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Dropping Like Flies

  • Posted on February 21, 2010 at 6:07 pm

Evan Bayh listening to the American people?

Is there something in the Washington D.C. water?  Why are all these congressmen deciding not to run?  Another one bites the dust with Evan Bayh from Indiana.  The talking heads keep telling us the so called reasons but are there more sinister motives.  Are some being pressured not to run much like the Lt. Governor Democratic nominee from Illinois, Scott Lee Cohen?  Oh, the shame of it all.  The people voted for him to be the nominee even with his scandalous past but the Dems in power will have none of it.  “One day you’re in and the next your out!” as Heidi Klum claims on Project Runway.   Evan Bayh gave an emotional speech that seemed honest.  It really seemed like he didn’t want to leave at all.  Maybe he’s getting ready to run for the White House or maybe he was forced out because of some hidden, secret scandal yet to be revealed.

Or maybe we should just take him at his word.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/opinion/21bayh.html?hp=&pagewanted=al

We all know that congress is dysfunctional.  It’s a given and we don’t label them a “do nothing” congress for nothing.   The two parties have run amok.  We used to at least feel like one of the two parties represented us, the little people.  Conservatives had the Republican Party and liberals had the Democratic Party.  Today it feels more and more like the two parties represent corporations and no one else.  Under George W. Bush the congress ran up the debt in unprecedented numbers.  Conservatives weren’t represented neither were the liberals but corporations were highly represented especially the ones that were profiting from these two wars we have been enmeshed in for years.  Have you noticed how the press portrays Barack Obama as a liberal and claim he’s moving to the left and so on?  This is just smoke and mirrors as much of the press is controlled by corporations.  This is to make those of us that are liberal feel like we got what we wanted.  How untrue all of this is as I find it amazing to note that the “change” from one party to the other has virtually gone unnoticed by most of us little people.  If I had fallen asleep after the 2008 election and just awaken it would seem as though GW was still president.  If I were voting right now I would vote for women because we are under represented and I would vote out most of the incumbents.  If you have spent the majority of your life campaigning you more than likely are out of touch with the American people any way.

Republicans feel a surge coming on.  They think that the American people want their type of rule.  How unquestioningly they miss the mark.  They fuel the Tea Party people thinking that it is the Republican Party that the Tea Party wants to emulate.  I find this all very doubtful.  It seems to be more of a Libertarian view or a left over fringe of the Ron Paul movement rather than the Republicans that have the hearts of the Tea Party movement.  Truthfully people in this country are fed up with both parties.  We don’t like the money involved in elections and the partisan way everything is seemingly decided.  That of course is just to fool us as both parties are really representing corporations.  The question is really which corporations back which party?   http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.php Anyone that has ever gone to Open Secrets usually comes away with their eyes open as to who is running our government and it isn’t “We the people!”  This next site is interesting for finding information in the news about corporations and politics.  http://www.corpwatch.org/index.php I contend that we should change the way we elect out politicians from the local sheriff to the highest office in the country, the President.  We should make elections meaningful again with much debate so we can truly see where these people stand on the issues.  We should bring back the League of Women Voters to organize the debates.  Now Presidential debates are negotiated between the two parties.  Forget about the parties.  Take them out of the picture and ask whatever the people want to know.  We should give equal television time to all of the candidates.  Independent candidates shouldn’t have different requirements than the two main parties when trying to get on the ballot.  In many states Independents have to jump through extra hoops to try and get on the ballot.

In the Michigan Presidential primary of 2008 when the people voted some of their votes ultimately were given to a candidate that they did not vote for on May 31st, 2008 when the Democratic Party rules committee met to decide what to do about the Michigan Primary.  When my sister called the Attorney General of the state of Michigan she was told that the Democratic Party could do what they wanted with those votes.  It’s like a club or a union.  They can decide things for us.  What I don’t understand is the fact that we, the taxpayers, paid for this “club” to have their primary.  I believe it cost our very “poor” state twenty million dollars to have that primary.  What a waste of tax payer money!  I would have to say whether Evan Bayh is talking truth to power or has been pushed out, much of what he has said is a known fact.  Congress doesn’t accomplish much these days but they do manage to irritate the hell out of the American people, the voters.  Let’s hope we stay mad as hell and remember these antics the next time we go to the polls.  Let’s start thinking about voting against the two party system and the money interests.  Let’s ignore the media and search for our own truth.  There are plenty of publications on the web that can better inform the public about what’s really going on.  So let’s all get educated and do what we can in our own communities to inform people about the corruption in Washington D.C. and even in our local communities and states.

Locally, there are two main issues that rise above most other issues.  The first is job security and the second is the education of our children.  We want our jobs to be secure with benefits and comfortable enough so we can raise our children and have something left for retirement and we want our children to have a life filled with opportunities that only a good education can provide.  Slowly but surely we are failing in these two main areas.  The federal government has abandoned us on both issues.  They have transported our jobs out of the country, killed unions to lower our wages and have tried everything they could do to destroy public education.  They are watering down the education system by slowly but surely sneaking money out to “charter” schools with far different requirements than public schools.  They have done a wonderful job of convincing the people that everything is wrong with our children’s education in a public school and it must all be changed from the bottom up.  We have lost our local control over our schools and our jobs.  Some might think the main issue is taxation but truthfully if you have a good job with benefits taxes aren’t as difficult to pay!  It’s time to fire the people that brought us to the brink of disaster and to a life of recession and depression.  The government has wasted our money, our resources and now they will lay waste to our children in endless fighting of endless wars.  We must dismiss them as surely they have abandoned us, the American people!

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The Morality Test

  • Posted on February 21, 2010 at 1:06 am

Integrity comes in all colors!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about spirituality, morality and all of the things that make us the way we are.  Why do we choose the things that we do?  I grew up in a family of fourteen children and I don’t think any of us think exactly alike.  So, what makes us choose certain moral choices?  Tonight I took a morality test on the internet.  I was surprised at the results as they fairly accurately described me.  (The Morality Test) http://www.outofservice.com/morality/results/?morality=73&political=93&social=64&o=8&c=97&e=22&a=87&n=9 I’m a shy person but am also out going in many ways.  I am politically liberal and yet very conservative socially.  I’m kind of close minded in my approach to morality because I see many things in very simple terms.  There isn’t much leeway for me on most issues of morality.  It’s either black or white.  There really aren’t many shades of gray for me.  I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about should I do this or should I do that as there really is just right or wrong for me  Like I said there aren’t any areas of gray.  I don’t consider myself to be a typically closed minded person on most issues.  I’m only closed minded on the issues of what I believe to be right and wrong.

My family is Roman Catholic.  I’m sure this has much to do with my morality code.  I remember talking with a fellow male teacher years ago.  He used to joke about messing around on Saturday night and then going to penance on Sunday.  Maybe it’s different for guys but I never did that.  He loved the Catholic Church because it taught forgiveness.  He always felt that he could go ahead and mess around on Saturday because on Sunday all would be forgiven.  He also talked about it being his “duty” to test the girls.  I never felt that kind of connection with the church.  My connection with the church was more inwardly spiritual.  He knew he would be forgiven for his weaknesses.  I, on the other hand, couldn’t bring myself to be weak and out of control morally because I couldn’t face the consequences that bad behavior might bring.  This may be something to do with the differences between the sexes.  Of course a young woman would and could pay dearly if she messed around on Saturday night as she could get a bad name or an unwanted pregnancy.  None of these things showed for the young men.  Back in my day, the only people that got “bad names” were girls.  It was always “boys will be boys”.  It was almost expected that a guy would “sow his wild oats” but girls were treated differently.

In many ways the Catholic Church treated women differently by classifying them as either virgins or whores.  Back when I lived in Oklahoma I used to attend a mission church.  I lived out in western Oklahoma in Cheyenne.  One time when the priest came out to the mission mass I asked him to stay after as I needed some counseling.  I was alone in Oklahoma with my small child contemplating divorce.  He came out to my home, had dinner with me and we discussed many issues.  It was interesting because he explained to me how the church classified women and how it was difficult for a priest to be alone with a young woman as the priests are taught that there are women out there that are attracted to priests as mates.  He said that they essentially are taught that there are two types of women, the virgin and the whore.  Of course it’s easy to see when you really think about it.  Women are not in real positions of power within the church.  Their role is largely subordinate to the male dominated patriarchy of the church.  Of course we are taught about the virgin birth and the Virgin Mary so Mary’s position is elevated.  She is virtuous.  Mary Magdalene on the other hand was the whore but she redeemed herself so there is always the “hope” of redemption.

Morality of course has many facets.  Sexuality is just one area.  For me morality is more about honesty and integrity than anything else.  We all may know right from wrong but do we all have the integrity to live a life that is virtuous in the area of honesty?  Living a virtuous life doesn’t get anyone an award.  We hear more about the lack of virtue than about people that live with honesty and integrity.  Recently in the news we have been bombarded with the sexual mores of the rich and powerful.  We are seemingly shocked at the behavior of Tiger Woods, John Edwards and Mark Sanford.  We share indignation and are morally outraged at their audacious sexual behavior.  The truth is that none of their lives will ever effect our own situation.  We as a people do not live our lives and learn our morality from politicians, powerful people, sports figures or other wealthy people.  Most of us learn our moral behavior from our parents.  We learn from very little on what is acceptable behavior.  I contend that when people exhibit a lack of moral judgment it is because they either lacked moral guidance as youngsters or they learned how to behave like the Romans.  We have all heard the phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  Now, I don’t mean to say that all politicians cheat on their wives and it is learned behavior that is acceptable to that segment of the population but I think there may be some truth to it.  We all know that sports figures have groupies that follow them around trying to steal some time with them so we shouldn’t be so shocked when someone like Tiger gets his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar.   I personally think the farther you move away from your roots, whether it is through physical miles or mental miles, the easier it is to go with the “crowd” that you are hanging with and forget about your moral upbringing.  This is why it can be a real eye opener when that young freshman goes off to college.  Suddenly, they are exposed to a whole new world away from the eyes of mom and dad.  It is here that integrity and honesty is truly born.  Will that child go with the flow and follow peer pressure or will they become the person they were meant to be?  Some may take years to discover who they were really meant to be.  It is a part of the learning experience.

Small town living has been pegged as narrow minded, small minded living but in reality it is very difficult to get lost in the crowd when you live in a small town.  When you live in a metropolitan area you can more easily get lost in the crowd and do you own thing.  Small town people talk and they know generally what is going on in their own communities.  I’m not saying that small towns exhibit a higher level of morality than city dwellers.  I’m just saying that people are more apt to know of your personal misgivings in a small town.  Of course the internet has made the whole world a little bit more of a small town.  It amazes me to think that so many people put pictures on the web of their outrageous behavior as though they think a future employer doesn’t know how to use Google.  I can remember going off to college and thinking that small towns were small minded but really my heart is in the small town.  It is here that I feel I can make a moral impact.  I feel if I live an honest life with integrity I become a positive role model for the many children that are raised in chaotic life styles.  I’ve always felt that we should treat each other in the manner that we would want to be treated.  I choose to live my life with integrity.  I do everything I can to treat people with respect and I expect to be treated with respect as well.  It is a lifestyle that may seem boring to many but I live my life with a clear conscience.  I know I can sleep at night knowing I don’t have to fake who I am.  If you are living with a liar whether it be you or your mate you can never really live a virtuous life of integrity because you are always expending negative energy fighting the lies.  I may be old fashioned and virtue may be over rated but I can’t imagine being anyone else.  So sleep well my friends and remember that integrity sleeps with a clear conscience.

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