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Have You Taken Your Hate Pill Today?

  • Posted on August 21, 2010 at 9:08 pm

You have a choice to make: Hate and fear or more of the same. This is not an easy choice.

I’ll be the first one to tell you I have no love for the Democrats because they stole my primary vote on May 31st, 2008.  However, as much as I dislike the Democrats the Republicans are infinitely worse!  If you are thinking of voting those Republicans back in power really give some thought to what it would mean to the health of this country.  They are political obstructionist that won’t pass any legislation that might get this country moving again.  They deserve to be booted out of office, period!  If you are thinking about voting for a Republican just watch this video from the 2008 election.  It’s pretty snarky but pretty true.  Think about poor BP when you watch this as some Republicans felt so sorry for them.

When Ronald Reagan was President my mother used to say, “Have you taken your hate pill today?”  The Republicans were always good at breeding hatred.  They like stirring that proverbial pot of hatred and fear.  With the up coming November election I find it very interesting that we are discussing everything except what needs to be discussed, the economy.  This past week is a fine example of the smoke and mirror politics that continues to prevail in our country.  While most people are more concerned about the health of the economy, we are busy hearing talk about September 11th and whether a Muslim cultural center should be built a couple blocks from the World Trade Center site, whether President Obama is a Muslim and whether we should repeal the 14th amendment.  I, for one, am tired of the same old scare tactics that Republicans have always used to get people in line to vote for them in the next election.

The truth is both parties have problems but Republicans brought us to the brink of disaster and it is not time to reward them for that behavior.  It was Republican policies that lead us to this disastrous economy.  We have been told for years by Republicans that old tired theory of the “trickle down” economy.  We, as a country, have been rewarding the wealthy with tax breaks and special deals in the hope that one day all of it would trickle down to the little guy.  That hasn’t happened and it never will.  Republicans are good at changing the subject during an election cycle.  Currently, we should be talking about ways to move the economy and what are we doing?  Once again we are spreading hate and fear with the help of Republicans.  It’s popular now to hate Muslims.  After all they have that crazy religion and the women all look like nuns so it’s easy to pick on them.  We also hate those cute little brown babies the illegal Mexicans give birth to just so they can stay in this country.  You know the “anchor babies”.  I wonder how long those Repubs set around thinking that one up. President Obama must be a Muslim after all his skin is dark, his father was a Muslim and his name is so different.  What if the President really were a Muslim?  What happened to freedom of religion?  Many people could care less about religion but when it comes to politics it becomes an issue.

The Republicans breed hatred and fear.  They have hated gays for years and have done everything they could to obstruct gay rights issues during the political campaign seasons.  There are many gays that are practicing Republicans such as the “Log Cabin Republicans” but in my book they are all hypocrites that help to breed hatred and fear.  The abortion issue has been settled law since 1973.  It’s about a woman’s “choice” and yet this issue has been continually used by the Republicans to get votes.  They aren’t interested in really repealing the issue as it is settled law but they are interested in getting people riled up so they go out and vote Republican.

FDR famously said, “The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.”  Republicans want you to fear everything so you will vote for them to take care of you.  We are to fear our neighbors because they might be Muslims, illegal aliens, or heaven forbid “terrorists”!  We are supposed to watch each other like psychos on the “Big Brother” show but this big brother is the government of Republicans.  We are also to fear the government as it is bad.  The government doesn’t know how to do anything.  They fail at everything they do including education so naturally you don’t want the government to do anything.  This is the plan of the Republicans.  Fear the government but make sure you keep those tax cuts for the wealthy because if you don’t you will lose your job when they fire you.  Fear that dumb voters!  Hate brown colored people and crazy pro-choice women but most of all hate Democrats because they want to tax you and take your money away.  Republicans breed hatred and fear.  I’m a positive person.  I don’t hate and I refuse to fill my life up with fear.  I know the Democrats aren’t much better than the Republicans but at least they don’t breed hatred and fear.  I can live with that.

I just had to add this today to this post!  I guess I’m not the only one that thinks the Republicans are the party of hate!

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Sarah, Sarah, Sarah

  • Posted on April 22, 2010 at 2:40 pm

When I first heard about Sarah Palin during the 2008 election I had much curiosity.  I had been bullied by the Democratic Party during the primary, so I kept an open mind about Sarah.  When the Democrats started treating Sarah much like they treated Hillary Clinton I became even more curious.  I found myself drawn to her for many reasons.  When the Democrats made fun of her down to earth attitude and folksy voice I was amused.  No she didn’t have an “ivy league” pedigree but I kept thinking “thank God”.  I’m really tired of the attitude the Democrats have taken against these two strong women, Sarah and Hillary.  I found Sarah to be a breath of fresh air, someone that seemed willing to tell it like it is and not cater to certain groups of people, like wealthy Republicans!  I listened intently to her speeches and found them to be more against corruption than anything else.  This was something I grew to admire as I think there is much corruption in government that leads to government waste.  I even admired the way she held her baby in one hand and managed campaigning with phone calls and all with the other hand.  Fast forward to the Republican convention and this electrifying speech:

I liked what I heard and I was totally annoyed with the Obama team anyway.  I continued to like and to be drawn to Sarah, even after the election.  I continued to follow her and even bought her book, Going Rogue.  I enjoyed the book until I got to the all powerful, all important, Ronald Reagan, section.  I couldn’t believe this woman that I had admired could herself so admire Ronald Reagan.  I kept thinking this must be for her base, you know those crazy Republicans!  I still liked Sarah’s take charge attitude and her willingness to remain a fairly “normal” person.  I could even over look many of her faults and found her interesting even though many of her ideas were diametrically opposite my own.

Recently, I have had to give up on Sarah.  It seems the Sarah that I was drawn to has disappeared and been replaced with a new Sarah.   The new Sarah is more about making her own money than helping others make and keep theirs.  The new Sarah is making crazy statements at Tea Party events that I find terribly troubling.  We live in a violent society.  People that are seemingly at their wit’s end because of the economy or whatever else is ailing them don’t need someone encouraging them to act out with violent actions.  Sarah can say that her words mean something else but most of us see that as just more political double speak.  Words do have meaning and saying things can have an effect on people at their most vulnerable times.  The new Sarah has embraced the most right wing of the Republican Party.  It is unfortunate that the Republican Party has encouraged her behavior because it’s good for their business.  They like the money she can bring in at these events.  They are banking on these Tea Party people voting for them.  Many of those Tea Party people will probably vote Republican but it isn’t because they liked GW and how he spent money.  They are banking on the Republicans becoming more conservative with their money.  However, it defies logic how anyone can view these Republicans as being fiscally responsible.  They bank rolled these two wars on the future taxes of our youngsters.  They’re good at spending money on war and pretty much nothing else.  Sarah speaks with that same old rhetoric when she talks about our soldiers.  She creates this picture of such noble, greatness when the truth is neither of these current wars could possibly be described as being noble or great.  The soldiers are doing their job and sometimes their job requires extreme bravery.  This is noble.  They sacrifice much but the Republicans that put them there are anything but noble.  They would send anyone’s child to war but not their own.  Of course there are exceptions to this.  We know that both Sarah Palin and John McCain have children in the military and are willing to send them off to fight but there are many that had better things to do with their time as Vice President Cheney claimed during the Vietnam War.

I am deeply troubled with the antics of the new Sarah.  I can’t embrace the verbal assault that she continues to make about the Obama administration and the federal government in general.  I want a solution driven Sarah, one with ideas, not violent tinged rhetoric.  As far as the Obama administration goes they have yet to earn my trust.  However, it would be foolish for any American to want them to fail in any way.  We are at the center of a storm.  We must work together creatively for a solution to the problems we face.  Democrats and Republicans should be working together for the common good of our nation.  The economy is in dire straits.  While some of the losses have been recouped from the stock market crash of 2008, much of that wealth has not spread to the little guy.  Sarah has much new found wealth but I fear with her wealth she has lost touch with the rest of us.  I can see that President Obama may be trying to make some changes to the banking industry.  I see this as a plus.  The verdict is still out on his administration but it is still far superior to the Bush years.  Those years have left our nation in a world of hurt.  For anyone to want to revisit those years they would have to be insane!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp89-6_7Zsk

The two parties missed a great opportunity to help our nation during the health care debate.  Instead of real reform we ended up with some washed down version.  People and businesses would have all been better off if this reform had included a single payer option.  The cost of insurance is just mind boggling and I don’t see this changing with this watered down plan.  Sarah was against all of this.  On a personal basis it should be noted that her children and Todd already have health care because they are Native Americans.  Sarah doesn’t have to worry about health care for her children.  Unfortunately, most Tea Party people don’t know this information about Sarah.  When Sarah talks about death panels she omits the death panel that visited my sister that didn’t have health insurance.  My sister had her own death panel when her doctor made it very clear that she wasn’t “worth” much to him.  She didn’t have the true care that she deserved because she didn’t have insurance.  When my sister had insurance she doctored.  When she didn’t, she avoided going because it cost too much.  When she finally was forced to go it was late in her cancer, treatment was expensive and that in itself was a death panel!

I’m no longer looking to politicians for anything insightful.  I thought John Edwards was insightful but he was so busy screwing up his own life that he lost track of that insight.  He was a common man that I thought really cared about me.  John changed.  Sarah had something special.  She had a way of communicating to the common people that made us want to believe that she is one of us and that she cared about us.  She has lost all of this appeal.  She no longer interests me.  She has grown up into a full fledged millionaire that just doesn’t care about us little guys.  The Tea Party people need to figure this out.  Ronald Reagan was never one of us like so many tried to convince us.  George Bush wasn’t one of us either.  These politicians were wealthy people that were powerful and made to look common but were not common.  Sarah was common and powerful now she is wealthy and powerful but she doesn’t really speak the truth of the common person any more.  It is more Republican rhetoric and talking points.  Her power holds no truth and it is dangerous to have power and no truth!

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Coffee or Tea? Neither Please!

  • Posted on March 13, 2010 at 4:14 pm

Coffee or Tea, what do you prefer today?  Today is the coming out party of the “Coffee Party”.  You know the anti “Tea Party” party.  I’m already tired of both of these parties.  Neither one has a clue what’s really going on across this country.  People are anxious but they aren’t looking for cutesy named parties like “Coffee or Tea”.  People are tired of being taken for granted and worrying about their jobs and health care.  Neither of the two major parties, Democratic and Republican, are meeting the needs of their constituents.  Both are working hard to garnish money from lobbyists and those lobbyists are not our neighbors.  This newly formed “Coffee” party has Obama’s fingers all over it from the association to Jim Webb to people that worked to elect Obama.  I, for one, am tired of being manipulated by any political party.  My best guess is these are the “Starbuck” lovers that are willing to pay $4.00 for a cup of coffee.  They are definitely out of my league and are probably what the right refers to as “latte” lovers.  Oh, well, these are just labels we bandy around.  I refuse to put a label on my frustration and distrust of this new movement or the Tea Party one as well.  The Republican Party was quick to get on board the funding of the Tea Party movement so that makes that party completely distrustful to me.  I can probably say the same for this new Coffee Party.  From my point of view I want to hear more politicians sounding like Rep. Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island:

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/220793&start=18530&end=18784

He isn’t running any more so maybe he decided he was free to say what he’s really thinking.  I don’t know but this is the fire for the people that I want to see in my representatives.

Here is a post by “Wonk the Vote” much worth reading about coffee, tea and FDR.  http://letthemlisten.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/coffee-summits-not-coffee-parties/

I really enjoyed reading about FDR and his discussion of a second bill of rights.

I want a party that represents the “workers” of America.  These are the people that keep this country moving from factory jobs, police, teachers, transportation, and healthcare to the guy that picks up your garbage.  These are the people we all know that are our neighbors.  They aren’t a CEO and they don’t work on Wall Street.  They aren’t a Washington politician and while they may own a “mom and pop” store.  They don’t own “Wal-Mart” and they certainly aren’t a movie star!  We are the forgotten in this country.  While we make up the largest share of voters we are woefully under represented in our government.  While the wealthy including the politicians, CEO’s, Wall Street and Hollywood try to manipulate us at every turn by showing us what a war should be on screen, or by telling us to buy those ridiculous light bulbs that don’t last six months let alone five years, to always telling us we are the “greatest” and hoping we still believe that lie or to manipulating us to grasp our little “nest egg.”  We are the greatest to them if we keep buying the same old garbage they keep selling.  It’s time all of us woke up and figured out that these people are only looking at their own best interests.  The politician wants to get reelected so he will tell us anything.  The movie star wants to make more money so they call us to action on everything from the environment to our values of patriotism.  They do this because they are part of the corporate owned media.  Wall Street just wants our money and they will play games with the market to get it.  Once you’re in that market they will shake a few out ever so often and it could be your retirement that’s lost!

We, the true Americans, need to wise up and see these people that garner so much respect in the media for what they truly are.  We have the Internet.  We don’t need to be told by some Joe Scarborough on MSNBC or Wolf Blitzer on CNN or any other media pundit what’s going on in this country.  We can see by getting online and also by talking to our neighbors.  Here in Sturgis we know our property values have gone down.  We know there are vacant homes in town.  We can see that funding in our state is getting pretty down right scary.  We know that everything from the police to schools to state services have been cut and yet we still see plenty of money for war and politics.  We see politicians whooping it up at the Whitehouse with parties and dignitaries and don’t forget about those constant calls from the two parties for money for their next campaigns.  We see money going to two wars and a potential third and no one says, “Whoa, wait a minute!  What about the American people?”  I hear this phrase in my head.  I heard it as a teacher from GW Bush and now I’m playing it over in my mind.  That is over and over, “Expect more and pay less!”  This is in reference to teachers and I am a teacher but it really is in reference to all American workers.  We can all expect to do more and get paid less if we continue to buy what the politicians and the wealth in this country are selling.  Hollywood, politicians, CEO’s will all live large while the rest of us tighten our belts, pray we don’t lose our jobs or health insurance and scrape by.

Now do I want coffee or tea?  Not exactly!  I want real representation and I’m not going to get it over a cup of coffee or tea.  The best I can do as an American worker is to keep putting my voice out there.  I’ll keep calling my congress people and hope they change and I’ll keep saying what I think!

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Union Busting

  • Posted on February 24, 2010 at 9:29 pm

Central Falls High School

Every union in the United States of America will be busted in time.  Unions really built the middle class.  If it wasn’t for unions all wages would have been kept low for most people.  When a union goes into a community it puts pressure on other companies to up their wages in order to recruit good workers and also to include things like health insurance.  Since Ronald Reagan it has been fashionable to bust the unions.  He busted the air traffic controllers.  It’s been down hill ever since for anyone belonging to a union.  Today I think there are only about 8% of the people that even belong to a union.  The next unions to take the hit are going to be the teacher’s unions.  They are going to be busted.  The government is doing everything they can to talk about the poor quality of teachers, which really is bogus.  Teachers are more qualified today than they ever have been.  They have degrees that include a major in the area they are teaching.  Many have other things they bring to their teaching experience whether it is other work experiences or even travel experiences.

Today I came home and saw this on the news.  http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/rhode.island.teachers/index.html?hpt=T2

The Superintendent stays and every teacher, principal, etc. is fired.  This is incredible.  If you read the article you will see that they have made some gains with testing.  The trouble was in the negotiations.  This is a drastic move by the board of education.  I know I wouldn’t want my child to go to this school.  They care so little for the children that they will expose them to an all new crew.  They may hire up to 50% back but who knows who the “chosen” ones will be.  Probably the ones that keep their mouths shut and don’t ask any questions or rock the boat in any way.  Any one with a brain knows that not all of these teachers fired are poor teachers.  Maybe none of them are as it is a largely Hispanic community where English is a second language.  NCLB has very difficult standards of testing for these new English learners.  It amazes me that they expect so much from them so quickly.  Our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, applauds this move.  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433×195524 This shows me where Obama stands on the issue of unions.  When the government wants to go into communities and fire teachers and staff and then create a new or charter school in its place that is all about destroying public schools and unions.  I cannot be convinced that this is a great move for this community.  I know how I feel about my students and I know how hard I work each and every day to help students find success.  I don’t believe this school in Rhode Island doesn’t have hard working, talented teachers that just got fired!

As I was looking online I came across this.  http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsblog.projo.com/mocchi_poster.jpg&imgrefurl=http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/08/funeral-set-for.html&usg=__bxvIHLt5FbMjPvVznexbC1TmHRo=&h=341&w=512&sz=58&hl=en&start=5&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=GgLaNIjFpBvt6M:&tbnh=87&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcentral%2Bfalls%2Bhigh%2Bschool%2Bteachers%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS231US233%26tbs%3Disch:1 This school started the year with tragedy, a well liked teacher died in a crash and now their going to lose all of their teachers.  Wow, this school is in crisis and these poor kids are being treated like just a bunch of numbers on a score card for testing!

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What do Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards and Sarah Palin have in common?

  • Posted on January 13, 2010 at 10:14 pm

Hillary Clinton

What do Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards and Sarah Palin have in common?  Oh, yes, I know they are all women but there is more.  All three were targeted in the new book coming out this week by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Game Change.  I read the excerpt in the New York magazine and I was appalled.  These two guys would like us to believe that Hillary is just so obnoxious, Elizabeth is a total bitch and Sarah is just plain stupid.  It leads me to believe that these three women must scare the hell out of the Washington D.C. establishment.  When the Republicans and the Democrats pretend to not be able to see eye to eye on anything but suddenly can agree on these three women there must be something up.

I have been saying for the last two years that there really isn’t any difference between the two parties.  This book just reinforces all of this for me.  When Steve Schmidt, McCain’s man can sit on 60 minutes and lambaste Palin, the person his team picked, you have to wonder.  Palin is powerful.  People like her because she is more like them than she is like Washington insiders.  They used her to help McCain because he was going no where before Sarah Palin signed on to his campaign.  However, now they don’t want her because the truth is neither party wants anyone that might actually shake things up and change all of the special interests and money changing going on in the Federal government.  McCain was never meant to be president.  Obama was the chosen one from day one by both parties.  This is why George Bush did everything he could before the election to help Obama out.  This is also why the transition has been so smooth.  If we didn’t know Obama was President, we would think GW was still in office.  Obama is just the new Bush.  He’s kept many of the same people on board and has kept the same policies in tact.  For all the fuss the two parties make over each other, they really are virtually the same.  They both cater to corporations and have been the main reason that we are losing our Democracy and becoming a “Corporatocracy”.  The corporations really have the vote, not the American people because they vote with their money through campaign contributions and special perks for congress.

So, between the excerpt in the New York magazine and the 60 minutes interview of Mutt and Jeff, the authors, not to mention Steve Schmidt as well I am only to believe those three things. First, Hillary is over the top obnoxious, so much so she was working very hard on her transition to the White House before the general election had even begun. That must have been what she was doing when I saw her campaigning hard in Indiana. I also learned that Elizabeth Edwards is one crazy “Bitch”.  Truthfully, they don’t like Elizabeth because she has been a big proponent of health care for all.  Finally, I learned that Sarah Palin is just plain stupid.  Sarah doesn’t fit into the conventionals wisdom of the elites because she didn’t go to Harvard or Yale.  For the shame of it all, she went to a state school.  What is really interesting in all of this women bashing is where is “NOW” or “Emily’s List”?  Hillary and Sarah we know hold great power if and when they choose to use it. You might think Elizabeth isn’t powerful but she has been a huge advocate for health care. It’s obvious to me that these men , who do the hatchet jobs on women, have a “Peter Principle” problem. They have obviously reached the level of their own competence to the point where they are now incompetent and just so envy those women that don’t need a “Peter” to succeed in life.

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