I Want My Country Back

Yes, you heard me.  I want my country back… back from the Tea Party and the big corporations that financially support them.  I do NOT want my country to return to the Tea Party and Republican principles of:

• Repealing the Civil Rights Act because the central Government should not tell States how to treat American citizens.
• Eliminating the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.  Women should not be voting.  They don’t have time for politics because they need to be in the kitchen cooking and they should be waiting on their husbands.  The bible tells us that women are subservient to men.
• Returning to slave labor and sweat shop labor practices because businesses should be free to abuse their employees without Government interference.
• Dismantling Social Security because seniors should have planned better for their retirement.  Too bad and too sad if Wall Street bankers stole most of their IRA money.  Tough luck if the seniors worked at jobs that didn’t have a pension program or 401K program.  If these seniors worked for minimum wage, they still should have thought ahead even if it required providing less food and clothing for their children so that they would have that extra money to save for their retirement.  Some Republican candidates are claiming that Social Security is unconstitutional.
• Dismantling Medicare because health care is not a right, it is a privilege and the Tea Party does not approve of privileges except when it comes to their idols and themselves.  Besides, only the privileged deserve health care.
• Eliminating disability payments because people need to be more responsible and not get injured on the job.  This includes our military veterans.  They should stop whining because after all, they volunteered.
• Forcing Catholics, Jews and Muslims to commit sins by having to read and study the protestant bible in public schools.
• Allowing property owners to create toll roads.  People have a right to collect money from anyone that crosses their property line.  Good luck with getting to work on time and having any money left over from your paycheck after paying all the tolls.
• Supporting “Second Amendment” solutions as a means of conflict resolution.  This might also work as a method of population control.
• Returning to the glory days of lords and serfs.

I want my country back from hate mongers like Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, Malkin, Kristol, Bachmann, Rove, Cheney, and all the rest that appear on Fox News, the opinion network.  The goals for these people are to divide our country and to make piles of money while undereducated people do their dirty work for them.

I want my country back from racists such as Beck, Laura Schlesinger, the Tea Party and the Larouches.  These people are so upset because there is a black family living in, what they perceive as, the White(‘s only) House.

I want my country back from people that profit from the suffering of others (Beck, Palin and Limbaugh).

I want my country back from politicians that place Wall Street above and before Main Street, such as Pat Toomey, Tom Corbett, Jim Gerlach and all the other Republicans and Tea Party members.

Yes, I want my country back.  The one where everyone is treated with respect and  equality, the one where everyone receives good health care, the one where everyone receives a livable wage, and the one where everyone is free to practice their religious beliefs without interference from other religions.

I want back, the country that was progresing forward.  Not the one that is currently heading in Reverse.

Where Is Their Courage? – UPDATED

Where is the courage of the Tea Party members?  Today, I witnessed them first hand as they displayed signs attacking “illegal immigrants” and President Obama in front of a suburban shopping center located in a high rent district.  It’s easy to set up shop in a mostly white, middle to upper class neighborhood.  No one would approach them in this safe location.   What I want to know is when will they be setting up their protest in Reading, particularly in the south side of Reading or maybe north Philadelphia?  Those would be perfect neighborhoods for protesting illegals.  Or are they afraid that maybe a legal immigrant or American born Hispanic will approach them using the second amendment solution?

The Tea Party members are cowards.  All they know how to do is be rude by shouting in people’s faces.   Losers, everyone of them.  And did I mention, that the group of about 6 were all old, white people?  It is going to be difficult for them when the small government that they so desire strips them of their Social Security and Medicare.

Having a black man sitting in what they perceive as their whites only house really disturbs them.  It brings out all the cowards that having been hiding behind closed doors.

UPDATE:  This describes exactly the cowards that I saw at this protest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/01/tea-party-survey-old-cons_n_522336.html

And in case you are wondering, when we drove past these tea partiers, I rolled down the window and shouted, “Get a job, you lazy bums.”

You betcha, it’s racism…http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/7/13/883948/-NAACP-Calls-out-Tea-Party,-so-naturally-Palin-Calls-for-Apologyto-The-Tea-Party

America Will Triumph

Had to share this article from Frank Schaeffer. Pennsylvania For Change still supports our President. No sniping here.

Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times best selling author.

Obama Will Triumph — So Will America
By Frank Schaeffer

Before he’d served even one year President Obama lost the support of the easily distracted left and engendered the white hot rage of the hate-filled right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds — including this white, straight, 57-year-old, former religious right wing agitator, now progressive writer and (given my background as the son of a famous (evangelical leader) this unlikely Obama supporter — are sticking with our President. Why?– because he is succeeding.

We faithful Obama supporters still trust our initial impression of him as a great, good and uniquely qualified man to lead us. Obama’s steady supporters will be proved right. Obama’s critics will be remembered as easily panicked and prematurely discouraged at best and shriveled hate mongers at worst.

The Context of the Obama Presidency

Not since the days of the rise of fascism in Europe , the Second World War and the Depression has any president faced more adversity. Not since the Civil War has any president led a more bitterly divided country. Not since the introduction of racial integration has any president faced a more consistently short-sighted and willfully ignorant opposition – from both the right and left. As the President’s poll numbers have fallen so has his support from some on the left that were hailing him as a Messiah not long ago; all those lefty websites and commentators that were falling all over themselves on behalf of our first black president during the 2008 election. The left’s lack of faith has become a self-fulfilling “prophecy”– snipe at the President and then watch the poll numbers fall and then pretend you didn’t have anything to do with it!

Here is what Obama faced when he took office–none of which was his fault:

• An ideologically divided country to the point that America was really two countries
• Two wars; one that was mishandled from the start, the other that was unnecessary and immoral
• The worst economic crisis since the depression
• America ‘s standing in the world at the lowest point in history/li>
• A country that had been misled into accepting the use of torture of prisoners of war
• A health care system in free fall
• An educational system in free fall
• A global environmental crisis of history-altering proportions (about which the Bush administration and the Republicans had done nothing)
• An impasse between culture warriors from the right and left
• A huge financial deficit inherited from the terminally irresponsible Bush administration.

And those were only some of the problems sitting on the President’s desk!

“Help” from the Right?

What did the Republicans and the religious right, libertarians and half-baked conspiracy theorists — that is what the Republicans were reduced to by the time Obama took office — do to “help” our new president (and our country) succeed? They claimed that he wasn’t a real American, didn’t have an American birth certificate, wasn’t born here, was secretly a Muslim, was white-hating “racist”, was secretly a communist, was actually the Anti-Christ, (!) and was a reincarnation of Hitler and wanted “death panels” to kill the elderly!

They not-so-subtly called for his assassination through the not-so-subtle use of vile signs held at their rallies and even a bumper sticker quoting Psalm 109:8. They organized “tea parties” to sound off against imagined insults and all government in general and gathered to howl at the moon. They were led by insurance industry lobbyists and deranged (but well financed) “commentators” from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh.

The utterly discredited Roman Catholic bishops teamed up with the utterly discredited evangelical leaders to denounce a president who was trying to actually do something about the poor, the environment, to diminish the number of abortions through compassionate programs to help women and to care for the sick! And in Congress the Republican leadership only knew one word: “No!”

In other words the reactionary white, rube, uneducated, crazy American far right,combined with the educated but obtuse neoconservative war mongers, religious right shills for big business, libertarian Fed Reserve-hating gold bug, gun-loving crazies, child-molesting acquiescent “bishops”, frontier loons and evangelical gay-hating flakes found one thing to briefly unite them: their desire to stop an uppity black man from succeeding at all costs!

“Help” from the Left?

What did the left do to help their newly elected president? Some of them excoriated the President because they disagreed with the bad choices he was being forced to make regarding a war in Afghanistan that he’d inherited from the worst president in modern history! Others stood up and bravely proclaimed that the President’s economic policies had “failed” before the President even instituted them! Others said that since all gay rights battles had not been fully won within virtually minutes of the President taking office, they’d been “betrayed”! (Never mind that Obama’s vocal support to the gay community is stronger than any other president’s has been. Never mind that he signed a new hate crimes law!)

Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific emotion on election night turned into an angry mob saying how “disappointed” they were that they’d not all immediately been translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House! Where was the “change”? Contrary to their expectations they were still mere mortals! And the legion of young new supporters was too busy texting to pay attention for longer than a nanosecond. “Governing”?! What the hell does that word, uh, like mean?”

The President’s critics left and right all had one thing in common: impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history (let alone reality) thrown in for good measure. Then of course there were the white, snide know-it-all commentators/talking heads who just couldn’t imagine that maybe, just maybe they weren’t as smart as they thought they were and certainly not as smart as their president. He hadn’t consulted them, had he? So he must be wrong! The Obama critics’ ideological ideas defined their idea of reality rather than reality defining their ideas-say, about what is possible in one year in office after the hand that the President had been dealt by fate, or to be exact by the American idiot nation that voted Bush into office. twice!

Meanwhile back in the reality-based community – in just 12 short months — President Obama:

• Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices regarding the war in Afghanistan (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Restored America ‘s image around the globe (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Banned torture of American prisoners (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Stopped the free fall of the American economy (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort to halt global warming (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Stood up for educational reform (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Won a Nobel peace prize (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial system of checks and balances (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had failed to even begin (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Responded to hatred from the right and left with measured good humor and patience (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Stopped the free fall of job losses (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and dangerous far right opposition that included the sort of disgusting people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the “blood of tyrants” needing to “water the tree of liberty”. (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)
• Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but explain and defend them brilliantly (But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

Other than those “disappointing” accomplishments — IN ONE YEAR — President Obama “failed”! Other than that he didn’t “live up to expectations”!

Who actually has failed…..are the Americans that can’t see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth right under their jaded noses. Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the left and right who began rooting for this President to fail so that they could be proved right in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned “news” into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted infantile country.

Here’s the good news: President Obama is succeeding without the help of his lefty “supporters” or hate-filled Republican detractors!

The Future Looks Good. After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts — with a canny and calculating eye to the possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are all proved not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling. Just because we didn’t get everything we wanted in the first short and fraught year Obama was in office not all of us gave up. Some of us stayed the course. And we will be proved right.

PS. if you agree that Obama is shaping up to be a great president, please pass this on and hang in there! Pass it on anyway to ensure that his “report card” gets the attention it deserves.

Post Avatar Dispair

The press is reporting a sense of depression that overcomes people after seeing the movie “Avatar”.  Having seen this movie, I have some thoughts as to why this depression occurs.

Without giving away too many details, “Avatar” is another movie about corporate greed.  It joins films such as “500 Nations”, “Food Inc.” and “Michael Clayton”.  The corporate greed in “Avatar”, “Food Inc.” and “Michael Clayton” centers on either something that provides nourishment for humans or energy.  These are items that are needed to sustain life and to keep the “machines” running.  It’s understandable that people would fight and even kill to gain and maintain control of these sources.  As someone once told me, “The most profitable items for sale are those that either go up a chimney or down a toilet.”  Makes a lot of sense.

The documentary “500 Nations” is different because it tells the story of greedy invaders that killed the indigenous people of the Americas for GOLD, something that doesn’t go up a chimney or down a toilet.  Gold is NOT needed to sustain life.  Gold is a mineral that does not provide nourishment nor does it provide energy.  The only thing that gold feeds is vanity.  Yet people committed genocide to obtain gold.  The same can be said about diamonds, a crystal of carbon that is plentiful and market and price controlled by one corporation.

We humans are so very shallow that we value minerals that provide nothing more than we value life.  Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh spend time peddling gold and telling us that gold makes the world go around even though gold has no real value when it comes to sustaining life.  They are selling the corporate messages and the undereducated are allowing themselves to be manipulated.  The Tea Party shouters, filled with racism and hate, will never be happy because their value system is based on “things”.  Americans believe that “things” will make us happy and yet, we are always looking to buy more “things” because we feel a hole inside us that needs to be filled.   Religion doesn’t completely fill the void because religions are always asking for money and more money.  If Catholics stopped sending money to the Vatican, the Pope would have to live his life like Jesus instead of like a king.

The indigenous people in Avatar have lives that are not centered around “things” and yet they appear to be happy.  When we leave the theater, we re-enter our world and we see an environment covered in concrete and asphalt and realize that our lives are centered on “things”.   It’s a very boring and sad picture, both visually and spiritually.  Yeah, that would cause a person to feel depressed.

The Republican Creed – UPDATED

Elect a Republican and they will follow and enforce the Republican Creed which is:

Shred the Social Safety Net

• Dismantle Social Security
• Eliminate Medicare
• Turn their backs on senior citizens and the poor.

UPDATE:  Republicans are as deadly as DDT. If elected to office, they plan on:

• Dismantling Social Security
• Dismantling Medicare
• Turning their backs on Seniors and the poor.

And that’s the truth.

Top Issues of the Values Voters Summit

The Values Voters Summit straw poll placed former governor, Mike Huckabee as the top choice for President in 2012.

Here is the list of the top four issues from this gathering of Conservatives:

1. Abortion
2. Protection of religious liberties
3. Same-sex marriage
4. Tax cuts.

It’s very interesting that these “values voters” are so concerned about protecting their rights and at the same time want to take away rights from others.  Religious freedom is already protected by the Constitution of the United States and 95% of Americans already received a tax cut.  According to the “values voters” , women that find themselves pregnant and for whatever personal reason discover that they cannot continue the pregnancy, their right to an abortion should be eliminated and the right to equality under the law should not be given to homosexuals.

What is it with these so called “values voters”?  They are so totally against anything that involves sex and yet, if it wasn’t for sex, they wouldn’t be here.  To them, nothing is more sinful than the sexual act.  Wish they would stop doing the sexual act so that there would be less of them.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/huckabee-beats-palin-for-_n_292412.html

September 11, 2009

Eight years have passed since that awful day when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center buildings killing 3000 people.

It’s difficult to listen to the memorial service and to view pictures from today’s memorial.  It brings back the memories of the fear and the anxiety and all the other emotions which took place that day and the several days following.

After the emotions settled, I began to wonder, why didn’t our President address the American people right away? We needed to hear some words of assurance from a leader and the only leader that stepped forward was Mayor Rudy Guiliani. It didn’t matter if he was competent or not. What matter was Rudy gave the appearance that someone was in charge. In the meantime, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were no where to be found. They both went into hiding. The idiot, Denny Hastert who was the Speaker of the House at the time, was no where to be found either.  This left Guiliani in front of the TV cameras.

Something just wasn’t right about this whole thing. I don’t believe the story that was given to us by the “press” and I don’t believe the conspiracy theories of Alex Jones either. Because of how the President and Vice President handled this crisis on the day of this event, I believe that the truth lies somewhere in between. Bush and Cheney did many vile things while in office. Abandoning Americans on September 11, 2001 was THE worst thing they did.  When Americans needed someone to turn to, they were missing.

To show disrespect for those who died and for their surviving family and friends, Glenn Beck and his 912/teabaggers plan on marching on Washington, DC on September 12, 2009 to protest the tax cuts that they received from President Obama and to tell Congress that they do NOT want affordable health care coverage.  These fools are tools for big corporations, the insurance companies and for people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Malkin, Rove and Beck who make millions of dollars by spitting hate over the airwaves.  Little do these Beck worshipers realize that the media hate mongers will never do anything that benefits them.  The 912/teabaggers/birthers/deathers are slaves to Fox and Ruppert Murdoch is smiling all the way to the bank… the very bank that received a government bailout.  How ironic.  If they only had a brain.

Bonus reading here.  Cheney acted as President and directed the government on September 11, 2001.  He would not allow Congressional members to show their faces to the media.

Ancient Words of Wisdom

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column
I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion.
Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Just Ask – UPDATED with Links to Results

Twelve years ago in June, my husband and I moved into our current home.   The first chance that we got to vote in our new neighborhood was during the general election.  When I went to vote, I was greeted outside by a man who introduced himself and handed me a pen with his name on it.  He told me that he was running for Township Supervisor and he asked me to vote for him.  I asked him his views on environmental issues.  Turns out, he is a strong advocate of open space.   He won the election.  I told you that so that I can tell you this…  there was no one from either party standing outside the polls working for candidates other than the man running for Township Supervisor.  The Republican turnout in this township was strong and the Democratic turnout was weak.

This absence of party representation continued throughout the years.  The Republicans would place signs along the building and the Democrats had no information available.  Then came the year 2004 and George W. Bush was running for re-election.  We got involved with the Kerry Campaign which then introduced us to a group of like minded Democrats that were bound and determined to get out the vote for Kerry.  As a result, during the general election of 2004, my husband and I set up shop outside the poll with information about Democrats that were on the ballot.  We met many Democrats from our area which gave us a good feeling because in 2004, the Republicans outnumbered the Democrats in our voting precinct.  In 2005, we were both elected as Democratic Committee Precinct Leaders.

Since then, every general election, we set up shop complete with table, chairs and candy outside the poll.  We have been able to recruit volunteers to help with coverage.  Some volunteers even brought food, coffee and tea.  Last year, during the highly contested primary in PA, we asked Democrats if they would like to join our email list.  We told them that we would not abuse their email address and that we would only contact them prior to elections.  This worked out great during the general election of 2008 because we were able to get complete poll coverage not only at our voting precinct but also at other voting precincts that were missing Democratic Committe Precinct Leaders.  We also made phone calls and sent out postcards listing all the Democratic Candidates.  When the results were final, the part of the County that we and the volunteers covered went from red to blue.  This is remarkable.  The Democrats came out and voted.

Because of our visability at the poll over several years, we have made many new friends (it becomes a party atmosphere) and found that getting help to Get Out The Vote at election time is not too difficult.  All we had to do was ask and volunteers stepped forward.

UPDATE:

Link to unofficial results of primary Berks County by Precinct Check out the results in Oley and Pike.  The Democrats came out and voted in this very off year election.  Oley has a higher number of Republicans than Democrats and Pike has 8 more Democrats than Republicans.   Yet the the number of votes by Democrats for the row offices outnumber the number of votes by Republicans.  Good job!

Link to unofficial results total for Berks County.

Why The Republican Party Won’t Survive

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin

The Republicans lead by Dick Cheney (most unpopular VP since Spiro Agnew and draft dodger), Rush Limbaugh (drug addicted, pediphile draft dodger), Karl Rove (commited treason by exposing the name of a covert CIA Agent), and Newt Gingrich (kicked out of Congress for ethics violations) want us to return to the “old days”.  They believe that “deregulation” was beneficial to our democracy.  The problem with that is they have failed to look at what “deregulation” has done to our economy.  Every time banks were given free reign of the investors money, our economy has come close to complete failure.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  Dick, Rush, Karl and Newt are all insane.  They have failed to learn from the past and they are incapable of responding to change.  This is why the Republican party will not survive.