Can it really be true that a psycho like Michelle Bachmann thinks she has a shot at the presidency? Does she think that a repeat of the Palin fiasco is likely to succeed a second time around? After all of her completely off the wall rhetoric, after what to me was truly seditious speech, the woman should be running for the north woods and hiding herself away from the very people she SAYS she represents! She is just as rabid with her speech as the FORMER Alaskan governor, or Rush, or Beck, or any of the others willing to incite unrest rather than trying to bring the people of the nation together to help turn things around.
Rather than help people out of work, she's one of those calling for reductions of social services, saying that to try to help people is socialism, that all those who had life going well for them should get their guns and protect their rights to have all they wanted and more, while others were forced to live on absolute minimums of resources - if that. And now she wants to be sent to Washington D.C. as the commander in chief? I cannot imagine being asked to follow the leadership of someone like that!
What other war would we find ourselves involved in? How many other people, citizens of this country or those who listened to the plaque on the Statue of Liberty about the huddled masses, hungry and poor coming here for a new and better life will be sent back into deadly situations, or turned out on the streets because some banker talked them into more of a loan than they needed, or because their job was gone, and they couldn't pay the bills?
And on top of hear that kind of stuff, we learn that Comcast, who had bought NBC, wanted Olbermann off the air - the cornerstone and foundation of the MSNBC prime time and late night lineup - and they managed it! Am I unhappy Keith getting the settlement he did? No. Would I like a similar settlement to get me to leave my job? You bet, but no one is going to buy up Wal-mart and get rid of me, because I'm a loud voice AGAINST the nastiness of the Right. So, I don't need to worry, or do I with people like Bachmann and Palin wanting to take over the White House?! I'll tell you the truth, that last is a truly scary thought to me! Truly scary!! It should be to you as well!
Think about it!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Inspirational or Inflamatory?
Once again, the inflammatory speeches of the Tea Party and right fringe candidates has raised its ugly head! I'm a firm believer in free speech, but how do we justify the extent to which the right has taken that constitutional right? When do we start saying, when you cause violence by your speech, you have crossed the line. When do we hold people accountable for jacking up the anger of one part of the citizenry to attack another? Why should a right-winger radical be allowed to walk into a town-meeting setting, pull a automatic pistol and open fire, killing several and wounding three times that number, just because he disagrees with a Jewish-American progressive female congressional member?
Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, Bachmann and their ilk need to he held accountable for their inflammatory speeches, that stand in stark contrast to the inspirational speeches that are part of our country's great history, including Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech that have helped people stay the course, uphold their ideals in the face of violence and given heart to the nation. Speeches about revolution, remembering the lessons of the revolution, a little revolutions is good once in a while - all these are simply meant to keep the radical fringe in arms - and they will always "step away" from the violence their own language has inspired. Sure enough, the Tea Party leadership spoke of this latest incident as heinous - really? Then why the language that inspires these actions?
Get real, political rightists; recognize that your speech incites riot to a degree that is unacceptable, that takes lives and leads to disgusting incidents of violence of one person or side of an argument against another - usually several fringers against a singled out progressive. Take responsibility for your speech! Learn the lesson recent history is teaching and curb the language of hate!
Wake up, progressives, and stand up to hate slant of the right fringe. It's time to start taking action, and no, I don't mean taking up guns - that only plays into the hands of the right. I mean discussion ways to bring peer pressure to bear that will help make this a country of debate, not a country sinking back into the old West mentality of the man with the fastest gun being the power. The lesson of history is that this only leads to shotguns in alleys waiting to take down the fast gun. MLK Jr. showed us a better way, following the steps of a man named Jesus of Nazareth - who was also a model for a man named Gandhi. Let's take up the challenge, and help lead our country in the correct direction!
Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, Bachmann and their ilk need to he held accountable for their inflammatory speeches, that stand in stark contrast to the inspirational speeches that are part of our country's great history, including Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech that have helped people stay the course, uphold their ideals in the face of violence and given heart to the nation. Speeches about revolution, remembering the lessons of the revolution, a little revolutions is good once in a while - all these are simply meant to keep the radical fringe in arms - and they will always "step away" from the violence their own language has inspired. Sure enough, the Tea Party leadership spoke of this latest incident as heinous - really? Then why the language that inspires these actions?
Get real, political rightists; recognize that your speech incites riot to a degree that is unacceptable, that takes lives and leads to disgusting incidents of violence of one person or side of an argument against another - usually several fringers against a singled out progressive. Take responsibility for your speech! Learn the lesson recent history is teaching and curb the language of hate!
Wake up, progressives, and stand up to hate slant of the right fringe. It's time to start taking action, and no, I don't mean taking up guns - that only plays into the hands of the right. I mean discussion ways to bring peer pressure to bear that will help make this a country of debate, not a country sinking back into the old West mentality of the man with the fastest gun being the power. The lesson of history is that this only leads to shotguns in alleys waiting to take down the fast gun. MLK Jr. showed us a better way, following the steps of a man named Jesus of Nazareth - who was also a model for a man named Gandhi. Let's take up the challenge, and help lead our country in the correct direction!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Republican Two-Face in Spades
During the last 2 years (and similar periods in the past of my voting life), the Republicans haven't ceased to blame Democrats for all the ills they perceived in government in America. Now, with Republicans holding the strength they do, they are NOW saying they can't be held responsible for the ills that may come from their extreme stands. Tonight, as I listened to Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, as a Democrat pointed out that the Republicans had blocked effort after effort to help the ailing economy, the Republican guest responded by saying extreme stands were necessary, and the no one could hold Republicans accountable for the ills that could come from those stands. So, apparently for the Republicans, what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander. Hmm! I wonder how the elections of 2012 might appear if the Republicans get their way over the next 2 years, and even the pundits are raising this concern.
The conversation was about raising the national debt ceiling, and, yes, that is a major concern to us all, especially in these trouble economic times - but perhaps we should look first at the multinational corporations and their percentage of profit, their multimillion dollar salaries for CEOs and directors, their lack of tax dollars paid to the government and their efforts NOT to pay benefits, NOT to care for their workers. Perhaps we should be looking at the amount paid to congressional leaders who are already millionaires. Perhaps we should listen to someone like Steve Forbes, and his proposal for a flat tax - no deductions, not exceptions. Everyone pays 10% of income as federal taxes. Think about how the corporations would start pumping millions into the national treasury, how the multi-millionaires and billionaires would start pumping dollars into the treasury currently being support and carried on the backs of the most heavily taxed group in America - the working class!
Who has been responsible for more harm to this picture? Republican benefits for the richest of the rich in America - at the expense of the working stiffs of this country. Democrats have raised taxes, yes, and through those paid down national debt on more than one occasion, They have provided services to Americans that Republicans don't want offered to those who pay their salaries.
Perhaps it's time to adopt my father's attitude late in his voting life - not voting for an incumbent, so the channels of influence and graft in Washington can't become ingrained. Oh, I realize we have some who go to Washington looking to get in on that system as soon as possible, so they can become part of the rich elite of the nation, but if enough elections went this way, perhaps congressional representatives would start to remember they are there to represent our interests, not to get rich.
Anger is there and expressed on the right, but it is there on the left as well. We need to stop being the quiet progressives, and start raising our voices to counter the right - understanding when we do that we may encounter those rightists who are willing to use violence to quiet our voices. There is no reasonable argument against this nation not doing better for its citizens in light of how much many other industrialized nations are doing for their citizens. We simply are becoming the story line of many science fiction stories of a future where corporations control life.
Think about it, raise your voice, and be proudly progressive!
The conversation was about raising the national debt ceiling, and, yes, that is a major concern to us all, especially in these trouble economic times - but perhaps we should look first at the multinational corporations and their percentage of profit, their multimillion dollar salaries for CEOs and directors, their lack of tax dollars paid to the government and their efforts NOT to pay benefits, NOT to care for their workers. Perhaps we should be looking at the amount paid to congressional leaders who are already millionaires. Perhaps we should listen to someone like Steve Forbes, and his proposal for a flat tax - no deductions, not exceptions. Everyone pays 10% of income as federal taxes. Think about how the corporations would start pumping millions into the national treasury, how the multi-millionaires and billionaires would start pumping dollars into the treasury currently being support and carried on the backs of the most heavily taxed group in America - the working class!
Who has been responsible for more harm to this picture? Republican benefits for the richest of the rich in America - at the expense of the working stiffs of this country. Democrats have raised taxes, yes, and through those paid down national debt on more than one occasion, They have provided services to Americans that Republicans don't want offered to those who pay their salaries.
Perhaps it's time to adopt my father's attitude late in his voting life - not voting for an incumbent, so the channels of influence and graft in Washington can't become ingrained. Oh, I realize we have some who go to Washington looking to get in on that system as soon as possible, so they can become part of the rich elite of the nation, but if enough elections went this way, perhaps congressional representatives would start to remember they are there to represent our interests, not to get rich.
Anger is there and expressed on the right, but it is there on the left as well. We need to stop being the quiet progressives, and start raising our voices to counter the right - understanding when we do that we may encounter those rightists who are willing to use violence to quiet our voices. There is no reasonable argument against this nation not doing better for its citizens in light of how much many other industrialized nations are doing for their citizens. We simply are becoming the story line of many science fiction stories of a future where corporations control life.
Think about it, raise your voice, and be proudly progressive!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)