In Response to Douglas Wagaman of FB

In my post entitled “Ted Nugent is a Coward and An Idiot”, my opening paragraph made no bones about my stooping to the level of name calling but when the shoe fits, I stated “I am no different from the masses when it comes to doing so.”

When an American citizen of privilege such as Ted Nugent, stops just short of telling an organized body steeped in hatred towards our President,” that justice and assassination are the same”, then that person in any book should be called an idiot and a coward regardless of the Party affiliation of our President and who the acting President is in The United States of America.  I do not believe that to be a long shot in opinion amongst any of us who are truly dedicated to American Decency and Democracy.

I normally do not answer my critics but anytime I get a chance to educate the American public I will take time to do so.  Douglas Wagaman on face book said in regard to my post of the above title and I quote it here:  “I had to laugh when I read this piece.  The author complains about hate, racism, and rhetoric while using the term “redneck” over and over to describe the people with different beliefs and values.  Nicely done. Lol “

When I read that quote by Douglas Wagaman on Face book, I smiled to myself and thought,” clearly Douglas and friends do not know any true Rednecks.” If I hadn’t of spent so many years, myself, living around and in the vicinity of and amongst true Rednecks and listening to their conversations while watching their behavior, I would have thought exactly as you did, Douglas. Every time I tried to get an individual who promoted the negative views I reported in my post to understand a different perspective all I ever heard back was, ” I am a Redneck and proud of it.” I would estimate over the years, I made that attempt close to a hundred times on at least as many different people or maybe even more.

I am not a shy violet who is afraid to take on controversy. Since I had the experience and heard their beliefs repeated endlessly I am able to clearly define them as Rednecks, since that is how they wish to define themselves. Terminology just like our diet and food favorites vary greatly in the different cultures across America. I should have known better and explained clearer the definition of a true redneck in my neck of the woods. 

These many differences in how we view ourselves and the World becomes very prominent to all of us who do make a point of exposing ourselves to different cultures and beliefs while educating ourselves in the Diversity across America. None of us will ever get it 100% correct, myself included, as the differences of our experiences that teach us remain personal with too many amongst us, but at the very least, 100% of us can commit to the efforts of understanding the diversity that is America and the foundation of Democracy.

I, myself,am willing to bet the great majority of Americans would agree; America was never intended to be a Country with a ruling class of elitist served by the lower working class of workers minus an entire middle class. That idea was promoted and pushed during the 1800′s during the Industrial Revolution of the North.

The bosses hired Pennington Guards to shoot and kill any Union organizers who tried to come in and help the workers circumstances and wages improve. It would not be until after World War 2 that America would have a viable middle class thanks to the GI program and Democrats Roosevelt’s and Truman’s administrations. Just as the John Birch Society who ran Barry Goldwater’s campaign in the 1960s believed Democracy was not the intent of our Founding Fathers so do Patriot groups along with many in the Tea Party, believe the same today.

Grover Norquist was an aide under Barry Goldwater and a big supporter of the John Birch Society. Today he has a think tank that he funnels money through to Conservative and Tea Party candidates. No Republican can get elected without first going through Grover Norquist. Every Republican must sign a pledge not to raise taxes on the elitists or lose their bid for office but he gave his o.k. to raise taxes on the middle class. How many of us think that anyone but the Conservative and Tea Party members and their paid for media were really upset when IRS decided to check out his tax free exemption?

We fought the biggest and most deadliest war called the Civil War in our history, for Democracy. We have throughout History lost many of our brave young men and women in defense of oppression against our allies around the World. No Family other than perhaps some of the elitists have been spared from deaths of War. The Civil War established that America would not tolerate oppression of the Constitution and of it’s people. As A Nation founded on the principle of equality for all under our Constitution we would be a Nation of Free people and that is what was the intent of our Founding Fathers all along.

It would not be until the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1971 that minorities and women would be given the full rights under the law and both are still having to fight the Tea Party and Conservatives for those equal rights yet in 2013. Do we really have to ask if it is truly wrong to suggest that other beliefs and value systems may still be unjust in a Country that prides itself on having the best Democracy in the World?

Although I do not agree with the politics of the Deep South either, it does not prevent me from looking forward to their gracious hospitality each time I travel there. I find the people who live in the region, in many incidences, to be the mirror of what the rest of us should look into once we remove the politics from the fray. I find much more prejudice exists in the North, East Coast, Mid West, Bread Basket and intermingled to too large of a degree in the South West and West Coast than what is apparent in the South each time I visit. I have always enjoyed the Diversity of Americans and view it as one of the greatest selling tools that makes up American Democracy.

I, personally, encourage everyone who have pre-conceived notions without the facts to educate themselves on the differences that make our Nation great. I certainly do not applaud nor will I ever support those who would subject their hatred and rhetoric on to other American citizens while using fear tactics in the process.

What I have found to be true once I let go of my own pre-conceived notions is that there are a great deal of commonalities that do exist amongst all of us when we make the effort to accept our differences and to rid ourselves of our own ignorance that is behind most hate. I have no doubt that all of us who look for unity will find that the goodness in the American people does out-weigh the hate that we hear. As is true, too many times, the good often gets buried under the manufactured or bad news that gets reported.

Unfortunately no one knows or understands better than the well financed and powerful political machines at work in America who often hide behind Social Ideology or Religious Freedom, when they are anything but political, that the actions of, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”, have proven itself to be true since the beginning of mankind. We find these political entities, backed by their own media, while they deliberately drive the wedge not just between the American people but also in the GOP that blames our President for the lack of their own Leadership or ability to compromise in their own Party, in Congress specifically, but also at work amongst us in our own environment.

Believe me ,Douglas, the term ”redneck”, is not one of my own.  The true redneck believes as I stated they do in my post entitled “Ted Nugent is an Idiot and a Coward,” in my neck of the woods. 

Just as the White Supremacists, Skin Heads, and members of any other hate groups who number in the 1000 plus range in America and who think of themselves as victims or superior to other races or sexual orientations are proud to be a member of their group so is a true Redneck proud to be a Redneck. 

They are equally as proud of their belief system, racial slurs and gay bashing.  I did not pigeon-hole the Redneck belief system nor their long held beliefs against change and diversity in my area of the Nation. I did not make up this belief system but instead the people involved did it long before I wrote my post and I only reported the same.

Like any other group that takes pride in defining themselves the true redneck does as well. They do make up part of the culture of America. They like all other groups pigeon-hole themselves into the narrow views that exist amongst them just as the radical members of both the NRA and or any other group who believe they are superior to others or victims of another instead of working towards the goal that is satisfactory to all of us.

Democracy embraces all of us who do try to correct the injustices amongst us through positive efforts of all of us working together for the common goal. To pretend this is the goal of those who practice hate or those who try to divide our commonality or respect for each other, is to lie to ourselves and to live in a world of fantasy or denial.

A true redneck sincerely does believe that the Democrat Party is made up of entirely Liberals who are intent on taking away their guns.  Their belief system is exactly what makes them easy prey to the NRA and subversive groups whose only job is to divide the American people.  Anyone insulted to be called a Redneck is truly not a Redneck. 

Some, amongst us may think the people who act like cave men or have not advanced to the twenty first century and feel that women rights are not suppose to be equal to the rights of the white male, are “rednecks” but in many of these examples we will find people who have religious convictions that drive their thinking and they are not in truth officially “Rednecks.”

Many included in this group may have similar beliefs when it comes to husband and wife roles but their beliefs stem instead from the verses of the Bible that says, “Wives should be obedient to and beholding to their husbands.” Not all but in a lot of instances, we will find that they are absent of hate or bigotries.

Those who are not or would divide the Faithful, are many times worse than those who make no pretentions of the fact that their hatred and bigotry are volatile. Those who hide themselves behind conservative or Tea Party values in the name of family values, yet with political endeavors in mind, are often more subtle but equally disruptive to the Democracy of America.

I have friends who, I agree to disagree with, who have joked about themselves as being “Rednecks” who have some of the same beliefs but they are totally against the NRA rhetoric and propaganda and would never support the NRA’s rant because even as members they are 100% of the belief, ” That the only people who have to be concerned about having to register a gun or go through checks are probably the people who should never own one.”

I do hope this educates everyone who had the misconception that I was placing blame where done existed, generalizing about a group of people who believe or behave differently from what I reported , or name calling anyone other than Ted Nugent and the NRA leadership in my post. 

I repeat the statements I made in the post are typical beliefs and behavior of the true “Rednecks”, who are only one of many groups who make up the cultural climate of America. Anyone who is insulted by being called a redneck is not in truth probably one but perhaps one who can relate to the same on some level. 

A true redneck is proud of being called a redneck as they see their views as the only acceptable views.

I have said many a time that hatred is bred in and out of ignorance so if this helps educate in regards to just one of the many groups’ beliefs and behaviors then I feel that I have done some good by exposing them. Sadly the same Republican majority who accept this mentality into Their CPAC conventions learned nothing when the American people sent them the clear message that we will not tolerate division or dismissal of the other 47% of Americans amongst us. I hope you join me in making the message loud and clear that Democracy and decency belongs to all of our people in America.

I appreciate that you took out your time, Douglas, to read my post and I do hope you learned something from it. Sadly, the beliefs of the true Rednecks are growing in numbers and shared beliefs and those of us who know the difference need to be the buffer of resistance against such stereo typing and hatred that continues to grow amongst too many of the groups with like beliefs and hatred against any group or individual Americans who do not wish us harm.

The truly honorable and brave amongst us have not dedicated their lives to the cause of elitism, hate, or class warfare but rather to the cause of Democracy. It does us all well to remember that when we celebrate Memorial Day with our loved ones and decorate the graves of those who died and risked their lives so that all of us could have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without regard to Race, Gender, Creed, Color, or Sexual Orientation.

During this time of great sorrow and travail in our Country, may we all gain a moment of strength and courage as well as be inspired by those Americans who come from all walks of life and diversity, who serve and have served all of us both well and unselfishly. The real heroes’ amongst them risk their most precious gift of life for the rights of All Americans to enjoy the true Blessings of complete and total Freedom from oppression. Thank you! God Bless us all. God Bless America.

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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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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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Grief And Grieving

According to the process of teaching, “All truth passes through three stages, First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed.Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”–Arthur Schopenhauer

Many of us feel a genuine sorrow each time that we hear of the deaths of children or mistreatment of pets, even when we have not known or spent time with them.  Not all people do, nor do they need to feel guilt if they don’t.  Not all people bond with children or pets and cultural differences in the way we accept death, also plays a role in why some people will grieve profoundly while others feel a compassion and act differently from those who grieve the lost of strangers. This was very prevalent in the attacks of 9/11, as well. Some people also remain more resilient while they prefer to spring into action first.

The NewTown tragedy, is one of many killings of our children by those who use guns but it leaves a profound lost on all of us as a Nation, because there are so many 6 and 7 year olds who have lost their lives.  Even those who do not have any particular fondness for children, can remember those hopeful years of their own lives, and feel that this tragedy leaves them with a genuine sense of regret for the lives lost.

We generally accept the Kubler-Ross model of grieving even though it has its share of critics as well.  The study was based on people who were terminally ill and how they coped with the lost of their health and the acceptance of death and they later applied the same emotions to all lost of that which we are bonded to.  I repeat the 5 steps here;

1.  Denial—”I feel fine”

2.  Anger—-”Why me?  It’s not fair.”

3.  Bargaining–”I’ll do anything for a few more years or one more moment”.

4. Depression—”I’m so sad, why bother with anything”.

5.  Acceptance–”Its going to be o.k.”

Others have added two other emotions and they are shock which most commonly accompanies denial and leaves us feeling numb and guilt.   Guilt is common with care givers who feel they should have been able to do more or with survivors who are involved in the same act of violence or car accident or in death of any kind. It is also common is spouses and siblings,especially when a twin is lost through death or separation.  It directly affects those who fight together in wars, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

Emotions can also be very varied without fitting a pattern of any kind.  They can run from solemn to trepidation to anxiety or to rage and disgust.  Many times feelings of jealousy or envy or even hate can follow when we see other children graduate with their classes or marry or we see other spouses with their mates, even after we feel that our sadness has dissipated. It is important that those who are experiencing many ranges of emotions are not alone but instead with friends and family members until the pain or shock that often triggers these erratic or difficult to deal with emotions calm down. When we are more clear of our own emotions then we can reflect on our own if we have the capacity to do so and know our own strengths and weaknesses. Any shooting of any nature often leads to temporary trauma in all of us.

In years past, the Medical Association did  not talk about post traumatic stress disorder in other situations outside of war.  As modern techniques expose more about the human brain, it is now more generally accepted that PTSD can and does exist on many levels of trauma and often times does accompany shock when death is totally unexpected.

The important thing with grieving is that we all know that there is not a clear-cut pattern for those who grieve.  Many emotions can be involved just as the more resilient or people with a history or exposure to death will feel fewer emotions.  Some may spend days crying while others who have been exposed to death can move on with few tears and gain acceptance earlier.  It is when grieving goes on for months into years with a total sense of helplessness that we should be certain to get professional help without any sense or feeling like we are weak or a failure.

We all have different ways of coping throughout life and a different time-frame in which we grieve.  Some find genuine laughter over memories of loved ones their healing tool.  Others will memorialize their loved one while still others who are use to solving their own problems in life will remain isolated amongst family members and choose to grieve alone.  Some will feel a responsibility and duty to do something first, and then grieve later when things become more quiet. Others will turn to Religion and the hope offered through its teachings while others will commit their lives to doing for others in an effort to feel good about themselves and to help lift the veil of sadness. Some delay going back to work and grieve immediately and find it only takes a few months to reach acceptance.  Others lose themselves in work and delay their grieving, because they feel a need to analyze the reasons why, first. When they finally accept the fact that there are no answers to the why they move on to the acceptance of death.

The main thing is that we acknowledge that not all things are great and that we do understand a necessity to grieve with the understanding that it should not be a lifetime condition that brings debilitating sadness. Some people will feel better talking about the death while others will want to choose who they discuss it with, if they wish to discuss it at all.  Many times those who grieve will blame the innocent bystander or take out their bad feelings on the closest people to them.

Grieving takes a high level of understanding sometimes. We cannot excuse poor behavior as being normal,and need  to understand that we may need to learn three simple words such as:”I am sorry.” Some people become over protective or obsessive out of fear of another loss during the period of grieving.  They will sometimes use poor behavior in order to deliberately drive away others who they love because they cannot bear the lost of another person in their lives. People who have a previous history of relieving bad feelings in themselves,on those closest to them, many times should ask for help during this time, while those who are close by understand this is not a time to judge, harshly.

Too many times we get stuck in one step of grieving and rather than feel the pain or get grief counseling will turn to alcohol or drugs and only compound our own grieving.  Grieving needs to take place, as the longer we delay it, the more problems will arise in the family as a result of our doing so. It is not uncommon for parents to delay their own grieving while making sure their children are o.k. first.  It is important that we understand that if we are not well then our children will not be  either.  Alcohol and drugs in moderation may help with sleep in the earlier days but should never replace or be used to deny the feelings of pain that we need to heal from, through grieving our loss.

We can grieve while also feeling genuine appreciation for having had our loved ones in our lives, and many recover as a result of the same. Some want to leave pictures up as a reminder of their loved ones, while others want to remove all reminders of them.  Some will continue to celebrate birthdays while others will feel a need to mourn. People are all different in their expressions of sorrow and we need to respect the same, but also remain cognizant of those who need professional help in order to cope. It is o.k to find moments of laughter and to look back after a few months or a couple of years and to acknowledge that we were not always rational during our grieving process.  Very many aren’t.

It is important that we understand that various levels of grieving in a marriage often leads to disputes that can lead to divorce if one of the members in the marriage are ready to move on and remember the good moments shared by the deceased while the other mate is still asking,”Why Me?” Grieving too many times will lead to intolerance in couples while it will bring others closer together since no one else can entirely understand their shared lost as clearly as they can.

We can often times treat those closest to us, during the grieving time pretty poorly, if we do not move ahead with the grieving process.  Children as young as 18 months can feel the loss of the bond of a sibling or parent and grieve. Children who lose their best friends can withdraw and be afraid of initiating new friends because to do so feels like betrayal to them. They can not always voice their feelings, or understand them, themselves. Children grieve differently from adults in that they often times do not cry but instead will act out.

Children may have episodes of unexplained rage or with draw into themselves.  When adults grieve it is especially important that when a child loses a sibling or a friend at an early age, that we understand that the children are losing the person in their lives that has always been part of their lives that they have confided in and made plans with for a future as well.  The most neglected lost of loved ones often does lie in the lack of understanding for the death of a friend or sibling, when they lose their friend or sibling too early.

The lost of a sibling is difficult for adults to deal with, but too few amongst us, understands the difficulty as the sympathy and understanding goes more often to  the parents,spouses, or their children. Siblings are often called on to be strong and to act as spokes people instead. The loss of a twin can compare to the lost of a spouse as many ideas,hopes,jokes,love,hate,upsets,plans for the future, and people in their lives are shared from birth and through out their lives. The identity or feeling of losing half of ourselves, when we lose a twin, is most like that of losing a spouse.  No relationship is more involved or longer lasting than that of  a twin relationship when their relationship begins in the womb they share.

What we as parents need to do is to make certain that our sadness does not spread over to our children or lose patience with our children if they are not shedding tears but are acting out. It helps  instead to discuss with them what they are feeling to make them behave the way they are.  Children should not hear everything about the shootings but sadly many will hear it from other sources and we need to be aware of the fact that details often become exaggerated and lead to nightmares in our children. When questioning them we need to be careful not to offer details but instead to find out what they know or are feeling and answer them honestly.

Just as some adults will cry for days while others don’t, the same is true with children. Children,depending on age, do not clearly understand the permanence of death.  They just know that their parent,friend, or sibling is not with them now and do not understand the long-term of death but feel a real unexplained sadness in themselves. Some will need our understanding on their level to cope without us forcing our own coping measures or the lack of the same on them. Grieving needs to be age appropriate just like everything else in life does.

The tragedy effecting our Nation in NewTown,Connecticut can affect our children around the globe and it is especially important that we communicate with our children about their concerns without expressing our own concerns.  It is alright to say Mommy and Daddy are feeling sad because they know that already but they should not be made to feel as a replacement for the children lost, or be compared to them.

We are each uniquely our own person and that applies to grieving as well.  We will not always be on the same page together nor do we have a time clock running.  If we need grief counseling we most definitely need to seek it out before we are left to deal with an unnecessary guilt or a prolonged sense of hopelessness.  It is important that we also rest during this time, when we can.  Grieving is exhausting and requires that we do get sleep.

Good luck and my condolences are with all of you.  I, like the rest of the Nations around the World, are wishing you the strength to recover on your own time and in your own space knowing our prayers and thoughts are with all of you.  May the goodness of the Season offer all of us the hope that we as a Nation will do something about such needless tragedies, in the New Year. God Bless all of us!  (See my previous post,”Guns And Mental Illness”)

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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 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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A Message To The, “Good Old Boys”

I cannot sign off of politics until I say Thank You Voters! Three times I have watched elections, in my life time ,where the “Good Old Boys” tried to disenfranchise us. Never have I ever seen it get this close to the edge of destroying Democracy and I hope I never do again.

Until and unless, you the Republican Party, recognizes that women,African-Americans,Asians,Latinos,Hindus,Muslims,Jews,Hispanics,the gay community,American Natives,the elderly, the poor,the handicapped, the youth, and any other minority group are as protected by our Constitution and as equal to all the rights of life,liberty, and pursuit of happiness, as the white Christian male or the Plutocrat, the Republican Party will be rejected by us.   Tonight we proved to you that we are the growing majority. We are born with all the same rights as any American citizen or immigrant who comes here and works,loves,and breathes on American soil. We did send you, the Republican Party, a mandate because it is our numbers that are growing.

If anyone doubts our unity or the Republican lack of the same, all anyone needs to do is look at the tape of the limited races who were in the Romney crowd as verses the diversity of races in our President’s crowd.  The differences of representation were massive. When we join together in unity and tell you, the Republicans, that we must be recognized as equals by you, have no doubts about it, we are unified. None of us will ever deny any of the rest of us the right to our own healthcare,procreation,or equality in the job force or on the pay scale. Each of us will protect the full right to equality for all of us, and you did get a mandate from us.

As soon as our President won the elections tonight the Republicans started talking about now President Obama is going to have to make the effort to go to Congress and work with the Republicans, because he did not win a mandate.  As a member of the new majority, I think I speak for all of us when I say,” you are wrong.”  It is you who needs the new attitude adjustment.  Tonight you got a mandate from us that you will not treat our President like he is less than you are and YOU will work with him on His agenda, and compromise. We are tired of your filibusters and witch hunts and you must stop the behavior and instead use your time to help “We the People” who elects you secondarily to our President and Vice President.

If you as a Republican or one of the “Good Old Boys’ refuse to accept the fact that “We the People” spoke tonight and told you that President Barack Obama and Joe Biden are our choice, and now you must compromise, then you will find a Taxi-cab waiting at the corner for you when you come up for re-election too. We will not tolerate a Congress ran on filibusters or bills being attached that denies any of us our right to our own health decisions or our own bodies or Constitutional rights. It is clear to all of us that you refused to take our message to heart and to listen to us, the American voters, the first time we elected President Obama from your horrid disrespect of him and your refusal to hear us through him, these last four years.

We will not Tolerate another CPAC retreat where all Republican members must sign a pledge to vote against our President’s Agenda or not raise taxes on the wealthy. We will not vote for people who do not tell us the truth or whom we cannot trust because their lies are self-evident.  Too many of us would prefer to see all the Bush tax cuts run out  on those of us who can afford it, so we can replenish our Treasury.

We know that affordable health care needs more work and we expect you to make concessions and to co-operate with our President, so we can take temporary care of the unemployed middle class, the students who are our future, the abused and mistreated, the hungry, ill,elderly,handicapped and,any others of the groups you have chosen to disenfranchise, when they need a hand up.  We will not tolerate anymore bigots in our government who feel superior to anyone member or feel entitled to encourage their own to disrespect our President or any one group in our new majority nor can you ever run another campaign as dishonorable as the one that was ran this year.

We expect you to stop paper capitalism for the lobbyists, by recognizing that regulations do not eliminate profits but instead it eliminates greed. When you work together to cut the deficit you must first deny Corporate and oil company welfare, before denying us Medicare and Medicaid. We will not continue letting you convince us that the EPA is heavy-handed while we watch our children gasp for air. You must not interfere as President Obama appoints his own Federal and Supreme Court judges simply because they are not Conservative judges.

We know we will have to listen for a month at least, while you, the pundits, and Conservative media refuse to accept that you, the Republicans, lost because you offered your own party such pathetic choices both in the primaries and the general election.  I know you will never put the blame on your own backward mentality nor acknowledge the fault lies in the GOP. If you cannot eliminate the Tea Party and “Good Old Boys” from your own ranks, then we the American voters will have to do it for you. We have the power to disenfranchise you because we want to live in a United Nation where everyone is treated equal.   We much prefer that you sweep out your own trash.

Thank goodness this year and half of an election is over.  I never thought for a minute the polls were right as I know too many Republicans who said they could not vote for Mitt Romney, even while my State went 100% Republican. The Republicans were embarrassed watching the long list of right-wingers step forward in the Republican primary debates and shook their heads saying,”There isn’t a one of them I can vote for if they do win the primary,” and their minds never changed. My great concern all along was not that we didn’t want President Barack Obama and Joe Biden back but that your dirty tricks would cause them to lose.

I am always moved to tears of joy, when I see Democracy is still alive and well and that we will never be anything less than a Great Democracy,because character and hope will always win out over fraud and cynicism. No matter how hard you Republicans try to stack the deck against us, Democracy and the entitlement of freedom granted to all of us through our Constitution and Equal Rights Amendment, will eventually  always win.  We the majority, will recognize anyone who tries to return under another cloak of lies or to  deny our rights to our own health issues or equality for all.

You do not have nor will you ever have a monopoly on,”We the People.”  Good day,good luck, and happy thoughts to all of us. I am so proud of all of us regardless of how we voted because I know the hate and lies comes from them and not the majority of us! We want a strong two Party system where everyone plays by the same rules and understands and respects that we are all entitled to make our own decisions,we are Free, and we belong, regardless of the playing field. America belongs to all of us regardless of race,gender,creed,color or gender orientation.  As the 1970′s Helen Reddy song said,”Hear us Roar!

P.S. to Lars—We aren’t dead yet.  America is on its way back to being better and stronger than ever with a new majority! Just watch us as we move forward and grow by doing what Denmark has, and invest in our people.:)

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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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