DeSantis – as President? Be Careful What you Wish for… Could be a Dystopian World?

If you voted for DeSantis of Florida for anything in the past, you “may” wish to re-visit your thought process. That is, unless you are of a certain demographical race and political party make-up….

As it has been noted by multiple news outlets and personalities out there, DeSantis is moving towards Fascist mode – requiring people that are different than him to like, follow and do everything that he wants them to do.

This is how Hitler started in his younger days after WW I – making noise and getting people riled up to follow him.

For Hitler, it was the Jewish people that he wanted gone. Hitler wanted a pure white race.

Is this what DeSantis is angling for in the long run, a possible long con…? An attempt at a pure white race, full of extreme Conservatives only? To rid the Florida LGBTQ community of all those who consider themselves as such? And possibly for the entire country if he somehow manages to gain the presidency down the road. Really!!!

First and foremost – RACE should NEVER play a part in anything – NO discrimination – NO hate crimes…! We should be engaging with, listening to and enjoying people for who they are, NOT based on the color of their skin, ethnicity or culture.

Then too, I am not gay or bi-sexual or trans or queer – but I am like many Americans out there who consider ALL LGBTQ individuals to be equal in ALL aspects. Why should one be afraid to accept anyone of the LGBTQ community (or ANYONE else) as equals?

Why, in the 21^st century are certain groups attempting to put a strangle hold on growth and diversity? Yet, we have various groups of neo-Nazis popping up, wanting a pure white race, with blacks, browns, yellow skinned people and do not forget the Jews and Gays gone… Is this fear? Fear that they cannot grow and compete in the ever-changing landscape of progressive life?

Why are some straight white conservative males attempting to mold others into something they want instead of what others themselves want? Again, “Fear”…? Do these individuals, instead of looking to the future and growing – do they really want to return to a backwards period in time where certain people held the power, while repressing those around them?

Why are we as progressive, open-minded liberals not banding together to stomp out these individuals who want to:

• Ban books because the books talk about history
  • Many of us grew up to be successful and who we are because most of us were able to read books that today appear controversial in the eyes of the vocal minority – To Kill a Mocking Bird, a book I read in Jr High was and is a great book
• White-wash, sorry – re-write history books to remove any talk of slavery and what happened since it happened
  • Yes, bad things happened in the past that is what History is made up of and please note that History cannot be erasedremember, the Japanese in a dark period of their history attempted to re-write history and remove the history of Nanjing, China’s horrific point in time when the Japanese Army invaded and did what they didthe Holocaust, what was done to the Jewish community since the early 1920’s and throughout WW II
  • and of course, the past killings and lynchings of Blacks because they were, well, Black and different – and I really hope that everyone understands that being different is a good thing – it promotes growth

DeSantis wants to tell people what to learn and what to adhere to… Him, a governor telling the school boards what should be taught in schools – really? DeSantis appears, while not stupid since he did go to Harvard, somewhat of an odd bird. Telling schools in Florida that teachers/professors that they cannot teach Black history to Blacks and anyone else who wants to learn about Black History.

Really?

Is Black History not worthy in his eyes? That White History is the only thing that should be taught, with a cherry on top? DeSantis seems to have forgotten (or is illiterate on this point) that a lot of things in our lives today were built on the backs of Blacks, Chinese and Mexicans.

Going to stop here, otherwise, this will turn into a very serious diatribe. The point is, if those of you out there continue to vote for DeSantis for political positions, remember – you will have brought the consequences upon yourselves in your state.

Voting for more repressive/suppressive laws and regulations ala DeSantis will drive your state into even more of a pariah state than it already is. (Trump…)

DeSantis’ moves and shenanigans will cause a brain drain out of Florida – talent, knowledge, growth will start to dissipate. What will be left in Florida besides rising sea levels; more people of that specific repressive demographic make-up – racial and political and religious…?

Who will want to live in that kind of atmosphere, let alone invest in Florida.

Think about it. Think very hard – this will require some good education (likely good, broad education gained out of state) in order to do some very serious extrapolation as to what the make-up of Florida will be in 5 – 10 (or yikes, in 20) years, socially and economically.

Wouldja’ wanna live or visit a state that is attempting to force people to be straight? To be highly Conservative? To be Religious? To frown upon Racial mixing or attempt to ban it, again as it was in America’s past. (Pssstt, Hey, there is nothing wrong with race mixing and it has been a thing for centuries and it is really showing up now as more and more happy folks of different races do the mixing?)

Think very, VERY hard as to who you want to continue leading Florida, let alone America. Do you want to grow old in a state or country where free will and growth are constricted…?  Or see your children’s children grow up with poisoned mind-sets that one race is superior to another and that there is a god (with non-believers being, gasp, Heretics) and that aspect will be shoved down their throats every single day and not to forget another big one – that men are and have always been superior to women (supposedly)…?

Is that the kind of future you see as you extrapolate into the future IF you follow and allow to lead you down a repressive road…?

Think twice about who you vote for….

Those who are very conservative and repressive (for sure that is how DeSantis is starting to come across) and who wants to limit growth and continue to feed homophobic fears…. If that is who you want, this is the beginning of a dystopian country/world…

Or those that embrace change and growth and diversity and open-mindedness and equality of and for all…

By the way, for those of you out there who ‘think’ you are of a pure white race, in today’s environment – you might want to have your DNA checked… You may be surprised of what your “actual” racial genetic make-up is comprised of.

And for those of you out there who CONTINUALLY try to yell where gays are concerned – look at your own circle, or yourselves for that matter. As it happens time and time again, some of your straight peers (or yourselves) end up outing themselves as being gay… Just do a search on how many loud mouth congressmen, senators who were against gays were themselves – Gay.

The Voices of Women – Meaningless? And the Erosion of Democracy…

Apologies to the length of this writing (this is TL;DR for some) but Trump, Kavanaugh, McConnell, Flake, Collins, Hatch, Graham, Manchin and injustice is making life, well, Topsy-turvy to be polite…

Well. It appears that the voices of women mean nothing where it is most important – in sexual assaults (and in every day life to be fair). Even if an event happened 30+ years ago, the voice and statements of a woman are still important.

As of today, Saturday – Oct 6, 2018, America has voted onto the Supreme Court an individual with more divisiveness; with a more controversial background than Clarence Thomas had.

I’m a guy and what women say IS important, always!

That is, until it is proven it is not true. But, where it is ambiguous and no concrete evidence can be found, many of us will side with the woman – not just give lip service and say ‘we believe her’ as certain members of Congress have done (so the congressional members can retain their positions of power in their home state/district). What a woman says can make a difference. In many of the sexual assaults it is primarily a crime not witnessed by others and that is why the victim does not come forth and the guy gets away with it. (Sometimes, sometimes, yes indeed – there are women who also commit sexual assaults, it is just not that many.) And Trump – making an outlandish tweet that young men should be scared is ridiculous. No young men should be assaulting women in the first place (that goes for older men as well).

In America, or rather parts of America – certain Americans have decided that a man with a blemished background and temperament can be put into a position of significant influence and power. Certain Americans have placed an individual with what appears to be a highly tainted past onto the highest court, a court which now will be looked at for every decision it makes for the next 30 years with a jaundiced eye.

All because an individual who was put into the White House due to many electoral college members deciding that this person was the best choice for America in 2016. Trump.

If this Supreme Court vote turned your stomach, you had best “get your butt off the couch and go vote” in the NEXT SEVERAL voting turnouts, for the next couple of decades! The mid-terms, primaries, all of them. This will be the only way to restore some semblance of sanity to America.

Because if you do not, we, America, will be doomed and damned!  Are you one of the people looking to return to the ‘Dark Days’ of yesterday when only the males of one race had the power to lord over everyone else of a different color and all women? Do you really want to return to the days of suppression and repression…?

More and more pieces of democracy (not talking about the democratic party here, just democracy) will be chipped away as they are being done today. More “socialist” programs will be lost for years, if not decades until we can return to the path of growth and equality that we were on until Trump was put into the White House. And what I mean by socialist programs are:

• fire departments (think you don’t need this socialist program when your home catches fire)
• libraries (not everyone has high speed internet or even computers at home)
• police departments (what happens when your local police department is gone and you need law enforcement)
• schools (everyone needs to seriously consider removing Betsy D. from the dept of education…)
• hospitals
• social security (what are you going to do when you are older and have no money to rely on)
• should I go on….?

Socialist programs, today, in 2018, are meant to help everyone, not just the poor and downtrodden – the programs are meant to make the lives of everyone easier,  better and safer.

This is how Hitler grew into power. Think about that – think long and hard – do your ‘own’ thinking. Over several years, Hitler and the people around him whittled away at more and more programs until they gained power – a vise grip on EVERYTHING! (There are some who say this erosion actually started right before Hitler came into the picture – but we all know for fact, Hitler destroyed democracy in Germany.) And what was the result of that, guess! Extermination of massive numbers of the Jewish race, in multiple countries (Poland, Germany, France, Austria and more). The Holocaust was the ultimate disgrace to democracy. Things started out small in Germany and many of the Germanic race were happy and fine that Hitler was looking out for them. Hitler was going to “Make Germany Great Again!” But then when it was too late to do anything, such as removing Hitler, Himmler, Goering and others of the SS and the Nazi party – it was far, far too late.

Now, this is not saying Trump is a Nazi but – he is providing a helping hand in the destruction of the American way of life and all of its democracies. Trump has enabled the worse of the worst to come forth (recall the nighttime ‘Tiki Torch’ parade). Trump has unleashed the hounds of hell, to put it mildly, to come out of the wood-works and raise pure hell. Look at:

• early February 2017 where the House and Senate voted to repeal the so-called “stream protection rule”- Coal companies now have a freer hand in dumping mining pollutants into streams
• the white nationalist rally incident in Charlottesville, VA where Heather Heyer was killed
• Chris Collins and his insider trading on the lawn of the White House – how brazen was that?
• Many of the cabinet members Trump installed and the self-aggrandizement these individuals did while in power – sound-proof phone booth in his office (guess who that was);
• Expensive furniture, what was it, ~$31,000 for his office – you know who this was, the man qualified to run HUD because he grew up in the projects (I grew up in the projects too)…
• Zinke of the Interior Department and his sell off of federal lands
• The black protestor who was sucker-punched by a white man in the stands at a Trump rally in Fayetteville (and trump said he would pay the legal fees for the puncher)
• we could go on and on with this list…

The point is, if Americans do not come to their senses and stop this extreme political partisanship, we will continue going down the rabbit hole of more:

• hate crimes – racially & religiously motivated
• individuals like Michael Gerard Grimm, former congressman & former FBI, who threatened to throw a reporter off the balcony – a reporter who was doing his job (after his prison term for that, Grimm had the audacity to try running again for public office)
• corruption – how can people follow the law when the law makers and peace keepers are the ones causing this corruption and excess to continue – so they can feel powerful and make money in many cases for doing so
• erosion of public lands for corporate revenue – oil exploitation, so that oil companies can continue to make large pools of revenue before the clean energy wave really kicks in and fossil fuel use will be a money pit
• inequalities – women and racial – women and those of different skin colors doing the same job as men of a certain color “SHOULD BE PAID EQUALLY” for doing the same job
• anti-discrimination against new immigrants to America – and we all know this is how America started
• to name a few….

What do we need to do people? You all have to use your head and think!!!!

You have to perform research and think and talk about your actions before you do them! You cannot just listen to unqualified individuals who spout hate and conspiracy theories. You must do your own thinking, it is what makes you “you”!

So, what are you thinking? Are you thinking things in the political environment are going in the right direction?

Are you thinking Trump is making America great – when he raises tariffs, the ultimate cost is on you, the American citizen because you will be the one paying more for the products with the tariffs. 

Do you think the tax cut he instituted was wonderful? Well – continue thinking about that when your local services (any or all of them) are cut or eliminated due to your city budget does not have enough revenue – ‘because of that tax cut’.

What about clean air and clean water? Think your kids are going to be able to run around as you did years ago but now the air and water are more polluted (remember, the coal mine dumping above and the Trump administrations’ attempt to relax car emissions letting car makers off the hook…)

Use your brains. Think about the future. You cannot just think about yourself because you do not like gays or dark skinned people. You cannot say “hey, my religion is the foremost important thing in the world” when other people believe in a different religion. Do not make a mistake, as an American and a global citizen – I. DO. NOT. WANT Sharia Law anywhere near America.

Ultimately, what is being stated here is that Americans need to be better.

• Give women their voices – it is hard enough to come forward publicly as it is
• Think about unity, amongst all Americans (i.e. why do we still have Sundown towns in parts of America? Why do we still have so many skinhead/white nationalist/white supremacist groups around the country?)
  

Because America has to come together again and be a “United States” and grow stronger and be better as a country for itself. As well as in the face of rising problems with:

• Russia’s Putin doing the meddling he is doing globally and
• China doing what they are doing – attempting to force people / countries to kowtow to them; giving China hemispheric power to do what they wish, such as build man-made islands in the South China Seas and claim more of the region as belonging to them (we could discuss the Uighurs and the police state they are living under as well as the great firewall of China as well as internet and public censorship so the Chinese citizens have no voice and are unable to vote politicians out of power – these are big stories on their own…)

We are losing the luster of being a world leader because we do not have any serious diplomatic power. Who do we have that is a shining star in the world of diplomacy? Our ‘leader’ in the White House is not one who has great powers of diplomacy. He is continually causing America to devolve into a laughing stock of the world every time he utters a sentence or disseminates a tweet.

We are a country where it is now up to the states to institute clean air and clean water and equality for all. That is, those states with a forward looking mindset for the next 10 – 30 years…

 

 

AG Jeff Sessions – No Religion in Government – Didn’t You Learn That

First, be sure and clear here – if an individual wants to believe in a god or a religion, that is fine. That is their business – for themselves and their families (at least for those members who do not turn away from the god that their family believes in). Religion is an individual effort – it is not to be forced on others to see and hear (preaching the good book and all that). If religion is your calling, good for you, just do not push it on others who may believe in science and logic.

Jeff Sessions, Attorney General Jeff Sessions!!!!

Did you not learn about “no religion in government“!  There is supposed to be separation of state and church…!

It is bad enough that we have Mike Pence, the American vice president, who is so religiously devout, in government…

Or better yet Sessions, that same religious quote you used (Romans 13), well: it was used by Christians in Europe to defend Nazi rule and by white religious conservatives in South Africa to defend apartheid, Lincoln Mullen, an assistant professor of history at George Mason University, pointed out in The Atlantic on Friday. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/sessions-bible-verse-romans.html)

Or from another news outlet that many trust, the Washington Post:

“There are two dominant places in American history when Romans 13 is invoked,” said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. “One is during the American Revolution [when] it was invoked by loyalists, those who opposed the American Revolution.”

The other, Fea said, “is in the 1840s and 1850s, when Romans 13 is invoked by defenders of the South or defenders of slavery to ward off abolitionists who believed that slavery is wrong. I mean, this is the same argument that Southern slaveholders and the advocates of a Southern way of life made.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/14/jeff-sessions-points-to-the-bible-in-defense-of-separating-immigrant-families/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c135817a2860)

Come on, get your act together, you are the AG of America, you of all people should not be using religion in your official capacity – at no time in your official duties should you be doing that.

Let’s hope you change that outlook on how you use your belief in a god and in the work you are supposed to be doing… We DO NOT want to start regressing further back in time when religious leaders and groups forced religion on everyone else.

freedom from religion in government (FFRG) may have a thing or two to say on that count….

Lunacy – Politics, Dictators (& Trump) and Race

It is now 2017 and we, as a global people, are facing more and more lunacy in the world.

In Turkey, we have Erdogan who constantly expands his political powers to where it is reaching dictatorial levels. When you:

• Modify the political system;
• Suppress journalists, military, educators, other political parties and
• Control the media
  

— you are a dictator.

In Venezuela, we have Maduro with his recent critically gained presidency. Currently he is an authoritarian (some of us prefer the term ‘dictator’). He appears to be on a track to continue absorbing more power – by rewriting their country’s constitution, even while it is reported that 98% of the country’s people rejected that idea. Approximately, 3.6 million people voted according to an independent analysis. Here are a few of the actions he, Maduro, has implemented or rather, allowed to take place:

• delayed elections,
• jailing of opposition leaders,
• increasing influence of the army, and
• efforts by the government-appointed courts to curtail the powers of the opposition-held national assembly.

Note, he has the backing of Russian and Cuban leadership…

In Iran, Hassan Rouhani, won the recent presidential election to continue holding office. One item he ran on was to include women in the cabinet. That, as it turns out, did not occur – it is an all-male cabinet…  That is not progress. He ran on the platform of being a reformist.

In Russia, well, actually, do we need to add anything more on him than what we already know of him (and Medvedev)…? When you:

• Control the political system (arrest opposition on false charges of embezzlement in order to label the person as a criminal, which under Russian laws, the person cannot run for certain offices);
• Control the country’s media (to spread whatever propaganda is desired); put in a VPN prohibition (so citizens cannot have secure & private communication with the outside world);
• Use your police force, your military & intelligence services to force how ‘protest rallies should be held (i.e. maximum of 250 people and constrained to protest only within a few block area)’; and
• Control state conglomerates in order to line the leadership’s pockets with BILLIONS of dollars (& Swiss Francs, Euros, British Pounds and even Bitcoins)

— if that is not dictatorial, not sure what else it could possibly be.

In China, we have a country that wants to be capitalistic but is still hugely communistic. This is a country that:

• Is also banning private citizen use of VPNs – sorry, correction, citizens can ‘apply’ for use of a VPN (but that means that citizen would have to provide a back door {or front door} into that VPN’s communication path…
• Has a Communist party with significant control over the country’s media – with an iron fist.
• HAS BUILT a man-made island in the South China Seas (Spratly Islands) in order to, ahhh what was it they stated (one reason) – to protect their sovereign rights and regional territories. Remember, that area is a hotly contested area for “centuries” by countries in the area (Taiwan, China, Vietnam, with Malaysia and the Philippines).
• Wants foreign investors (tech) to give up source code to ensure there is nothing hinky or spying related in order for those foreign firms to do business in China.
  
• Still has huge human rights issues (think Falun Gong and {two spellings} Uyghur & Uighur people of western China)
• Wants to completely take over Hong Kong despite what China promised in 1999 (freedom to continue progressing)
• Suppresses all (or as much as they can find) negative commentary regarding the country and the political leaders

In America, we have someone who may not be dictatorial but is clearly not of the right mettle (and state of mind) to run a country and grow.When we have:

• An EPA that is relaxing/eliminating rules/regulations left and right to allow toxins into the air and water, it is a very bad sign.
• A Dept of Education that believed that HBCUs were a wonderful alternative and is attempting to have more charter schools across the country AND not listening to the educators in her own Department – that is a bad sign for our children and future leaders.
• An Attorney General that should not have been appointed to being with (there are all kinds of reasons to choose from if you wish to do a little research and analysis of your own) – that is a bad sign for the country’s law enforcement system.
• A Commerce secretary who wants to relax rules and regulations (just recall the sweat shops and lack of workplace violations of yesterday) – we have a problem in that more business will start doing what they want to do without protecting their employees.
• A secretary of State who does not talk to his own senior leadership nor allow press conferences – that is a bad omen of things happening behind closed doors.

So, that list could have easily continued but many of you know the shortfalls of our current administration. We now come to our president – a choice that the electoral college should never have made when the popular national vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the other candidate. We have a president who:

• Listens to select individuals, who may not be qualified to provide those kinds of opinions
• Says whatever he wishes without ANY deep thoughts or consideration, from what we observe – he likes to gain information and content from Alex Jones
• Gives oversight and strategic control of the military to the generals – that is a bad idea (extrapolate down the road and into the future – you’ve got a big brain to do so)
• Is a completely bad and wrong role model for youth growing up, who aspire to be someone important – do we want that kind of leader sprouting up everywhere in 10-20 years…? He is definitely not a role model for many of us.
  
• Allegedly cooked the books for his Grand Hyatt hotel partnership in New York in the mid-80s (here is one link but please do your due diligence: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/trump-files-how-donald-screwed-over-new-york-city-his-tax-bill/) – Trump had ordered the Grant Hyatt to change its accounting methods to lower its reported profits. Check out what the city’s auditor general at the time (Karen Burstein) reported. And he, Trump, is well known for stiffing everyone he can, from lawyers to chefs in order to get out of paying for it.
• Barely raises an eyebrow at the Charlottesville, VA white supremacist rally where James Alex Fields Jr, allegedly killed, via a hit & run, a female pedestrian and injured 19 others (ala, an ISIS style vehicle attack). And if I’m not mistaken, he was on the stage behind  and on Trump’s right at some Trump rally late last year or earlier this year. Some media outlet should do a facial scan for this person in the archives – to see what kind of rally he and his friends were attending.  And also, no, Obama did not raise the white racist, supremacist, Nazi spectre when the idiot, Dylann Roof, shot the people in the church. But that was a different scenario – this time (Charlottesville) it was a massive gathering the day after a Tikki firelight march by, hmmmm, individuals of a certain color. The tension and hatred was already at a known and anticipated high level (witness the police and state trooper presence). The Charlottesville situation was not a surprise but our president only gave a rather tepid response for this mass gathering and protest that many people have likened to Hitler and his brown shirts…

The U.S. has a president that is causing this country to waste more money and time on stupidity and inane actions, not just domestically but globally, than we should have to. NOTHING is really getting done and please do not tell the rest of us that he is bringing back manufacturing jobs, those numbers are not significant, especially not for the long run.

 

So, with that list above – definitely not an all-encompassing list of lunatic actions around the globe but it seems to be a glide path for disaster if we do not somehow come together to make change happen. Selfish racial beliefs are not beneficial for a society as a whole – it should be societal belief of everyone helping everyone (no, I’m not intimating that we should be become a socialist society, sorry). We should be working, together, around the globe to make life better for everyone. We, the U.S. cannot even:

• Make health care affordable to everyone, from poor to middle class in this country when there are other countries who are making it work by using one form or another of Universal Health Care or a One Payer system.
• Improve our infrastructure system.
• Innovate and improve our educational system so that it is equitable for all, not just pockets of people scattered around the country.
• And for sure, we are still leap years behind where we should be where it comes to diversity and dropping discrimination of all forms (race, gender, age) to historic lows.

Instead, we, Americans, have a president that seems oblivious to who he has selected to help run the country – oblivious to what he is saying to the world (where he is a laughing stock, check it out) and oblivious to the image he projects to others outside of his base (which appears to be shrinking, finally).

We should still be the leader of the free world, but that may be gone now in no small part due to our leader. And without having that kind of leader status, we may be a contributing (not root) cause to the rise of lunacy in the world – in race, politics and pop-up dictators.

 

People! 2014 Elections for Those who Did and Did Not Vote – We are SCREWED…

Okay, 2014 election results. Not good. Of course, it does depend on which perspective you are looking from and through which rose colored glasses you are looking through.

 It seems that people did get out and vote – that is, SOME people got out and voted. And yet again, another year where MANY eligible voters DID NOT GET OFF THEIR HINNIES AND VOTE!!

Am I ticked off, yes, I am. We, as a country, could have had much, much better results from our November 4, 2014 elections.

Now, we will continue to face horrendous voting restrictions for a great number of people, specifically where governors stated there have been many cases of voting fraud when in fact – it was not true.

We will still see many more situations where women will not have free choice with their body. And yes, say it – abortions and birth control measures. Planned Parenthood and other clinic shutdowns…

We will continue seeing K – 12 education highly screwed up – funding and quality of education – FOR ALL PEOPLE, not just the privileged, well to do and those of certain backgrounds and neighborhoods.

You do not need me to elaborate any more than that. We ‘may’ continue to see education dumbed down with no national standard. A standard ensures that if a family moves to any other state in the country, that family can be assured that their child or children can readily pick up where they left off back home, rather than going into a system where the students in the ‘new’ school district are further behind OR very far ahead of their own children.

 

Come on people, many more of you all were supposed to become more civic minded and vote. More of you should have been HIGHLY motivated to vote to change the abysmal or dismal conditions many of you find yourselves in.

But it seems that many of you DID NOT GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

This 2014 mid-term election cycle was supposed to be another catalyst for change from the way things are going in this country. We were going to work on the horrific amount of money going into all the various elections.

As you know, the amount of money going into politics has become unbelievable. The U.S. Supreme Court does not seem concerned enough to know that they may have made a mistake in sending Citizens United on with a pass and allowing virtually unlimited amounts of cash to slosh around politics via so, so many venues of open and dark money outlets.

Do not be mistaken, the average person with a decent education, job and background – that average person IS locked out of raising “a decent amount of money” to enter politics and win and be a voice for their constituents.

We will continue to see all these politicians spending so much of their time raising money for their campaigns (and lucrative war chest for AFTER they leave politics) rather than working harder for the people in their communities, districts and states.

People! You could have made an immediate impact from this point on by GETTING OUT TO VOTE – but, you did not. 

We could have started changing the sadly bad trajectory this country is on. But, instead, we now have:

• A politician who cut taxes for the state, drastically to the point where the state is in a blood red hole – and oh yeah, the education system’s finances were gutted to stupid levels
• Another politician who believes people should be able to take up arms against legally federalized officers of the U.S. government (kinda sounds like a Sovereign Citizen type individual instead of a clear headed politician)
• Another politician in a southern state who implemented draconian voting restrictions
• A politician who managed to get unions reduced to, well, nothing – no bargaining powers, no teeth to have any kind of effective negotiations for their members – all the while that state clamped down on what people can earn AND this politician has aspirational aims of someday running for president…
• Another, sheesh, you get my drift – I could go on and on and on with other examples of politicians going back to the nation’s capital but they should have been booted out

We needed more people in office who are collaborative and willing to compromise to get things done.

And yes, we actually need to spend more money to improve things NOW instead of waiting another decade to spend the money when it is ALWAYS more prohibitively expensive to make changes and fixes.

 

There were quite a few people and organizations in this country that tried to get people out to vote and to vote with their head and what is right for the country, not just a few of the well to do or people of certain walks of life or even skin color.

But, it seems many people voted after paying more attention to rabble rousers who blatantly stoop to using a great deal of innuendo, veiled slurs and outright lies against others – just to gain YOU as a listener to their vitriolic conversations instead of truths and actual facts.

Again, yes, you can listen to whomever but PLEASE do your own research too. Listen to more and different viewpoints, different TV and radio stations – get as many DIVERSE viewpoints as you can, even if they are hard to listen to or to stomach.

Only by listening to multiple channels of information can you make an informed decision. Listening to one TV outlet or a single radical radio station or reading a niche newspaper is not the way to informed decision making.

It seems that many voted without using their own wonderful brain and critical thinking and analytical capabilities.

And, I am truly willing to bet that quite a few of those who DID deem it important enough to vote did not do their own fact checking and research. Nor did too many people (out of the eligible millions), I wager, debate things, not argue, with others around them. Debate and discuss with people who are of different make-ups, you know, different:

• Race,
• Age/Generation,
• Gender,
• Education,
• Income brackets,
• etc., etc., etc.

JUST others who are different and diverse from you for an open and honest debate… 

So now, well, again – WE ARE SCREWED for the next two years. That of course is just my own opinion but we, as a country, get those in office who have no head for:

• Fairness,
• Science,
• Forward thinking,
• Logic,
• Equitable politics and
• Getting the important things completed and not just getting the job done for those who pay the most or are the most vocal (read as extreme).

People! Take a truly critical look at who was voted into office and what they did for their states, their districts and what their endgame could be. There are many politicians who are not interested in fully representing their complete constituencies. Those politicians are really only interested in working on representing a small percentage of the total. The small percentage of the total encapsulates the highly vocal minorities and very well to do.

Many of us will be simply amazed if anything of a significant nature will get done in the next two years, after the past six years of blocking a President primarily because of his skin color.

What will happen to certain politicians if the next President is a woman…? Will you go ballistic and implode? Will you want to start the process all over again, that of taking your ball home and sulking in the corner instead of ACTUALLY WORKING on things for the future and progress of the entire country?

 

We, Americans, only gain the politicians who we vote for, that is, if you made the effort to vote and voting critically instead of selfishly.  

 

 

People! Please – Get Out and VOTE – Make a Difference…

It does not matter if you are conservative or liberal.

It does not matter if you are poor or middle income.

It does not matter if you are a high school dropout (for whatever significantly important reason you had) or a highly educated person with one or two PhD’s.

It does not matter if you are a woman, man, or teenager (of voting age).

It does not matter if you are blue, orange, black, brown or white or whatever color you are or represent.

GET OUT AND VOTE! And not just for a Presidential election but for all elections; in your community, your county and your state elections too.

Get out and vote and make a difference. If you wish to make a change in government; local, state or federal – get out and vote.

If you are disenfranchised for whatever reason, the only way change is going to happen is if you GET OUT AND VOTE!

 

If you are facing horrendous voting restrictions – get out and vote somehow and use your power of the vote to make changes for the future.

If you are facing situations where you cannot control your own destiny, your own body – get out and vote to change that situation.

If you are in a situation where education is or becoming compromised because of the way a vocal few dictates (or attempting to dictate) what you learn – get out and vote. Use YOUR knowledge and education to make a difference (check out the Colorado school district where the board wanted to, well, basically, water down our controversial and at times violent past and only teach the ‘positive’ things of the U.S.).

 

Come on people, how do we, as a community, get the vast majority of Americans (naturally born and naturalized) to become more civic minded and vote? How do we motivate you, even if you do have hardship conditions to vote in – how can we collectively get the vast amount of eligible voters to GET OUT AND VOTE?

 

If you want to change the way things are going in this country, such as the horrific amount of money going into all the various elections – GET OUT AND VOTE! The amount of money going into politics has become unimaginable. Ever since our U.S. Supreme Court saw fit, in their inestimable intelligence, to allow virtually unlimited amounts of cash to slosh around politics via so, so many venues of open and dark money outlets – it appears to be locking out the average citizen to raise money to enter politics and be a voice heard for their constituents.

Many in politics now seem to spend a great of time attempting to raise money for their campaigns rather than working harder for the people in their communities, their districts and states. That to me, seems rather a sad farce to all Americans – that many of our political leaders act out of tantrums because they cannot “always” get some issue their way.

 

People! Please, make a difference from this point on, GET OUT AND VOTE!

We need to change the sadly bad trajectory this country seems to be on. We need to make America stronger and not some divisive or fractured groups of people living in various parts of the country.

We need to bring people closer together rather than going further apart. We have too many militias who want to bring anarchy if they can. We have Sovereign Citizens who want their own strange world. We STILL HAVE Nazi wannabes in different communities of the country.

Education believe it or not will bring people together. We have to gain a society of more educated people, of all ages and eliminate all the many pockets of educational disparities. We have to bring better schools to all communities – hopefully this will stop the insane movement of self-segregation that has been occurring around the country. We were supposed to be moving forward, integrating people into all walks of life for a better future, yet we seem to be going in reverse in so many ways.

 

And vote with your head. Use your own brain and the great thoughts you have formed on your own.

Stop listening to rabble rousers who are not using facts but instead are using innuendo, veiled slurs and outright lies against others – just to gain YOU as a listener to their vitriolic conversations. Sure, you can listen to whomever but do your own research too. Listen to others of different parties, different TV and radio stations – get as many DIVERSE viewpoints as you can, even if they are hard to listen to or to stomach.

Only by listening to multiple channels of information can you make an informed decision. Listening to one TV outlet or a single radical radio station or reading a niche newspaper is not the way to informed decision making.

Listen to or watch or read: FOX, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC, Al-Jazeera, Washington Post, N.Y. Times, L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, The Oregonian, and several of the many news and talk show radio programs. Even if it is at times just flat out difficult.

Then do your own fact checking and research. Then, do your own critical thinking. Debate it with others around you – not just the like-minded who are the same as you (same race, same age, same educational level), but others who are diverse or different from you. I did not say foolishly argue or get into name calling but true, honest debate.

Then and only then, make an informed decision.

Because, otherwise, you “will” wind up with someone in office who has no head for: fairness, science or for equitable politics and getting the important things completed and not just getting the job done for those who pay the most or are the most vocal (read as extreme).

 

People! Do yourself and your great-grandchildren a favor.

PLEASE, GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

 

Sense & Sensibilities…? Shame!

Originally posted Oct 4, 2013 at & moved from: http://patrick642.wordpress.com/
Change. Improve. Innovate. Be better.
~ Pressing issues, from cyber security, to strategy, to innovation, to improvements (self, others, organizations)

Sense and Sensibilities Today was the day I had lined up to write about malware but with this current shutdown situation going on, I had to write about that instead – especially in light of the fact that it also affects me too.

I will not be calling out names, it is not my nature. I will not be calling out specific parties. Anyone who objectively watches, listens and reads more than one narrowly focused news outlet (TV, radio, websites & newsprint) will know what is going on. I say ‘objectively’ because too many people are not being objective about this shutdown and using emotion and religion instead. In light of this shutdown, what I really want to do is rant and use profanity so profuse that it will make the hand on the back of your hands burn off but that is not me.

Look, if you are not using your head and thinking through the daily and weekly political machinations for yourself but instead relying on one talk show personality, or radio personality or one politician who ‘may’ be distorting the truth – Shame on you. Go out and work your brain cells and verify some of that content for yourself – use that brain that nature gave you.

Gerrymandering / Re-districting We have to put a stop to gerrymandering; it just goes on getting worse and worse over time. Both political parties have got to stop that madness. I happened to be listening to the Rachel Maddow show one night this week and they were discussing the possibilities of having a professional non-partisan group work on the re-districting process, removing the bias that grows more and more over time. I like that idea, would it work? Could people in this country get behind this idea so we can have representation of all the people in that district rather than some of them?

To those people in certain congressional districts around the country, you need to think about more than yourself. You are likely in a district full of citizens that are overwhelmingly just like you but lacking any real diversity. There are many, many other people out there around the country from many different walks of life. These other people may not be like you in: == Race (we had an Indian-American woman win Miss America, so what, be happy for her), == Education (not everyone can go to college due to other issues in their lives, like caring for a seriously sick family member), == Affluence (not everyone is born into a family that had a head start in life decades ago (I’m not talking about rich)), == Political persuasion, == Religious or no religious beliefs (religion should not be playing any part in government) or even == Health (people who do not grow up in well to do families, have health problems that are not taken care of years ago) Because some people may hold a very narrow view on life, those people cannot and should not inflict that narrow view on others and try to force others to be like them. You simply cannot do that, life is not supposed to work that way – you cannot suppress and deny others as it was done centuries ago (think ‘Christian Crusades’) or even as recent as the 20th century (think ‘women’s rights,’ slavery (Chinese and Blacks). You have to consider others as well as yourself in how we live in today’s society and move forward in the 21st century. Other people may not have had the chance to obtain better education in order to get that better job and earn a better living. And when monies are taken away from some school district to finance another ‘better’ school district, you are in effect suppressing those others.

Politics So, when people in the various pockets of America think and act narrowly on things in life and transplant that to politics, those people vote for someone who also thinks narrowly. This starts moving to extremes over time, we see that today. People should be thinking long term in how we can make the country better for all American citizens, not just in those close-minded pockets of the United States. We can do better than that.

We should be looking at mechanisms that can help all of us in the long run, even if it does mean spending more money first. For example, take this Affordable Care Act (Obamacare or Kynect or Covered California or whatever it is called in your state) – this will start reducing costs immediately for reduced emergency room visits that many without insurance use for their standard health care. That is, due to not having insurance, they let medical problems become worse until they can no longer stand it and need some kind of treatment. In the meantime, in some form or fashion, the rest of us pay for those emergency room visits…

Politicians & Talking heads We seem to have quite a few politicians and talking heads who are saying that this shutdown is a good thing. Do not take my word for it; watch the repeated videos and news clippings yourself. These individuals, in talking about the shutdown are saying some of the following: == It is only a minor inconvenience == This is only a pin prick == People will see how much government we can get along without == Etc. Now, if you are paying attention to what is going on around the country, you, yourself, will know this is not a pin prick or minor inconvenience. Our embassies and consulates overseas will have to function sub-optimally if their current funds run out. Medical research is now drastically reduced. I know someone who is supposed to get married on the National Capital Mall this weekend but will now not be able to because of the shutdown. Etc., Etc., Etc. And if those people who are affected by the shutdown cannot receive pay checks due to their furlough, then the ripple effect starts and it will affect many more people around the country. These people caught up in that ripple effect will likely be someone you know – “IF” not you specifically.

To those politicians who are obstinate, close-minded and chose to force situations on people – SHAME on you.

Conclusion We can absolutely do better than what is going on with this shutdown. We are supposed to be world leaders but it seems like we are harking back to Newt Gingrich when he was supposedly snubbed by the President at the time and as a result, Gingrich (as Speaker of the House) shutdown the government in 1995. Take a look at the Daily News front page from back then of the image portraying Gingrich in a caricature of him wearing a diaper throwing a tantrum. (Jan 2012 article link with that caricature: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/01/newt-gingrich-crybaby-the-famous-daily-news-cover-explained) We need people in politics who will listen to their constituents, the well-meaning, level-headed constituents in their districts and bring those thoughts and ideas to congress. We need people in politics who are above board and honest in the message they bring back to their districts and informing their constituents of what is reality. These politicians must convey the message that their constituents cannot have everything only the way they want it.

There has to be compromise. We cannot force things on people, things like forcing: == A woman to undergo a trans-vaginal probe or == People who have voted for 50-60 years or more to get voter i.d.s to prove their identity == People to only marry the opposite sex (or become a freak show for marrying a same-sex partner)

We can do better than that. We have to. Didn’t we get women the right to vote (the hard way)? Didn’t we get blacks the right to vote (painfully)? Didn’t mixed race marriage come to pass? Didn’t we end segregation (well, this is still a work in progress due to the large number of bigots in the country)?Come on folks; let’s not allow the extreme people of the country hijack the rest of us. We should have compromise, level-headedness and better reasoning in politics. For that matter, we should have it around the globe. No one can have whatever they want, whenever they want it (that goes for the rich or the politically powerful as well).

Political parties and our future

Originally posted Aug 1, 2013 at & moved from: http://patrick642.wordpress.com/
Change. Improve. Innovate. Be better.
~ Pressing issues, from cyber security, to strategy, to innovation, to improvements (self, others, organizations)

Politics. At some point in the future, with the way things are nose diving in politics, we may wind up with a one party system for the country (maybe even one for N. American as a continent – but that is way off in the future).

So many politicians are in office nowadays primarily looking out for themselves rather than their constituents and the country. What happened along the way to get to this point where these selfish individuals want to line their pockets while in office or once they get out of office? What happened to those folks who went to Washington to do selfless work for the people of the country rather than completely toeing the party line, even if it makes no sense to them? Yet they kowtow to their party leaders, sometimes with no self-recrimination. What happened to those bold individuals who would stick up for things that were just and right, even if it did mean they were only a one term politician? But what they stick up for just may end up paving the way for new progress and improvements for those who follow them. What they do ‘might’ break the logjam that continues to hold us back from actually being the GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

Is it that the allure of being in the spotlight brings out the worse candidates to public office? Or rather, maybe I should say that it brings out the worse of that candidate/political member… Or is it the allure of making buckets of money while they are in office and then after they leave office? We know that a lot of individuals go in to office with a modest bank balance but at some point along the way they seem to have millions of dollars in the bank and in investments. Is greed the factor that draws so many individuals to the highest public office now. Many individuals who should be running simply cannot afford to so, what with the steep, STEEP cost of running for office and/or remaining in office. We should not need to have candidates for president raise and spend $1,000,000,000 (billion). Neither should we be seeing candidates for mayors, governors, congress or senate now be required to raise millions of dollars for their war chest to run and compete against other candidates who might be rich or well funded. We need to somehow rejigger the methodology of how we get good and decent candidates to run for office, without all this massive amount of spending…

I favor no one party blindly but I will say that I am an independent who leans heavily to the democratic party. But, I don’t follow that party blindly just because they are democrats. So if you are of a different party that is your right, just don’t hate me or respond negatively just because of the party difference. We are supposed to be one country, one where we should be able to speak our minds – but not rabidly without commonsense and common courtesy. Be passionate but not bullheaded, stick in the mud or ostrich in the sand passionate.

We have to hear what all parties say and do “our own homework/research” to get more ground truth and complete facts. Not just one side of the story. This is what is killing us, so many people listen to just one side on a daily basis and they end up with this vicious bubble filter (actually, read Eli Pariser’s book on “The Filter Bubble ” and gain some insight from that). Then these folks stay in that filter bubble and close their minds to new, fresh, different ideas – all because they may be too unsettling for them to come across something different, even if what they come across may be more true. I would say, “to each their own” but this is too important for so many people in this country to get in and stay in those filter bubbles. It is flat out dangerous.

We have too many in the different political parties that already make it more expensive and dangerous to be involved. We have states and cities around the country that are sneaking in bills that are harmful to the people of the state. Rather than debating the topic at hand, these bill sponsors rename the bill with something esoteric and stash it in another bill and then sneak the bill in at the deadline…

Maybe we do need one party in this country, one that is for the people that treats all Americans with dignity and respect. Whether they are women, people of different races, have lower educational backgrounds – the point is, we are supposed to be helping each other, not making the “have not’s” suffer as they are. All Americans should be getting a fair shot, not because they belong to just one party (‘ours’ – not ‘theirs), because for sure if you suppress someone, you are not being fair.

Do we need to change the political party system? Because to me, this bicameral one is having far too many expensive and ineffectual issues. We have to stop all these stalemates and get things moving. We all know. sorry – I mean ‘many of us’ know that the longer we delay projects, they become more expensive. And we have to start thinking of the future, strategically and put things in place now (even if they are expensive) so we can reap the benefits and rewards down the road.

Okay, enough on this for now – I just get riled up hearing all these political fights that make no sense. Conservative or Progressive – we need to be fair and help everyone up.