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…

 

 

Religious Jihad… Caliphate… Putin & Crimea… Global Problems…

Global Concerns

Around the world today, we continue to face multiple global issues (only going to discuss a few here), issues large enough that the entire global community must weigh in and do more than talk. And oh yeah, we will need to provide the UN and Interpol with much more bite (punishment and enforcement) – they absolutely require it.

Yes, these concerns and issues are all highly serious but we must start doing more.

The spread of one religion full of zealots is not just an issue for one region of the world – it is a significant issue for all citizens of the globe.

And a country using its military might to take land and/or to instill fear by proposing military expansion under the pretext of “to insure our citizens are not harmed” can no longer be tolerated or allowed.

 

One does not need to hold the highest security clearances to know or see what is happening around the world, there are plenty of news outlets to cull information from, using your own research efforts. But – you “HAVE TO” use your own mind and brain power to make your own informed decisions. It will mean watching portions of multiple network TV or cable news programs, radio shows and Internet news feeds. You “cannot” filter all of your news from just one or two sources; you must broaden your horizons of where you get your news. Listen to news coming from multiple political parties, not just your own.

Anyone publically disavowing science yet does not nothing about any aspect of the science they are attempting to disprove, i.e. evolution, global weather patterns, financial economies, the science of diplomacy or military arts and so on – is that the type of person you want to listen to and to follow?

Listen, if you continue to diligently listen to only a couple of sources, you are no better than the kids being brainwashed in the numerous madrasas in multiple parts of the world. And we, many of us, all know that many of these madrasas are pounding select knowledge and no more into the heads of all the impressionable men and boys (remember, girls and women are not worthy of education). Many of these impressionable men and boys are taught to dislike, disavow and hate the lifestyles and teachings of the western world.

In the end, the mass majority of individuals leaving madrasas are still ignorant and mostly uneducated… but frighteningly have their sights set on hating and killing anyone not of their religion or are from the western world.

 

One does not need to be the best National Security Intelligence SME to analyze open source (not classified) information from around the globe. You can use that significantly important organ of your body, your very own brain, to dissect and analyze the information you see and read for yourself.

YOU, you are smart enough to compare multiple news items and see which ones hold water and which ones do not, especially if you do your own research to see if what is being discussed is true or not. You are your own intelligence analyst – you’re an intelligent human being, I sure hope you are.

One just needs to open their eyes and “see,” not just look, what is occurring and extrapolate about what is happening now and onwards into the future. Extrapolate the information you’ve analyzed and see where the path ends up a week from now, a month or year from now. You have to project forward intelligently.

 

Religious Jihadists

To spread the word of Islam by killing non-believers of all other religions – that is one goal of a religious zealot or some type of Jihadist. To be very clear here, many of us know that the mass majority of Muslims are peace loving – it is the minority of dangerous zealots, who want to make the world over in their image, following Sharia law that we have to worry about.

 

A group of individuals, no matter what religion they purport to be part of or are from – no can kidnap women and girls, killing the men and boys and force those captives to follow an unwanted religion. There is no justification for it.

What zealous religious individuals around the globe have to understand (I know, I know – they may never understand) is that there is the matter of free will and expression. They cannot force others to follow a religion that was created centuries ago out of ignorance and grew over time with religious leaders evolving over that time as well. Those religious leaders, zealot or not, evolved over time, holding titles from witch doctor, shaman, priests, imam, apostle, dalai lama, swami, abbot to sun gods, etc., etc….

The choice of free will means people can choose to believe in any one of the many gods out there and to follow whatever religion they want – but it is their choice to do so, or to ‘not’ follow any god or religion. Just because a group of people spurred on by someone claiming to be their religious leader, who commands their followers to commit Jihads or Fatwas, it does not make it right. And make no mistake about it, a Jihad or Fatwa that dictates killing someone is not legal in many, many parts of the world. It is just murder.

The growth of modern day terrorists and their aims lead them to want to transit international boundaries and create fear and death by any means handy. These terrorists say it is to right the wrongs of all the years of western superiority. Unfortunately, I will say, many of our ancestors did take many, many things by force and in the process, suppressed the people who lived in those affected countries, including the U.S…

Today, we have many people following varying religions around the world, religions that rose up out of superstition and lack of education from 10s of thousands (if not 100s of thousands) years ago and then passed down through the ages to us, the descendants’ descendants.

And please, if anyone wants to follow an ancient tradition that is their right but those people cannot force others to do so, it has to be of free will, if that is desired.

   

A Caliphate?

Now, as everyone should be aware of, we have a hard core group of individuals in the mid-east who, under their leader – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the piously humble man wearing a very expensive wrist watch), wish to create an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (now calling itself, the Islamic State…). Or if you will, al-Baghdadi wants to start the beginnings of a new Caliphate.

This is still a terrorist activity even if the terrorists believe it to be some kind of holy crusade.

In their drive to create this Caliphate, suppose these individuals, who are hell bent (pardon the pun) on doing whatever they can to demolish, destroy and flat out create massive deaths around the world, suppose these terrorists start using hidden explosives (and vastly improved miniaturization techniques) in wearable’s such as FitBits, packed into the frames of many pairs of glasses or even within the handles of suitcases…?

Suppose they actually get more American’s or visitors to the U.S. here on a Visa to successfully cause deaths by poisoning the water supplies of small towns (or larger cities) or other such dastardly acts of violence…?

What do we do, start doing even more pervasive and extensive searches of citizens around the globe to prevent the spread of terrorist activities…?

For all we know, in the future, Boko Haram may want to become of that group, growing their own list of horrific acts…

In any regard, a Caliphate led by religious zealot(s) is a dangerous thing for the world to deal with.

 

Putin, Russia, Crimea, etc…

Okay, we have the mid-east as a very hot spot, what about in Eurasian? Look at Putin of the Soviet Union, errr sorry, of Russia. It really appears as if he wants to pull the Soviet Union of yore back together again. What else can explain the inextricably odd actions that the man is doing?

Or is he simply off his noggin in annexing a portion of Ukraine – Crimea, to grow Russia back into its former self – the U.S.S.R…? Is he seriously looking at Georgia, Moldova and others? Has he absolutely gone wacko in threatening Finland? If you do not recall or did not know:

• Putin in 2012 [1] stated, “Saying that Finland will surrender its right to act independently in the event it joins the western military alliance, Putin added that Moscow will respond to deployment of any NATO attack missiles based in the Nordic country.”
• Then in 2013, he threatened Finland with reoccupation [2] and
• In 2014 [3], “According to Andrej Illarionov, the President’s chief economic adviser from 2000 to 2005, Mr Putin seeks to create “historical justice” with a return to the days of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Soviet Union under Stalin.” Also from the 2014 story: “Parts of Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States and Finland are states where Putin claims to have ownership.”

So what does the world do with an individual who has delusions of grandeur, which is what it appears to me? Does the global community stand by twiddling its collective thumbs waiting to see what Putin does? Or does the world come together in sending a clear and definitive statement to Putin that he cannot cavalierly move his military into other countries with the belief that his predecessors were wrong in granting sovereignty and land to other countries – Ukraine, Finland, Belarus, etc.

Yes, the EU does get a large amount of fossil fuel from Russia but at some point, the world, especially the EU and its neighbors must put the pedal to the metal and show Putin how much solidarity there is in that hemisphere and that he cannot continue bullying countries because he has a larger military.

 

There will be some initial pain in putting up a strong cohesive front towards Putin but a bit of sacrifice early will likely quell any future problems – such as another military incursion into places like Georgia or Crimea.

 

Then too, it’s likely that Putin is desirous in occupying those areas of Ukraine for the vast energy reserves (gas and oil) below ground, within the Ukrainian eastern borders. He took Crimea for the naval base infrastructure currently in place.

 

And as for the U.S., no, we are not exempt from problems. We know that we have a good number of individuals in the U.S. that want to create problems like not paying taxes, attempts at secession in the state they live in and on and on (i.e. militia, sovereign citizens – for which their numbers grew when someone of a different color became President). There are multiple issues of a long list of problems in the U.S., such as gun violence, racial disparity (still), educational woes and on and on…

 

Our Global Future…

Education

We have to set a goal, one primary overarching goal – that of providing better, much better education to everyone around the globe. Yes, the education will have to be modified for whatever country but everyone should be educated, to learn to read and write and think for themselves. In providing ‘quality’ education, it will allow more people the chance to grow their own choices and make better choices for them and their families.

Of course this is not an easy task, we are still working on in many of the developed countries but we have to spread education and the tools to gain that education. If we do not, we will all have a bleak future. If people grow up ignorant and only see, hear and read selected teachings from their country’s education system or from a religious group, they do not grow and these people only see things through a possibly much distorted lens, lenses which could continue to cause anger and hatred and jealousy.

A lack of education amplifies ignorance and ill will.

Communication

We all need to make better efforts in communicating – “talking” – to each other. We need to find acceptable common grounds to meet on (such as peaceful coexistence). We need to talk to each other, not attempting to force one country’s belief on another or one’s religion on others.

We need to talk to each other and in doing so, we “must compromise” – no one can have everything they want. It is just not possible, without engendering hatred and violence.

Collaboration

We need more collaboration between all people, all nations! If the world continues on as it is with more nationalism growing in different countries, more secessionist attempts within countries, deepening of certain religious branches – we are going to end up in a world of separateness, with no one wanting to assimilate within a country’s borders. Nor will we have people looking past the ethnicity, race, religion of others, just because they are different – outsiders…

We will have a future plagued with more:

• Violence,
• Terrorists,
• Gangs – Mafia, Triads, Mafiya (Russia), Yakuza, MS13
• Nations hankering to take land from other country’s for water, mineral and energy within the other country (just because they have a bigger military),
• Etc., etc., etc. – I could go on all day 

We have to work together and help the weakest nations grow and begin to prosper. We have to do away with all the remaining dictators and corrupt President’s, in certain countries, along with their crony politicians and business leaders.

We have to do more.

 

Definitions

SME   Subject Matter Expert

 

References

1 – Finland will lose ‘sovereignty’ if joins NATO – Putin, http://rt.com/politics/putin-finland-nato-missiles-509/, 22 Jun 2012

2 – Putin threatens Finland with reoccupation, http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2013/03/15/17466.shtml, 15 Mar 2013

3 – Vladimir Putin ‘wants to regain Finland’ for Russia, adviser says, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-wants-to-regain-finland-for-russia-adviser-says-9224273.html, 30 Mar 2014

50 years later & SCOTUS – We’ve Failed…

Really? Really!!!

Okay, 50 years later and SCOTUS (supreme court of the US) has apparently failed people of the U.S., those who are morally inclined for doing the right thing for the many and not just the vocal. 

Religion, as I know it, is a private affair and as such should never play a part in local, state or federal government. Yet, it does.

Yes, when this country was formed, people knew less about science but they knew more about racism, bigotry, suppression, oppression, sexism, discrimination – well, should I continue on…?

My point is, is that this country has changed over a couple of centuries – at least a little bit – and the world has changed. It is supposed to be for the better, not in taking strides to go backwards. 

Yet, this is what the SCOTUS is doing, with their latest decision for Hobby Lobby and contraception, causing us to go backwards in our nations’ progress. That decision was a slippery slope (Justice Ginsburg and Hillary Clinton both stated that). That decision is going to open up a Pandora’s Box of more discrimination across the country – no service for gays, attempts to do away with minimum wage, etc., etc., etc.

Nia-Malika Henderson wrote a great piece on this topic: How Justice Ginsburg’s Hobby Lobby dissent helps shape the debate about reproductive vs. religious rights — www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/07/01/how-justice-ginsburgs-hobby-lobby-dissent-helps-shape-the-debate-about-reproductive-and-religious-rights/ Jul 1, 2014

 

Religion as I understand it, and no disrespect, is that if individuals want to practice any religion, they are free to do so, as long as they are not forcing others to see it or be an unwilling participant. For example, those of us who may be atheist or agnostic – are forced to handle currency with “In God We Trust” or to see it in courtrooms and/or other public governmental institutions.

If one wants to practice their religion – don’t make everyone around you be unwilling (or unwitting) participants. Hobby Lobby, in its zeal wants to implement their religious belief on their thousands of employees and not all of them are religious, just because they work at Hobby Lobby. For those of you who say ‘maybe those employees who don’t like it should get another job elsewhere,’ – what do you know of the plight of those workers? Do you know how easy or difficult it will be for the Hobby Lobby employee to ‘easily’ move on to another job, one that is as good paying (hopefully) as the one they are leaving?

Why are people trying to force religious beliefs on others? Why aren’t the religious, those that are trying to spread religion, letting the non-religious go about their business in peace? Not allowing the non-religious (or even the willing religious) to partake of something like contraception is somewhat abysmal and akin to Sharia Law. Yep, I did say Sharia Law because that what it boils down to when one wants to put their religious stamp on others who do not want to participate.

If one is religious that is fine, you can believe the world was created 6,000 years ago that is quite up to you. There are even those who believe that mankind domesticated dinosaurs but there are no dinosaur fossils (T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, etc.) as young as 6,000 years old.

But for some people, they believe in the science of the world being created hundreds of millions of years ago (and more) with the human race evolving over the past several million years, with fossils to prove it (Australopithecus, homo habilis, homo erectus, neanderthals, homo sapien, etc.) – that is, if one believes in carbon dating as many do.

We have got to separate and remove religion from politics and government, we have to.

 

The Supreme Court has been making decisions they believed were helping but in fact are actually hindering and causing us to become a have and have not country.

A case in point, the Citizens United decision, where more money can be dumped into politics – that is simply bad but many people seem to believe it is a good idea. It is not.

If those with the most money influences (and dictates behind the scenes) political events and issues because of that vast wealth being sent in at fire hose torrent speeds, the less wealthy will feel the effects and suffer accordingly. This is akin to going back to the robber baron days where the rich were the one’s setting the rules and regulations, the poor “be damned!”

Now of course, not all rich are as maliciously inclined to gobble up all they want with scant disregard to the ‘little people’ or the ’47 percent.’ There are many altruistic wealthy folks, just not enough to overcome the non-altruistic…

 

And the voting rights issue, it is bad enough that we have the problem of political gerrymandering compounding every single problem facing us. Because the SCOTUS knocked down sections of the VRA, we are at this cliff drop off of states making sweeping changes to hinder and impede the votes of certain people. And using the fear of voting fraud in certain conversations keep cropping up, yet, there is very little fraud…

Please do your own wide research on this, “do not” just go to one news outlet and read content there – READ & RESEARCH FROM MULTIPLE, VARIED SOURCES!” Otherwise, you will doom your own knowledge and filter only on what you want to read rather than other varying opinions, which ‘may’ help you to form newer, better and more knowledgeable opinions.

If some of the states wanting to implement some of the draconian voting laws, why not make it easier for the people? Why not put into effect, mobile voter registration vehicles where the vehicle can go to different communities on a rotating basis to let those folks register? This would alleviate the commuting people for many of these folks… right…?

The SCOTUS, in their great wisdom, in cutting out parts of the VRA allowed many states to modify and cripple voting for quite a few citizens.

Overall, the SCOTUS has failed. They have failed, more than likely, in using their personal values rather than logical and contemplative reasoning to decide momentous decisions that spread far and deep into the future.

So ultimately, we, the people of the U.S. have failed along with the Supreme Court. Why? Because we get who we vote for in the political arena. If one votes for a vitriolic individual who refuses to compromise, poo-poos any real science and looking to establish extreme measures to resolve some problem – that is who goes onward doing things many people dislike. 

Subsequently, these individuals in office, they are the ones who go on to decide in some form or fashion the types of people who serve on boards, committees and institutions like the Supreme Court. People like members of the SCOTUS make decisions, which extrapolated out into the future, can cause chagrin, harm and little progress.

We failed because too many people are too short-sighted and use things like gender discrimination or religion, a hugely personal belief, in attempting to brand everyone around them with the same philosophy or belief – whether others want it or not.

SIDEBAR: On the topic of gerrymandering, we have to stop it and stop it now or else we will just see, for the long haul, political parties no longer having truly competitive races with continual gridlock at every turn. We need an independent organization that is bi-partisan to create new district lines in every state, a system that is fair and equitable and not one where we have: “okay, this group here is fine, they will vote for democrats at every election” and “this group over there is fine, they are all one race and wealthy, they will only vote for one party forever.”

Why can’t we stop this gerrymandering nonsense, it is at the heart of political gridlock….!!!??? Or are we doomed to having one party or the other, because of gridlock, blocking commonsense changes and progress for everyone…?

NOTEABLES: To obtain medical supplies dependent on your employer’s beliefs and desires, who in Hades and/or in their right mind would want to do that?

To allow the rich to dictate (again) the direction of politics and societal norms (if we have any left) – who in their right mind would want that?

To allow states to hobble the voting activities of many of their citizens because it would make the voting more slanted towards one party, well, that is just so disingenuous…

Maybe the worst of all, having men decide what is right and best for women and their productive organs (their bodies) – that is simply unbelievable of the utmost magnitude.

Solutions for inequities, religious superiority (anywhere in the world) and other discriminations:

Many of us are as stumped as anyone else, successful and resourceful answers are difficult and difficult to implement once found. There are too many people who are too dogmatic in their beliefs and refuse to modify their beliefs – even if you put illuminative and very verifiable evidence on their plate in front of them, served up with a heaping bounty of ‘no guilt’ and complete lack of finger pointing.

We just do not seem to have enough people in this country (or around the world) who are looking past their own nose, their own short-sightedness and looking down the road to the future as to what will be best for society overall… Too many people (and businesses) are looking at short-term gains and goals and not the long game.

We need ‘more’ people in this country that are willing to:

• Open their eyes and their minds to become better educated and to broaden their mental and moral horizons
  • Read or watch or talk about topics that stretch your own internal compass
• Stop the self-filtering habit of continuous conversations with the ‘same’ people discussing the ‘same’ topics free of differing, open and diverse viewpoints
• Stop the self-filtering habit of only listening to the ‘same’ radio stations (radio or online) and/or to the ‘same’ TV news channels all the time – instead, more people should watch different TV/radio programs
  • Watch PBS, BBC, AlJazeera America, FOX, CNN, Bloomberg and/or CNBC to gain a grasp of other opinions from differing viewpoints, from other perspectives – to see what is going on in other parts of the country (and the world)
  • Stop listening only to individuals who rail and rant about limited topics that make little sense in the short term – such as stopping change, things like renewable energy and gender equality (at everything, as much as is possible but most certainly in pay and power) – go outside of your comfort zones and hear/see multiple other aspects of life and the economy – many people around the country have different thoughts than you – you do not control what others should be thinking or seeing or doing
• Help educate other people in their communities to broaden their minds and stop thinking and acting as if we were still in America of 1800, or 1880, or even 1955
  • People HAVE GOT to start thinking of those long term goals that was mentioned previously, 10, 20, 50 and 100 years into the future – yes, there may be pain now, the initial cost and the mental disequilibrium, which is sure to arise
• Help the less advantaged people rise up and become better, where in the end, the entire society prospers and not just the few who had it handed to them from their ancestors – those who simply took what was available while oppressing and suppressing others

None of this can be accomplished without many more people ‘stretching’ their minds to learn newer things, accept more ways of thinking and certainly not least – becoming more adaptive to the ever changing world of the future. And being old, young, religious, straight, gay, white, brown, black, blue or green – none of that excuses anyone from changing for the better and bringing EVERYONE forward with them.

There is no excuse for being unwilling to change! We are moving further into the 21^st century, all of us must change…

 

 

 

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).