Oh, Look! It's the Tea Party Comrades...

I love the far right emails that litter inboxes like dandruff and get (cackled at/hollered at/righteously indignated at) brushed off and forwarded with the speed of light- most of the time without being read any farther than the subject line, and almost assuredly without
a) Fact checking

b) Evaluating their own reactions

c) Actually thinking about what the hell they're agreeing with.

Example

Russian President Vladimir Putin has allegedly said that "negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, craps on the board, then struts around like it won the game."
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/pigeonchess.asp#KXTMUCjOjrOvGpfl.99

a) He never said that. I've heard it for years attributed to all different people, but as Snopes points out the first recorded place was talking about creationists. Nice. And fitting.

b) The people who forward this LOVE it- anything that makes the President look like a pompous fool is always welcome in their camp, whether or not it makes any damn sense at all considering Putin is proudly pompous and notoriously non-negotiating of nature, oh and by the way

c) he's sort of a Communist...using the definition ya'll give Communism, which is WRONG but it's the one you've always used so we'll go with that. You're agreeing with a Communist. You hate Obama with a red-hot hatred because he's "turning 'Merika into a Socialist Muslim Communist country" and you're agreeing with the leader of the biggest freaking Communist country ever known to mankind. Here's where you scream and chortle and say, "HAH! There's where you're WRONG! Putin is NOT Communist- he's a member of the United Russia party which is NATIONALIST, not COMMUNIST!" If you can call Obama a Socialist Muslim Kenyan, I can call Putin a Communist. At the very least he's a URINO...and I love the sound of that. And I love that I just made that up. Before coffee.

Example

"Unless the Muslims knock off fucking with Russia and the area around the Olympics in particular, Putin will nuke Mecca"

a) This one is hard to verify. Go ahead, google it. There was one article in Time that stated that there would be 'stern retribution' and then page after page of rightwing echo chamber blogs and shit that use the 'nuke Mecca' line...followed by unanimous cheering and "HELL! I'll go with 'em!" sort of posturing. Almost pigeon-like. Coo coo cachew.

b) I actually love the image of the Tea Party and other right-wingers marching side by side with the Ruskies. Joe McCarthy would be so proud of ya'll. Really.

c) Of course you must realize that if anyone were to actually nuke Mecca it would not eliminate the 'Islamic Threat', because Islam is the second largest religion in the world and very few Muslims live in Mecca. You want the actual, for realsies end of the world? Shit. Never mind. Of course ya'll do. You have all those guns and MRE's and Survival Seeds to use up.

So lets recap.

You LOVE Putin because he's an arrogant, well-educated politician who is pushy and brash but who does what (he thinks) needs to be done no matter how unpopular it is to his actual people who live in his actual country. He also looks completely badass shirtless riding a prancing steed, which proves he's a real man's man who does what he wants, when he wants and fuck everyone else.

You HATE Obama because he's an arrogant, well-educated politician who (you feel) is pushy and is doing what (he thinks) needs to be done no matter how unpopular it is to you- who even I admit are actual people who live in this actual country. He also looks completely badass shirtless at the beach, which proves he spends time with his family and absolutely no time at the office and is a total leach on the taxpayers.

Putin spent sixteen years as an officer in the KGB so that proves he's savvy and ruthless and (maybe just a little Communist).

Obama was a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER for three years acting as director for a small Catholic (less than 20 employees) foundation with a budget of under $500,000 and that focused on tenant rights, job training and college prep. The horror.

But we all know what being a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER leads to.

Just ask humanity's most successful Community Organizer...Jesus.

***Note- I am NOT comparing Obama with Jesus, so simmer down. All ya'll Christians can put down those Bibles you were fixin' to thump me with and all ya'll Tea Partiers can put away that cross you just built with alacrity.

***Additional Note for the Tea Partiers- alacrity is not a brand of glue or a type of lumber. Look it up.

Is the Tea Party Over?

This question has been posed ever since the election, usually with the assumption that the answer is, "YES- The Tea Party is toast, over, done, obliterated, kaput".

Well, I don't think it's quite that straightforward.

On the surface (and pretty much anywhere people aren't neck-deep in a Red State), the election seemed a huge victory for anything non-Tea Party. Not only the "big one", the victory of President Obama by a clear majority of the people and a truly overwhelming majority of the electoral votes, but almost more importantly- everywhere else.

Everywhere else.

Women gained huge inroads- the New Hampshire top slots are all female right now- governor, congresspeople and senators- all women for the first time in our history. Even Texas elected a female supreme court justice- TEXAS.

Minorities of every type won elections everywhere, and our representatives are for the very first time in our history much more...representative of America.

That's astounding.

And a very good thing.

Unless you're a Tea Partier. (I won't call them "Teabaggers" because I try not to sink to the same level of those who call our president a Kenyan Muslim Imposter Nigger in the White House)

If you're a member of the Tea Party, what happened is not a good thing, it's a very real threat. Even though every single newly-elected official who is NOT an old rich white dude has roughly 250% more in common with your average Tea Partier than any old rich white dude, that's not the point.

The POINT is that the Tea Party, which streamed into DC in '10 thinking they were the Mongol Horde and Knights on White Horses all rolled into one, was unceremoniously kicked to the curb.

Which is humiliating.

Lets re-examine the Tea Party- 100% white folks who believe that 'others' are stealing America and ruining it. Welfare mamas (who are always black in the images even though 61% of those on 'the welfare' are white), Mexicans, Gays, A-rabs, ATHEISTS are purposely ruining America and it's time to TAKE IT BACK.

That every one of the above heinous groups of people ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS is apparently immaterial.

They're big on the 2nd Amendment (their own interpretation of it, anyway) and tend to be heavily and aggressively armed (the whole "You can pry my gun out of my cold dead hands" group).

They're not so big on the 1st Amendment which states quite clearly that our country does not and never should have a national religion...meaning that at no time should our country be run under Sharia Law of Islam OR BIBLICAL LAW OF CHRISTIANITY.

They sincerely, honestly, rabidly want to "take the country back" to protect their guns and their God.

They sincerely, honestly, rabidly are happily armed and willing to wage a Righteous War in order to do so.

There's a word for that...it's right on the tip of my tongue...oh, ya-

Jihad

The Tea Party has suffered humiliation and is licking its wounds. But it's far from gone.

Remember "Blazing Saddles"? The character Mongo? Remember Gene Wilder screaming, "Don't shoot him- you'll just piss him off!"?

We've just shot Mongo.

The Tea Party is now more sure than ever that America needs saving...by them.

The Tea Party was humiliated and is pissed off and where before they were merely intent on "taking back America" from the godless, liberal, commie, socialist, niggers, spics, feminists, fags and anyone else who isn't them

NOW they need to also avenge the humiliation.

And here's the really funny part.

The Tea Party was and is funded by the very corporations that are oppressing and raping them. *I know we all know that, but apparently they still don't.

Guess who else was humiliated and amazed by the election results?

You can bet your bottom dollar that the Tea Party will have ample, unlimited funds to wreak whatever havoc they want to on the rest of us.

It started the very minute the election tipped in the direction of Obama- FOX News started hyperventilating and having goddamn seizures about "the end of traditional America". You mean the America where women and minorities are treated like shit and the big corporations call all the shots? FANFUCKINGTASTIC! About damn time!

Of course they see it a little differently.

Is the Tea Party Over?

Shit, no. They are more fanatical and dangerous than ever, and they're being prodded, goaded, wheedled and cajoled into even bigger throes of hatred.

And with the new look of the elected officials, who represent all of us while inadvertently standing for everything the Tea Partiers are willing to die and kill for, I guess their new motto will be

"Death to America".

Oh, wait.

That's been used.

Random Thoughts The Morning After

Morning after what? The debate, of course. Coming on the heels of Biden mopping the floor with Ryan, it was a good show.

If you're not Romney.

Here are my snurfly, sort of fuzzy, autumn-head-cold thoughts in no particular order about...stuff.

I totally voted Obama in '08.

I will totally vote Obama three weeks from now.

That does not mean I totally agree with everything he's done and is fixin' to do.

In fact there are some very big things I totally hate about his policies.

I hate the entire drone program. If you're going to willfully and systematically kill people, make damn sure it's more difficult and heart-wrenching to do than playing a goddamn video game.

I hate the phrase "clean coal". There's no such thing. It's every bit as offensive as saying "legitimate rape".

I hate that he's not taken a stance in favor of Occupy, while the Republican party embraces the fucking Tea Party (even though they hold them at arm's length, like a stinky but rich relative at a family reunion).

I hate that the ACA was not allowed to have a single payer option and that Glass/Stegall was watered down almost to ineffectiveness.

I hate that not one stinking banker has been prosecuted but people are getting arrested for trying to stay in their own homes.

I hate that it took Joe Biden taking a stand on gay marriage for the president to finally do so.

On the other hand, what today's Republican party is espousing scares the living shit out of me- they're not even trying to hide their agenda with pretty rhetoric anymore.

Do I think we need to do away with the 2 party system? Probably.

Do I think Citizens United needs to be repealed? Oh, hell yea.

Do I agree with the phrase "Voting for the lesser evil is still voting for evil"?
Yes and no.

Whether the radical progressives are right when they say it hasn't been enough, Obama HAS done some good stuff. And he's had a helluva time getting even that much done.

And Mr. "Don't compare what I say now to what I said five minutes ago" Romney and his literal partner in social crime Paulie are an absolute fucking nightmare.

In 90 minutes last night he said that government should not/does not create jobs AND that his 5 point economic plan will create 12 million jobs.

Of course he also said that women SHOULD have access to contraception, which will make all the fundamentalists swoon with horrified confusion, and that he FAVORS an assault weapons ban as long as it's bi-partisan (whatever the hell that means).

That Obama came out and said "We don't need further regulations, just to enforce our current laws- Chicago is a pretty dangerous place but it's not because of AK's, it's because of cheap handguns", making him look 100% more pro-2nd amendment than Romney probably has the entire NRA pissing themselves. *Smile*

He's also blasted Obama repeatedly for not fixing everything in less than 4 years, and then turned around and said no one can fix the economy in 4 years- but he can do it in 8. Does he really think we're that incapable of any thought process at all???

(Never mind- don't answer that).

I'd love for a 3rd party candidate to have an actual chance, and I really think that's possible.

But not right at this moment.

Until we overturn Citizens United it's not possible.

Until ALL candidates who have their names officially on the ballots are included in ALL the debates it's not possible.

Until there are a number of 3rd party candidates actually elected to lower offices, it's not possible.

And that's what gives me hope.

Because the corporate-funded, heavily-armed, NOT AN OFFICIAL PARTY- Tea Party was able to bullshit their way into Congress with enough members to really fuck up the entire process- not just for the Evil Socialist Muslim Kenyan imposter in the White House, but for every single one of us- including themselves.

If they could do that, then it's still possible for GOOD change to come about the same way- one local, state, and national seat at a time, baby steps that will show everyone that bad things won't necessarily happen if the word 'socialist' is involved.

I guess it's all in the marketing- if the Tea Party would admit that they're the Party of Plutocracy and fascism, maybe they wouldn't be so popular among people who are poor and already down-trodden.

It makes me physically truly sad to hear people all around me admitting that they'll be voting absolutely against their own interests and to their own detriment because if Obama gets re-elected we're fucked.

Why?

Name me ONE reason why that can be verified absolutely with facts and figures that come from TRUE non-partisan sources (hint- CATO and Heritage Foundation do not fit that description), or with actual laws passed by this administration, that does not already fall under my list above of things *I* hate about this administration, and does not include the words "Socialist", "Marxist", "Communist", "Kenyan", "Muslim", or "Nigger".

Just raise your hand when you can come up with something. Yanno what? Just add it to the comments section below- that way I won't be waiting up for it...

What's the Point? And Please Use Small Words- In Three Sentences or Less

Why is it so confusing for people, this "Occupy Wall St." protest?

Over and over again we hear, "But I don't understand. What's the point?"

Gee. I dunno.

The point is that our supreme court decided that corporations are people?

The point is that the banks and brokerages on Wall St. played with everyones' money with not a goddamn bit of oversight and when they lost it all the government bailed them out so "bad things wouldn't happen to the economy"? And then the banks didn't give it to people to stimulate the economy, they hoarded it like old ladies in a trailer park hoard cats and gave themselves big fat bonuses instead?

*or built more banks- just in Tyler there's a new bank on every corner there's not a chain restaurant or church*

The point is that capitalism without regulation is Social Darwinism at its worst- the very few do outstandingly well and the rest of us struggle?

The point is the bad economy is not because Obama is the president, or even because Bush was president or (god help me) because Reagan was president. It's because no one made Wall St. and the huge corporations accountable for anything- they couldn't, they'd all been bought, purchased, trussed up and gagged by them.

We have, ladies and gentlemen, a faux democracy.

Technically there is still one vote per person, but realistically those votes are not cast after careful consideration, but on the upswing of knee-jerk reactions- people love the easy answers, the black and white, the clearly marked lines in the sand.

Occupy Wall St. does not have the same visceral appeal as any Tea Party shindig.

What's the point? There are signs, to be sure- with every single word spelled correctly and with a message that's longer than a 15 second Super Bowl ad- there's one problem.

It's difficult to caricature-ize the people on Occupy Wall St. because save for a few topless chicks they look much like anybody on the sidewalk anyway- students, adults, children, senior citizens behaving rationally and...normally.

It's damn unexciting TV.

We need flash, extreme and instant recognition- that when we flip through the channels with a finger speed far surpassing anything any other part of our body can match we STOP, pause, the image bounces off the backs of our retinas and our brain says

Flag T-shirt + hat w/tea bags hanging from it + loaded and obvious sidearm + badly spelled message on a sign with Obama as (a nazi, Hitler himself, a cartoon with huge ears and/or an African native w/a bone through his nose) = TEA PARTY


Oh, surely I'm exagerating. Us tree-huggin' bleeding heart liberals tend to do that. Lets pause for a little musical interlude...shall we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38VioxnBaI&feature=related

The Tea Party's got it going on. They've made themselves into instantly recognized characters. All they have to do when a reporter asks "Why are you here today" is scream "TO TAKE BACK AMERICA!" and everyone cheers.

Woe to the reporter who asks "Take it back from who?"

"From....them. The liberals. The socialists. The Commies. THE PRESIDENT IS A MUSLIN!!!" (wild cheers from the crowd)

As a comparison, lookit this video- the vast differences in the crowd members- I mean REALLY- there's not a sea of flag t-shirts or anything at all to give instant recognition- they just look like PEOPLE for crissakes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG_TKAJyV6k

Where are their ORGANIZERS???

What kind of "grass roots, ground up, for the people/by the people" movement can get off the ground without millions of dollars worth of corporate money for fancy fliers and posters and renting of halls and busing of people to rallies in professionally painted buses and covered no matter how pathetically attended by throngs of adoring media???

*Apparently this one can- Wall St. is fixin' to be joined in the next week or so by Occupy Dallas, Houston, Austin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee and over 20 other metropolitan financial districts.

And the message, the reason, the POINT of it all is so simple a nine year old gets it.

Pretty good, kid- the Anti-Robin Hood analogy.

But not nearly as catchy or memorable as "Obama is a muslin who takes orders from Satin".

The Joke Ain't Funny Anymore- Lets Move On

Yanno what chaps my hiney?

Well, ya...gettin' close and personal with Ward in the woods without benefit of a blanket does. But OTHER than that...

The Tea Party.

I woke up this morning to a news interview regarding the budget crisis and every other phrase from the mouths of the interviewer AND the interviewee was "tea party".

As in..."Your backers in the Tea Party" and "Will the Tea Party allow that?" and "From the messages we're getting from the Tea Party"...

What The Hell?

Last I checked, the Tea F&$King Party is NOT a recognized (as in official, organized, on-the-ticket) political party in this country. When we go to vote, our options are generally Republican, Democratic, Independent and occasionally Libertarian and Green.

That's it. No Disney Character Party even though Mickey's been a popular write-in for generations.

No Hannah Montana Party, no Christian Party, no Grateful Dead Party, and NO FREAKIN' TEA PARTY.

It all started when Michele "I AM looking at the camera- I see through my ears" Bachmann was given air time after the State of the Union speech. That gave it the illusion of cohesion and permanence and I dunno...something other than batshit crazy.

And all the people who LOVE it and JOIN it say "It's a grass roots thing- the little people gathering force to Take Back America".

*Really*

A quick Google search finds (on page 1 of over 600,000 results) that there are 5, count them FIVE most vocal and professional-looking "THIS IS THE OFFICIAL TEA PARTY PAGE" pages.

Two of them (www.theteaparty.net and www.teapartypatriots.org) have 501K status as non-profit organizations.

Interestingly, the Tea Party Patriots openly claim (in Wikipedia) that they have a staff of 7, which is not a bad thing- every organization needs a staff, and if they are working full time, they SHOULD be paid. I get that. However, it states that their payroll is "around $50,000 per MONTH" (capital letters mine BECAUSE I CAN'T STAND IT).

I manage an animal emergency clinic for 19 area Veterinarians in an area servicing over 100,000 people. My monthly payroll including myself and 2 licensed Veterinarians is under $25,000 per month.

The seven employees of The Tea Party Patriots are hauling in over $7,000 each for over $85,000 per year. That's a shitload of grass roots.

Two more of the "only official" Tea Party pages (www.teapartypatriots.ning.org and teaparty.org)are owned by basically "some guy", one of whom is in uniform.

The fifth one (www.teapartyexpress.org) is under the umbrella of www.ourcountrydeservesbetter.com which is an unabashed conservative PAC. Political Action Committee. You know- people who want LESS government *snicker* but who are funded, fed and housed by big corporations.

But I digress.

My POINT, my REASON for frothing all over my keyboard this fine sunny morning is not that the Tea Party Movement isn't complete bullshit smoke and mirror manipulation of people by the very entities who are destroying America (although that's true enough).

My POINT is that the Tea Party is NOT a political party and should NOT be given the standing of one.

Seriously, otherwise why aren't we hearing "You know, AARP won't stand for it" regarding the proposed cuts in Social Security and "I don't think the NRA will allow that" whenever the issue of gun control comes up and "Hmmm...repealing the new health care law will institute death panels for tens of thousands of members of the American Cancer Association so we need to re-think this". All of them are 501 organizations- all non-profit. For damn sure, they all have more members individually than all the "official" official tea parties put together.

Here's the thing.

We need to do some re-arranging in how our money gets spent in this country- everyone and their dog knows that (HSUS- another 501 non-profit).

Why the hell is One Uber-vocal Uber-strident group of people- not EVEN an organization- so able to strong-arm and bully their way into the thought processes of elected supposedly educated officials???

How can one SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (who is rabidly anti-special interest group)attempt to dictate an entire country and instead of being shushed and sent to the back of the room be given air-time and credibility??

If you think the answer is "Because the People have spoken and the politicians are quaking in their boots and are listening" I'm sorry.

If you think the answer is "Because the water in DC has been poisoned and everyone there is now mentally and morally defective which will be followed by them all turning into slime mold and oozing into the ground" that would be one (albeit imaginative and wishful)explanation.

If you think the answer is "Because the Grass Roots of the Tea Party are deep in the pockets of the very corporations it vows to cut off at the knees and like playing Chutes and Ladders with a three year old, they are giving the members the illusion of winning the game when they alone know that bedtime is quickly approaching and the house will be peaceful and quiet without the toddler in the way to mess stuff up anymore" you have a gift of kickass run-on sentences...and you win.

No. Wait. We all lose.

Dear politicians in Washington and media personnel everywhere-

All the Tea Party is managing to do is muck up the waters and hold up progress.

We know who their puppetmasters are and have seen the little man behind the curtain.

Seriously- their "leaders" are Sarah Palin, Rand Paul and Michele Bachmann? You all held a poll and picked the three most certifiably insane, ignorant (yet pliable) characters to sacrifice to their cause, didn't you? *COME ON- FESS UP*

Fine. It's hilarious. You got the most fearful and gullible of the Little People good. It's been like watching someone "fake throw" a frisbee for a labrador retriever- fun for everyone for a few minutes but now it's old and we're running out of time.

Now get them the hell out of the way and get to work.

Regards,

The 99% of the American People Who Are NOT TEA PARTIERS

A Brand New Day

Remember two years ago, when we got a new president and a matching House and Senate and all the conservatives howled and wailed and vowed that they'd "take back the country" in the next election...if those damn liberals didn't send it to hell in a handbasket first with their socialist communist fascist nazi-ist plans?

And from that day till last night we heard the planning, tea partying, praying, complaining, bitching, moaning as this administration tried to dig us out of the mess the previous one got us into. Nothing they did was right (pun intended) and everything they did was, unaccountably, too much AND too little.

Anything done that had any effect was "Too much intrusion and stealing our freedoms" and anything un-addressed yet was "doing nothing to help the people".

From Faux News fear-mongering to Rush Limbaugh's pompous bullshit to Glenn Beck's tears of a freedom-loving clown to that whack-job from Alaska screeching "HOWZ THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING WORKIN' FOR YA?" the entire country was pummelled with sure-fire signs of our imminent demise as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.

But that wasn't the half of it.

Then the campaigning started.

I'm over half a century old and can't remember the last time it was proper campaign etiquette to threaten your opponent, AND your opponent's entire party AND population of constituents with actual bodily harm.

In between the vitriol were many promises and vows to "take back the country" and "undo the damage that's been done on the road to socialism".

Two years ago, the people voted against the road we had been on- one that had plunged our nation into third world status regarding accessible health care for all and worse regarding our economy and quality of life.

All the bad things were cumulative and took many years to build up, and a sensible person would see that it would take at LEAST as many years to fix it.

But people who are jobless, hungry, homeless, sick and scared, don't have any sense to spare and want so desperately to believe that someone, somewhere, somehow can fix it NOW that they laid our fragile nation back into the giant paws of the wolves.

For safe-keeping.

And the wolves licked their chops and said "Don't worry the hair of your chinny chin chin- I'll take good care of this...just like I promised".

So...what're they planning on cutting out of the national budget to FIX it? From their campaign 'promises' looks like Social Security, VA benefits, Medicare, Medicaid...if the tea party has their way "government" will be OUT of our lives to leave us the hell alone- without schools, or roads, or any sort of unified infrastructure or protection- we'll be 50 happy little autonomous islands, free to frolic to the will of whatever corporations buy the state governments.

Here's the one thing that keeps me from going batshit insane at this point-

They can't.

They can't FIX it (even their dubious version of fixing it) in 2 years any more than the democrats could.

Because of the checks and balances inherent in our government (designed by some very wise men- the same men who fought against a national religion- even the Christians among them) change comes slowly and carefully and cumbersomely to us.

So today is a brand new day. Not a substantially different day. Not, as the republicans were crowing, the day after the democratic bloodbath when they would swoop into Washington like so many marauders and "take back America".Yes, we now have a Republican majority in the House, but the Senate and Oval office are still Democratic.

I suspect that in two years, the poor American people will still be poor, still be frustrated, still be confused and be very very angry that all those pretty campaign promises were just that- enticements of flowers and candy, dinner and a movie so the country would take THEM back.

And I'll try really hard to refrain from screeching "SO- HOWZ THAT CHANGEY BACKEY THING WORKIN' FOR YA?"

If You Do Nothing Else Tuesday...

...go vote.

I've got my voter card in my purse and ready to go- proudly red ink stamped "democrat".

This is handy since not only do I actually vote democrat, but in elections where you must choose a straight party line, there IS no line in small-town East Texas for democrats. I AM the line and breeze right by all those republicans lined up out the door.

I remember going to the voting booth with my parents and getting to pull the levers on the big gray machine- the final red one opening the curtain and clearing out the votes with a metallic "swish".

I remember taking my kids to stand in line to vote, up to and including our youngest, who is handy at helping me remember how to work the newfangled faux computer voting machine.

I remember to vote. Every single election.

Because just one vote does make a difference.

Everyone gets one vote and each vote counts and matters. When we cease to believe that or become too busy or too lazy or too apathetic to haul our butts to the polling place and take five freakin' minutes out of our day to vote is when we lose more than elections, or majorities in Washington DC, we lose by abdication our right to any bitching whatsoever about the government in office.

I get so tired of people not just complaining, but getting downright aggressive about what they hate about the current administration, yet when asked if they voted, they say "No- I don't vote- it's depressing and one vote doesn't matter".

Really.

The way it's SUPPOSED to work is
-everyone over the age of 18 votes. In every election.
-the winners make the laws and whatnot for the next few years
-winners are elected by majority vote, so once elected everyone gets behind the winners because we're a "majority rule" kinda nation
-if this time's winners clearly suck at leadership and/or listening to their constituents, they get voted out the next election

The way it SEEMS to work is
-only really old or really fanatical people vote because they're the ones who make the time to do it
-the winners kiss as much lobbyist ass as they can while in office
-if your candidate doesn't win, it's assumed that there was corruption and cheating at the polling place, so "that other guy" didn't really win at all
-all the people from the losing side (including the candidates) whine and scream about the country being brought to quick and burning ruin by the winning parties with no chance of survival

Shut up.

Tomorrow is Tuesday- I'm voting democrat because I believe that's the right thing to do for my family and my country. If moderate republicans regain the majority I'll try to get behind them and hope they do the right and just things not just for themselves, but for their (and our) country.

If the Tea Party candidates are elected into office, we're all in deep shit.

Including, and perhaps mostly, the tea partiers, who, for some reason, fail to see that if they succeed in stripping the government bare of all 'socialist intrusive programs', none of their social security or VA checks will be in the mail next month.

The Tea Party thinks they're a powerful grassroots movement, blazing a path back to how America was founded. I hope the rest of us see that they're funded by the very people they claim to hate, and those very people will happily and gleefully chew up the tea partiers and spit them out...first.

So if you do nothing else Tuesday- go vote.

Vote thoughtfully.
Vote passionately.

Vote against insanity and ignorance.
Vote against the Tea Party.

When Squeaky Wheels Just Need To Be Discarded

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease", so the saying goes.

Most of the time, I've thought that meant you need to speak up for yourself in a situation where you otherwise wouldn't get noticed, but lately alot of squeaky wheels have emerged on the religious, social and political scene that are getting greased, as in receiving huge chunks of media-time, in ways that (I hope) the majority of the other members are, if not outright embarrassed by, then at least that causes a slight discomfort in their hearts.

When you have to define your stand WITHIN an organization or group in a way that distances you from what the rest of the world sees, it's time to either change the group from within, or get out.

"I attend Tea Party gatherings, BUT the group I'M in doesn't condone violence, bigotry, or any of that mess".

Really? Because from where the rest of us sit, those things DEFINE the Tea Party Movement.

"I'm a Christian and I believe the Bible is the Word of God- the absolute authority and how I run my life. Dinosaurs aren't mentioned in the Bible, so they never existed".

I'm happy for you and respect your beliefs. Of course, computers aren't mentioned in there either, so you'd better log off of your imaginary screen. And please re-read the part about "Judging not lest..." and stop telling everyone not in your congregation that they're headed straight for hell. Especially my 10 year old son.

I was raised Lutheran. I taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and helped with the Christmas pageant every single year.

At some point, after living about 30 years and noticing the world around me, things I was hearing in church just didn't make sense anymore, and I decided that the grownup thing to do was to leave and try to find Truth that made sense to me, that I could embrace and not only live with, but live BY.

Our world is very small- and made smaller by the internet. We now have the ability to see into every nook and cranny of not only the physical planet, but into the very brains of our fellow humans.

The funny thing about humans is that all this knowledge, all these images and words now in front of us at the click of a mouse, are not widening our horizons so much as polarizing our beliefs.

I'm not fond of heights.

Climb me to the top of a 12' ladder and I'm twitchy.

Drive me to a Scenic Overlook in the mountains and I'm immobilized.

Years ago I stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon and peered over the edge.

I was fine.

The Grand Canyon is SO BIG, my tiny human mind couldn't even process the danger and trigger my fear.

This is what's happening today all over the world. People are on their computers, in front of their TV screens and so much is being thrown at their retinas all day, all night, that they're spun into Survival Mode and frantically find something/someone who looks and talks like themselves to latch onto- to steady their brain against the sheer tininess of themselves in the vast sea of humans.

Churches form, political parties rally, social interest groups nebulize. And most of the time, the foundations of all these are good, solid, and reasonably benign.

What happens when small factions 'take over' these groups by being Squeaky Wheels and hogging all the media time? And when the immenseness of the internet and media coverage over-ride your natural inclination to question, to be skeptical, to try to ferret out the truth?

When all you see of Southern Baptists are Klansmen, the world associates the two absolutely.

When all you see of Islam are terrorists flying into buildings, the world associates the two absolutely.

When all you see of Tea Parties are racial posters and calls to violence, the world associates the two absolutely.

Most Southern Baptists are not racists.
Most Muslims are not terrorists.
Most Tea Party members are not violent wackjobs.

Most people are good. I believe that with all my heart. Violence and hatred are not natural to humankind without some sort of "leadership" involvement.

No matter our common belief that every soul is as unique as each and every snowflake, and every person as special as Christmas- humans are herd animals that make wildebeests and lemmings look like rugged individualists.

So the challenge now, at this moment in history, is to take a stand.

Stop having to apologize for members of your chosen peer group. To say "Oh, those are a fringe of our (religion, party, group, nationality)- most of us don't believe that" is to condone what the fringe is doing.

Guilty by association.

Now is the time, and the place, to stand up for crazy things like honesty and integrity, and to fight for all the things humans have the capability to be.

Not via armed battle- two wrongs still don't make a right- but by standing tall and squeaking with all our might so the rest of the world can see that a majority of people are not insane frothing rabid lunatics- and backing that up by getting them OUT of our circles.

Let the insane frothing rabid lunatics trying to overtake every segment of our society get their own clubhouses instead of piggybacking off of and claiming entire groups that flat do not support them.

If the Sane Majority takes a stand and ejects them, the Vocal Minorities will be shown for what they are- small, vulnerable and insignificant- snails without shells.

Slugs.

Transcript: First Meeting of T-BAD (Take Back America, Dammit)

(room filled to overflowing with angry Americans)

(leader walks to front of room and steps to the podium)

"My fellow Americans- this is a dark time for our country. We come together today- Republicans, Democrats, Independents from all walks of life- drawn together by our horror of what's been happening to our country, and our terrible trepidation of what the signing of this "health reform bill" will mean to life as we know it. We want one thing only- for the government to say OUT OF OUR HOMES (riotous cheers), OUT OF OUR POCKETS (wild screams of approval) and most of all OUT OF OUR LIVES AND HOW WE MAY CHOOSE TO LIVE THEM" (thunderous applause)

"Did any of us ASK for the Government to be our baby-sitters?" (HELL,NO!)
"Do any of us WANT any Government handouts?" (HELL,NO!!)

"ARE WE MAD AS HELL?" (resounding YES from all)

"ARE WE GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE??" (earth-shattering NO from same)

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???" (as one voice- "TAKE BACK AMERICA- DAMMIT")

(full five minutes before the room is once again quiet enough to continue)

"I can see we're all agreed here- every one of us a rugged individual- proud of our ability to care for ourselves and those around us and needing NOTHING from some Government-spawned noose-around-our-necks "social programs"- thinly veiled traps to lull us into complacency before snuffing out the last vestiges of FREEDOM and plunge us en masse back into the very pit of bondage our Founding Fathers bled and died to save us from".

(sustained combination of outrage, jeers and cheers)

"Before we really begin, I just want to be sure everyone here is truly in the right place- strong enough and tough enough for this challenge. And please, when leaving tonight, take a copy of the handouts on the table by the door. Now-"

"Anyone here who are themselves or who has a family member who receives Social Security- either in the form of disability or retirement- please leave. The Social Security system was a total bastard spawned by evil Socialists. Ronald Reagan said so".

(sound of a great many people leaving the room)

"Anyone who has ever taken their children to a public clinic for vaccinations, received AFDC food, cashed an unemployment check or FOR SURE ever used food stamps- please leave. These programs encourage people to stay dependent on Uncle Sam when they should be getting out and working like the rest of us worthy Americans".

(many feet shuffling out the door)

"Public schools- those liberal-run dens of Communist iniquity- NO ONE here condones, much less uses these tools of Satan, do they?"

(lots of people head for the door- including many small feet who were brought here by their parents to see How Democracy Works)

"All our Veterans here- you are our Pride, our Heroes- you know more than anyone how precious Freedom is and how the Government screws up everything it touches- making any government-run program a complete boondoggle. You know firsthand the shoddy care you receive at the VA clinics and hospitals, right? I mean, they're there, but I know you'd never in a million years USE them- you're too proud and independent for that".

(the room begins to have a hollow empty feel to it)

"And finally, although we here- those of us left, anyway- are the lifeblood of the American Dream, we remember that our great Nation, and most of ourselves by our very family trees, are Melting Pots of all the nationalities and races of the world- and we celebrate the strength that comes from that and will not tolerate any sort of bigotry or prejudice. We renounce any persons or groups who condone such behavior and agree that even to turn the other way, or 'let slide' such behavior from others is to do our great country a grave dis-service".

(the silence in the room is deafening)

"Hello? Hello?"

(smiles, turns out the light and closes the door behind her)

"I thought so."

One lone flier remains on the table-

Dear Fellow American,
I apologize for Going All Tea Party on your ass, but you weren't listening to anything else and things are really getting out of hand.

If you are reading this, you have left the room because you have benefited from some social service program that our country offers- and each and every one was hard-won and hotly contested at the time they were enacted.

I AM a proud American, and that to me, means loving and caring for the heart of America- its people.

While I worked 2 jobs to afford surgery for my home-schooled little boy because we couldn't afford insurance and didn't qualify for aid, I paid for your AFDC, public schools and Medicaid to help you through hard times.

While my husband worked at a horrible job all through cancer treatments and surgeries just to keep his insurance, he paid for your Medicare, unemployment and Veterans' services.

Did we ever once resent one penny of that even though we ourselves struggled?
No.
Not even for an instant.
Ever.

You're welcome.

The Health Care Reform bill that just passed is not perfect, but it goes a long way towards making our civilization more civil. It's not the end of the world, it's not a signal that the End Times are upon us, and what I DO resent is the uncivil and hateful way its opponents are behaving.

Revamping our health system will be a work in progress and can be fine-tuned as needed. How can you believe "leaders" who tell you "This will destroy America- there will be no going back once it's signed" in one breath and "This isn't over yet- we CAN still repeal it" in the next?

How can you admire those who scream that the entire thing needs to be scrapped and started over line by line? Where the hell WERE they this whole last year?

Give it a chance. See what happens. Because the way you are currently behaving is embarrassing, unseemly, and infantile.

And MY vision of America is none of those.

Thank you for your time.