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Feeling the Bern

  • Posted on March 2, 2016 at 7:00 pm

Feeling the Bern

I am a sixty-year-old woman that had pretty much given up on having a candidate to vote for that was not the lesser of two evils.  This year, my dream candidate arrived in an unlikely package of a seventy four year old man that calls himself a Democratic Socialist.  I see Bernie Sanders as my once in lifetime political candidate cut in the model of FDR.  He is running a campaign that is both positive, which is how I have always lived my life, and issues oriented.  The appeal for me is the way he includes everyone in the process.  He knows he needs the people to be with him, not just for the vote but to make anything happen.  It really is not about him; it is about us!  How unusual that in politics today where most candidates are so full of themselves that they can’t even understand how us little people live, we have an opportunity to vote for a person that has always stood up for the people and is willing to take this on, even if it is the last thing he does!

I have had people say to me that he is too old.  My father lived to be ninety-seven and was a sharp person.  I feel no one has an expiration date stamped on his or her forehead.  Some people unfortunately die young; others seem blessed with long life.  Bernie’s ideas and platform have called me to him.  He believes we can make this country better and I believe it as well.  If other countries can provide universal healthcare, why can’t we?  My sister died an early death because she didn’t have health insurance.  I feel strongly about this topic.  I have given money to people on Go Fund me pages because they needed money for surgeries.  This should not be happening in our country.  A poor person’s life should be as valuable as a wealthy person’s life.  Republicans like to call us a Christian Nation.  I don’t particularly care for that label, as I believe in a separation of church and state.  However, if you want to go with that idea, then what would Jesus do?  Would he let people die on the street or suffer?  I doubt it.

AS far as tuition free public colleges go, I am all for this.  As a teacher, we have been pushing for college for everyone for the last several years.  Unfortunately, college is largely unaffordable for most people of lower and middle economic standing and thus unattainable.  I believe we need to be an educated nation.  It is better for our work force and it helps to teach tolerance of other people’s ideas.  We should be embracing college for all that are able to withstand the rigors of a higher education.  We should also be investing in trade schools as well.  I recently read an article about many American students going to Germany for their free college program.  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678

Germany wants an educated work force and they know some of those foreign students are probably going to stay there and be productive in Germany using what they have learned.  Our country needs to embrace the concept of free tuition for public colleges.  Our kids are the future of this nation.  Do we really want some of our best and brightest students to skip college because they can’t afford it or leave after a year because they have accrued too much debt?  Do we want our children enticed to live in other countries because they have a better life style?  Do we want our children facing massive college debt that largely forces them into years and years of an ever-growing debt payment that sometimes gets larger because they can’t get the principal down on their paltry salaries?  I think we can do better as a nation.  We seem to have plenty of money for prisons and war.  Maybe we need to invest in our children first!

A few years ago, I read that the cost to house a prisoner at the little prison in Coldwater, Michigan was around $27,000 a year.  Most schools in Michigan are getting around $7000-$7500 to educate students.  I know that most prisons cost like double the figure from Coldwater, so that seems like a bargain.  However, from my point of view, I could see that money easily spent on educating people instead of building prisons and especially those “for profit” institutions.  Bernie also has talked about how the years from 0-4 are so important for children’s future well-being.  He wants affordable childcare for parents that have to work.  He has mentioned getting the proper training for the childcare workers so these children can be in a loving environment where they are nourished.

Bernie wants to invest in our country.  He knows our infrastructure is pathetic.  We need everything repaired.  There hasn’t been much invested in this country in years.  Why can’t we invest in our country?  We spend an unbelievable amount of money on these wars that seem endless to me.  I think we need to invest in our roads, our water systems, affordable housing, airports, modern transportation systems that move the masses, and building businesses that can thrive in this country.

Bernie believes in the American people and he will do everything he can to keep jobs here.  He has been against many of the trade bills that have devastated our country and moved so many of our jobs out of this country.  He bellows on and on about the 1% and how much they own and how little the rest of us own.  He has ignited a flame in the people with that bellow and it is what happens when he tells it like it is to the masses.  He asks us to have the courage to join him.  How can we not join the man who has dedicated his life to the people of this country?

This ad means so much to me.  I look at my students in school and I see all of them in this ad.  Yes, I know that the ad features adults but I see my students.  I think our country needs to come together and be the best that we can be.

TOGETHER from HUMAN on Vimeo.

Now some people might be wondering why I am not a Hillary Clinton supporter.  Back in 2008, I was a John Edwards supporter because of his issues addressing poverty and healthcare.  He was a flawed candidate and I moved on to Hillary Clinton and had an opportunity to attend a rally at South Bend, Indiana.  I was impressed with her and left supporting her.  Naturally, when she came into this election, my first impulse was for Hillary and that first woman president concept.  However, I study politics and read a lot about what is happening.  I discovered that Hillary was involved in things over the last eight years that really left me wondering what I ever saw in her.  It’s the whole money thing.  My son is always asking me when is enough enough?  Why do the rich always want more?  Her speeches to Wall Street firms for hundreds of thousands of dollars just put a nail on that coffin for me.  Her ties to Wall Street, the $350 some thousand that a Wal-Mart billionaire put into the Hillary Victory fund, her questionable ethics when she was Secretary of State, and the interesting Clinton Foundation donations during that time are inexcusable.  To add to this, she pushes for troops on the ground and war, which has created crises in Libya and Syria and make me see her as a very flawed candidate.  When she said we would never, ever have single payer, I wondered why anyone would support her.  Her constant use of the word “I” and not “We”, (Well lately, she seems to have gotten that message.) tell me she just doesn’t get it.  She has really become the candidate of the “establishment” Democrats.  This, for me, is just unacceptable and excessively far right of where I want the Democrats to be.

In reality, I feel like my party has abandoned me in favor of a center right party that appears to be a lot like the old Republican Party before it went very crazy.  I find myself unsubscribing from emails, un-liking Democratic candidates on Facebook, and very discouraged by the direction my party is going.  I see people pretty much the way Bernie does when he was asked a question about religion which I will share in the video below.  I believe we should be giving each other a hand up not stepping on people’s fingers when they are trying to pull themselves up out of despair, poverty, suffering, getting an education, getting a job, and volunteering.  We are all connected and it is time we all see what Bernie sees.

I can’t seem to embed this video, so here is the link.  I get the link to work so you will have to copy it and paste it into another url tab.  I am sorry you will have endure the ad first.  I guarantee it is worth watching.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-quick-cuts/watch/bernie-sanders-gets-personal-on-religion-629654595662

 

 

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Vote!

  • Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:52 pm

I am so fortunate to be visiting the northern Michigan area this week.  I had a get together with some of my brothers and it was fun.  Thankfully, I am sitting in front of this view and can keep my head clear of all negative thoughts.

Beautiful Duck Lake near Interlochen, Michigan

I was the only liberal person at the party Sunday night.  One of my brothers actually thinks that Democrats are the root of all that is seemingly evil in our society.  To him it seems that it is Democratic policies that destroy cities and lead to the destruction of our nation.  He sees Democrats as not wanting to work.  I thought that was a broad brush to paint people with and rather narrow minded.

I grew up in a FDR Democratic family.  It’s a wonder that these brothers grew up with the same parents that I had.  My parents would never agree with my brothers, not by a long shot.  Like our nation, my family is deeply divided by politics, religion, and basic world views.    I think politics in general tends to divide families especially in the last twenty years or so.  The right wing ideology of bible thumping Christianity scares the hell out of the free thinking left ideology.  For the most part, I believe in tolerance of other peoples’ ideas, unless it infringes on my life and my freedoms.  I don’t want religious zealots creating policy for our country and especially for women’s reproductive health.  Regardless of how I feel, it has made me realize that it is up to the people of this country to start making the real decisions and not leaving it up to the imperfect and bought politicians.

There are two things that I think are essential to being a true and devoted citizen of our nation.  These are to become educated and to vote.  If you aren’t voting, you need to start.  We have really only our vote as a check and balance to keep those in government on their toes.  It is so obvious across this nation this year that there are many things being done to prevent certain groups of people from voting.  This tells me that our votes must really be precious.

Recently, there was an editorial in our local paper, the Sturgis Journal, in which the writer was appalled at the lack of people voting in the August election.  I did vote but I find it a bit frustrating as I live in a Republican area.  What I am noticing is many of the local offices have people that run unopposed.  Either the Democrats feel it is a lost cause, it is too expensive to put together a campaign, both of these or something else is going on.  I also saw where some representatives want to repeal the 17th amendment which would mean that we would no longer vote for our senators to represent us in Congress.  That is unbelievable to me.  We must vote people or maybe they will start taking that vote away.  Yes, I know what you may be thinking…There seems to be no difference between the two parties these days.  I’ve said it myself.  However, that is not totally true.  One is way right and one is a bit right.  Lefties have the Green Party but in our two party system; it really leaves a lot of people out in the cold on making a statement with their vote.  I think this is why many don’t bother voting.  They don’t feel they have a real choice; they only have bad candidates and then there is worse.  It is frustrating I know but we must do our part and vote or soon we may not have the right.

Look at it this way.  If so many people are trying to limit voting it must be something special.  Regardless of how you vote, if you are of voting age, I hope you do vote.  I remember how excited I was the first time I voted.  I felt really great taking part in our government.  I grew up with political discussions about everything from the Kennedys to the Vietnam War.  To me voting was a great privilege.  I have always voted and probably always will vote.  When I moved to Oklahoma, I participated in a Caucus.  It was interesting.  Politics has always been interesting to me.  What most people don’t seem to understand is politics and those political decisions do have an effect on your life.  Politics affects everything from the minimum wage to education, and even the draft.  If you don’t get involved and vote you are leaving the decisions to other people that may or may not have your best interests in mind as they do their job in government.  So this November become a participating member of our nation.  Get educated about the issues so you truly understand the consequences of your voting decisions and then VOTE!

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Aliens and Republican Candidates

  • Posted on May 29, 2011 at 8:12 pm

Whew!  I just finished my two online courses today!  It’s been hectic and it’s been difficult to find the time to post here.  Working on the courses has kept my weekends busy and my school days are filled with the end of the year art shows that I put up.  However, school is almost over but don’t fret I am taking two more courses, so I will still be busy!

Lately, I’ve been wondering what is up with the Republican Party?  It seems to me they can’t find a decent candidate to run for the presidency.  I almost feel like this is all part of the “plan”.  They will put up the worse candidate, so we are all left with a vote for the other poor candidate, President Obama.  It’s like a continual game plan between the Republican and Democratic Parties of “good guy, bad guy” politics.  Maybe as I get older I become more cynical, but it sure seems strange that in a country this size the candidates that we see running most of us wouldn’t want to put in charge of anything, let alone the presidency.  Looking at the ever shrinking list of potential candidates makes me wonder if they really are going to pull out Jeb in the end.  It’s just a thought and I have written about this before.  Lately those potential candidates have been dropping like flies.

Gerhard-Kozissnik from the World Body Painting Festival

So, the other day I came across these pictures from the World Body Painting Festival and I was thinking what weird alien figure will be next to grace the stage of the Republican Party.  So many of the Republican would be candidates have been dropping like flies out of the race.

Of course we all were drawn into the Trump drama which probably secured him many viewers for his finale on Celebrity Apprentice.  I never really took that one seriously anyway.  The list is ever shrinking and the two that remain at the top are now Romney and Palin.  Please excuse me while I gag at the thought of either person at the helm of this big ship.  Romney can’t stand up without flip flopping on some issue and Palin does absolutely the same thing.  When I first read about her she was holding those oil companies “feet to the fire” in Alaska.  My how times have changed since she made a little money.   Now it’s all about keeping taxes down and helping big businesses out.  There is nothing left for the little guy with these two scammers.  We’re left with that “trickle down” theory of bullshit left over from the Reagan presidency.

Another interesting aspect to all of this is the candidacy of Jon Huntsman.  I find it mildly entertaining that there are two people with connections to the state of Utah running to be president.  Since our budget director was imported from Utah, I’m not remotely interested in either Romney or Huntsman.  The budget in Michigan was recently decided in record time.  It was decided in record time to screw the little guy, and of course the education of other little guys.  I find this letter to our governor interesting because I have noticed that here in Michigan we would rather spend lots of money on prisons and prisoners than on schools and education.  It seems a superintendent wrote this piece.  http://bigthink.com/ideas/38573 It’s well worth reading.  I had planned at one time to do a piece on just this very subject but there has been so much I have written about and just ran out of time.  However, this pieces touches on what I have been thinking about for some time now.  http://www.freep.com/article/20110505/NEWS06/105050518/Michigan-House-budget-cuts-cops-aid-poor-arts

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Where’s Waldo, Dick Morris and Newsmax

  • Posted on March 2, 2011 at 7:47 pm

Obama reminding me of Waldo once again!

There seems to be a lot of discussion about a Washington Post article by Ruth Marcus titled, “Obama’s ‘Where’s Waldo? Presidency.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030105489.html

I personally don’t see what all of the hoopla is about as I wrote about “Where’s Waldo” way back in September, but of course I’m just a lowly blogger with not that much traction!  Ruth concludes in the end, “Where’s Obama? No matter how hard you look, sometimes he’s impossible to find.”  It sure makes me wonder who is reading my blog.  I only see the numbers of people that are visiting.  Read my post and read her post.  My videos may be gone but if you scroll down past the videos and read all of it, you might be left wondering if Ruth read my post!

http://www.ksvoboda.com/?p=660

My take of course is a little different because before the election last fall Obama started “speaking” again and it was like a mystery because he had been so silent on so many issues.  Suddenly, with the election looming, he had all of these big ideas.  Of course after the election he was back to the same old “Where’s Waldo” moments.  You can check my post from September and see that I was first and you can have a laugh.  President Obama doesn’t stand for much and in my humble opinion if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.

In other news, I want to get back to the Wisconsin debate.  A friend on Facebook who I know is liberal wanted people to fill out a survey on Newsmax.  Yes, I know I should have stayed away because everyone knows that Newsmax is a conservative site.  I filled out the survey and of course being the honest person I am used one of my real email accounts.  I probably should have put some fake email up, but I would never do that, so I’m stuck getting emails from Newsmax.  I did unsubscribe, so maybe they will stop sending me these little tidbits of gross misinformation.  However, I found one in particular quite interesting.  I got an urgent message from Dick Morris.  You all know Dick Morris, the Fox News guy and Republican strategist that actually worked for President Clinton.  He was friends with Clinton before they became enemies and of course now he hates Hillary.  Okay, I’m digressing.  It seems Dick is really worried about Governor Scott Walker because those powerful unions, you know demonic like, are out to get him.  Here is Dick giving his take on things:

Governor Scott Walker’s fight is our fight. If he prevails, the reforms he proposes will spread to all the states in the country. New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Idaho are already pushing similar legislation.

But if we lose in Wisconsin, the public unions will have their way all over the nation and we will never get reform.

When Walker says he wants to limit collective bargaining to wages and benefits, what he is really saying is that he needs to be free to roll back teacher tenure, reward good teachers with merit pay, give parents choice about where to send their children, and assure that — even if there are layoffs — that they are based on merit not seniority. The union contracts all over America block these key changes. But we have to put our children first and improve the quality of our schools.

Dick goes on to mention that the League of American Voters needs your help, probably with money, to help Governor Walker.  I must confess that when I first looked at that word, “League”, I couldn’t believe it.  I couldn’t believe that the League of Women Voters would be in cahoots with Fox News commentator, Dick Morris!  Thankfully, it wasn’t the right league.  I love the name of the group though because it made me feel like I’m supposed to be a part of the League of American Voters.  After all, I vote and I’m American!  Catchy, isn’t it?  Dick ends his email with the following;

This is a heaven sent chance to take back our country from the control of the public employees labor unions, which form the backbone of the Democratic Party.

Please donate today!

Good God!  It is a “heaven sent” chance because we all know that Jesus would have been a REPUBLICAN!  Oh, I didn’t know that the whole point of this exercise in Wisconsin was to destroy the “backbone” of the Democratic Party.  I thought that was the secret plan.  I didn’t know they actually put it in their emails to their constituents!

I need to mention right now that the big, bad teacher unions don’t actually have the clout that Dick here seems to think.  The truth is here In Sturgis we haven’t “demanded” things at our district.  We’d like things but we have basically given up many things over the years.  We know times are tough and we work with our administration and the school board to try and solve problems.  We used to have Messa Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance.  It was probably what people consider the “Cadillac” of plans.  Some time after September 11th, 2001 insurance went up.  I had to contribute $2500 a year to keep that insurance.  That went on for a couple of years and it got to be too much of a burden for the group, so we gave it up.  Class size used to always be no more than about 24 students.  We gave that up a few years ago.  Now we have classes that can be into the low thirties.  When President Obama wanted everyone to compete for “Race to the Top” money, we ended up giving up on evaluations.  At Sturgis the teacher evaluation will be some how tied to student performance.  This happened across the state as well.  Guess what?  We still haven’t been “chosen” for the “Race to the Top” money. Last year the state of Michigan passed legislation that requires teachers and I believe other state employees to pay 3% more of their salary into their pension.  This was done to help fund all of the pensioners that retired under the state’s special “early” incentive plan.  We currently haven’t received a pay raise and because of the changes we are all making less money than we did last year.

Dick Morris went on to include the message from the League of American Voters and here is the main part:

This is why the League of American Voters is urgently launching a national effort to help Gov. Walker and to stop these bloated unions.

The League of American Voters is at the forefront of the battle in Wisconsin defending Scott Walker.

Dick Morris, the famous Fox News analyst, says “The League is the most effective grassroots organization in America.”

Dick credits the League for having stopped Obama’s “public option” healthcare takeover. The public option would have destroyed private health insurance, and we stopped them.

The League also led the fight to force Pres. Obama to renew the Bush tax cuts. Our national TV effort with Sen. Fred Thompson worked. Obama caved.

Now, the League has prepared a powerful new radio ad to air throughout Wisconsin in support of Gov. Walker.

With your help we plan on exposing the Obama-Labor machine in ads across the nation.

But it underscores the truth, Obama and his public union cronies are desperate.

They’ll do whatever it takes to keep power.

That’s why Obama says “Punish our enemies… Reward our friends.”

But together, you and I can help Scott Walker do what’s right for Wisconsin — what’s right for America.

I think it’s funny how the league used the term “Obama-Labor machine”.  I, for one, don’t much care for Obama any more than I care for Dick Morris.  After all it is Obama that pushed for “merit” pay.  The big question that begs to be answered is who is going to decide what is meritorious?  Obviously, there is no extra money, so how is “merit” pay ever going to happen any way?  A teacher friend of mine, who is conservative, said today that maybe they will lessen our pay and if you qualify for “merit” pay you’ll be at the level you are at right now!  I think that’s what I understood him to say today.  Stranger things have happened.  After all Dick Morris and Bill Clinton were once buddies.

Finally, I find it interesting that the league closes with the salutation, “Yours for Freedom”.  Those big bad unions are against freedom, you know.  They stifle freedom because they work for worker’s rights and we all know if workers have rights the places they work for have to follow some RULES!  Yes, if Dick has his way, teachers will go back to the good old days when they swept the floor, put the wood in the fire, and of course were ever so single and virginal.

This is Dick long before he sent out the email that didn’t really talk too much about education.

Just remember what Greta said about the election in 2012 because that’s what this is really about.  Dick says, “They’re digging their own grave.”  It’s interesting that these analogies are still being thrown around so easily by some commentators and politicians considering the shooting in Arizona.  I, for one, think it’s about time we stop with all of the targets with a bull’s eye on them and the sports analogies for politics.  Dick would love to witness the death of the Democratic Party and possibly democracy.  However, the death of the Democratic Party happened long ago.  The Democratic Party today is but a shadow of its former self and the same could be said of the party of Lincoln.

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Thoughts on “One and Done”

  • Posted on November 14, 2010 at 2:20 pm

President Barack Obama with Chinese President Hu Jintao

I am surprised at how quickly President Obama’s loyal followers have turned on him.  In the Washington Post editorial, “One and Done” today by Douglas E. Schoen and Patrick H. Cadell, two Democratic pollsters, President Obama is pressed hard to declare he will not run in 2012.  They think this will take away the pressure of the political parties and create an atmosphere where something can get done.  I personally think they’re dreaming!

Here is a section directly from their article:

Obama owes his election in large measure to the fact that he rejected this approach during his historic campaign. Indeed, we were among those millions of Democrats, Republicans and independents who were genuinely moved by his rhetoric and purpose. Now, the only way he can make real progress is to return to those values and to say that for the good of the country, he will not be a candidate in 2012.

They believe for the good of our country President Obama needs to move back to the values he ran on in the election of 2008.  They feel he needs to step down to take away the politics.  I find all of this amazing.  I cannot remember any president having this suggestion made to them before and especially in such an open format.  Personally, I don’t think it would make any difference.  So what happens if he steps down?  Will anything change in the House and Senate?  It would just mean both parties would be in a frenzy to get their candidates ready for the 2012 election.  There would probably be much posturing in the Senate with big speeches by potential candidates for the presidency.

Many people online, including myself, would really like to see Hillary Clinton as president, but I think this is crazy talk and I find it interesting that there is even any discussion about it at all.  I first learned about this opinion piece in the Washington Post on CNN today which tells me that there must be much talk of it in political circles.  Just as Nancy Pelosi is being pressured to step down it appears that President Obama is getting the same treatment.

Of course he brought a lot of this on himself.  If you listen to the pundits, he went too far to the left.  I find that amusing.  What did he go left on?  We are still involved in two wars.  Guantanamo Bay is still going strong and he even put a “hit” on an American citizen.  Gays still cannot openly serve in the military.  He passed health “insurance” reform, not health care reform.  He kept many of President Bush’s people and policies in place.  He governed more like the last president than any president from the “left”.  The biggest complaint seems to be about the stimulus money and the bank bailout.  The bailout was started by Bush and continued by Obama and the stimulus from the left’s point of view was too small.

I find all of this even more interesting because of the last president and his divisive policies.  The period under President Bush was extremely divisive.  He started his presidency by a vote from the Supreme Court.  That alone made his presidency tarnished with a sense of corruption because his brother was the governor of Florida.  He started out on a rocky road.  Many Democrats could hardly say the words, “Our president!”  Many thought he wasn’t “their” president.  Just before September 11th he had many warnings about terrorist attacks and these were ignored.  Low and behold September 11th happens.  President Bush is in some classroom in Florida reading about a pet goat.  Time goes by with no action.  He was flown all over the country, not knowing what to do and he put the VP in charge.  Some how after all of that President Bush emerged with the fireman at the World Trade Center, or Ground Zero, as it has become known, and suddenly he became our national hero and leader!  He could have gotten the country to do much at that time because he had our attention and devoted patriotism.  His answer was for us to go “shopping” and to give tax breaks to us.  After two unfunded wars we are in a heap of trouble financially.  In walks President Obama, who seems to think what President Bush was doing isn’t so bad, so he continues with those same policies.

Suddenly, we have a problem with this president.  To me he is a lot like the old president.  I don’t see many things that have changed.  Maybe it takes time for them to show up and maybe we as a country haven’t given him enough time.  I’m not sure.  However, I find it offensive how the Democratic Party people appear to eat their own.  The Republicans stand firm with their people, well, with one exception, Christine O’Donnell, didn’t get much support from the likes of Karl Rove and gang.  If you think about it Senator David Vitter who was going to prostitutes and wearing diapers is still going to be a senator in January.  He wasn’t pushed out by his party.  Democrats are supposed to be the “big tent” Democrats that take in all people with all ideas.  It’s interesting to see these two pollsters pushing for Obama, the first black president, to step down for 2012.

Obviously, a lot can happen in two years.  Who would have thought that in 2010 President Obama would be treated with such disrespect by people from his own party and even from the Republican Party?  Did you see where Representative Eric Cantor met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu?  He promised that his party would be a “check” on the Obama administration.  I cannot believe that he did this.  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/140624

It looks to me like maybe he should be charged with a felony.  According to the Logan Act unauthorized citizens cannot negotiate with foreign governments.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Act

Like him or not, President Obama, is the president and as president he deserves to be treated with a form of respect.  To do anything but that undermines our country.  It doesn’t mean we cannot discuss him and his policies on blogs like mine or yours.  However, it does mean that we don’t do anything that might have the potential to harm our country!  Most of us wouldn’t be in a position to negotiate with a foreign country.  Representative Eric Cantor should know the law better.  Since he is in a position of power in the Republican Party he should be held to a higher standard as well.  I don’t see anyone holding his feet to the fire, but they should!

President Obama still could turn things around and gain the support of the Democratic Party.  He just has to quit governing like a Republican.  I think we’ll know what kind of leader he really is when we see what he does with the Bush tax cuts.  I’m beginning to think they should just let all of them go, even my tax cut.  I would like to see the tax cuts kept in place for the 98%, but not at the expense of our country and infrastructure.  We have been living on borrowed money for far too long.  The politicians are trying to get us to accept those tax cuts for the wealthy which I think is just a tad ridiculous.  The divide between the poor and the rich just keeps growing.  It’s time we figured out how to help the poor and the middle class.  The 98% should not be held hostage to the other 2%.  If President Obama steps up and leads this country, then things will turn around for him politically.  If he continues to vacation like President Bush and govern like him as well, 2012 won’t come soon enough!

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Can You Hear Me Now?

  • Posted on September 20, 2010 at 5:32 pm

Out in Main Street America the "Right" and the "Left" are a lot closer than most people think.

Unfortunately, I keep thinking about that old commercial for Verizon.  You know the one that keeps asking, “Can You Hear Me Now?”  This one with the mosquitoes takes the cake for representing the Democratic Party and what ails them.

Those pesky mosquitoes could be the Tea Party people but they are really those angry Democratic voters that are planning on staying home this November.  My mother always used to tell me to be careful what I wish for because you might get it.  The Democratic Party has brought on much of these problems themselves.  By moving to the right when they should have moved left when that pesky mosquito was biting them, they lost their momentum.  The party has governed with President Obama at the top much like the old party headed by GW.  I can’t be the only one that feels like this.

The Tea Party people would have us all believe that the country wants to go conservative and right.  I personally don’t believe that.  I think there is a lot of confusion about what we should do as a country.  People definitely want some direction.  Right now there is a lack or failure of leadership.  It’s like being out on a boat and stormy sea comes up and you realize no one on the boat really knows much about sailing.  It could be like when the airplane pilot has a heart attack and we’re all looking at each other to see if anyone can take the controls.  Either way we are screwed!  We want someone to take the helm and lead us out of this storm.  So far we have someone that says pretty things on occasion and then is so TIRED, he has to go on vacation.  I remember when GW was president.  He always said, “It’s hard work.”  Oh, please, we all work hard and most of us don’t get much of a vacation.

I cannot tell you how many issues the Democratic Party went “right” on when they should have moved left, but I will mention a few.  Guantanomo….yep, still in place, a very Republican thing to do even though our constitutional amendments mentions things like a right to a speedy trial,  blah, blah, blah, stuff we keep ignoring.  Yep, last I noticed we are still fighting two stupid wars and not to mention spending lots of money there.  We could really use a “left” move there.  Health care…..people have labeled it “Obama Care” which does kind of piss me off as they did the same thing with Hillary.  However, it’s a shitty plan that didn’t even consider “single payer” or the “public option”.  I could go “Blah, blah, blah, again!”  They definitely should have gone “left” on this one.  If they had educated the masses on what these two ideas really mean, I think most people would get it.  I’ve had conversations with Republican friends that don’t cringe when I talk about it, so I know it’s all possible.  Education!  Oh, yeah, we now have “merit pay”!  It’s unbelievable that this was brought in under a Democratic president.  Merit pay has always been “union busting” talk from where I stand.  They definitely should have gone left on that one.  There is always that pesky question of who determines what is meritorious!  This could be a great opportunity to bring in Joe Blow’s kid when he graduates from college.  You know Joe Blow, the guy that sits on the school board.  If his kid needs a job, I’m sure we can make room for him.  There must be some teacher we don’t really like that is a bit of a “rabble rouser”, you know, not a “team” player, that we can get rid of for their less than stellar performance.  Wow, definitely should have gone left on that one!   Now here is a real “right” move that should scare a lot of “lefties”.  President Obama has sanctioned the killing or assassination of an American citizen.    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/30/assassinations/index.html

I really think they should have gone left on that one.  I cannot even fathom a real Democrat doing this.  It’s like were in some kind of strange new world.  Most people don’t even know about this because it’s not really out in the main stream press.  As you can see, I could go on and on about the fact that the Democratic Party with President Obama at the helm has definitely moved right instead of left.  This is why he is losing so many of us out in the real world.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/president_obama_criticizes_the.html

Many question the Tea Party movement.  I know some of it is fired up by Republicans but there are a lot of people that are angry out here that just don’t understand what is going on with our country.  They thought they were going to get this big “CHANGE” when all they go was some shitty t-shirt.

I guess the “Yes, We Can” ones really meant we CAN be more like Republicans!  We are left hoping a real Democrat will start leading.  The mistake has been that swing to the right when I think we should have swung to the left.

Most Americans simply want government out of their lives.  I thought it was interesting a few weeks ago when I heard Tom Hartman refer to a Libertarian as a conservative Republican that wants to be able to smoke dope and get laid.  I thought it was funny when I heard it, but it resonated with me because most people are far more liberal on social issues than many of them even realize.  Most people just don’t want you or the government “in their face” telling them how to live.  Even those Tea Party people could fall under this category.  For all of the talk about those social issues like gay marriage and abortion, the real concern is money.  If those Tea Party people and the rest of America had jobs and the economy was booming they wouldn’t be so interested in those other issues.  Those “wedge” issues have been used for years by both parties to keep us apart in our vision for the country.  This keeps the masses wrapped up in these social issues that become almost like a bait and switch.  People think they are voting for one thing and then they get something else.  It’s a game these two parties are playing as they both are “right” of center.  There is no “left”.  When I’m saying President Obama and the Democratic Party should have moved left, they are “playing’ us and telling us that it just isn’t possible because the Republicans are such obstructionists.

The truth is the Republicans are obstructionists but both parties want it that way.  They really are working for the corporations, not us.  They are trying to privatize every piece of government they can get their hands on so their buddies, you know their “real” constituents can make more money.  The public school as we know it is done.  Both parties have done everything they could to get private companies in the schools.  These are “for profit” companies.  They only care about the bottom dollar.  This has happened in our defense spending as well.  It’s across the board in every area of government from the federal to the state.  My son lives in Illinois.  They have private companies that sell the license for your vehicles.  It’s expensive.  Look at all the toll roads that have been sold to private companies.  This has been slowly happening.  Our government is serving these special interests so they can make more money while the rest of us are treated like serfs to the kingdom!

If this country is going to revolutionize and get back to what we really stand for someone has to convince the masses that as much as we all think we are so different, we are really alike.  You know the stuff about how the Tea Party people are “crazy” and those “lefties” are just a bunch of left over “Hippies” crap, that’s used to divide us.  I bet we have more in common than we realize.  If we could ever get together and talk and realize that as much as we think we are different, we are the same, we could maybe take back our country!  I cannot sit by and watch my party of my youth, the Democratic Party, become such an elitist, narrow party for the corporations without screaming my head off about how crazy it is that we have come to this!  We the people are Tea Party and Lefties.  We all want the same things.

We want to be able to raise our children in a place we can be proud of where they can grow to adulthood in peace, get a good education without it costing a life of servitude to the banks, be able to get a job that pays a living wage, have health care without going bankrupt over some terrible disease, have our personal freedoms kept safe, and always have the constitution to protect our differences.  The two parties have used everything they could to divide us but most of all it is FEAR.  We must stand up and embrace our differences so that we can actually sit down and have a real discussion about how to repair the problems in our country.  These two parties work hand in hand to help their corporate buddies.  They play games with us and keep us separated.  I have conservative family members.  They think very different than I do.  I know in reality we all want the same thing.  It’s all about everything I mentioned above.  I’m tired of being played and the Democratic Party should have moved left when they went right.  It’s all a game and the American people have been kept “stupid” about the game that’s really being played.

Republicans and Democrats that are our elected officials are largely corporatists.  They both are more concerned with keeping corporations happy then serving the needs of their true constituents.  The corporations in the meantime have inserted themselves in every aspect of our lives including our schools.  As a country we are really left of center, we just don’t know it yet!  Whether we are from the Tea Party crowd or liberal America, we are not being served well by the people that we voted into power.  Their master is business.  We should all be alarmed by how we are systematically being told that things will run better if they are run like a business.  This includes our government and even our education system.  The business class, you know the corporations have taken over our voting process.  They have given us dumb and dumber to vote for and we just keep on fighting with each other trying to convince each other that we are right.  We have no real power any more.  Business has it all and they will keep it as long as we keep voting and putting in their people.

Right now there are some rich business people running for governor across our country.  In my own state of Michigan we have the business guy that refers to himself as the “nerd”, Rick Snyder, who wants to come in and treat the government like a business.  I guess we’ll be seeing government jobs outsourced to China and India pretty soon if these guys get in!  We have been programmed to think that everything should be run like a “business”, so we are all buying into this stuff without really thinking about it.  It probably started with Reagan but it has been continued by both parties.

The Democratic Party can’t hear us because they are too busy listening to their master, the corporations.  The Republican Party has the same master.  As much as these two parties try to tell us one is left and one is right, they are both corporate.  They keep us in a state of confusion and fighting about right and left.  Democrats think Tea Party people are crazy wing-nuts and Republicans think people like me have a screw loose.  We need to realize, as I have said, we all want the same things.  We aren’t going to get it with these two parties as they are currently made up.  We must change them before it is too late and we end up looking like some third world country without a pot to piss in and a window to throw it out.  We are falling off a cliff but we’re holding on by a thin tread just from our sheer stubbornness and will to survive.  We want what is our right.  This includes the “pursuit of happiness” which we will never have until the heavy yoke of the corporate master is removed from our two political parties.  Democratic Party can you hear me now?  Do you know what I’m thinking?  There are a lot of dissatisfied Democrats out here wondering what in the hell happened to our party.  You have to start listening to us or we may end up voting for some crazy Tea Party person just to spite you!

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The Democratic Party Failure

  • Posted on September 18, 2010 at 1:01 pm

This video says a lot to me about the disrespect shown to Hillary Clinton during the 2008 election.  It’s subtle but it still shows me a lot about the men in the party!  I will always remember those words, “Likable enough!”

The last couple of months we have been hearing about how the Democrats are going to lose in November.  There has been much talk about which seats would go and how many are needed for the Republican Party to take over the House or even the Senate.  It almost feels like we have already voted.  I always find in interesting when pundits tell us what we, the people, are thinking.  I don’t know how they could possibly know what people are really feeling these days.  Most people don’t participate in polls, many don’t have land lines, and many don’t answer their phones for anyone but their friends.  This has made me think about what I’m thinking about all of this.  From my viewpoint, if the Democratic Party loses it’s because they still didn’t repair the problems created from the 2008 election, and they have governed more like Republicans than true Democrats.  If they lose, they deserve that loss.

Back in 2008 my primary vote was taken away here in Michigan and given to Barack Obama.  I didn’t vote for him and if I had been given an opportunity to revote, I would have voted for Hillary Clinton.  The Democratic Party then chose to even take some votes from Hillary and give them to Barack, a very undemocratic thing to do.  This and what happened in Florida has set the stage for a lot of what’s ailing the Democratic Party today.  The Democratic Party has for a long time acted in an elitist manner.  They have assumed that they know what is best for their constituents, even if their constituents think otherwise.  This is the main problem with the party.  They don’t listen to their people.  I called the Michigan Democratic Party when all of this was happening and I was treated poorly and even hung up on.  It’s hard to trust a party when they treat you like crap.  Well, fast forward two years to the November election.

It’s hard to see how anything has really changed.  I had high hopes that President Obama would do something to make me trust the party again.  I hoped that I could start respecting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid again.  It hasn’t really happened.  I’ve written on here that we should vote for the Democrats because the Republicans are worse.  Isn’t that just a wonderful reason to vote?  Neither party is worth a damn these days.

The Democratic Party and President Obama have framed the last two years so there are four things that come to my mind:  We are still in these stupid wars.  We have a health care bill that no one seems to understand.  We have bailed out banks that didn’t bail out the American people.  We have a president that much like his predecessor likes to go on vacation a lot, acts clueless when it comes to real people and their needs, and has even embraced some of his Republican policies.

When President Obama came into office I was hoping he could convince me that he was the right choice.  It would be foolish for me or anyone else to want him to fail.  We’re talking about our country here.  I don’t want us to fail.  However, after two years, it’s hard to see what has really changed.  For all that talk about how things were going to “change”, much has stayed the same.  Washington is as hateful as it always has been, it’s as corrupt as it always has been and it’s as clueless as it always has been.  Even in the midst of economic disaster these politicians cannot seem to get anything done for the people.  They are too busy trying to get reelected than to do their jobs!  So if they lose their jobs this November, I have no sympathy.

Everything the Democrats have tried to do they have washed down so much that it looks more like a  Republican plan than a Democratic plan.  The health care bill didn’t fix anything.  We won’t know exactly what it will do until 2014 when much of it kicks in.  We do know that people with a more progressive agenda did not get their way.  Single payer was taken off long before the bill was completed.  John Edwards said if you let the corporations come to the table they would eat all the food because they’re a bunch of hogs.  I know, there I go about John Edwards again.  He is a horrible person and that’s what we are supposed to remember.  What I choose to remember are the policies he talked about.  He was right about this one.  President Obama invited those pigs in and they ate all the food.  Special deals were made.  Drug companies and insurance companies must have been pretty happy after all of this because they now have new customers that must buy from them.  It’s a closed market.  We are forced to buy from a corporation without any real cost cutting measures in place.  In fact, the people that supported a more progressive agenda for health care issues were not even invited to dine to supply their ideas on this discourse.  The people that really wrote the deal were insiders for the insurance companies.  You can’t play that slight of hand trick with the cards over and over and expect your people to continue to believe in you.  Of course the Democratic Party knows what is best for us even if we don’t.  This elitist attitude is what’s ailing the party.  They just don’t respect the intelligence of their voters.

Many of us Democrats, or used to be Democrats, would like to see the money that is going over to Iraq and Afghanistan come back home and help our war torn societies.  We have spent so much money overseas that we don’t have the money we need to run our city and state governments.  Times are tough.  Most of us want to take care of our own.  Many of us would like to see these wars resolved and the troops brought home.  President Obama was supposedly against the Iraq war but what he has done is really just shift the troops to Afghanistan.  It’s like these wars will never end.  If you have a child in kindergarten, chances are he may be fighting in the Middle East after he graduates!  At home we have to down size everything in our governments which means less police, less service, less education, basically less of everything so we can keep fighting over there.

The Democratic Party is clueless to what was happening with the American people.  The number one priority should have been jobs.  James Carville was right when he said, “It’s the economy stupid!”  It is the economy.  The stimulus package did some good but it fell far short from what it could have done.  The bickering over extending unemployment didn’t help.  Making the unemployment issue into “politics as usual” didn’t help.  When the Democrats cry that they can’t get anything done because they don’t have enough Democrats when they have so many, they appear ‘WEAK”.  They make the Republicans look strong as opposed to appearing just plain bad.  If the Democrats can’t figure out how to run things with the numbers they have, maybe they deserve to lose.  The Republicans didn’t have those numbers but they always managed to get what they wanted when they had control.  This tells me that either there are far too many DINO’s or Republicans are just better at the game.

Another thing that has really bothered me about the Democratic Party is their lack of female candidates.  The Republicans were smart enough to realize that there were a lot of women upset after the 2008 election and the way Hillary was treated.  I have noticed there are a lot of Republican women running for office.  They sound a lot like feminists even though they have a conservative agenda.  I want more women in office.  I could be tempted to vote for a Republican woman just because women are so under represented.  We are over half of the population and yet our laws are still largely written by white men!  When the Democratic Party comes out and attacks these women much like they have this last week with Christine O’Donnell they are tugging at another old wound from 2008.  Many of the women that I have come to know online since 2008 that were Democrats could easily vote for some of these women.  Many would like to see more Democratic female candidates but we recognize that the Democratic Party treats their female candidates horribly.  For as much as the Democratic Party would like us all to believe that they are a “big tent” when it comes to women, they still want us kept in our “place”.  Much like the Catholic Church we are supposed to sit on the sidelines and be supportive.  We are expected to be out at the grass roots level helping to campaign for the candidates.  We can lick envelopes, pass out flyers, make phone calls, canvas an area and make a financial contribution but we aren’t supposed to run the place!

Now I finally come to President Obama.  He governs much like his predecessor.  In fact I think he is a Republican.  He appears to be channeling Ronnie, not Jack or Lyndon and certainly not FDR!  A few weeks ago I heard a woman on CSPAN refer to Barack Obama as a socialist.  I can only wish he would have more of a social agenda.  She is dead wrong.  She said that the media didn’t do their job.  If they had shown what a socialist he was, she and a lot of other people wouldn’t have voted for him.  I thought that was ridiculous.  He really is everything I expected from the election.  I always thought he was more of a Republican and that’s why I didn’t care for him.  I heard his speech the summer of 2007 at the National Education Association conference and he talked about “merit pay”.  (I watched the video on the NEA website.)  Merit pay has always been “union busting” talk from my point of view.  This has been something the Republicans have pushed for years.  It came true under a Democrat.  Unbelievable, but true!  I don’t know exactly how it will work.  I do know that if you want teachers to teach for a test, that is exactly what they will do.  The problem is; it’s just a test.  It may not mean anything when it comes down to real education for your child!  President Obama has also been absolutely insensitive to working class America.  At a time when so many people are out of work and struggling to make ends meet, he vacations continually.  His family vacations much like President Bush did.  We have seen so many pictures of the Obama family on vacation that they don’t look like they have a care in the world.  President Clinton could “feel our pain”.  President Obama looks and acts like he is clueless to what the American people are going through.  If he had a clue, he would dial down these many vacations.  A lot of people gave up their vacations.  Others haven’t vacationed in years because they can never afford it!

In conclusion, if the Democratic Party loses in November, they have no one to blame but themselves.  It’s not because the Republicans are a better alternative, far from it.  The Republicans are a horrible choice.  It is because the Democratic Party forgot the people that put them where they are today.  We voted them in and gave them their jobs.  We handed the keys to the house and expected it would be taken care of.  Instead when we got home it’s like the wayward teenager that had a party.  Some stuff got broken and it didn’t get fixed.  We’re mad as hell parents looking for answers to our wayward teen’s choices and we are getting ready to ground him.  If the Democratic Party wants us to get fired up to vote them back in, they better start coming up with better excuses for their behavior than what we have been hearing!  They better stop taking all of us for granted.  They better repair the damage they created in 2008 and they better start respecting women!  They also better stop sounding like REPUBLICANS!  If we want a Republican in office, we will vote for them.  They could take care of a big issue right now that would show what a true Democrat would do.  They could let the tax cut for the wealthy expire.  Instead we keep hearing talk of an extension which means in 2012 there will be another fight to either extend it or make it permanent.  If they would act like Democrats right now and vote to extend the tax cuts for the working people and get rid of it for the wealthy, they could maybe save their party!

Truthfully, I should be thanking the Democratic Party.  If they hadn’t stolen my vote in 2008, I might not be writing this today.  I probably would never have even considered dealing with my thoughts on this website at all.  When my son set this up as a place for me to write this past Christmas, it was largely because of the events that happened in 2008.  He knew I was online a lot and writing comments on other sites.  He thought I might like writing my own blog.  I never had really given it much thought.  Now, I have discovered my voice.  In many ways I have always considered myself to be, “Silent Kate”.  I would go online and even post many places under that moniker.  I was a silent voice looking for a home.  I now have my home.  I just don’t have my party.  This woman will be silent no longer.  There are a lot of women out there like me looking for a political party that will actually represent them.  If the Democratic Party would like our votes, they should step up to the plate and encourage more women to run for office and they should stop belittling every Republican woman that runs just because she is a woman.  So, if the Democratic Party loses in November, they deserve it!

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The Hoopla Over Christine O’Donnell

  • Posted on September 16, 2010 at 8:59 pm

Christine O'Donnell looking a lot like Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin could be Christine's sister!

I must admit I don’t know much about Christine O’Donnell and I truly don’t care.  Since I live in Michigan she really isn’t on my radar.  However, I am having a good laugh watching the two parties, Republican and Democratic fall all over themselves in disgust at her Republican Senate primary win in Delaware.

It all started with Karl Rove when he came out and said she says some crazy things.  He seemed quite upset that she won.  The Republicans thought they had a sure bet with Mike Castle.  What I find humorous about all of this is the fact that the Republicans “hand picked” candidate wasn’t selected by the voters!  Imagine that!  The voters decided they would pick their candidate.  The Republicans can’t get over the fact that the voters have the right to choose who they want to represent them.

On the Chris Matthew’s show he went on to ask some Republican, who I cannot for the life of me remember the name of, if Christine was “qualified” to be a senator.  I thought that sounded pretty elitist.  The truth is there are only three things necessary to qualify to be a senator.

Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for senators: 1) each senator must be at least 30 years old, 2) must have been a citizen of the United States for at least the past nine years, and 3) must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state he or she seeks to represent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate#Qualifications

There is no IQ test to be a senator.  Otherwise, people like David Vitter would never have been elected!

To top all of this hand wringing off by the Republicans is the behavior of the Democrats.  MSNBC has been a huge supporter of Barack Obama.  Many of the people on that network are like Chris Matthew’s when he got that tingle up his leg.  The morning after she won, I watched “Morning Joe”.  When they showed the “masturbation video” I knew there was more going on than meets the eye.  The Democrats would have everyone believe that she will go down easily in defeat.  I suspect that they really don’t know what will happen as they are protesting far too much.  She looks and sounds a lot like Sarah Palin.  Some people find that very appealing!  During the whole Morning Joe show Joe was quite upset about her win.  Everyone else kept trying to put her down and make fun of her.  Joe kept saying something about her lack of income.  I think I heard a figure of $5800 or so.  He mentioned bankruptcy.  He said she lied about going to Princeton.  Then they played a video of her on the Bill Maher show.  By this time I was laughing like crazy because I suspected all of them, from both parties, gave way too much away by protesting so much.

They have made this into such a big issue that it is obvious that they are both worried.  The Republicans don’t know how to “handle” her and the Democrats are afraid that she might be stronger than they think.

Both parties are owned and operated by the corporations.  Maybe this is the problem.  She seems to be a “nobody”.  I’ve suggested on here that we should vote for the Democrats because they are slightly better than the Republicans.  However, there is no reassurance from where I sit that this is remotely true.  These parties are like brothers.  They play games with the rest of us pretending to be at each others throats.  We suspect that they don’t even like each other.  This is a game to keep us “commoners” thinking they’re actually trying to do something for US!  It’s just like “good cop, bad cop” episodes.

If you watched the memorial service for Teddy Kennedy you would have noticed that many Republicans obviously loved Teddy.  They were friends.  They even joked about which one would be the “bad” one for the press.  If you think I’m making this up go back and watch it.  It’s probably on YouTube.  The point is that “We the people” are the ones that actually vote and these senators “play” us all the time!

Christine O’Donnell managed to get the vote, “the vote from the people”, without an elitist pedigree.  She got Republicans to vote for her.  Whether she can get the votes that she needs to become senator in Delaware remains to be seen by all of us.  All I know is that not one vote has been cast yet.  There is a lot of time between now and the election.  If Democrats want to win, they better stop trashing her.  They’re just going to piss off a lot of women.  Women are already fed up with the Democratic Party because of their treatment of Hillary Clinton.  I can imagine if Christine gets the Hillary/Sarah treatment, women may vote for her in protest.

Republicans started turning around after the twenty four hour gripe period.  However, most people can see through the façade of bullshit they are selling.  They don’t like Christine because she is a Tea Party person.  I guess that’s code for “bat shit crazy right winger.”  You would think they’d be happy with her.  NO!  Both parties want to control everything.  They don’t want US to have a choice.  Christine is the Republican Party choice in Delaware.  The national Republicans will have to live with that.

My thinking is that the current senators aren’t doing such a hot job any way.  What difference will it really make if she wins?  I think people are just fed up with Washington.  It isn’t just Tea Party people.  It’s people like me.  I think a pink bunny could do as well as some of the current senators.  They are vacillating over extending the tax cuts.  They supposedly can’t get it done unless they include the wealthy.  This is just bullshit.  They don’t want to get it done and they don’t want anyone new to come play the game.

As I said in the beginning I don’t know much about Christine and I don’t even care.  However, I do care about the loss of what used to be my Democratic Party.  I’d like my party to embrace women in general.  I’d like to not see them go ape every time a woman, much like Sarah or Hillary, runs for office.  I’d also like to see more Democratic women running for office.  However, it seems like this is the year for Republican women.  Like it or not, if you want to vote for a woman, you may have to vote Republican.  The Democratic Party needs to get out of the dark ages and start encouraging women to run for office.  I’m fed up with these macho, elitist, mostly white, men that make all of the laws that pertain to the rest of us.  Remember half of us are WOMEN!  So the only dog I really have in this fight is the fact that Christine O’Donnell is a woman!  Go figure!

I wasn’t going to add anything to this.  However, Daniel Maxso sent me a video from Newsy.com. which shows conservative pundits firing back at Karl Rove on this issue.  It’s a good video so I’m adding it.  I also am providing a link below it to an article that I read last night that was really interesting on the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbMcO07iQUQ&feature=player_embedded

This is a good op-ed article:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/17/conservative-feminists-grizzlies-or-not-come-out-roaring/

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Dating Politics 101

  • Posted on September 4, 2010 at 11:20 am

The Republican and Democratic Parties remind me of dating.  You’ve been dating a couple guys for awhile now but it’s time to get serious.  One guy seems nice enough.  He takes you to all the right places.  He wines and dines you and you feel special but alas, when the credit card bill comes, you realize you’ve been footing the bill.  The other guy takes you to fun places too, but you’re a little worried that he’s spending over his limit.  It seems almost too good to be true.  There’s something a little off about both of these guys but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

Meanwhile, you’re busy trying to keep these two guys separated because if one finds out about the other, the jig is up.  Any way you look at it, this is a dishonest relationship.  If you sneak around and go dancing with the Republican Party, you are going to pay in the morning.  He isn’t apt to forgive you for fooling around with a “Democrat”, so you better get used to the dirty looks and “God fearing” lecture you’re going to get.  And trust me; you will get a lecture, just like your dad gave you when you backed that car up into the mailbox.  You are going to hear every tirade in the book about “responsibility”.   We all know what “superficial responsibility” is.  It’s that responsibility “word” Republicans always use when they talk about “personal responsibility”.  It seems like a Republican always has that mantra of “When in Rome do as the Romans do, just don’t get caught.”  Personal responsibility means you talk about living with a moral compass and God being your guide but secretly you could be dating your next wife while your current poor wife is in the hospital with cancer. JUST DON’T GET CAUGHT!  Now, if he does get caught, he will need to have his “come to Jesus” moment and beg for forgiveness.  After all the American people are pretty stupid but they do like to forgive those that come crawling back for their vote.  If you date the Republican long enough you might start thinking like he does.  When you catch yourself berating the poor bloke that can’t find a job by telling him to “pick himself up by the bootstraps”, you will know that some of those Republican ways are rubbing off on you.

In the end, after all of the dating, you will get the bill.  It will be in your tax statement filed under “personal responsibility” after the November election.  While you’re busy figuring out what went wrong with the relationship, he’ll be off making sure to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.  He’ll soon forget you as in reality he was really into Bush in the first place.  That’s his first love.  Then he’ll go to work on social security and of course try to privatize it as he never saw a government program that couldn’t use a little privatization.

Dating the Democrat hasn’t been any easier on you.  You thought you knew what you were getting.  You thought you could count on that guy.  He seemed so clean cut and all American.  What’s not to love?  However, you’ve been living a nightmare trying to figure out who this guy is.  On one hand he seems to be really into you, but sometimes you catch him giving a glancing eye at that Republican girl friend of yours.  It could be your imagination but you’re kind of wondering if something is up between the two of them.  You aren’t used to guys that don’t give you their undivided attention on a date.  He acts like he’s really into you until that Republican friend of yours walks in and sits down.  Boy does he show her a lot of attention.  You can’t quite figure out if he secretly is a Republican or he just admires them”?  What could it be?

You are so confused by all of this but a decision has to be made by November.  Do you dance with the guy that brought you to the party or do you take off with the new guy.  You really wish you had another choice but alas you know that third guy just couldn’t swing the vote.  So you sit down and go through your priorities.  If you vote for the Republican, you know you’re going to get screwed because he has to pay for extending the Bush tax cuts some way and if you vote for the Democrat well, at least, hopefully, he won’t extend those tax cuts.  Now, he still could extend the tax cuts because he still keeps eyeing your Republican girlfriend.  However, you are hopeful that he’ll leave your social security alone.  This decision is so bad.  With the Republican, you know what you are going to get and with the Democrat, you’re not exactly sure what you’re going to get.  However, you know that he won’t be quite as bad as the Republican.  So vote for and dance with the Democrat and hope he stops eyeing your Republican girl friend!

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