Category Archives: Politics

June 29, 2012 · 7:58 am

Bernie Sanders Storms the Senate Floor and Challenges Congress’ Koch Whores

Please listen to Senator Bernie Sanders.  He is talking about the gap between the very rich – 400 people – and very poor people – 150 million of them.  The gap between rich and poor is widening, rapidly. And the middle class is disappearing.  We are becoming an oligarchy.

Bernie Sanders Storms the Senate Floor and Challenges Congress’ Koch Whores.

If we don’t speak up, fight back, we will continue to lose ground faster every day.  Please share with your friends.

Let our voices join Senator Sanders and tell our elected officials we want it to change.  They work for us.  They should listen to us.

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April 11, 2012 · 6:20 pm

Life As We Know It Is Over

What makes me strong?  What keeps me from breaking under the load we all call life?

I have been asking that question for a dozen years.  My husband has been hospitalized more than 30 times since 2001.  He had bladder cancer.  He just kept growing tumors and finally they had to take his bladder out and put in a conduit to the ostomy that we now call Fred.

Then he had infections – and more infections and yet again, infections.  Over the last 10 years we have spent our vacations in the most expensive resort in the country – the hospital.  A jail cell really but it’s mostly white with nice subdued drapes and wardens dressed as nurses in navy  blue.

Recently, my husband did hand to hand combat with  melanoma which made a difference in how we spend our time, our money, our personal currency.

Now, he is being laid off.  He will be 60 when the axe finally falls.  He will be too old to employ – too young for social security or medicare.  And he will still be sick, still be in the hospital 2 or 3 times a year and still be the man I love with all my heart.

I am a master’s prepared, professional who is applying for jobs as a receptionist, an administrative assistant., a dog walker, anything to get a job that will help bridge the gap between his layoff and his 65th birthday.

But I can’t get a job.  We can’t sell our house.  And we cannot stop the layoff that is rolling toward us at the speed of light.

How did this happen?  When did we become part of the fringe that cannot sustain itself in this country  - the land of the brave, the land of the free?

Welcome to America – 2012.  Welcome to our country where people work and do a good job and pay their taxes and still get screwed.  This is the land where the rich once again get richer and the rest of us pay for their privilege.

We”ll keep fighting.  We will stay together.  We will find a way, smaller, narrower but still together.  But is this what is supposed to happen to people who have lived a good life?  Worked hard?  Helped out our families?

Who knows? All I know is that this is our lot.  And this we will face together — until death do us part.

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January 31, 2012 · 7:38 am

Why We The Sheeple Will Lose Our Rights

WARNING:  this is a political post.  And it’s one in which I fear some of my anger may just boil over at the thought of  elected officials who are aggressively and deliberately creating and passing legislation that will remove our rights as citizens.

The election is near.  PLEASE, please, read, think, make an informed decision and go to the polls to exercise our singular right to vote.  If you don’t, there is only one person you can blame if your candidate for any office does NOT get elected…that’s you.  I am reposting this in the vain hope that some of you will read it, do your research and go to the polls.

Two points of interest before I begin:

  1. This post is based on a document entitled, “The Dirty Thirty – The GOP’s Rights Killing Agenda“.    I’d thank the people who did the research and put this together but I am way to upset right now to even be civil.
  2. THIS DOCUMENT WAS NOT PUBLISHED BY A POLITICAL PARTY masquerading as independent thinkers or analysts.  The people behind this post are all seasoned political reporters, analysts or scholars.  The information in their article is researched and documented and if you doubt it, you can check the legislation, yourself.

The “dirty 30″ is a list of bills and legislation on the table in states all across our country.  Among the proposals are acts designed to damage everything from our right to unionize and use collective bargaining to getting rid of the current Child Labor Laws.

If demolishing human rights doesn’t really upset you, think about what’s going to happen to your wallet if bills introduced in Georgia, Michigan and Minnesota are passed.  Here’s a sampling of what the bills, which are aimed solely at undermining the middle class in this country, would do:

  1. Raise taxes on things like Girl Scout Cookies, groceries and gasoline but lower tax rates on corporate income, from 6 percent this year to just 4 percent in 2014
  2. Cut business taxes by 86 percent from an estimated $2.1 billion in FY 2011 to $292.7 million in FY 2013 while raising taxes on individuals  by $1.7 billion or nearly 31 percent.  Do the math – if you live in Michigan, you’re paying for the business tax cut.
  3. Cut the tax rate for the richest individuals and corporations to 25 percent to help spur job growth. This legislation is designed to help rich industrialists like the Koch Brothers, who increased their wealth by $9 billion last year but kept laying off employees, anyway.

Not worried about giving more to the rich and robbing the middle class to do it?  Try this on for size.  Two states have already passed legislation disenfranchising millions and millions of voters; 20 more states are preparing legislation to do the same.

In fact, 6 states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures are requiring voters to produce a government-issued ID before casting ballots. More than 10 percent of U.S. citizens lack such identification, and that number is even higher among young voters (18%) and African-Americans (25%).  That’s a lot of people who will lose their right to vote entirely.

There’s more but my head and my heart cannot take it so if you’re of legal voting age, I’m going to ask you to do a few things, yourself:

  1. DON’T read this post and make up your mind – no matter what side you fall on.  Read more.  Read mainstream and alternative press.  Read Mother Jones News and Nation magazines.
  2. DON’T listen to what politicians say; watch what they do.
  3. Think about everything you read and hear and then…
  4. Start thinking about who you want controlling your life from the vast distance of the State House or Capitol Hill.
  5. And make up your own mind.  Don’t vote like Daddy did or because your friends say you should.

This is your country, too.  Those of us who fought to win the very rights you enjoy today are fading from the front lines.  You need to step up and own the outcomes of living in a democratic society — a country where your vote should count and your rights should be protected.

If you don’t act, this nation of “sheeple” will get exactly what and who you vote for.

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