Domestic Violence and Hollywood

Why is it that a star commits domestic violence, and expects that once  the initial shock wears off, everyone will forget about it, welcoming them back as though nothing ever happened?  Chris Brown, infamous for his attack on girlfriend Rihanna, shows up for an interview and flies into a rage, because he's asked about his legal and anger issues - sorry, buddy, that whole public image thing can really suck, right? - then shows up on Dancing with the Stars, and wants everyone to divorce his actions from his career.

I'm delighted that a Twitter fan and two of the show's "officials" had the good sense to stand up against his efforts to wipe his past clean, and ignore his on-going issues with anger management.  It's one thing to say he's served his time, paid his debt and is ready to move on - say for someone who stole a car once - but quite another for someone with an issue like this one to try to say the past is over and done, when it clearly isn't - or he wouldn't fly into a rage because someone asks a valid question about the very public issue of his domestic violence.  I sincerely hope no women are even considering a relationship with him, until and unless he get serious about dealing with his anger and it's outlet in said relationships.

Hollywood and sports figures need to understand that while they are human like the rest of us, their choice of careers puts them in a different arena, a very public one, and makes them, whether they want to be or not, role models for others.  If they get away with things like domestic violence, tax evasion, theft, etc., others will figure they can do it was well.  Business and political leaders are getting a bit more understanding of this crucial part of their public persona, though some still seem to think they can get away with it, but more public figures need to step up and be the role models our society really needs.

Enough said.

Polotical Blame Game

Listening to  Morning Joe this morning, I heard a great comment from Mika - that the President did what congressional leaders wanted him to do before becoming involved in the coalition to help the rebel forces in Libya - he waited, assessed, tried to negotiate to avoid involvement, and finally went in when it was apparent that nothing was going to work, he agreed to be in the coalition, with limited goals, and a limited time frame.  Yet, in spite of this, he is attacked by the right for not approaching congress first, though I don't recall the same argument being raised when "Duibyah" sent American troops into Iraq without approaching congress first - not even from Democrats!  So, we have simply another vignette of political blame game going on - hyped by the coming campaign season.

I continue to hope the citizenry of this great nation will one day wake up, and start holding congressional representatives accountable for two-faced actions and positions - whatever side of the aisle they sit on.  If you represent your people, represent them before you represent some strangely extreme political platform driven by people who want a return to isolationism and blatant prejudice against anyone "not like us."  If we are to be the nation we say we are, immigrants need to be welcomed and celebrated for what they bring to our culture.  We seem to be delighted with Asian foods, cars, electronics and technology; but some would push those Asian citizens right off the West Coast!  We are in love with Mexican food, produce largely worked and harvested by undocumented workers from Mexico, but want to run every Hispanic person south of the border, then become a fortified bastion of "White" nationalism.  Wake up, people, Asians helped build the rail system we now rely on to move freight around this nation.  Hispanic undocumented workers have helped create some of the wealthiest farmers in our nation, and some states are even willing to look the other way in order to allow farmers to bring in seasonal workers, who are paid lower wages and kept in horrible housing "camps."   How do I know this?  I worked in one of those camps!  Housing was thin clapboard dormitories with paper thin walls  Meals were skimpy, and the work from shortly after sunrise until late evening.  Violence was a part of camp life.

Now, ask yourself how many American workers would want to voluntarily take such conditions, work hours and wages?  Most of the jobs immigrants are taking are jobs Americans consider below their station!

Let's show we are serious about addressing the problems of our nation and stop the political blame game, and stop those in office who want to play the same game!

Sports Strikes

Why would I write about this, as a progressive?  Simply this, we taut the wonders of capitalism around the world - even when, as in the Green Revolution, it puts money in  the pockets of regimes who were supposed to feed their people - but when we start  to feel the unwelcome side of the system within our own country, we want to scream about the unfairness of the system.  Here's how to curb to high salaries, the high ticket prices, the high price of refreshment at the stadiums - don't go, don't buy tickets, don't buy refreshments at the stadium.  Do that for a single season, and the prices, and salaries will come down.  They need us, we don't need them. 

I enjoy watching my favorite sports as much as the next person, but I won't pay the inflated prices to go to the stadiums.  If taken, as I was for my 60th birthday, I won't buy refreshments at those inflated prices. 

We even follow this pattern with regard to our automobiles and gas prices.  Yes, I know we need to get to work, to shop, etc.  But stop to realize that slowing down will slow the consumption of gas, make you safer, and help pull the petroleum companies back from their triple digit profit margins.  They have figured out that we LOVE our cars - a trip to the end of the block for something at the convenience store is another trip in the car - and they are making us pay for it!  We grumble, but we pay their exorbitant rates, then drive fast and with poor driving habits to speed through that tank of gas and repeat the whole process.

Where is the reasoning mind of the country that likes to call itself the best country in the world?  We've become a flock of bleating sheep!  We are being fleeced, and we won't do anything to stop it! 

Capitalism!  Charge what the MARKET will bear - guess what, folks, we ARE the market.  Stop buy, car pool, walk, slow down; the prices will come down.  That's the way the system works.  Until we are all ready to do this, we will get fleeced!

I'm currently using a county highway to get to and from work, driving 40 miles an hour, and I will drive for better than a full work week on a single tank of gas.  Driving on the state highway, at posted speeds, I frequently had to fill up more than once a week.  When I shop, I look at store brands, and name brands to see where I can save money.  I won't buy a new car, when a used vehicle will do just as well.

Wake up, and smell the coffee, people!  We have the ability to impact the financial state of this nation, IF we are willing to give up some of our conveniences.  It's up us - the companies will NOT voluntarily bring prices down -- Katrina and other situations have shown us that they are happy to gouge our pocketbooks.

Think about it!

The Bachmann Syndrome

Rep. Bachmann is creating a troubling climate for the Republican Party that could be the best hope of the Democrats for a big win in 2012!  Why?  Listen to the woman!  She's one of those who have come to use freedom of speech to encourage treason and violence based on intolerance and sectarianism.  Her mouth opens, and the s#*t starts to fly, ridiculous claims drop like dew from spring flowers, and the hatred at the core of her position is painted graphically for those willing to see.

Yes, I agree, she represents the "hard edge" of the Tea Party, and,  truthfully, of the Republican party.  The HARD, INTOLERANT, BIGOTED edge of the far right political movement.  This position has the potential to turn this country into a war zone with many factions seeking either control or safety.  It is undeniable that the Tea Party spokespersons have called for revolution, have stated that it might be necessary for a shooting solution.  It is undeniably true that they have begun to show just how bigoted they are, with comments that are racist, positions that move women's rights back 50 years, that set a social climate that targets gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender citizens, and has offered little in a positive, healing content.

As one television commentator said, if the adults of the Republican party don't stand up against the growing right within their own "right" party, they will hand the Democrats another 4 years at the very least.  We need two vital parties that will debate and work with one another, not a party afraid to stand up, and another riddled with extremists that encourage not freedom and democracy but legislative dictatorship by one party.

Please, regardless of your political position, start to work for a positive atmosphere, where elected officials work together for the good of the country and the world.  Start recognizing that we are one house on a global block, and we must start acting like good neighbors, not the block police force or bully. 

Think about it!

The Party of Big Business or The Corporate Political Party

It is interesting to listen to talk shows about how the current time compares  to 1995-6, and one point that comes out time and time again is that the Republican party has become the party of big business, or Corporate America.  If one is willing to think about it, it isn't even a debatable point - tax breaks for corporations, for the wealthy, reducing regulations on corporations and industry - regulations that are designed to protect PEOPLE, to protect this planet we call home.

What's happening in Wisconsin is just one more piece of that picture, with the attempt to get rid of collective bargaining.  Collective bargaining is the effort of PEOPLE to get a living wage, to get benefits to protect themselves and their families in case something happens to them on the job, and to help take care of themselves after they retire.  Gov. Walker, Speaker Boehner and others are saying, in effect, in order to stand with our corporate funders, we need to kill unions! 

My proof?  Remember Walker's comment about wanting concessions from the unions?  What happened when they said we will give you all but one - collective bargaining?  He flatly refused!  In effect, telling all of us what his real point was from the beginning - killing the unions!  And that fits the pattern of the Republican Party I finally felt forced to leave - a pattern I've watched for decades now - a pattern of stating one goal, while, in fact, standing on something either not stated or stated as simply one part of an overall plan.  Non-negotiable!  My way or the highway!

Do I believe Democrats have been better about this, yes, but not entirely without their own moments of intransigence.  I love to hear politicians speak of bipartisanship, of the need for both parties to work together, to compromise.  I'm still waiting for our illustrious elected representatives to actually start acting like we are indeed a democracy, with freedoms and rights for ALL citizens.

My hope and prayer is that people with good logical, rational and interpersonal sensitivity will start running and winning, and start changing the atmosphere in Washington, D.C.

Think about it!

Right to Life? Really?

As I listened to news programming tonight, I learned that the bulk of what Republicans are doing amounts to doing everything they can to make the constitutionally protected right to reproductive care will be all but impossible for women to access, from cutting all funding to creating new taxes (I thought Republicans wanted to cut taxes!).  And the good old boys are at it again, talking blithely of medical procedures in their own twisted perceptions, without regard for truth or the feelings of their female counterparts in the chamber.

It's time the Right is forced to face the hateful nature of their attacks on women, and, by related attacks, on the rest of us.  Planned Parenthood is about  trying to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and occasionally helping a woman obtain an abortion.  And all the good studies have said the only truly effective programs to educe teen pregnancies involve teaching our youth to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies - yet, the Right holds out their hope that by saying "Just say no!" works will make it so, even though it wasn't even effective as an anti-drug campaign.  So called promises to wait until marriage for sexual activity are easily made by youth in the heightened emotional moments in which they are sought, but not so easily maintained when the rising emotions are of a sexual nature in an entirely different moment.

And, if we are truly honest with ourselves, not many of us were celibate until we were married.  And down through history, that has been the case.  In some societies, it was, in fact, expected that a couple would actually seek pregnancy to prove the fertility of the couple for the good of the community.  Not only was there no stigma attached to the couple or the children, the community celebrated the new family and welcomed the child!  It's only in relatively modern terms that we have started branding children born outside wedlock ass bastards and shunning they and their mothers - notice I didn't say fathers, but that just didn't happen.  Even now, when we say we believe in an equality of the sexes, if a young man impregnates a young woman, she bears the stigma and the shame, while he simply moves on to another partner.

It has been said, offering a true assessment, that if abortion is banned in America, it will only prevent the poor and middle class women, for the rich will simply go to another country to have their abortion, then return home.  What isn't often said is that the horror stories of pre-Roe-versus-Wade will become reality again - young women turning up dead in dumpsters because of botched back-alley abortions, or from successful ones that had complications when no medical facilities were available to address them.

I still recall overhearing a conversation between a couple of farmers in a very rural setting, in which one told another they needed to support a legislative effort to ban abortions, and the second responded that if it were his daughter who was raped, or who had a severely malformed, he would not want to saddle her with having to keep the child, just because someone thought the procedure wasn't acceptable.  I already felt women should have the right to control their own reproductive abilities, but this really turned my thoughts completely in support of that.  There are those on the Right now that want abortions banned, period.  Even if the woman's life is threatened, no abortion would be allowed!  However, at the same time, the Right wants to cut the very public services that would help that mother care for her child.

It is time for supporters of women's rights, of true supporters of the constitution, to stand shoulder to shoulder against the violence of the radical anti-abortionists.  And let's be honest, so called Right to Lifers are plainly anti-abortionists.

Think about it, and stand up, to protect medical staff and women seeking care and help in desperate times!

Union Breaking?

As I listen to the news this morning, I'm hearing people from both sides of the political aisle talk about union breaking efforts by the Republican governor of Wisconsin.  One side says it is, the other side says it's simply management of issues on the table.  In my professional life, I've been exposed to the stories from both sides of the issue of unions - protection of workers' rights, and the abuses that allow workers who should be fired to retain their positions.  Where do I come down personally, without a doubt I will support the union ideal while speaking of the abuses, and the need to address those abuses.  It is not right for a worker to fail to do their job, yet retain that position over someone else who hasn't been there long enough but IS doing the job is fired or down-sized out of a position.  Neither is it right for corporate America to say to an older worker, you're no longer needed, and your pension and benefits are hurting our bottom line, so you and those benefits are out!

This is especially true when one considers how well corporate America is doing!  Business is doing better than ever, the wealthy are quickly moving to the point where modern America will become a feudal state again, with corporations instead of political royalty in the positions of power.  We all remember that following Hurricane Katrina, or after the British Petroleum oil spill, the multinational petroleum companies were pulling down 300 % profits, while the workers of America and other countries suffered under the unreasonable increases in prices - yet they told us they WEREN'T gouging, but only covering reasonable business expenses -- really, guys? 

It interests me that the Republicans who did all they could to kill stimulus and hurt the middle class, now want us to believe they are truly concerned about small business and the muddle class.  I guess that's why they want to break unions, and allow corporate America to continue to raise prices, cut benefits, and exercise unfair business practices that discriminate against older workers, and allow companies to walk away from contractual promises to provide retirement funds to workers who helped those same companies gain the financial status they currently enjoy.  Somehow, it appears the word "fair," needs to be revisited, so we can again understand that it means to be "fair" to workers.

Think about it!  And remember that there are companies are doing everything they can to keep unions out of their workplaces.