Grab your coffee, I've got some bones to pick over on this summer desert. Our hotter than Mars landscape is littered with carcasses: the debt ceiling fiasco, powerful men like Murdoch, the blitherings of Right Wing nut Bachman and this from AlterNet this morning.
"In all, the Republican Party is possessed by a spirit of willful denial: aided and abetted by the right-wing media, Conservatives can bend the world to their wishes; reality is subject to their fantasies; any belief, however specious, is made true because they want it to be so. This is a pathology that extends both to the debt ceiling debate and the broader assault by conservatives on the country’s social safety net. Both are examples of a frightening pseudo religion called Free Market Fundamentalism—a faith based on a set of assumptions that are immune to interrogation, challenge or the collective weight of reality."
Chauncey DeVega is our guide on this archeological dig. He's the author of the above quote. He goes on to enumerate several myths the ultra-conservative Republican party holds as sacred.
1. The first is that this entire debt ceiling issue is nothing more than hot air coming from the Democrats. Not to worry, the rightists say, there's plenty of money and we can just shove this unhappy so-called crisis down the road to the future. It's all about the Dems trying to scare people. Chauncey writes: "a failure to resolve the debt ceiling crisis would be an unprecedented event in American history."
2. Remember this one from Ronnie's day? Supply side economics will cure all. As it turns out all those tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans haven't done much, if anything, to stimulate the economy. More accurately, they've played a role in the current crisis.
3. Oh yes, well this one will be familiar here in Wisconsin: Unions hurt the economy. Chauncey again on the Right's belief: "The way out of the Great Recession is to complete the destruction of the public sector workforce through a final demolition of unionized labor and the elimination of minimum wage laws." When, in fact, minimum wage laws actually stimulate the economy.
4. I heard this one on NPR not too long ago. The "job creators" (meaning the wealthy) are being and would further be punished by increases in taxes. These people and the corporations many of them run have historically paid the lowest taxes in the world! Andy and I pay more in taxes than most corporations! These are the folks who really did benefit from the bailouts, not you and me, the Common People.
5. Now this one just makes my blood boil over on the stove. Any increase in taxes on the wealthy would be "class warfare". Class warfare is happening in exactly the opposite manner of this statement. Like those individuals who cannot withstand the light of day because of their lies and constant behind-the-scenes behaviors but state that they are the ones who are wronged, this definition of class warfare is completely turned around. Do we not think it is clear class warfare to cut all social safety nets from under the Common People?
Chauncey speaks: "Yes, there is a class war in the United States. But it is being waged against the middle and working classes, where for the last 40 years the minimum wage has effectively decreased when controlled for inflation, and earnings have gone down when controlled for inflation—all in an era when highly favorable tax policies have encouraged unprecedented economic growth for the richest Americans."
What does this bode for our country when men like Gov. Walker and others across the country favored of this particular brand of fundamentalist economics refuse to move at all as we draw near to August 3rd? Chauncey ends his article with this.
"the Tea Party GOP has painted itself into a corner in the debt ceiling fight. Frighteningly, they may see no other option but to salt the earth and bring the temple down on the heads of the American people in order to prove the righteousness of their cause."
There will be more bones on the desert this summer I fear. Call, call, call, write and write some more. Email, tell your friends, beat the drums loudly. We The People must stand up and confront this monstrosity.
Power To All The Common People!
Wisconsin Needs A Moral Compass
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Heat Wave Heating Up Across The Country
I wonder what the temperature is in Washington as the calls, emails and letters flood in to the White House and the computers and mailboxes of Congress? Perhaps worse than out here in Midwest land where the indices for today are breaking records almost by the hour. And there's worse to come in both places.
Four out of five emails in my inbox today were petitions to sign begging Congress and President Obama not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or they were emails begging that I call my elected officials and tell them I don't want that to happen. I have been doing that and did that again today. I called Paul Ryan's office and told them that I am a constituent and that I strongly oppose any cuts to social supports definitely as long as we keep blessing the wealthy with tax cuts and bonuses.
Meanwhile Gov. Walker keeps on with the same rhetoric although the Beloit Daily News on Friday reported that a poll taken by UW Wisconsin showed that his popularity had plummeted in the last many weeks. Thank heavens! It was a bright spot in the week when nothing seemed to have changed with the debt ceiling crisis and the only thing that was deflecting our collective attention were stories of Rupert Murdoch's abysmal behavior. But then had we really thought that guy was a stand up person? I see today that over the weekend others are falling in Murdoch's wake.
I say again - Money! Power! Greed! Corruption!
But it is worrisome, the crisis worsening in Washington. People are playing with our futures, the near term ones as well as our children's futures. It will pit young against old and wealthy against poor. It will tear us apart by families, neighbors and friends. It is unconscionable and it is in our faces.
Please call your elected representative and tell them you oppose cutting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Call today, call tomorrow, call every day and leave the same message. Tell your friends and relatives to call as well.
The Capitol swtichboard number is 1-202-224-3121 or www.house.gov and look on for the map of the states. Click on your state and locate your representatives number and call! This is critically important that We The People stand up for our lives and our supports.
Balance the budget by making the wealthy share the burden with us fairly. No more obscene pay, no more loopholes, no more tax cuts for the rich. If we must hear the phrase "Shared Sacrifice" then by god let everyone share!!
Power To All The Common People!
Four out of five emails in my inbox today were petitions to sign begging Congress and President Obama not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or they were emails begging that I call my elected officials and tell them I don't want that to happen. I have been doing that and did that again today. I called Paul Ryan's office and told them that I am a constituent and that I strongly oppose any cuts to social supports definitely as long as we keep blessing the wealthy with tax cuts and bonuses.
Meanwhile Gov. Walker keeps on with the same rhetoric although the Beloit Daily News on Friday reported that a poll taken by UW Wisconsin showed that his popularity had plummeted in the last many weeks. Thank heavens! It was a bright spot in the week when nothing seemed to have changed with the debt ceiling crisis and the only thing that was deflecting our collective attention were stories of Rupert Murdoch's abysmal behavior. But then had we really thought that guy was a stand up person? I see today that over the weekend others are falling in Murdoch's wake.
I say again - Money! Power! Greed! Corruption!
But it is worrisome, the crisis worsening in Washington. People are playing with our futures, the near term ones as well as our children's futures. It will pit young against old and wealthy against poor. It will tear us apart by families, neighbors and friends. It is unconscionable and it is in our faces.
Please call your elected representative and tell them you oppose cutting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Call today, call tomorrow, call every day and leave the same message. Tell your friends and relatives to call as well.
The Capitol swtichboard number is 1-202-224-3121 or www.house.gov and look on for the map of the states. Click on your state and locate your representatives number and call! This is critically important that We The People stand up for our lives and our supports.
Balance the budget by making the wealthy share the burden with us fairly. No more obscene pay, no more loopholes, no more tax cuts for the rich. If we must hear the phrase "Shared Sacrifice" then by god let everyone share!!
Power To All The Common People!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Gardening A Deal In The Heat
It's going to get blistering in the next couple days here in Southern Wisconsin and across the Midwest as a huge high pressure dome caps our climate. Weather alerts on the ready for high heat and humidity. I hope everyone is prepared for dangerous weather.
It's going to be hot in Washington, too. I read this morning that President Obama is "fed up" with the Republicans and their waffling, lying, maneuvering and walked out yesterday on the stalemated discussions. What that actually means is anyone's guess at this point. But it is the 15th of July and no deal in sight yet. Talk about a heat index!
Also read an article by Bill McKibben (one of my heroes) on the dangers of the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport tar sands oil across Canada and down the U.S. to the Gulf of Mexico making, as McKibben says, North America into the Saudi Arabia of the West. McKibben and others have started a website - www.tarsandsaction.org - to invite people to come to Washington D.C. between August 20th and September 3rd to peacefully protest. As McKibben says in this AlterNet article:
"it could result in the largest civil disobedience actions in the climate-change movement’s history on this continent, as hundreds, possibly thousands, of concerned activists converge on the White House in August. They’ll risk arrest to demand something simple and concrete from President Obama: that he refuse to grant a license for Keystone XL, a new pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico that would vastly increase the flow of tar sands oil through the U.S., ensuring that the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands will only increase."
Sounds like Washington will be hit with a heat wave this late summer! Good - we need to exercise our right to speak out when our lives and the health of the planet is at stake and to demand that our lands remain untouched by further "development".
And how do we know that peaceful protest actually can make a difference? Because I have the giddy pleasure of passing on something that tells me this is true. Did you hear the story of Julie Bass? She lives in Oak Park, Michigan and after the city of Oak Park ripped up her front yard to do some work, she was left with a mess. Instead of planting a new lawn - what a hassle that is! - she decided to grow a vegetable garden to help her feed herself and her six children. What a great idea! Until the city saw her flourishing garden where neighborhood kids were coming to help and threatened Julie with a misdemeanor charge and 93 days in jail. The outcry was deafening. People started petitions, wrote letters, made calls to the city planner's office. People from all over the world converged, virtually, to aid Julie and to let the Oak Park city officials know this was a waste of resources and quite plainly, stupid. It worked! Julie is not going to go to jail for growing broccoli, squash, beans and flowers in her front yard.
Now that is what I'm talking about! Power to the People!
We've got more work to do in Wisconsin. More protests, more letter writing, more calling. It's hard work but it is also important work. The ole cow hands on the Double Cross Ranch aren't going to take a long vacation so we can't afford to take one either. When the real Democrats won this week I thought I saw some bread crumbs leading towards Wisconsin's Moral Compass. Might be wrong but just maybe, just maybe there's a path to that critically needed direction finder.
Meanwhile, take a moment to send up a blessing for Julie Bass and her kids - for the neighborhood kids, too. It's one of those stories that constitute bread crumbs for me. It's a moral compass kind of story. We the People knew what was right and spoke the truth of it to the powers and supported a person we didn't know. Now she's a new friend, long distance, and we can think of her and how her garden is growing. Nice.
Power to The Common People!
It's going to be hot in Washington, too. I read this morning that President Obama is "fed up" with the Republicans and their waffling, lying, maneuvering and walked out yesterday on the stalemated discussions. What that actually means is anyone's guess at this point. But it is the 15th of July and no deal in sight yet. Talk about a heat index!
Also read an article by Bill McKibben (one of my heroes) on the dangers of the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport tar sands oil across Canada and down the U.S. to the Gulf of Mexico making, as McKibben says, North America into the Saudi Arabia of the West. McKibben and others have started a website - www.tarsandsaction.org - to invite people to come to Washington D.C. between August 20th and September 3rd to peacefully protest. As McKibben says in this AlterNet article:
"it could result in the largest civil disobedience actions in the climate-change movement’s history on this continent, as hundreds, possibly thousands, of concerned activists converge on the White House in August. They’ll risk arrest to demand something simple and concrete from President Obama: that he refuse to grant a license for Keystone XL, a new pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico that would vastly increase the flow of tar sands oil through the U.S., ensuring that the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands will only increase."
Sounds like Washington will be hit with a heat wave this late summer! Good - we need to exercise our right to speak out when our lives and the health of the planet is at stake and to demand that our lands remain untouched by further "development".
And how do we know that peaceful protest actually can make a difference? Because I have the giddy pleasure of passing on something that tells me this is true. Did you hear the story of Julie Bass? She lives in Oak Park, Michigan and after the city of Oak Park ripped up her front yard to do some work, she was left with a mess. Instead of planting a new lawn - what a hassle that is! - she decided to grow a vegetable garden to help her feed herself and her six children. What a great idea! Until the city saw her flourishing garden where neighborhood kids were coming to help and threatened Julie with a misdemeanor charge and 93 days in jail. The outcry was deafening. People started petitions, wrote letters, made calls to the city planner's office. People from all over the world converged, virtually, to aid Julie and to let the Oak Park city officials know this was a waste of resources and quite plainly, stupid. It worked! Julie is not going to go to jail for growing broccoli, squash, beans and flowers in her front yard.
Now that is what I'm talking about! Power to the People!
We've got more work to do in Wisconsin. More protests, more letter writing, more calling. It's hard work but it is also important work. The ole cow hands on the Double Cross Ranch aren't going to take a long vacation so we can't afford to take one either. When the real Democrats won this week I thought I saw some bread crumbs leading towards Wisconsin's Moral Compass. Might be wrong but just maybe, just maybe there's a path to that critically needed direction finder.
Meanwhile, take a moment to send up a blessing for Julie Bass and her kids - for the neighborhood kids, too. It's one of those stories that constitute bread crumbs for me. It's a moral compass kind of story. We the People knew what was right and spoke the truth of it to the powers and supported a person we didn't know. Now she's a new friend, long distance, and we can think of her and how her garden is growing. Nice.
Power to The Common People!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Defeat at the Double Cross Ranch
Hurray for Wisconsin voters! We weren't duped by the Fake Democrats that the Repubs tried to foist on us. Congratulations to all the Real Democratic winners in this round of The State That Kicked The Hornet's Ass. Perhaps we who have been educated in Wisconsin by Wisconsin teachers are smart enough and clever enough to see through lame efforts to pull the wool over our eyes. I can just hear the phone conversation with the Kochs at the Double Cross Ranch this morning...
"Mr. Koch? Is that you, sir? I am calling from the Capitol. Right, the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Sorry to tell you the news, sir, but the Democrats won all their seats yesterday. Yup, that's right, all six of them. Well, I am sorry, sir, we tried mighty hard to confuse them with our cardboard cutouts of Democrats but they just didn't buy it, sir. What's that, sir? Well, yes, sir, indeed we did put pressure on voters. I had all the men workin' real hard, sir. Oh, now I don't think that's quite fair, Mr. Koch. Just because we didn't keep those Democrats from winning seats doesn't mean we shouldn't get paid. What's that? I need to tell the men that they'll have to wait to see what happens in Washington on the debt crises? Mr. Koch, that hardly seems right. Me and the men, no offense intended, don't make much money workin' for you and your brother. Heck, we barely can afford rent on this barn. And me, Larry and Moe, we get Social Security. Yessir, we'll sit tight. Yessir, I guess we could look for part time jobs. No sir, we ain't no slobs."
It's good to celebrate a victory. This one is a bit like "One small step for man..." and it may very well take that continuing kind of effort we exerted to get to the Moon and land on it forty-two years ago. It will mark a small step in the direction of regaining ground after the disastrous 2010 Mid-terms and all that happened after that. And it also points out what kind of effort, personal education and vigilance is needed to have gotten here today. From here on in, we cannot afford to relax because we know the Repubs have a plan and they are working that plan hard. Don't think that out at the Double Cross Ranch all is quiet and sad today. Far from it. They're busy over cowboy coffee and biscuits. Those outlaws are a scrappy bunch!
As wonderful and uplifting as this news is, the debt ceiling crises plods on in Washington and is frightening people everywhere. We have about two weeks before the country could, without raising the debt ceiling, go in to default on payments. Many possibilities loom if that happens including not mailing out Social Security payments to seniors, not mailing out checks to Veterans and/or not paying active duty military. I have written to Obama several times, John Boehner, and the Double Cross Ranch hand, Paul Ryan, as well as Mitch McConnell. It seems the Tea Partiers, who have just about completely co-opted the Republican Party, have determined to stand like cement statues against raising the debt ceiling. They don't seem to care an eyelash if Grandma Johnson gets her measly SS check and therefore can't pay her measly rent or if nineteen-year old Hank over in Afghanistan hunkered down in some forsaken rock pile gets his paycheck so his wife and two-year old back in Cadot, Wisconsin can buy groceries or if Arnie, who was wounded in WW II and is now very ill, gets his check so he can toddle to the VA for his treatment.
But they don't mind at all if Muffin Fitzgerald-Walker gets a bonus this year that equals eighty times the GDP of a Pacific island or that Wall Street is, well, Wall Street (they don't wear no stinkin' Sears suits there!) or that corporations, like the one the Koch's operate, make obscene amounts of money. No, that's perfectly okay. The Repubs, aka Tea Partiers, feel that the ultra-wealthy are the gas that runs the country's engines, they're the movers and the shakers, the innovators and the doers and they should continue to receive tax breaks. The TP's don't want to impede these movers from moving all the money in to their storehouses because those politicians live on hope that all that gold will eventually trickle down to them. They'll be rewarded in some way for their service to Manna. They'll get appointments to boards, jobs as CEOs, chairs on important committees, or ranch hands for the Koch Boys just like Walker did. They will be relieved that they made it out of the Common Person's life and in to the secure and beautiful life of The Rich.
Someone told me once that I was prejudiced against wealthy people. They were shocked I could be so callous because as they said, the wealthy are often philanthropists. True, sometimes a wealthy person does do good things for others. That's appropriate. I think when you have gobs of money you ought to be involved in helping others with your gifts. Also true, I am rather prejudiced against the wealthy. I admit it. The folks meeting at the Double Cross Ranch today are the uber-wealthy and their power is eye-watering. They move others about like puppets which is why we must keep close eyes on the politicians - they have strings tied to wealth and that wealth seeks to buy our freedoms and our planet.
Power To All The Common People!
"Mr. Koch? Is that you, sir? I am calling from the Capitol. Right, the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Sorry to tell you the news, sir, but the Democrats won all their seats yesterday. Yup, that's right, all six of them. Well, I am sorry, sir, we tried mighty hard to confuse them with our cardboard cutouts of Democrats but they just didn't buy it, sir. What's that, sir? Well, yes, sir, indeed we did put pressure on voters. I had all the men workin' real hard, sir. Oh, now I don't think that's quite fair, Mr. Koch. Just because we didn't keep those Democrats from winning seats doesn't mean we shouldn't get paid. What's that? I need to tell the men that they'll have to wait to see what happens in Washington on the debt crises? Mr. Koch, that hardly seems right. Me and the men, no offense intended, don't make much money workin' for you and your brother. Heck, we barely can afford rent on this barn. And me, Larry and Moe, we get Social Security. Yessir, we'll sit tight. Yessir, I guess we could look for part time jobs. No sir, we ain't no slobs."
It's good to celebrate a victory. This one is a bit like "One small step for man..." and it may very well take that continuing kind of effort we exerted to get to the Moon and land on it forty-two years ago. It will mark a small step in the direction of regaining ground after the disastrous 2010 Mid-terms and all that happened after that. And it also points out what kind of effort, personal education and vigilance is needed to have gotten here today. From here on in, we cannot afford to relax because we know the Repubs have a plan and they are working that plan hard. Don't think that out at the Double Cross Ranch all is quiet and sad today. Far from it. They're busy over cowboy coffee and biscuits. Those outlaws are a scrappy bunch!
As wonderful and uplifting as this news is, the debt ceiling crises plods on in Washington and is frightening people everywhere. We have about two weeks before the country could, without raising the debt ceiling, go in to default on payments. Many possibilities loom if that happens including not mailing out Social Security payments to seniors, not mailing out checks to Veterans and/or not paying active duty military. I have written to Obama several times, John Boehner, and the Double Cross Ranch hand, Paul Ryan, as well as Mitch McConnell. It seems the Tea Partiers, who have just about completely co-opted the Republican Party, have determined to stand like cement statues against raising the debt ceiling. They don't seem to care an eyelash if Grandma Johnson gets her measly SS check and therefore can't pay her measly rent or if nineteen-year old Hank over in Afghanistan hunkered down in some forsaken rock pile gets his paycheck so his wife and two-year old back in Cadot, Wisconsin can buy groceries or if Arnie, who was wounded in WW II and is now very ill, gets his check so he can toddle to the VA for his treatment.
But they don't mind at all if Muffin Fitzgerald-Walker gets a bonus this year that equals eighty times the GDP of a Pacific island or that Wall Street is, well, Wall Street (they don't wear no stinkin' Sears suits there!) or that corporations, like the one the Koch's operate, make obscene amounts of money. No, that's perfectly okay. The Repubs, aka Tea Partiers, feel that the ultra-wealthy are the gas that runs the country's engines, they're the movers and the shakers, the innovators and the doers and they should continue to receive tax breaks. The TP's don't want to impede these movers from moving all the money in to their storehouses because those politicians live on hope that all that gold will eventually trickle down to them. They'll be rewarded in some way for their service to Manna. They'll get appointments to boards, jobs as CEOs, chairs on important committees, or ranch hands for the Koch Boys just like Walker did. They will be relieved that they made it out of the Common Person's life and in to the secure and beautiful life of The Rich.
Someone told me once that I was prejudiced against wealthy people. They were shocked I could be so callous because as they said, the wealthy are often philanthropists. True, sometimes a wealthy person does do good things for others. That's appropriate. I think when you have gobs of money you ought to be involved in helping others with your gifts. Also true, I am rather prejudiced against the wealthy. I admit it. The folks meeting at the Double Cross Ranch today are the uber-wealthy and their power is eye-watering. They move others about like puppets which is why we must keep close eyes on the politicians - they have strings tied to wealth and that wealth seeks to buy our freedoms and our planet.
Power To All The Common People!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Today is Recall Day in Wisconsin
Just remembered that today is a huge day in Wisconsin - Recall The Repubs! Here's info on the vote for all you who live in districts affected by these recalls. PLEASE VOTE!!!!!
Brothers and Sisters,
Today, we have the first opportunity to make our voice heard at the ballot box. Today, we begin to reclaim Wisconsin and stop Scott Walker’s corporate takeover of the state. Today is the Democratic primary in six Republican-held Senate Districts. If you live in one of the Districts (see below) be sure to get out and vote!
Despicably, Republicans are running fake, spoiler candidates, posing as Democrats to confuse voters and extend the recall process. And, we’ve just gotten word than an out-of-state group is calling Wisconsinites and telling them to wait to get an absentee ballot in the mail rather than voting today.
This is false information, sent out in recorded phone calls by out-of-staters who want to keep us from voting today in the recall election.
The truth is, recall primary elections are scheduled in six districts today, and if you don’t already have an absentee ballot, it’s too late to request one—you need to go to the polls TODAY.
Here is a list of the REAL candidates who are on the ballot TODAY and are endorsed by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO in July 12 primary and August 9 General Election:
District 2: Nancy Nusbaum
District 8: Sandy Pasch
District 10: Shelly Moore
District 14: Fred Clark
District 18: Jessica King
District 32: Jennifer Shilling
To find your polling location, go to:
https://vpa.wi.gov/
To view a map of the Senate Districts, go to:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/senate.district.map.pdf
More recall information can be found on the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO blog:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/07/recall-101.html
The time to stand up is now. Get out and vote today!
In Solidarity,
Phil Neuenfeldt, President
Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer
Brothers and Sisters,
Today, we have the first opportunity to make our voice heard at the ballot box. Today, we begin to reclaim Wisconsin and stop Scott Walker’s corporate takeover of the state. Today is the Democratic primary in six Republican-held Senate Districts. If you live in one of the Districts (see below) be sure to get out and vote!
Despicably, Republicans are running fake, spoiler candidates, posing as Democrats to confuse voters and extend the recall process. And, we’ve just gotten word than an out-of-state group is calling Wisconsinites and telling them to wait to get an absentee ballot in the mail rather than voting today.
This is false information, sent out in recorded phone calls by out-of-staters who want to keep us from voting today in the recall election.
The truth is, recall primary elections are scheduled in six districts today, and if you don’t already have an absentee ballot, it’s too late to request one—you need to go to the polls TODAY.
Here is a list of the REAL candidates who are on the ballot TODAY and are endorsed by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO in July 12 primary and August 9 General Election:
District 2: Nancy Nusbaum
District 8: Sandy Pasch
District 10: Shelly Moore
District 14: Fred Clark
District 18: Jessica King
District 32: Jennifer Shilling
To find your polling location, go to:
https://vpa.wi.gov/
To view a map of the Senate Districts, go to:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/senate.district.map.pdf
More recall information can be found on the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO blog:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/07/recall-101.html
The time to stand up is now. Get out and vote today!
In Solidarity,
Phil Neuenfeldt, President
Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer
Tick, tick, tick.....
The clock is ticking as August 2nd comes in to view. What will the decision of our elected representatives and senators, our speaker of the house, our president be on the raising or not raising the debt ceiling and chopping SS, Medicare and Medicaid?
While T-Paw tells us our president is not smarter than a fifth grader, Michelle Bachman's husband is scrambling to deny that his "counseling center" is not offering "ex-gay" therapy, our governor signed in to law his "guns in public" legislation. According to WAVE - Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, this law will now allow loaded, hidden guns in to bars, restaurants and other businesses where they just do not belong. Business owners do have the option of posting signs alerting the public that loaded guns are not allowed in their buildings, but they have to be posted where everyone can see them. WAVE reports that "two out of very three Wisconsinites say they will feel less safe, not safer, with guns in public places."
As my son said not long ago when we talked about the potential for a concealed carry law in Wisconsin - "Now let's see, how could this situation (some altercation in a bar, a fight on the street, a protest march, standing in line too long at the grocery store) be improved? Oh, that's right, add guns!" He's so spot on. Adding loaded, hidden guns to the volatility of our society right now will surely improve any situation won't it? What are Walker and his Walker Worshipers thinking??!!
I try to envision the places we like to frequent. We go to this little custard/hamburger bungalow maybe once a week. This guy makes the best burgers but once in a while some jerk has a problem with his sandwich and fusses over the issue at the counter. What would happen if this guy carried a gun and couldn't settle down or felt the owner wasn't being fair? Am I being too dramatic? I don't think so. How about shopping at the local mall? You've seen this, too. A woman is irate that her pj buttons came off after she washed the garment and is demanding her money back plus damages. (I actually had that happen to me when I worked retail) She is bright red and shaking. What if she had a gun? If she had been in a fight with her husband, been drinking? Not everyone shops at the mall in the late morning after coffee with the girls, some shop after Happy Hour!
There's a movie I like - L.A. Story with Steve Martin. It's a spoof on life in Los Angeles. In one scene Steve and his girlfriend are on the freeway. Steve realizes it's "open season on the LA freeway!" and pulls out his gun. They zoom along trying to avoid people in trucks and other cars shooting everywhere. Is this what eating at Applebees will be like on Hectic Fridays? Or dropping in somewhere for a drink on a Saturday night? Open Season for people with their brand new shiny hidden and loaded guns?
So, it's just another step by the outlaw Walker Administration - Gunslingers for Hire. But I decided on a plan of action for myself. From here on I am going to ask the workers or owners at the places I like to go if they are supportive of people bringing in hidden loaded guns. If the answer to that is a shrug, an I don't really care attitude, it's the law so what can I do kind of thing or yes, by all means I am thrilled to have loaded guns in my establishment, then I will tell them that I will no longer be eating or shopping there nor will I be recommending their business to others.
Power To The Town's People!
P.S. Keep your ears and eyes on this debt crises - it has monumental implications! In fact the Republicans should be ashamed and shamed. Their intransigence is frightening seniors. A talk with my elderly mother-in-law this morning left me feeling angry at Boehner et al for what they are doing to the nerves of elders. They are afraid their little trickle of Social Security income will dry up and be gone and then what will happen to them? Shame on these Rethuglians. Tick, tick, tick!
While T-Paw tells us our president is not smarter than a fifth grader, Michelle Bachman's husband is scrambling to deny that his "counseling center" is not offering "ex-gay" therapy, our governor signed in to law his "guns in public" legislation. According to WAVE - Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, this law will now allow loaded, hidden guns in to bars, restaurants and other businesses where they just do not belong. Business owners do have the option of posting signs alerting the public that loaded guns are not allowed in their buildings, but they have to be posted where everyone can see them. WAVE reports that "two out of very three Wisconsinites say they will feel less safe, not safer, with guns in public places."
As my son said not long ago when we talked about the potential for a concealed carry law in Wisconsin - "Now let's see, how could this situation (some altercation in a bar, a fight on the street, a protest march, standing in line too long at the grocery store) be improved? Oh, that's right, add guns!" He's so spot on. Adding loaded, hidden guns to the volatility of our society right now will surely improve any situation won't it? What are Walker and his Walker Worshipers thinking??!!
I try to envision the places we like to frequent. We go to this little custard/hamburger bungalow maybe once a week. This guy makes the best burgers but once in a while some jerk has a problem with his sandwich and fusses over the issue at the counter. What would happen if this guy carried a gun and couldn't settle down or felt the owner wasn't being fair? Am I being too dramatic? I don't think so. How about shopping at the local mall? You've seen this, too. A woman is irate that her pj buttons came off after she washed the garment and is demanding her money back plus damages. (I actually had that happen to me when I worked retail) She is bright red and shaking. What if she had a gun? If she had been in a fight with her husband, been drinking? Not everyone shops at the mall in the late morning after coffee with the girls, some shop after Happy Hour!
There's a movie I like - L.A. Story with Steve Martin. It's a spoof on life in Los Angeles. In one scene Steve and his girlfriend are on the freeway. Steve realizes it's "open season on the LA freeway!" and pulls out his gun. They zoom along trying to avoid people in trucks and other cars shooting everywhere. Is this what eating at Applebees will be like on Hectic Fridays? Or dropping in somewhere for a drink on a Saturday night? Open Season for people with their brand new shiny hidden and loaded guns?
So, it's just another step by the outlaw Walker Administration - Gunslingers for Hire. But I decided on a plan of action for myself. From here on I am going to ask the workers or owners at the places I like to go if they are supportive of people bringing in hidden loaded guns. If the answer to that is a shrug, an I don't really care attitude, it's the law so what can I do kind of thing or yes, by all means I am thrilled to have loaded guns in my establishment, then I will tell them that I will no longer be eating or shopping there nor will I be recommending their business to others.
Power To The Town's People!
P.S. Keep your ears and eyes on this debt crises - it has monumental implications! In fact the Republicans should be ashamed and shamed. Their intransigence is frightening seniors. A talk with my elderly mother-in-law this morning left me feeling angry at Boehner et al for what they are doing to the nerves of elders. They are afraid their little trickle of Social Security income will dry up and be gone and then what will happen to them? Shame on these Rethuglians. Tick, tick, tick!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Dangerous Times Ahead
Enough goofy business. Hope you liked the Wisconsin Dancing Cowgirls. Now on to bigger and very dangerous things.
I have my headset on and am redialing the White House until I get a breathing person so I can leave a personal comment for the President regarding the debt ceiling crisis and the Republican demands for deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. I've written three or four e-letters but I just have to talk to a live human being. If you feel compelled to do the same here's the number to the White House switchboard:
1-202-456-1111
Andy just emailed me that all of Wisconsin legislators - with the exception of Paul Ryan - no surprise there! - and one other, have drafted a petition calling for the protection of Medicare and Medicaid in this state. Perhaps there is some small humanity left in Wisconsin after all. Perhaps the shadow of a moral compass has been cast across the state.
This is big, really big. Even the potential threat to cut deeply in to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (still a solvent program!) while the wealthy in our country continue to receive bailouts, handouts, obscene bonuses, and tax cuts is class warfare in the extreme. Will the vanishing middle class and the poor bear all the burdens for the corporations and their bloated CEOs, for Wall Street, for those who consider a 6-figure income to be bare bones? It appears that is what is being handed to us Common People. Will we stand for this? Will you stand for this?
What will take us in to the streets? Will this do it? Will something even more drastic make that happen? What riles us to the point that we refuse to accept that we have become just so many wage slaves and begin the revitalization of our own selves as citizens of our country? I'm serious. What will get under our skin enough, happen to enough of our elderly relatives, kill enough jobs, take away enough health care, squash us enough that we stop consuming, stop watching movies, stop eating out, stop wanting more and more and turn our attention and energy to doing something real and constructive? Will it be this threatened loss of support structures?
One of the 14 Senators who fled to Illinois this past late winter to preserve what they could of our rights as workers was Chris Larson. Chris is Wisconsin Senator of District 7. He sends out a newsletter online to those who supported the 14 while they were gone. I am including the link to Chris' newsletter because I think it is important to hear the voices of others than media or Walker-backed-Ryan supporters. In this newsletter Chris takes up the topic of Accountability and Transparency in our state government. He calls Walker's moves "dangerous". I agree.
https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/1310ae1191dc3ac4
Although it might seem that talking about Chris and his newsletter is off the topic of Republican-led cuts in social programs, the very support structures of our society, isn't accountability and transparency at the root of much of our discontent? It begs a list of questions I think.
1. Are we holding our representatives and senators and presidents truly accountable on each and every decision? After all isn't that what participative democracy is all about?
2. Do we believe that our government and its decisions is as transparent as it can reasonably be?
3. Is the manner in which debate regarding the most precious of our supports handled with both accountability and transparency? Not to mention all other aspects that touch upon our daily lives, our well being, our natural resources and our wild lands.
4. What would each of us do if we could not answer these questions in a positive, completely honest way?
What do we do if the President and the Dems cave to the Republicans on this and say yes to cuts that will make a mockery out of my previous post on what will they do with Andy's elderly Aunt? What will I do? What will you do? Some thoughts on that...
When I went on a study trip to Mexico the point of that trip was to sensitize a North American to the systemic poverty that faces millions of people in the community of Cuernavaca. Along with 20 other North Americans, I spent two weeks in daily conversation with the abject poor, those living in railroad settlements in cardboard shacks with the printed names of American corporations stamped on the sides. And with men and women who had given their lives over to helping these compensinos. It was a dialogical constant, a daily interface with people who were rising up from extreme and crushing poverty to take control of their lives and build resilient communities. They were taking charge of their own food, their own health care and their own education. It was a liberating environment in which to spend those two weeks and it was very uncomfortable. After all, we 20 were privileged. We wore new clothes and fancy tennis shoes. Still, after the time was nearly up we all felt changed, deeply altered in our thinking and in the way in which we saw the world.
We are perched on the edge, as I have written before, of massive changes not only in our environment as global climate change unhinges our systems but also in our lives as citizens of every country. In the U.S. the changes will be difficult just like they were for those 20 of us in Mexico. We will need to be courageous, determined, vocal and smart. Our treasured Middle Class, the great We the Common People, is going to have to educate ourselves on what a much more local government looks like, how it works and how it responds. It's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get busy making our communities strong and healthy.
Call the President would you? While we begin the process of re-building our own communities in a more Common Way, we need to fight with all our might to preserve what we can for those who are in need.
Power To All The Common People!
I have my headset on and am redialing the White House until I get a breathing person so I can leave a personal comment for the President regarding the debt ceiling crisis and the Republican demands for deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. I've written three or four e-letters but I just have to talk to a live human being. If you feel compelled to do the same here's the number to the White House switchboard:
1-202-456-1111
Andy just emailed me that all of Wisconsin legislators - with the exception of Paul Ryan - no surprise there! - and one other, have drafted a petition calling for the protection of Medicare and Medicaid in this state. Perhaps there is some small humanity left in Wisconsin after all. Perhaps the shadow of a moral compass has been cast across the state.
This is big, really big. Even the potential threat to cut deeply in to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (still a solvent program!) while the wealthy in our country continue to receive bailouts, handouts, obscene bonuses, and tax cuts is class warfare in the extreme. Will the vanishing middle class and the poor bear all the burdens for the corporations and their bloated CEOs, for Wall Street, for those who consider a 6-figure income to be bare bones? It appears that is what is being handed to us Common People. Will we stand for this? Will you stand for this?
What will take us in to the streets? Will this do it? Will something even more drastic make that happen? What riles us to the point that we refuse to accept that we have become just so many wage slaves and begin the revitalization of our own selves as citizens of our country? I'm serious. What will get under our skin enough, happen to enough of our elderly relatives, kill enough jobs, take away enough health care, squash us enough that we stop consuming, stop watching movies, stop eating out, stop wanting more and more and turn our attention and energy to doing something real and constructive? Will it be this threatened loss of support structures?
One of the 14 Senators who fled to Illinois this past late winter to preserve what they could of our rights as workers was Chris Larson. Chris is Wisconsin Senator of District 7. He sends out a newsletter online to those who supported the 14 while they were gone. I am including the link to Chris' newsletter because I think it is important to hear the voices of others than media or Walker-backed-Ryan supporters. In this newsletter Chris takes up the topic of Accountability and Transparency in our state government. He calls Walker's moves "dangerous". I agree.
https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/1310ae1191dc3ac4
Although it might seem that talking about Chris and his newsletter is off the topic of Republican-led cuts in social programs, the very support structures of our society, isn't accountability and transparency at the root of much of our discontent? It begs a list of questions I think.
1. Are we holding our representatives and senators and presidents truly accountable on each and every decision? After all isn't that what participative democracy is all about?
2. Do we believe that our government and its decisions is as transparent as it can reasonably be?
3. Is the manner in which debate regarding the most precious of our supports handled with both accountability and transparency? Not to mention all other aspects that touch upon our daily lives, our well being, our natural resources and our wild lands.
4. What would each of us do if we could not answer these questions in a positive, completely honest way?
What do we do if the President and the Dems cave to the Republicans on this and say yes to cuts that will make a mockery out of my previous post on what will they do with Andy's elderly Aunt? What will I do? What will you do? Some thoughts on that...
When I went on a study trip to Mexico the point of that trip was to sensitize a North American to the systemic poverty that faces millions of people in the community of Cuernavaca. Along with 20 other North Americans, I spent two weeks in daily conversation with the abject poor, those living in railroad settlements in cardboard shacks with the printed names of American corporations stamped on the sides. And with men and women who had given their lives over to helping these compensinos. It was a dialogical constant, a daily interface with people who were rising up from extreme and crushing poverty to take control of their lives and build resilient communities. They were taking charge of their own food, their own health care and their own education. It was a liberating environment in which to spend those two weeks and it was very uncomfortable. After all, we 20 were privileged. We wore new clothes and fancy tennis shoes. Still, after the time was nearly up we all felt changed, deeply altered in our thinking and in the way in which we saw the world.
We are perched on the edge, as I have written before, of massive changes not only in our environment as global climate change unhinges our systems but also in our lives as citizens of every country. In the U.S. the changes will be difficult just like they were for those 20 of us in Mexico. We will need to be courageous, determined, vocal and smart. Our treasured Middle Class, the great We the Common People, is going to have to educate ourselves on what a much more local government looks like, how it works and how it responds. It's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get busy making our communities strong and healthy.
Call the President would you? While we begin the process of re-building our own communities in a more Common Way, we need to fight with all our might to preserve what we can for those who are in need.
Power To All The Common People!
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