gun.

What can I say other than may the Season offer some design of light into the hearts and minds of all of us and may we be infused by the Holy Spirit and Guardian that guides us towards common sense and intelligence to know the difference.  May God help us all in letting the goodness in all of us shine through the insanity of it all. God Bless us and God Bless America.

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Why Do We Lead The World In Suicide?

Today I will offer my own opinion along with established fact that leads me personally to believe what the problem is behind the increase in murder/suicide in America.

We are second in the World in front of other advanced Nations after Montenegro in  percentage of suicides, where such records are kept.  When we think of ourselves as the Nation that people from other Countries want to immigrate to, we have to ask ourselves as to why our suicides are so high?

We  again begin with the N.R.A. interference into gun registration and add to that Americans’ love of the gun and its accessibility to people in America.  When the NRA not only fights against gun laws but also fights against people having to show proof of the lack of mental illness or treatment for depression when buying a gun, then guns end up in the hands of too many people who should never own guns.  They spend millions in litigation to fight privacy laws in favor of gun ownership. With the sponsorship of gun shows by the NRA across the Nation that require no waiting period what-so-ever and the illegal guns of street sales, America is flooded with guns.

Living in the land of guns and honey brings along with it the stress that often goes along with keeping up with the Jones. People do not miss that which they cannot hold,own, or goes unseen in their lives. American workers work longer hours in more extended days straight than any other Nation in the World.  We have fewer and less holiday and vacation days of any other Civilized Nation. We out work all other Nations in the World. Todays’s workers work longer hours than any generation has before them.

A person who struggles to feed their family or to provide basics are not nearly as likely to feel that they are missing out as those who are accustomed to getting what they want over what they need.  If we have paid attention to school shootings at all, we must have noticed that the majority of these children are white males who come from upper middle class or wealthy homes when murder/suicide does occur. It is much easier never to have had it than it is to have had it and to lose.   Americans many times marry their jobs since they spend many more hours on the job than they do at home, and when they find their jobs pulled out from underneath them it can and does trigger murder/suicide in the work place.

We are a Capitalist Society that invests in trade over the needs of the people. We are the only civilized Nation in the World that does not pay the entire healthcare costs of 100% of its people but yet we remain the richest Nation in the World. We  subsidize commerce to a far greater degree than do all other Nations just as our costs of the greatest military in the World cost 10 times more that what the rest of the World combined pays to maintain a defense system.

We live under stress every day of the week and often with wants that we either can’t provide for or feel we need. Many of us have not learned to make sacrifices now in order to enjoy life later. The exposure to goods in America,technology,clothing stores, and all other retail stores leave us wanting or feeling we are being denied.

With the breaking of the backs of our Unions across America by men like Sam Adelson who has vowed millions to eliminate them and the Tea Party Governors along with Republican legislatures  supporting the right to work laws without the same coming up for vote in our States, the middle class are dropping $5500.00 per year. Despite the facts, 47% of the American people who are primarily middle class voted to guard the gate of the 1% by voting Republican in our past elections. Stress in America is the number one killer because of the message driven home by too many for the need to own more, at the expense of the middle class.

When we started closing down mental Institutions because of the absolute abuse that was triggered by the lack of laws protecting our citizens, we went the other way and left our loved ones defenseless when it came to getting help for mental illness.

Previously to closing down the mental Institutions across America and the passage of the Equal rights amendment husbands could declare their wives unfit to raise the children and have her committed without even a record of instability. The husbands word alone was enough and many times he could get a Dr. to agree to the same without even seeing the woman. People who suffered from vision or hearing loss or were slow learners were committed into Institutions.  When the laws were lax towards those who could commit others, so much abuse reigned across America that it led to shutting them all down.

We are now in a cycle where those who are desperate for need of treatment for mental illness cannot get the help they need.  It is too easy to prescribe drugs without any follow-up or counseling.  Some general practitioners along with chiropractors, will prescribe both narcotics and antidepressants that lead to both aggression as well as further anxiety and depression.  In America if a person knows the right people or wants to find someone who will prescribe or supply drugs or guns all things are possible.  It only takes money to get whatever an American citizen wants both legally and illegally.

Even with good counseling and a drug plan that works parents cannot force adult children to remain on their treatment program.  The very symptom of some of the most grievous of diseases that lead to bouts of severe depression is that the patient will be made to feel better and believe that they can quit treatment which only aggravates the disease and makes it worse.

Drugs are readily available in America to both Street people and those who start out life as high achievers.  We are a Country that has a high tolerance for both guns and drugs while our Conservative politicians appear to be against the same with public messages over the years. They in reality will never face off against the lobbyists or the NRA who put millions into their pockets for re-election. Illicit drugs in America makes up 33% of our Gross National Product. Many killings in America are as a result of the flow of illegal drugs and the need to protect the distribution of the same.

We have 17 Republican controlled States that have passed the “Stand Your Ground Laws” with 6 more States discussing arming teachers. Too many amongst us have no concept of the danger of guns because it has been romanticized as part of our culture and of the old Wild West. When these same States are talking about arming teachers they are ignoring that any gun on school property is susceptible to causing collateral damage even in the hands of trained policemen.  They also are denying that even guns that are safe guarded in schools can be easily over taken by the gangs of bullies who often hang out in our school systems and intimidate teachers. When sliding steel pocket doors that close instantaneously and are impenetrable to those who threaten entry  from the outside are being used in facilities across the World the mentality of the American mind instead goes to more guns to protect against guns.

When people who suffer from mental illness are not confined for their own good or their own needs because Insurance Companies refuse to pay and  Obama care is ridiculed and fought against in sectors in fits of rage, then we leave ourselves and our loved ones vulnerable to the stresses and ills along with fits of depression that can and do lead to suicide. Instead of treating our mentally ill and  drug addicts we imprison them.

Any Nation of wealth encompasses people who make comparisons because too many times the politicians themselves will belittle or blame the have-nots while promoting those who have. The Republican Party appeared to accelerate that belief this past election with attacks against the poor in their own leadership and the need to adopt the Ryan Plan in order to deny the needs or in most cases the rights of the people. When those who are feeling rejected from loss of jobs and incomes, or are being bullied by others, are made to find their own uniqueness a fault rather than a plus, we leave open the potential to not only suicide but we harbor those who would take down our children with them.

We are a Society who puts too much importance and stress on the things we own, on beauty,skin color,appearance,money, and popularity. We encourage sameness or like beliefs, over encouraging individual expression.  We too often fail to encourage value in the uniqueness of each individual to express that uniqueness but instead demand that we all share the same belief system. Those who fail to fit into a cli’que of like mentality are often shunned,ridiculed, and bullied.  We support violence in the games we play and the movies we watch.  The movie industry knows and understands that movies without sex or violence will too often fail at attendance and revenues.

Our educational system is not supported by the Conservative causes and ranks low in comparison to other civilized Nations as a result of it. Bright children are too often criticized for their superior intelligence and not supported by a system that inspires them up to their abilities to succeed, due to limited funds granted to the School districts in our States.To many amongst us push our children in all categories that will gain them popularity over education and in doing so, to often it leads to mediocrity while insisting they excel in sports.  When highschool coaches feel that winning is the only thing that will save their jobs they offer steroids and muscle enhancers to their young players and it starts a panacea of corruption in our sports’ programs. The stress to always have more and to do better leads us in advancement in many fields in the world,  but it also breeds the ravages of failure, in those who feel as though they cannot achieve or have been left behind.

We self medicate on drugs and alcohol to cover up feelings of inadequacy or pain, because we place a astigmatism against mental illness. We do not tolerate those who expose our own weaknesses. The people who cause such carnage as was done in NewTown Connecticut, are usually those who are coming down off of a bad drug trip, are feeling neglected, powerless,weak,or worthless. Behind a gun they feel omnipotent and powerful and ready to show others who they often feel have either ignored them or made them to feel less of the person than they are.

We as a Society ignore and deny the power of the gun in the hands of those who would not otherwise kill, because of the control of the N.R.A. in our Nation or the fear tactics used against us to protect ourselves. They are not the only ones who use fear tactics as home alarm companies call and exaggerate home invasions in areas where none exist along with those who promote gun sales and under ground bunkers. The home alarm companies calls are being made in homes illegally as I have received the same  even though I am on the government “Do not call list.” They get around the law by claiming to offer a free prize. People rush gun stores and buy military weapons that have no business in any of our homes each time they think they will be denied their guns by law.

Those who act out in total disregard of human life do so because they lack empathy for anyone but themselves or they feel disrespected. In neighborhoods where drugs are sold on street corners,others die over drug sales. Others feel that they have been so ridiculed that they can only seek justice behind a gun. They may suffer from irrational beliefs  but they know full well that they will leave behind pain and destruction. Many times they feel that they will be a person whose name will go down in history as having made a difference, while knowing full well the misery they cause.  We as a Nation have romanticized people like Jesse James,Billy the Kid, Bonney and Clyde, Annie Oakley and other outlaws of the old West as heroes over generations, and in doing so we have romanticized the use of the gun to settle disputes.

Those who cause a silent suicide or one that does not draw attention to the outside World often do so because they are suffering, or cannot face the future, or feel that they are a burden on their loved ones.  Others are fearful of the future because they become so steeped in Religious conviction of Armageddon, or that God wants them or their children saved  from a sinful World, or suffer severe mental illness to the point they hear voices from the devil to kill. Other suicide/murders are committed over child custody or domestic disputes when they have access to a gun. Often times those who are afraid that they are lacking because Societal norms do not accept them for the person they are, will feel that life is not worth living or are driven by the need to gain revenge and do not consider the pain they leave behind because the act of murder/suicide itself, is most often an act of “Me Only.”

People who are sensitive to those who criticize, and often times are made to feel they are inadequate or weak are made to feel powerful behind the gun. It is just as likely to be a meek personality as it is an aggressive personality that uses a gun to kill.  America has 18,000 suicides a year where other Civilized Nations, who keep records of suicide, do not reach higher than into the 200′s. In total of murders and suicides we have 32,000 people lost each year. All other advanced Nations who have a much lower suicide and murder rate offer free mental health services that give parents more control over the treatment of mental health and much stricter gun laws.  It does not take a rocket Scientist to understand why America excels in the numbers of suicides and murders over all other advanced Nations in the World

Along with the greatest Democracies in the World comes the freedom to misuse that freedom through both abuse of others and self-inflicted wounds. With freedom comes the need to protect its citizens through just laws.  Americans should have a much greater right to live over the right to own guns.  We need to do a better job in understanding that our people as well as our children should never have to feel that they are less than the need or greed of Capitalism in a free Society. If we keep electing a Republican majority in Congress and in our States, who refuses to act in the best interests of our people, then don’t we have some responsibility to bear for the same? We are coming out lacking as a Nation because of our own lack of demand and insistence on the fact that our politicians can do better.

It brings some comfort to me to see that at long last we have hope at least that those responsible will do something but the proof still remains in the pudding. I long for the days when we can again promote the many qualities of all of the American people who are supported by all of our elected politicians, instead of a few.  America is still the best Country in the World but we need to be honest about our faults in order to make much-needed changes. May all of our politicians be strong enough to stand up against the lobbyists and brave enough to bring forth all the good qualities that are representative of America.  Wishing all of us hope this Holiday Season!

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Guns And Mental Illness

Too often as a Nation, we over look the risks and dangers of in-action.  We too many times talk about needing to help draw attention to both guns and mental illness but then the reminders of the tragedy passes and the powerful lobbyists again, win.

The facts are: we do nothing about the out of control gun ownership in our Nation because of the lies that lead to fear tactics, told and spread by the National Rifle Associations and many of their colleagues. People who run for office know and understand that the NRA is only second in power to the American Medical Ass. or the A.M.A.  With men like the Koch brothers backing the NRA, Republicans and Conservative Democrats know they will lose their jobs or never get elected if they even whisper, “gun control”, so as a Nation we keep talking about doing something and then we forget about it until the next tragedy.

When those who claim that,”we need to  grieve first,” I am in agreement with you if that is what it will take to give you the strength later to claim your responsibility to protect the children.  I am equally supportive of those of us who express our views now, as it is when we put a time clock on our expression of anguish, that we too often fail to do anything that will be heard by those who are responsible for such a needless tragedy. In America we need to accord the grieving of all people on their own time frame, because as a Nation we all share in the grief.  When we start judging each other in how or when they grieve or express that grief, then we fail to understand our own need to stop the in-action in us.

What always amazes me is the public outrage or disbelief that these tragedies often happen in small or rural communities.  Mental illness and gun ownership is as prevalent in one area of America as the other. If we recognize that abuse happens in one out of every three homes in America regardless of the social economic situation, and a person needs to be mentally unstable on some level or suffering from depression on another, in order to commit murder/suicide, then we can and should accept that our children are not safe anywhere as long as gun enthusiasts rights are protected by the lobbyists who control our Nation and politicians.

Depression that is sometimes brought on by circumstances in our lives, holds no favorites nor does it care what the size of the community is or the type of community we reside in.  The sad thing is that mental illness is easily recognized by those who refuse to spend their lives in denial, and as equally and as readily treatable.  When Politicians, the law or the courts, or insurance companies refuse to help parents by passing laws that aid in the treatment of mental illness and carrying them long-term on insurance policies, then the public will too often suffer the consequences. We as a society should never condemn the parents for the real frustrations and sometimes fear that they are left to deal with in the interim. We instead need to point the finger at those who are more committed to profit over the safety of our children and ourselves.

We know mental illness results as much from genetics as it does from environment and just as compassionate people should not fault people for the unfortunate circumstances of many physical diseases, we should not condemn those who suffer from mental illness.  When we do not demand the coverage of Insurance Companies to cover mental illness, but too many times complain because our premium costs go up instead, then we also play into the neglect of the needs of our own or are responsible for our own in-action. When we refuse to believe that as a Nation we all must protect the needs of our children, then we fail more than just our children but we fail ourselves, as well.

As a Nation we are hearing the underpinnings of the refusal to cover the cost of the health care for our elderly,disabled, and poor even though Nations less advanced than our own cover 100% of the costs of all of its citizens, without stating as fact, that as a Nation they can no longer afford to do so. When we refuse to invest in the needs of our people, we refuse to keep our children safe as well.  In order for our children to be totally safe in America we must demand that the 17 Republican State Legislatures who passed into law the, “Stand Your Ground Laws”,over-ride the law effective, immediately.

We already have a history of knowing when lay people are not effectively trained, do pull a gun on another or fire back, too many times we will fire into a crowd wildly which leads to more death, or we will freeze up and not fire at all. Shooting at a target or a gun club does not offer us the same reality as actually shooting at another human being does. Guns in the hands of those of us who are not trained or of the mindset, only causes more death and destruction, when called on to defend ourselves or others. Even trained policemen are slow to use their guns due to the collateral damage that is often present. Using guns to protect against guns is simply another fallacy offered by The N.R.A. and those who protect the use of guns. The Stand Your Ground Laws,  have already shown that they are just another death, waiting to happen in our children.

We can no longer let the lies that the hunter will lose his guns or it is against the Constitution to interfere with the right to bear arms over ride our own common sense, while we let the power of those who run our Nation through preying on the ignorance of others to continue. It amazes me and should all of us, that the argument that if they don’t have a gun they will use a knife has led people to believe that as many people would die in as rapid succession with a knife as an assault rifle or a hand gun, has appeased the minds of those who pay membership into the NRA or those who are supposed Represent us in government.

The guns that are meant for self-defense or offense serve absolutely no needs and only adds to the destruction of the meat of the game animals and leads to the lost of human life. Military type weapons and ammunition do not belong in a home where our most innocent of people live or visit.  When the investigation is finished in New Town, Connecticut, we will do doubt hear as we always do, the guns that killed came from the home of the mother,  who was killed and who made the same mistake that too many others make and felt that a gun was safe in the home or would protect her.

Statistically, we kill many more people with guns of self-protection than lives we save as a result of owning the same. When 34 people per day or 32,000 people per year, die in America each year as a result of guns, then shouldn’t we start talking honestly about a person’s right to live over the rights of a person to own a gun?  When we compare our death rates with the use of a gun to those of 600 per year to Britain,who have much stricter gun laws, then something is terribly wrong when we don’t have meaningful dialog on the right of Americans to live over the right of a person to use a gun at will.

If we as a Nation place weapons into categories and then ban those categories we do not deny the hunter but instead deny those who would and do kill. If laws are enforced and placed on us to make us responsible for the handling of the weapon used for protection, then the unstable will not be able to own guns. When the Republican Party refused to reinstate the Brady bill in 2004 or the Violence Against Women Bill in 2011, they made it clear that it is not the people they are safe guarding and investing in, but the lobbyists instead.

When the NRA refuses to take action to ban bullets and ammunition when the only purpose they have, is to penetrate the vests of law enforcement, but instead lobbies millions into campaigns to guarantee the use of the same, then we the American public need to have our voices heard. When we demand that the responsible thing is done to keep all of us safe, then we will no longer need to ask “Why?” When irrational acts are done by those through irrational behavior, then we must as a Nation quit denying, “that guns do not kill but people do.” Without guns, irrational people cannot slaughter our young people or those who would protect them, in mass.

When guns are not kept safe in our homes or those who would use a gun to end life, knows where grandpa keeps the key, we must be held responsible for keeping guns and ammunition unprotected in our homes by the understanding that life is more precious than the need for recreational sport, with a fire arm.  Just as we wouldn’t turn rattle snakes loose in our homes or watch our children do drugs, and then deny that they would not kill, we must quit denying that guns do not kill.

There needs to be laws established to protect the gun as well as the people. If laws were made that would ban the use of a recreational gun, to those who it is not registered to and enforced by a stiff penalty of law, perhaps the most recent tragedy, just as in Columbine,would never have happened. If they refuse to pass the laws then we as responsible parents must understand that guns do kill.  Just as we do not offer our prescription drugs to children without penalty of law why would we offer a gun to anyone who it is not registered to use? Recreational guns could just as easily be stored at gun clubs or shooting ranges or stored in gun safes by responsible adults in the home. If we can put on a seat belt then surely we can safeguard the use of a gun.

We, the American People, can no longer let the memories of our children lost ,be in vain.  It does not matter if they died in Milwaukee, NewTown, Aurora, or on the streets of Detroit, Chicago or Philadelphia, their deaths just as their lives did, need to bring forward meaning to all of us. Their short-lived lives must stand for the end to the destruction done in our Nation by guns that only serve the purpose to kill our innocent people. We can no longer deny that the gun in the hands of the unstable kills.

These adults and children’s lives need to stand for the good in all of us that seeks out and demands the end to such tragedy in our Nation.  We cannot forget the trauma also experienced by the survivors in these terribly destructive killings of our loving adults and innocent children. We cannot allow such destructive behavior to continue to make our children to feel that adults do not stand for their need to feel safe. We cannot continue with the mentality that just because some one is a member of our family that their outbursts,with draw from Society, or fantasy of killing is normal.

When we as a Nation put politics, denial of reality, or sacristy of gun use in the hands of the unstable, over the sacristy of life, then we need to ask ourselves,” just how misconstrued is the American love of the gun over the value of life?”  We all need to take responsibility for common sense guiding us over a misconstrued value system.

Sadly the N.R.A. fights against any and all laws to use common sense in the handling of a gun and the storage of the same. Every lawyer knows and understands that any attempt to control the storage or use of a gun will lead to years of litigation by the N.R.A., just as every Conservative Democrats or Republican candidate understands it will lead to lost of their election run if they refuse to support the stand of the N.R.A.

Do not let the media fool you into believing it is as much Democrats as Republicans in Washington as less than 30 Democrats in Washington are Conservative out of  approximately 289 with only 47 Democrats,both liberal and Conservative in the Congress, as verses 196 Conservative Republicans including the Tea Party in the Republican Party married to the NRA.  When photo opts of our Republican leadership are taken in the presence of the NRA leadership representatives, each election year are seen as a proud moment of the Republican Party, then we need to ask, “Would our voices be louder than the lobbyists if we refused to vote for any candidate who protected or promoted the NRA and their colleagues’ memberships?”

Isn’t it going, “to take a village,” just as much as a city of people who are willing to stop the insanity of killings in our Nation and those who believe that we have a moral obligation to protect our children, to join together, to make the changes?  We have more than ample enough evidence to know that the politicians have no plan in doing anything but talking about it, because they are afraid to take a stand against the lobbyists.

Those politicians, who are committed to do otherwise, need our help and commitment to them at the election polls and need to hear our voices just as much as the law makers and politicians need to keep us safe. Do any of us even know who the Federal Judges in our States are, that we keep electing each election? I repeat:”When the voices and the votes of we the American people”, are counted and become more powerful than the lobbyists in Washington and our States, then we will have a Nation that protects its children.

If  we had spoken up as much for the rights of our children to be safe, as others did for the fetus, do any of us doubt that the politicians would act differently in the hours they put in, on the floor of the House or the Senate to protect our children against violence? When it comes to making and establishing gun laws, don’t we believe that if our voices are heard and our votes counted, that the politicians would develop more of a dialog in doing something to keep our children safe?

All the money paid the politicians by the lobbyists and men like Sam Adelson or the Koch Brothers cannot win an election for the politicians who refuse to act in the best interests of the American people if we simply refuse to vote for them or re-elect them.  The real power still lies in the hands of the common sense approach of the people, when we choose to invoke the same at the election polls.

When our voices and actions are as empty as the politicians, then the more powerful the Insurance lobbyists,NRA,and the American Insurance under writers will remain.  It is time that we make the changes in ourselves now, by moving forward instead of shaking our heads and passing the buck. I have enough faith in the power of the people to believe that we can make a difference in the safety of the lives of our children, so no other family has to ever suffer the tragedy taking place in our Nation today.

I am wishing everyone the Blessings of the Holiday Season and compassion for the grieving of those who have lost the most, along with those of us who have lost as a Nation. God Help us all.

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Being Genuine

Webster dictionary describes genuine as actually having the reputed or apparent qualities or character.  To many times we have people using words to describe others when they do not own or practice the qualities needed to possess or own character, themselves.  It was a repeated error made by candidates for election throughout the Nation this past election year.

When Governor Chris Christy of New Jersey showed his own Party what real character was or expressed genuine feelings in his praise of President Barack Obama’s quick response to the disaster in his State, due to the hurricane, men who like to refer to  themselves, as men who protect the standards of family values in America,criticized Christy for being genuine in his complement to our President.

When we as a Nation have leaders who criticize others who are genuine or fail to compliment others and treat it as a heresy when they compliment  or speak to a member of the opposite side of the aisle, can we really expect them to do what is genuinely in the best interests of those of us who are in need of their leadership?  Will men like Paul Ryan,Scott Walker, or Rubio, meeting and discussing the need of the Republican Party to become inclusive of the Hispanics, lead us to believe that they are genuine if they continue to vote against the equal rights of women to make decisions on their own procreation or to their own health, or when their Republican members in Washington filibusters immigration reform?

Are these, the often spoken about, the young new hopefuls of the Republican Party, any better than what has destroyed the “Grand Old Party?”When they speak about the Americans who fall on hard times as being the “takers”, while they vote against the needs of the people or refer to those of us who paid into government as, “people with their hands out who feel entitled”,or try to pass laws against victims of rape in defining legitimate rape, will we see any genuine change in the Republican Party when these young men are chosen to lead our Nation?

Doesn’t the Republican Party need men in it instead like Bob Dole who was genuine in his actions towards the disabled, the poor, and the need of the Republican Party to know and understand the needs of the people?  Aren’t these new young Tea Party members only an extension of what is wrong in the Republican Party?  Aren’t we the American People totally tired of words that are opposite of the actions they practice when it comes to voting against our rights and needs?

Too many times in our own personal lives we make allowances for those who practice disingenuous behavior because they are the beautiful people,the most charming of our children or friends, or because we want to be more like them or a part of their group. The new generation just wants to be respected by their parents instead. When we ourselves are less than genuine it shows all over our bodies and faces to those of us who recognize phony or shallow values.

When these politicians do the same, too many people, who are less than honest themselves, will be taken in by those who are not genuine. I once had a person tell me that my biggest problem was that I was too moral for the group as they did not place a high value on morality.  Isn’t that also at the root of why we keep electing people who are less than genuine in their leadership? I applaud the American people who did not accept or support the practice of lies , that won these men the elections in our States and Washington in 2010.

Have we forgotten already the way they won or their legislation that brought in the right to work laws that eliminated our protection from the Unions against unfair labor laws?  Will we forget the bills that they tried to pass against a woman’s right to choose or the involvement of the Tea Party militia in hate groups?  Will the Corporate Press be able to convince us of all the wonders done by these men of the future who stormed our States in 2010 and began laying off teachers,firemen and police while decreasing the wages of the workers?

When Republicans are promoted to run in the highest office of the land in 2014 and 2016 by the GOP, will we forget that they have been less than genuine in their practice towards the needs of the middle class when it came to an economic recovery and of giving us real jobs with fair hours and wages? Will we forget the passage of the right to work laws that denied the American workers and their Unions the right to vote because 27 States had Republican governors who were financed by the Koch Brothers? Didn’t many of the Republican governors lie to the people while they denied the workers their right to Democracy? Isn’t this currently  happening with Republican Governor Rick Snyder in Michigan?   Don’t these Governors represent the future of the Republican Party and the mentality of the Tea Party while the wages of the middle class continue to decline but the wealth of the rich increases two-fold?

Despite their argument that without the right to work laws corporations fail to move to their States and that these laws release people from having to join the Unions; they fail to say that Federal law already states people who do not want to join a Union need not do so.  These Republicans offer absolutely no proof of the truth in their Statements.  There is a simple explanation for the same and that is because there is no proof in what they state.  The proof that does exist is that the average worker’s income drops by $5500.00 per year along with benefits while their working conditions worsen.

The Corporations continue to win while the workers continue to lose is the fact with the right to work laws and there is no proof when 22 States have adopted these laws that corporations do move in. Why should they change from the States they already do set up residence in, when the majority if not all of the Red States where these laws have passed previously, have always offered corporate welfare to Corporations previously to these laws being passed in swing States? Are we the middle class foolish enough to believe that these Corporations will give up all their bread and honey, along with their facilities, equipment and trained staffs in the Red States in order to take less in the swing States?

If they should happen to move to the swing States, which is unrealistic, how much more concessions and job lost do we think it will cost the middle class workers? Would the workers in the Red States continue to believe that they lost their jobs,health care,and pensions because they were taken over by vulture Capitalists in the claim their Company was losing money? Don’t we already know the truth is that the greed of the Republican Party along with the greed of Wall Street is responsible for job lost over job gain?  What will it take for all Americans to understand this concept?

Michigan Republican Governor,Rick Snyder, like so many other Republican Governors in 21 other States,totally ignored the right of the workers to vote when the polls showed that only 6% of the people in the State of Michigan favored this move. Many in the Red States do not even know if they are a right to work State because they have such a heavily backed Republican legislature along with a conservative media, who does not keep them informed.

Do we feel that the current Republican Party is genuine in their representation of the truth when it comes to balancing the budget and avoiding the fiscal cliff in Washington?The truth is that the Tea Party members have dug in their heals again, just as they did the last time, and refuse to accept President Obama’s proposal of at least lowering the taxes on those who make less than $250,000. and John Boehner, is blaming President Obama instead of himself when it is his job to lead his own Party as Speaker of the House in Congress. They all appear on camera instead for their photo opts and profess in unison that the problem is that President Obama has sent them nothing while they reject his offer of cutting 4 trillion dollars and raising the taxes on the wealthy.  The only thing they seem to be able to agree on is to lie in unison to the American people. They began as “the Do Nothing Congress and they will finish out the four years” as the same.

Are they any different from the Republican Governors in our States? Have we already forgotten their 100 plus filibuster attempts against the middle class that would have protected the needs of the people and gave jobs to the same over their protection of Corporate? Don’t we realize their main goal was to make certain that President Barack Obama was a one term President?  Do we really believe that these same men will now compromise in order to keep the economy improving when they have fought against President Barack Obama’s attempts to do the same in the past?

With all their excuses as to why they lost just how genuine are they in understanding their need to be all-inclusive of the American people?  Is it just another example of empty words on their part? Does our own belief system fail us when we are asked  to remember the behavior directed against us by them? Do we learn to hate others who do us no harm, because we have a genuine belief system that tells us that hate is acceptable? Does our own belief system excuse us from making excuses for ourselves instead of taking action?

Is our problem that we long- ago lost touch with practicing any kind of value system based on genuine values, ourselves? Do we have a clue what we believe when we are called on to fight for the same?  Do we believe instead what we have been told to believe so we go into denial when we see or hear a real lack of sincerity in the same?Are those who promote family values, actually those who talk about values but find morality too difficult to maintain themselves?  We need to be interested in politics and the history of our politicians if we are to hold them and ourselves to a higher standard.

When we fail to hold those who would lead us to higher standards, it is we who lose.  This is true when it comes to raising our children and in teaching them right from wrong because we practice what we preach.  When we fail to make morality a priority in our own life the first to understand that our words do not match our actions, are our children.

Many a straying spouse does not just prove to their spouse that they are not trustworthy but they also teach their children that adults cannot be trusted or the person they most admire lacks morality when it comes to being an adult. Many children will turn a deaf ear to what they feel is nothing more than gibberish when they recognize that the behavior of the adult in their lives does not match the words they speak. Sadly, others will emulate the same behavior when they become adults but they will many times prove to their parents that they can do a better job of failing  than what their parent or parents did when it comes to being less than genuine.

When we talk about how busy we are but our children never see us get off the couch they believe the ”busy talk” in us is less than genuine.   When  our children’s  needs to be disciplined go unprovided for, but are replaced by wants instead, we raise children who grow up feeling entitled without them making any efforts towards justifying the same in themselves; too often some will adopt a grandiose image of themselves while being totally void of human empathy for others while they often lack the understanding of what it takes to be ambitious.  If we never teach our children to take genuine responsibility for their own behavior or to care for their own needs in the home, but instead we make excuses for them or wait on them, we deny them the right to find genuine satisfaction in their own accomplishments.

When children are left untrained and untaught they often grow up fearful of being independent from us or to immature to leave home and to form their own belief system.  If we always treat work as something to be dreaded, we teach our children to be lazy instead. Too often we adults will go into denial before we accept the truth of the fact that our child’s behavior is out of control. The lives our children live while they watch us, when it fails to match the genuineness of the words we speak, often leads to denial in us and confusion in our children.

This is true about any behavior or words that leave our lips.  When we are less than genuine the first to accept it as being normal behavior in adults, are our children.  The fact that the youth vote went over whelmingly for President Barack Obama should show all of us who fear the “Me first and now” traits in the youth vote, that we are dead wrong in our judgements. Just as sometimes  the callous of heart appear to belong to the Tea Party or National Rifle Ass., we totally over look the value in the young who would put many of our generations to shame. President Ronald Regan means nothing to them and invoking his name did nothing towards winning their votes.

We forget that this generation of young people learned from us not to trust.When one out of every three homes on the block experience some form of  abuse in it, they have learned that they cannot trust adults to protect them.  We cannot turn around and place the blame on them without taking our share of the blame and pretend to begin to solve the problems that we face as a Nation, while talking about family values,if we do not understand that as adults our generations were far from perfect,as well.

The 1950′s were anything but what they have been romanticized to be but instead were hidden under the lies of injustice and under the veil of secrecy. The same environment allowed for the inhumane and violence of the Jim Crow laws to continue unchecked along with the violence and inequality of not just the tragedies of those laws but also the lack of laws that protect women and children against extreme abuse.

Those who would advocate the return to the 1950′s are not being fully cognizant or honest of the hardships and lack of humanity of the era.  When we fail to act out of genuine concern for all of our people, ourselves, we are certain to elect officials who would ignore the tragedies of the era,and instead repeat a history of genuine injustice. We as a Nation cannot return to a time of ignorance and injustice but we need to move forward by electing legislatures who  protect all Americans by making certain that the laws protect our children regardless of race,creed,gender or gender orientation, who are the most vulnerable amongst us. The spread of half truths and ignorance only makes hate breed.

Just as those who are aware of past injustices, and fight against the return to the same, we need to acknowledge in more recent times our children were victims of their babysitters, Ministers,coaches, and Priests,others their uncles,neighbors or Boy Scouts leaders,still others their step fathers, dads or mothers, others grew up with drugged,beaten,or alcoholic parents, and still others were prostituted by their own parents. They were warned about pedophiles and terrible behavior in adults that many of our generations were not aware of even existing.

Much of this same behavior happened throughout previous generations as well, but when it is kept as a secret in the closet to take to the grave we grew up being told it was our sin to bear and an isolated happening or worse yet, normal behavior, to practice as adults ourselves.  In keeping the secrets of those we were led to believe we should emulate, we lived our lives in turmoil being convinced we were the demon seed, where as todays generation understands that it is not their fault but the fault of the adult, once they are of voting age. This behavior is not limited to poor neighborhoods but happens on every block regardless the socio-economic conditions.

Many of our young people grew up to find their Sports heroes, steroid addicts or shot or killed in drunken accidents. Others were given drugs by their coaches and told to take it or else.  We adults left them devoid of the heroes we took for granted.  They did not have Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, or Martin Luther King to offer them hope in their lives.  They have no reason to trust the adults in their lives because if they were not victimized they have a friend who was.  They certainly are not going to take a politician’s word for something when their actions are less than genuine and they watched their mom’s work two or sometimes three jobs because they were not paid the wage that their Dad’s were.

They were not bought off as Mitt Romney said with “free birth control” but they have seen too much disingenuous behavior in adults in their lives to be bamboozled by less than genuine politicians. Many of them have no reason to any longer fall for the charismatic who will lie to them.  When abuse was not a part of their life they grew up with the ability to express themselves.

The fortunate ones had parents who encouraged them because they had parents who did or are doing a better job of instilling morality in the next generations than our parents or we did, so the young amongst us who are our future, do recognize the lack of words matching the actions in those who would lead us. It is way past time that we, just as the youth vote does, demand proof of the genuine actions of our politicians to hear us the American Public, and to act as our leaders over lying to us. If the Republican Party continues to fail to understand that their behavior and performance has been exposed and has come out failing,  they will continue to lose elections.

When the Republican Party learns to run legitimate candidates who are genuine in their words matching their actions, then the Grand Old Party will return fully vindicated of its past history and will again be representative of the needs of the people. Talking about it will prove nothing when the conversations are about play acting warm and fuzzy feelings or concerns for the middle class,women, and minorities but their actions taken, prove otherwise.   They cannot deny the voters the truth when their own votes, platform,voter suppression, and actions betray them as less than genuine, nor will it win them votes of the American people.

When the Republicans refuse to accept genuine actions speak to the heart of the youth vote and those votes that they are accustomed of getting, are the votes of the dying generations, then they must change their own actions or become distinct along with the dinosaurs. Unlike those of our generation and before, young people do not buy into the belief that a candidate is a “Nice Young Man”, nor do they vote the way they are told to vote.

Todays’ young people grew up on the internet and are much more likely to check  out the voting records of the candidates  against  their campaign speeches. Bullshippers in politics are on their way out with tomorrow’s voters. The Republicans need much more than empty words or the Hispanic vote in their corner and in most cases, they are assuming that the Hispanics have a short memory and are not computer savvy as well.  No one takes the privilege of voting more seriously than an immigrant, denied.

I wish all of us the appreciation of having genuine people in our lives who surround us this Holiday Season.  May we all be so Blessed as to attract the same with our own honesty while understanding the need of it in all of our own lives. The Holiday Season is not about making comparisons with our neighbors, but about taking pride in the generosity of the American spirit that we helped inspire, while embracing those of us who express the truth of that same spirit.  Celebrate the genuine goodness in all of us by giving of ourselves to what ever Religious or Spiritual belief we hold dear, or as a sign of our genuine love expressed, and give what we can spare to the less fortunate, as a reminder of the real purpose of this Holiday Season.  God bless us all!

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The Manipulative

I have chosen to write today on the manipulator as they are especially active during the Holiday Season. We all know the manipulative by different names and faces but at some time in our lives we will all know several.  They are often times the charming that are generous with both their praise and gifts, until they have us totally convinced they are the victims of others,before they begin their attempts to victimize us.

If we could all just remember that people who do not expect something from us will walk away since they have nothing to prove, nor will they waste our time or their’s convincing us, unless we seek them out and ask for the facts, then we would all be the wiser before we find ourselves trapped by the manipulator.

Some are very obvious to those of us who have been conned ourselves, and too often when we try to warn our loved ones who are being victimized by these people or the person,we are the ones who lose the affections of our loved ones instead.  They are so charming while they convince us that they are the benefactors or benefactress of the World, before we become sucked into their schemes and realize that those who tried to warn us,were our real friends.

Many times they enter our lives when we are the most vulnerable and reaching out to gain knowledge or comfort.  They will many times be so perfect in our minds that we cannot believe ourselves that anyone so kind and generous can be in our lives. They run the gamut from Religious schemers such as Rev. Jones, who convinced or forced 900 people to drink the Kool-Aid,to claims of being a charitable organization but unless we check them out first they can be very convincing in their efforts to deceive, or many times they are a member of our own family.  No one is a better manipulator than the family member who needs alcohol or drug money and they often times do not stop with the family members but move on to the neighbors and strangers who will fall for their stories of victimization, just as we do.

When the charm runs out of the manipulator,because they can only sustain it for so long,we will either be made to feel that we  owe them the rest of our lives or we will wise up and run because just as charming as they can be, they can also be as intimidating.  While we are convincing ourselves that we have welcomed the perfect people or person into our lives they are learning our weak or vulnerable points and they learn to use them to their advantage when the charm wears off.  They capitalize on the negative feelings of guilt or feelings of betrayal in us, and use it to their benefits.  We should never think it is just our imagination or we are being unfair to them, after they have been so good to us, because they trap us into believing just that so they can gain control over us.

As we gain more knowledge and comfort with ourselves we recognize them readily and  to often think they are rather harmless to those of us who are aware of people who play on others’ emotions.  While we ourselves are no contest to them they often times see us as a challenge to defeat and will deliberately,in some cases, prey on those who we befriend, is our child, or another loved one, just to prove that they can out smart us and defeat us when we do think of them as being harmless. It often serves in the best interests of all of us if we do not make it obvious to them that we do not believe them, but remain firm in what our ground rules are because then the more likely they will be to move onto their next victim.  If we try to warn the next candidate to be victimized by the manipulator before they become victimized, they will not believe us either, unless they themselves are already wary of the charmers  who manipulate.

They appear at family gatherings such as Thanksgiving,in the malls,in our group of friends,at the  work place, at our church gatherings and in some cases even lead us in prayer,they are anywhere that the vulnerable can be isolated from others. If we donate to them once they will continue flooding our mail boxes or e-mail with more requests to give until they wear us down or convince us they need our donations, often under false pretenses. Other times they reach out through our telephones or the internet, as it is the perfect cover for the deceitful who never wish to be found out once they scam us into believing we are the most beautiful person in the World or they promise us that we will inherit a fortune if we just pay the taxes on it.If we are being manipulated or conned ourselves, we must first accept that we are as much at fault for allowing it to happen, once we become aware of it,as are the people who manipulate us.

So I offer all of us this Thanksgiving this simple advice even though I know those who need to heed it most, will not hear it, “If it is too good to be true, it almost always is.” We all make the dreams in our own lives come true.  It takes a lot of doing without sometimes and the understanding of those who help us to realize our dream.  No person ever realizes a dream as a single unit. It always takes a lot of hard work and co-operation to achieve our dreams.  It doesn’t fall from the sky and land in our laps, we have to earn it, and anytime we find others trying to take from us on a song and a dance or a story of victimization, we should never question our own motives but always question their motives, first.

Good luck is only what others are waiting for because they were not willing to make the sacrifices for others who truly needed their help or to make their own dreams come true.  Sometimes it is being in the right place at the right time but if we are not willing to put out the efforts it takes to achieve then we will not gain from the placement either. Dreams can still come true when we recognize our own strengths and weaknesses and accept help from those who do help us, by rewarding those who help us, through just and fair wages.

I wish each and all of you all the joy of giving that Thanksgiving can bring to all of us if we give in the spirit of giving.  Once we become aware of the manipulator and we make ourselves dependent on the kindness or intimidation of the same, or allow those who do help ruin the spirit of giving, we must accept our role in the same. All the denial in the World cannot force us to fail to acknowledge that if we are being played by a manipulator there are others as well.

Sometimes people are placed in our lives to test the respect that we have for ourselves and humanity in general, and when we fail that test we will also fail the tests of showing respect to others, who truly do deserve our time and love.  We have a responsibility to not only ourselves but to those who care about us to understand the difference of those in our lives who do respect our spirit of giving as verses the manipulators who take without a conscious. Once we become aware of the fact that we are the ones being used, then we need to accept that we enable the manipulators of the world and we need to stop the time,attention,and money often given to the manipulators, for all the reasons that allow them to operate on the unsuspecting. If we cannot stop them for our sake or the sake of the manipulator themselves, then we need to be aware of those who we hurt by going into denial of the part we play in it.

Thanksgiving is a time of appreciation and when we fail to appreciate those who should matter to us, we lose everything else of value as well. I feel truly Blessed for having the husband I have had for 45 years,my terrific daughters and son-in-law, and the two Bestest grandsons that a grandmother could ever have. I appreciate the value they add to my life by just being the genuine people that they are and their own faith in their own achievements.

All we who truly love really want is for our loved ones to be happy and for us to be aware when they are not, by offering them the emotional support they need,if they need our help. Too many times I have made the assumption that they needed my help when their maturity was leap years ahead of my own, at the same age they are.  Age may be a teacher to those of us who are willing to learn, but we should not always assume that we know better because of it. May we all be Blessed this Thanksgiving while we remember those who are really victims with our generosity and prayers.  Have a safe trip and a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

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The Herd Mentality

In the beginning of mankind it was necessary for us to form together in a herd just as it is for animals to form herds and to gather together in flocks for survival.  A group of people or a tribe could defend against danger or against predators more effectively if they maintained a large group or herd.

They could forage together more effectively for roots,grains and berries,hunting that provided the meat, and gather together for warmth. Absolutely everything was shared by the group with a leader chosen by them to lead and he,because rarely was a woman trusted as a leader,was entitled pretty much  to anything he felt entitled to, as long as he kept the needs of the people first. He would always be served first before the group and any gem stones,feathers,or tools made were presented to him first before the others could share the spoils.  Just as the animal world has a hierarchy so did mankind.

In the animal world the male fights for the position against the weaker and the same was often true in the early days of mankind until after mankind advanced enough to the point that the title of leader was then passed down to the first borned son, generation after generation. Long before there was a government, long before there were Democracies,long before politics and political Parties, long before there was a Republican Party who referred to working together and picking a just leader of the people, who made sure the people were provided for,Socialism; mankind depended on a just and fair leader of the people. The people in return rewarded their leaders, so to declare as Mitt Romney did that the people were jealous of his wealth, made as much sense as too many other ridiculous statements he made in his campaign.In a civilized World today we still need leaders who care as much for the needs of the people as they did then, even though we no longer need to gather together in herds for our survival.

The protests that we often see in the Streets of a free Nation only arise because the people feel that they are being disenfranchised or starved to death by leadership.  The fact that the Republican Party with the help of the media, such as Fox News, only scoffed at the Occupy movement moving across America to stop the greed of the 1% over the needs of the 99%, has a great deal to do with why the Republican Party lost the election this year.  They had become so accustomed to ignoring the needs of the workers that they apparently felt they could run any candidate that they wanted to that would bend to the wishes of the far right and we the poor and middle class would succumb to their wishes because they used the herd mentality against their followers by whipping them into a feeding frenzy against President Obama.

So convinced were they that the deck was stacked in their favor to win that even when they lost Paul Ryan said,”We only lost because of the turn out in the Urban area” while denying they lost 40% of the over 55 vote,the youth vote, the women’s vote in the suburban areas,the gay vote,the Asian vote,the Hispanic vote,the Jewish vote, as well as the agriculture and blue-collar vote in States like New Hampshire,Iowa,Colorado, and Ohio as well.  They even lost the Catholic vote as well as both Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney lost their own home States, and yet in their denial, they are still trying to claim they ran a good campaign.

None of us are so stupid that we do not realize that when Republicans like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney speak of the Urban vote they are talking about the poor and the African-American vote and when they insult one of us they insult all of us.  We know that first and foremost, we all are Americans together, and the Republicans are not granted leadership unless the American majority,made up of all American minorities, say they are our choice.

They cannot divide us even while they claim that our President is responsible for doing so. When Mitt Romney in his continued arrogance claimed they only lost because of the gifts (Obama care) given to those in the Urban area and free birth control to the young women, by President Obama, he only added more insults to the already bruised majority of us combined, who voted against the arrogance of the Republican Party as much as we voted in favor of the man we felt could better care for all of the American people.

If the GOP continues to refuse to accept the fact that they cannot run a bunch of clowns who are not interested in the people but instead pretend they are by spending billions of dollars and making voting against those who will not vote for them,as miserable as possible, they will continue to lose.  The middle class has lost too much income while the wealth of the wealthy has grown,for to long for the Republican Party to think they can continue to disenfranchise us as a group.

Modern mankind, often led by women who are also the majority voters, will not be fooled into subjection by their leaders, on a pact of lies and  billions of dollars. Adding conservative women to your party that are led by the beliefs of the far right will not fool those of us who do know that we are as equal as anyone else in America. The GOP’s problem runs much deeper than just winning back the Latino/Hispanic voters.  As Haley Barbour said,”The GOP needs to find a good Proctologist”, or as I say,” they need to get their heads out of their b….s long enough to understand they lost overwhelmingly,” and we both mean the same thing.  Republicans lost this election because they offered nothing different from what we have been paying for the last decade and will be paying for  generations to come,  and because we are not a right-wing Nation who denies equality to its people.

The blue-collar workers cannot be forced into giving up their Unions in favor for less pay and longer hours under the Republican control in our States,nor can they continue to fire teachers,policemen, and firemen and then expect our votes.  They may have won 53% of the white vote but basically that is about all they won and with those numbers they lost. It is no one’s fault but their own so it is time they quit making ugly excuses instead.  It is time that men like John McCain accepts that he lost in 2008 and give his along with the bigots like John Sununu, in the Republican Party, bitterness from his and their lost, a rest.

If the GOP wants to continue with their insistence that women are denied the right of equality to their own bodies while they try to win back the Latino/Hispanic vote while dismissing the rest of the minorities in America, they are going to continue to lose because just as the leadership in early mankind needed to be ever cognizant of the needs of the members in the herd,or be threatened by the uprise of the herd, today’s leadership needs to be aware of the fact that the needs of the people are fair and just as well.

We may be modern mankind with all of our own flaws but we still recognize a group of Bullshippers when we see and hear them.  You lost Republicans so lick your wounds and start rebuilding a Party that reflects the needs of the people over your own greed and run legitimate candidates with legitimate concerns for the people of all races,genders,gender orientations,and religious beliefs, over the lobbyists and the bigots, and you will again win over the vote of some of the people who do accept the needs of capitalism to grow as well.

Capitalism cannot continue to stockpile trillions while the workers go without food and homes and then turn around and  expect the workers to vote for the Republican Party who protects Wall Street at the expense of the people.  You lost, accept it, and get to work rebuilding a respectable Party over the disaster based in greed that you now own.  You fooled no one but a few but mainly yourselves.  The truth hurts sometimes but only when we own it can we make necessary improvements towards change in ourselves.  No one doubts that the GOP needs to tear down their structure and rebuild except those of you who march to the drum of  Carl Rove,Grover Norquist, the Tea Party, and the far right,still.

Good Luck and get to work adding moderates to your Party because the angry old white men are a dying breed and it is time you all learn to accept it. We do want to see two healthy political parties again,but it must be based on the needs of the people and have some truth in what it tells the people as well as the needs of capitalism, with a genuine leader at its helm.  We the voters are not going away.  Once burnt twice learned.  We do not need another Bush as in Jeb Bush, either. We are sincere in our wishes to see the Republican Party and their platform rebuilt on reality and on a new foundation. Once we do, and are convinced the people matter, then some of the voters will return to the GOP.

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Are Independents Really Independent?

This will be my final political post,thank Goodness!  After having written on the truth of the far right and the Tea Party and their negative effects on the Republican Party and the cynicism across America that they lap up, with their below par candidates for two years, I welcome the end of writing anymore on the subject of politics.

My husband will be retiring at the end of the year and we hope to travel.  I welcome and look forward to being out of the loop on the political scene and playing in the sunshine.  Since this is my last political post and I have watched Americans throw away 6 Billion dollars on campaigns of lies, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  The sad thing is that the majority of the large donors spent it to buy their candidate of choice.  I applaud those who spent in an effort to stop the corrupt from taking office.

I am afraid that those who want a prostitute to perform in their favor in their politicians do so, to get their own greed fulfilled and are the largest contributors.  It would be nice to think the Republican Party itself would be spending those dollars instead to throw the bums out.  Men such as Sam Adelson and the Koch Brothers in the Republican Party, are stealing the votes from American citizens who are either to flip-flop themselves to make decisions or too bored to care. The sad thing is when the greed is coming from the Christian ministries who are more business driven than Christ driven and give of the money collected for the poor, in their efforts to sway the elections in their own Churches.

Unless and until men like Carl Rove and Grover Norquist are shaken loose from the strong hold or the bully pulpit of the Republican Party the Republican Party will continue to prostitute themselves for the Tea Party and the ridiculous right who will and are destroying Democracy in America. This Tea Party driven Party will not even stand for a Republican saying “Hi” to a Democrat when they meet in the hall without threatening them on their re-election support.  Both parties use to break early for a drink together and now they cannot even acknowledge they know each other due to this insane hatred driven by the Tea Party.

The Republicans instead blame President Obama for not working with them when they filibustered more than anytime in our history against President Obama’s agenda and they met ten days after he was signed into office where all Republicans were forced to sign a pledge making President Obama a one term President, at their CPAC retreat. Those who refused to sign the pledge along with  Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana, were ran out of the Republican Party by the Tea Party in the primaries because he had the audacity to say,”We need to work together on a healthcare program.”  The ironic part is that the Democrats never ran against Senator Lugar all these years because he was respected by both sides of the aisle before the Tea Party entered the fray on the lie of paying down the deficit.  The good news is the Democrat is leading in the Senate race in Indiana against the Tea Party selected Republican who defeated Senator Lugar, and for the first time in 30 plus years, a Democrat is  expected to win the Senate seat the Tea Party forced Senator Lugar to leave.

We keep hearing from the media that all of this money being spent is necessary in order to win over the Independent vote. We see the polls changing every time they are taken and I don’t know about the rest of Americans, but  this election smells like rotten eggs.  It has been the biggest disgrace ever enacted on the American public, in all the years that I have been following politics.  These corrupt politicians and the people who back them have destroyed any decency left in the election system in America.  The voter suppression belongs in a third world Country governed by a dictatorship and certainly not in America! Instead the “true to the vote group” which is a self-appointed watch dog group of the Tea Party are claiming voter fraud where none exists and intimating voters at the polls who would vote for President Obama in States ran by Tea Party and Republican Governors. This same group have mailed out misleading information confusing the minority voters with erroneous information.

Sure politics have always had a stretching of the truth and we always needed to read between the lines.  In the 1950′s Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson said to the Republican majority,”If you quit lying about us we will quit telling the truth about you.”The biggest difference is that we saw two men who would stand on the stage of their Parties and accept their Party’s election because they were driven to help the American people over a need to fill their own pockets.  We could believe that they were men of honor until Richard Nixon exposed them for the fraud that they were.  Even so they did not promote or refuse to stop the hate and lies that we have seen this year in candidate Romney, and his campaign contributors.   May we never see it again!

The political season use to be fun before the venom and mean spirited of the Tea Party and the far right won the majority control of the Republican Party and they along with their hate groups entered the picture. It is impossible to have an honest debate with them today because they can only come back with the lies and half-truths that have been programmed into them.  They do not have an original or independent thought or reasoning for their explanation or debate when we do try to press them into doing so. We use to be able to join together and have parties with red,white, and blue banners hung for decorations and discuss our differences and our own reasoning without name calling.  Elections were a time of celebration with both Parties being represented and now they are just a screaming match or those who judge the harshest get up and leave in a huff.

Anyone who believes the accuracy of the polls taking place this year must be in that undecided column that put the blame on Independents. Polls simply do not swing as much or as frequently as the polls have swung this year unless the majority of American pollsters are schizophrenic and the majority of us know better than to believe that they have lost touch, to that degree with reality,yet. Certainly the polls have not shown the conviction of the Americans voters. We may be getting close to a Nation of shallow voters but we are not quite there yet.  The media, depending on their own choice of candidates, just kept changing to the polls they preferred that were closer to the truth they wanted to hear, I suspect is closer to the truth.

I maintain many Independents are not Independent but instead uninterested in a two-party system or politics in general,looking for an utopia that doesn’t exist on earth or in our lives,has special interests of their own they want promoted over the view of the majority, or are ashamed to have their name tied to the far right of the Republican Party but in truth will either not vote or will vote Republican once they walk in the booth anyway.  They just don’t want their friends to know.

It works the same way with the Independents who use to call themselves Democrat but the liberals have been so maligned by the Christian community, in which they are a member of, that they fear to stand up for their beliefs that are opposite of their religious community. They too will vote Democrat when they enter the booths to vote. The fastest way to get attention is America is to tell the politicians or your friends that you are undecided or Independent. Neither will stop trying to convert you to their cause if you do.  I can’t imagine why anyone would tell anyone that they were either unless they do love the attention.

True Independents saw absolutely nothing this year that they would vote for because it is a sin to discuss Science and environment in the Republican Party today. Because the Liberals are accused of trying to be Jesus Christ and dividing the Red Sea or mocked when they talk about things like global warming that threatens the coast of our Great Nation, they play it safe and say nothing.

This election year was a disgrace to all of us, who do believe in the political system and like a good healthy debate with the opposition, but instead the waters were poisoned by both hate and lies by the far right and the media that feeds into it.  We heard absolutely nothing on details from Mitt Romney, other than, “I will not answer that before the election,I’ll have to check on that and get back to you on that, or No I will not show you my taxes.”

Anyone who would vote for a candidate, who would represent himself as Mitt Romney has, is voting strictly because they believe all the lies and hate that have been spread across America by the Tea Party and the people who would call themselves Christian or the Far right; or they would vote for Romney’s dog, as long as it was Republican.

These American citizens will continue until their deathbeds to either vote out of ignorance for what the Republican Party today represents, or against their own best interests.  Too many think that as a Nation we pay too much out in welfare for the poor and it is socialism to do so.  The real truth is: far more money goes out in welfare to the wealthy,oil companies, and corporations and is protected by the Republican Party.

I have yet to meet the person who did not give back for the Blessings they received ever become a true success in life.  Many of them if they do gain wealth, find that they are alone in life, without any real friends. Even their own children stand around with their hands out.  Those who hold the attitude of resentment against the less fortunate, in my experience, almost always fail in life. The true joy in life comes from giving back and making a difference in someone else’s life, without them knowing we did.

For the Romney campaign to tolerate an ad stating American generosity is supporting socialism because many of us enjoy giving,in my estimation is inexcusable.The more generous we are to others the more happiness and contentment we gain for ourselves.  This is un-imaginable to the selfish who collects things and people for their own needs and pleasure, so they hide behind the lie of Socialism instead. Obviously a self-professed Billionaire who made his money in one generation did not experience socialism in America so to profess his concern for the same lies is just more of the disgrace that was allowed to run by the Romney campaign. It is the same kind of campaign ad that was offered to the John McCain campaign and refused by him for being in poor taste.

Our economy is coming back thanks to the tireless efforts of President Barack Obama and these American citizens would rather see Mitt Romney get the credit for it while President Obama takes the blame for the Republican greed that caused the mess he inherited.  Throughout history messes made by Republicans and paid for by the middle class have been cleaned up along with budgets balanced  by Democrat Presidents. It is a total misconception that Democrats spend money and Republicans balance budgets.

Who in their right mind, who lives on the planet earth, would elect a President, like Mitt Romney, who refused to come clean with the people of his own Party and those who would vote for him? He has only shared what he feels about us, the 47% ,with the “fat Cats” whose taxes he has promised to decrease by 5 trillion more dollars and have it added to our deficit while he lies to his own constituency. It befuddles the mind and reasoning of common sense. I repeat:  May we never see another election year like the one we have seen this year! Please Vote on Tues. if you do not have an opportunity to vote sooner.  We need to get rid of the spread of hate in America before it consumes yet more American minds and drives reality and common sense out of our elections, entirely. Vote the bums out!

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