Concerning The Execution Of Troy Davis

“This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent.  Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged “actual innocence” is constitutionally cognizable.” _ Antonin Scalia

Right Wingers Think On This – Obama is Black and He Has The Bomb. Now Ya Ready To Show Respect?

The things that matter most, hope, health and happiness, are addressed by world leaders as stepchildren when compared to war, spreading hate and having things their way.  If we were to spend our time and efforts on curing diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Arthritis, etc., etc., etc. we wouldn’t watch our loved ones enduring such painful suffering and horrible deaths.  But we just dismiss that as being starry eyed wishful thinking, another stupid fucking liberal idea, which by now , because of how we’ve lived our lives and interacted with our enemies and friends with a “me first, then you” attitude, is all there will ever be.

But then, we never had a chance at practicing love, kindness and acceptance.  The books that are held so dear by all believers in a supreme being – the Bible, the Koran, the Jewish Tanah and Talmud – all depict a Mighty God who kicks ass and takes names and allows his chosen people to wage great battles and achieve grand military victories against their enemies.  Never have I heard the god chastise them for waging war instead of seeking a peaceful solution.  The answer god conveys is he is on whoever’s side is invoking his favor, so don’t fear your enemy; slay him.  Well, if god is on the Christian’s side and the Muslim’s side and the Jews’ side all at the same time, he must be made up of multiple personalities that all hate each other!  Oh boy, I can’t wait to meet him!!

C’mon, you religious zealots, use your fucking brains before you drag us all down in your gutter of misbeliefs and delusions of grandeur bestowed upon you by a possibly schizophrenic god who takes all sides at once.  Oh my, the thought of god hearing voices is really frightening, isn’t it?   Sounds like more going on here than just the “father, son and holy spirit” to me, ladies and gents.   Come out of the darkness of your caves, through the shadows of trepidation and fear and into the light of love, hope, beauty and kindness to all, justifiably expecting the same in return for your good intentions. 

Now, I’m not stupid.  I realize we need to blow many of you suckers off the face of the earth to make room for my love generation, but hell’s bells it is fucking damn worth it.  So, forewarned is forearmed; the first one to “the bomb” wins! 

Jimbet01

The Tea Party Have It All Wrong.

Lest we forget what America has meant to her citizens and to foreigners longing to immigrate to her shores, let me refresh your memories of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,
And her name, Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor
That twin cities frame.
“Keep, Ancient Lands, your storied pomp!”
Cries she with silent lips.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

 

I don’t see what Cantor, McConnell or any of the Republican/Tea Party members of Congress saw in that inscription that made them decide that America, the Home of the Free, relinquished her wealthiest citizens of their responsibilities to support their country and to help their fellow countrymen keep America strong.  These ultra-conservative politicians are attempting to exempt five percent of Americans, the wealthiest in our country, from paying taxes when more revenue is sorely needed to help pay down the huge deficit our country amassed fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffering through the home mortgage scandal; all three of which plunged America and the world into a deep recession that economists agree will take a decade to emerge from.  Why at a time like this would this group of Republicans propose to eliminate income tax on the wealthiest members of American society?  Do ya think it might be because many politicians, Democrats and Republicans, are among the wealthiest Americans who would benefit greatly from not paying any taxes?  DUH! 

These Congressmen seem to be confusing our method of government – a Republic – with our economic system – Capitalism.   It seems to me that our Founding Fathers intended to form a country built on the notion that anyone can be what he/she can make of themselves, but with a responsibility to support the country as any citizen is required to do, and be allowed to take part in the government on a one person – one vote process.  Our Founders did not intend to create an oligarchy where the wealthiest would enjoy privileges that are reserved for them alone and who would run the country according to their wants and needs.  The fact that the top five to ten percent of Americans are extremely wealthy does not make them better than the middle-class and poor.  These “upper class” citizens made their fortunes off the backs of the poor and middle class workers and owe these workers a decent, living wage and a safe place to work, which were made possible through trade unions and government regulations that protect the environment and the overall health of the ecosystems that exist on earth and are important to the continued ability of our planet to support life. If big businesses and corporations would be free of regulations, the wealthy would bring the earth to the brink of ecological disaster in their unbridled attempts at gaining more and more wealth.  And if Unions didn’t exist, we would all be working for a dollar an hour and benefits like healthcare, vacations and holidays, much less a forty hour work week, would be unheard of. 

These Tea Party Republicans are members of the Religious Right, a group of malcontents who view the earth as abounding in evil and the inhabitants as uncontrollable sinners who must be converted to the harsh views of the zealots or punished in the name of God for transgression against Him and His chosen people in the Religious Right communities.  It is easy to see why they are attempting to set themselves up as privileged citizens with the rest of us being subjugated to their harsh doctrines and beliefs.   They want the Freedom, happiness and wealth that comes with American citizenship without any of the responsibility to support and nurture it.  Did the phrase “fuck you and the horse you rode in on!” suddenly come to mind?  It did to me and it felt right, too.      

Untethered and unchecked capitalism is not a good thing.  A good example of what happens when Capitalism runs wild is the home mortgage debacle that brought our country into economic chaos and collapse.  Greed and the ability to conduct questionable and in some cases criminal business practices resulted in the downfall of the world’s mortgage business that brought down many banks and loan companies and eventually the U. S. economy and the economies of most countries worldwide.  The Tea Party clowns answer to fix this mess is to go even farther down the road that ruined our economy under the premise that the wealthy will begin to act honestly and professionally to bring us out of this recession and restore jobs and our economy.  I find this flies in the face of logic and truth because I never heard of getting out of a hole by digging a deeper hole.  If we allow the scammers to continue with their scams and dishonest business practices, the situation will worsen and we will find ourselves mired in another world-wide depression, quite possibly worse than the one that began in 1929 and lasted until we became involved in WWII.  The only way to get out of crippling financial debt is to pay down the debt until it is gone, but not take on more credit debt as the Congress has proposed to do in those ridiculous last hour deliberations that left most citizens dazed, confused and pissed off at the childish, immature actions of the members of the House and Senate over July and August of this year.

But I wonder if there is more to this proposal that our friends in Congress don’t want us to notice.  After all, most of the Congress are wealthy Americans and would also be exempt from paying taxes.   They have created their own health plan that is inclusive of all diseases and health procedures and a retirement pension plan that is very generous, to say the least.  And now, they want to make themselves exempt from  paying income taxes.  It’s no wonder some of our ignoble federal politicians spent twenty million and more of their own money to get elected to a political job and use that job to give themselves special consideration and favor.  And, in case you haven’t noticed, the Democrats are giving a token show of outrage but hardly enough to get this movement stopped because they will benefit along with the dudes across the aisle.  Who says there is no cooperation between the donkeys and the elephants?

The Bible: Sex, Lies and Other Bullshit!

It’s 3:30 in the morning but, as yet I haven’t been able to fall asleep. For one thing, I can’t quiet my mind down long enough to allow sleep to take over and equally problematic is the pain in my left leg caused by neuropathy resulting from diabetes that I have had for 11 years and which I have yet to take proper care of. Evidently, the bag that holds the supply of my “Give A Shit” factor has a small tear that occurred when I was a young man and over the ensuing decades nearly all of the factor has departed through the hole.

I was never the type of person who rallied behind a cause like I should have to confront the bigotry and hate that was tossed my way because I am gay. Nota bene, I did not say “because I chose to be gay”. There was no choice in the matter, regardless of what is found in Leviticus or any of the other books of the bible, because the books, the concepts and the entity that they called God are NOT real but are myth, as are all religions and religious beliefs. They are stories made up by religious zealots who wanted the inside track on defining morality so that they could have their lifestyle ensconced as the one to be followed in order to please this supreme being, who they also created and who they credited with giving them the rules to live by.

Damn, I can see the look on some of your faces, catatonic with fear from what you would consider sacrilegious writing that attacked god and religion and which you are certain will not go unpunished. Well, nah, nah, nah, nah, boo-boo I’m still here and it’s not particularly hot, either! Ha-ha!

Seriously, if you’re going to put all your salvation hopes into one thing, you could at least question the validity of a supreme being that has all the unbelievable attributes as those given to the god of the bible: all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, Omni-present, etc. along with incredibly small character traits such as anger, hate, vengeance, jealously. Why in hell would god want or need these opposing virtues/vices? The god of the bible is just that, nothing more. He is a character in a story that was invented centuries ago by Jewish writers who were charged with coming up with some explanation of natural phenomena as it occurred in front of them: storms, lightening, floods, wind, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. and then used their writings to scare the hell out of earth’s inhabitants at the time: Where did these things come from, what caused them, WHO caused them and why?

Hey, kudos, guys, you did a good job with the knowledge level you were working with but now, let’s attempt to work some of our knowledge gained from living an additional 2,500 years and the science and general knowledge we gained since you laid down your proclamations and convinced the rest of the simple-minded religious right (right down to today’s idiots who consider themselves keepers of god’s holy word) that god made you do it and warned whomsoever does not believe the writings will not gain the kingdom of heaven. For, while I say you did a good job given what you had to work with, I wonder if you envisioned the damage and extreme suffering your book would bring down upon mankind when it was wielded with such savage hate and vengeance formulated by those religious right zealots who have never questioned what they read; not even in the two thousand plus years since it was written.

“Holy shit, Daddy Whorebusts, is that true? We have never questioned the validity of the writers that they did indeed receive god’s word and not some schizophrenic hallucination?” asks Little Morphin Fanny?

“Yes that’s true, but who would question the word of god?” parries Daddy.

“But what if they just said it was god’s word and it was just bullshit that THEY were making up on the fly?” cries Fanny!

“Psst, Fanny, come closer.” Daddy says.

She leans close to hear him whisper, “Don’t be talking this way, little girl. What difference does it make if it is true or not? It has given many a preacher the means and ammunition to make some real money pedaling the shit to the simpletons who buy it hook line and sinker. So knock off this ‘do we believe’ bullshit and start saying Hallelujha, Jesus saves! Especially if you want a new BMW for graduation!” says Whorebusts.

“Wait a minute, the ancient Jews didn’t teach about Jesus. How did he get in the bible?” Fanny asks?

“Great question. Several centuries passed since the writings that make up what we call the Old Testament, were compiled into the books of the Jewish bible. These books, in part, prophesized about the Messiah, the one who would deliver the Jews from the hands of those who persecuted them, destroy their persecutors and bring them into the promise land that the writers included as god’s promise to his chosen people. Quite frankly, I think that the Jewish peoples grew weary waiting for this Messiah and the promise of their own land, a land far different from the worst real estate in the Middle East that they occupy today, so these folks wrote their own books, giving credit to four writers named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The writings that were called the Four Gospels, told the life story of the Messiah, Jesus. The problem is, they plagiarized what they wrote from two sources, the Egyptians with their Messiah named Horus and the Romans with theirs, named Mithras. The stories are 98% the same story but Horus was invented around 2,000 years before Jesus and Mithras was approximately 100 years prior. But the three stories are nearly exactly the same. Which leads me to conclude that the story of Jesus is myth as were the other two previous stories,” explains Daddy.

“Holy shit, again, Daddy! Keep that to yourself or we’ll be living in HUD housing and driving a ten year old car!” exclaims Fanny!

So, reader, what do you say? Do we keep unquestioning the bible as the word of god, even though there are many differing versions of the work, each version customized by the church that had a problem with what they consider false interpretation of Scripture. This has to be the greatest example of hubris, to change what is believed to be god’s word into a meaning that is different from the recognized text into one that the leader of the religion that changed the wording, can believe in and can use to support his and his followers beliefs and lifestyle. You folks out there who follow your version of over a hundred different “bibles” are truly to be pitied, if your action against your fellow man were not so cruel when trying to convince others that you are right and they are wrong because god’s word is on your side. I think enough is enough; don’t you?

Fascism, The Republican Plan For America

Folks, does it bother you at all that the rogue elephants are trumpeting the destruction of the only safety nets that provide small pensions and healthcare for the poor and the elderly citizens, namely Social Security, Disability, Medicare and Medicaid? Their strategy is to pontificate the falsehood that these programs are a significant contributor to the drain on the economy and are largely responsible for the huge deficits that are growing larger as you read this.

“Leapin lizzards, Daddy Whoremonger,” cries Little Muffin Fanny, “we must elect more Republicans to stop those Liberals from giving away all of the money before there isn’t any to give to us rich and deserving citizens who could use it to build more factories and industrial complexes in Mexico and South America where we can improve the standard of living of both the native workers and ourselves.”

“Damn, Muffin, you make your old Daddy proud, even if you do ramble a bit. You hit the nail right on the proverbial head, though, my dear. We have successfully removed the Cost Of Living Adjustment from the Social Security payments when our boy George replaced the formula for figuring a COLA, namely the Cost Of Living Index – W (COLI – W) with a new COLI – E, which is used to determine a COLA only for Social Security (where the “E” stands for Egad, we’ve just been rat fucked!). The COLI – E no longer includes the cost of food and fuel while it increases the weight of the Cost of Housing while house prices are plummeting, in the formula, thereby assuring that there will be no more COLAs for Social Security recipients.

Next we need to torpedo Medicare and Medicaid and probably wait until last to kill the Disability program because it will be more difficult to kick the ‘Eddie Easter Seals’ out of the netting due to public sympathy. But we’ll start some bullshit about the number of wetbacks living illegally in the U.S. who are bankrolled under Social Security Disability by claiming to be disabled. It may take a little time but we’ll get the job done and when there are no more entitlements, the money in their coffers will flow into our pockets where it will be put to good use – our good use,” says Daddy Whoremonger.

“Oh Daddy, when you talk like that, so hopeful and full of promise for the future, I get all soft and squishy!” shouts Muffin Fanny.

Daddy replies, “Well if that makes you soft and squishy, you will be a complete bowl of Jello when you consider the possibilities associated with the Defense Contracts that our friends in Washington are cooking up every day. They will be worth billions, Muffin! Add to that our income tax will be eliminated and the regulations on business and commerce will be removed; it’s mind-boggling! God Bless America!”

“And God Bless Fascism and Republicans who will make it happen!” shouts Little Muffin Fanny.

And that leaves the rest of us to shout “Egad, we’ve been rat fucked!” And the sad thing is we will probably stand and watch it happen, waiting for the other guy to fight it off. Know this; there are three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder “what happened?”! There better be enough in the first group who will stand against the destruction of our country and our way of life or America, the Land of the Free, will be nothing more than a memory. To begin, should the politicians that are backing these new-fangled ideas about what America holds dear, be charged with treason in their attempt to make this a fascist nation! Treason! Think it will fly? Or do you think I’ll be vacationing in Guantanamo for the next twenty years for suggesting it?

Ramblings From A Slightly Demented Mind

I would like to ask someone, anyone, Ferris, if they can help me understand what is going on in America today? On the one hand, there are the Elephants with their unabashed pandering to the Rich, trumpeting such notions as no taxation on the wealthy or on their businesses. The logic is that if the rich can grow their businesses unencumbered by taxes or regulations they will do it on a grand scale, creating many jobs and getting people back to work. Right! Problem is those jobs that are created will open up outside of our borders where the pay is equal to a fraction of an American worker’s pay. The tax revenue on those wages will go to the country where the factories are opened and not to the U.S. where it is sorely needed to counter-act the loss of tax revenue if the rich folk are no longer obliged to pay.

Obama seems supportive of his Republican friends in their ignoble quest to glad hand the wealthy citizens with favored treatment and “perks” never before considered much less discussed openly. But something else concerns me more and that is his failure to defend Social Security which he promised to do during his run for the Party nomination and later the national election. He has not addressed the new Cost of Living Index-E that was implemented during the reign of George W. Bush. COLI-E (sounds like a flesh-eating virus and for good reason) is a new set of guidelines for figuring the cost of living adjustment for Social Security participants only. It no longer looks at the cost of food and fuels when it develops the COLA for Social Security. This is the reason that the last Cost of Living Adjustment applied to Social Security payments occurred in 2007 before the government changed to COLI-E in 2008. While it’s true that Obama had nothing to do with the development of this poison pill it is also true that he has done nothing to get rid of it.

Obama ran his election campaign promising to bring change to Washington and begin to discuss problems that divided the two Parties and to reach a compromise and a conclusion that will be acceptable to all parties. Someone needs to tell him that compromise is not the same as capitulation. What he has accomplished looks more like something a Republican president would be proud of. Perhaps, instead of looking at his birth certificate, we should ask to see his Voter Registration card to be assured that he is a Democrat.

It truly is sad to watch his fellow Donkey Dong’s wander around the Capitol braying “Marco” and waiting for their leader to answer “Polo” so that they would know in which Republican camp he is giving birth. So far at least, most of his accomplishments have provided relief to the wealthiest Americans with buyouts and interest free loans so that their businesses as well as their salaries and bonuses would be protected. However, when it came time to consider helping the middle-class and poor, we got the same old bullshit about how the entitlements are far too costly to keep up and must be eliminated to reach economic stability.

So far he has done nothing to create jobs for the middle class and poor. He has not started any programs similar to what Roosevelt implemented to put people back to work. Hell, he damn near gave in on extending unemployment because the Republicans said it was too costly. He ended up doing the right thing, though, and had the payments extended.  But the Donkey Dong’s still have nothing in their bag to create jobs for the American worker. Now be careful here and do not look to the Pachyderms to solve this problem because the elephants of old no longer exist in today’s world. The Elephants of the fifties, sixties and seventies would never approve of the deficit spending that Republicans are guilty of doing today. Their addiction to deficit spending plus their support of the wants and needs of the wealthiest while ignoring those of the middle class and the poor make it highly unlikely that there will be any appreciable job creations for the common folks. The Elephants took most of the congressional seats up for grabs in the 2010 elections on the promise that they would create jobs for the American worker. To date, however, what they have actually spent time on was: 1) they have proposed to remove taxes on the wealthy as well as free any restrictions on the manner in which they run their business, 2) they have worked on the re-insertion of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and 3) the re-establishment of the Defense of Marriage Act. These poor bastards cannot control their need to force their morality upon all Americans. Maybe it could be possible to bring them back to being a political party instead of a Mega-Church and they can once again be a part of running the country and not be on a mission to save our souls. But until then, they will have little or nothing to add to relieve the plight of the middle class and the poor.

Most of what Obama inherited from his predecessor is still unchanged. Guantanamo is going strong and will stay in operation for some time to come, our troops will stay in Iraq but their number will be greatly reduced, and who knows what will become of our involvement in Afghanistan? If and when we get out of their country and their business seems uncertain, at best.

To me, it’s a case of same shit, different president, with Obama looking more like George W. in blackface every day.  But, I’ll let time and history be the judges of that.

This Should Piss You Off.

This article appeared in Truthout, a site where a group of journalist are attempting to give information and analysis of legitimate news items that are ignored by the current group of mainstream news sources. In today’s world, network news is apt to report on a Hollywood celebrity’s run-in with the law as a major news item, while the recession, wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya go practically un-noticed, their analyses consisting of little more than sound bites. Today, the network news/cable news network’s rely on follow-up entertainment programs to “analyze” the wars, economy and any other major occurrence that affects our nation/world because there is no liability connected with an “Op-Ed” show that deals in opinion and not fact. The days of the news hour that analyzed and explained what caused the incident and how/why we became involved, are almost non-existent today. The women and men in the Truthout organization are once again analyzing the news and giving in-depth explanations of events leading up to and surrounding the incident they are reporting on.

The following link gives an example of the fine articles written by Truthout members. It gives very in-depth analysis of the varied reasons for the Great Recession that began in 2007 and came full term in 2009. The article, quite honestly, pissed me right off. It explains what lead up to the disaster and it does so in a way that is easily understood. It is great reading and is written by a professor of economics at Southern Methodist University who is an authority on the subject. It is not an opinion made by an abrasive, sarcastic, “feels like this is right – so it must be” host/hostess who is a talking head for the owners of the “News Channel” who do not want to be sued for false reporting of the News so they pass it off for analysis by their expert, who is anything but! The hosts may be intelligent people, but they are not experts on all subjects and mostly are giving their opinion on what happened and not in-depth investigation of what happened and who did what to whom. Opinions are like assholes; we all have one and it can be full of poop!

Please read the article and see if it doesn’t shed more light on what happened and who was responsible for the damn recession. Then please leave a comment telling me what you think of the article. I am interested to hear your take on the explanation and analysis of the Great Recession of 2009.

http://www.truthout.org/weapons-mass-exploitation/1304696645

Is Religion Ignoring The Poor?

To nearly all the civilized world, Religion, or Organized Religion, is the vehicle people use to understand, come to terms with and reach out to their god. Most religions worship a monotheistic god with different descriptions of who he is, what he is, where he is and whether he is a gentle and forgiving entity who is the kindly father figure of pure love who weeps if one soul is lost to hell, or if he is an angry, vengeful, Puritanic figure who rules in a tough love, no-nonsense style with an “I warned you” scowl as he tosses another unworthy soul into the bowels of hell.

Which one is right? Neither. Which one is right for you? That depends on how you feel about who you are and what you think of others in regards to who you think you are.

First of all, let me explain what I think religion is and why it was invented. As far as we can prove, we are the only planet with life such as we know it in an incomprehensibly huge cosmos of which we have very little and extremely limited knowledge. Nearly all of us were born into this world surrounded by family and loved ones who made us feel safe, secure and loved. Those feelings are the ones we strive to replicate every day of our lives from the moment we are born. Humans are pack animals and we don’t like to feel that we are alone in the world. We seek companionship and someone to give our love to and who returns that love in kind.

Religion is the vehicle that gets us in contact with our god, or our concept of god and in so doing gives us the feeling of someone who watches over us and protects us on our earthly journey. It also gives us the notion that there is something after this life and that our existence will continue after death comes to call. Without religion, we would be a race of paranoid schizophrenic types who would be locked up within ourselves, our minds conjuring up all types of fears and horrible situations over which we had little if any control. Karl Marx described religion well when he wrote:

“Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.”

Since I’ve included Marx in my Blog, I want to say that I am not a communist nor do I believe in the communist social/political system. I do, however, agree in large part with Marx’s description of religion and its role in man’s life and the fact that it addresses our need for a protector and an all-powerful one at that. The only change I would have made if I was the originator of this passage from Marx’s “Contribution to Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right”, would be to say “It is the opium of the common people” because it means to say that religion is the only hope the poor have since they are denied any monetary reward while on earth, while the rich have money and prestige to ease their troubles. Religion tells us that all people will be equal in the afterlife, which gives the poor hope that their plight will end when they die, and will be rewarded beyond anything imaginable here on earth.

There are several Protestant Mega Churches in the Western region of the U.S. that have begun to preach a new message that god rewards those with whom he is well pleased. These rewards consist of great wealth and prestige, celebrating the benefits of being rich and not the detriment. This new teaching, I call it the Trump gospel,  alters god’s relationship with the rich and the poor, making the rich man his favorite and the poor man an outsider. These churches do not teach that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Instead, they would have you believe that the rich man bought the needle and is sticking it up the poor man’s ass; and with god’s approval.

If the poor lose the hope that they are favored in god’s eyes and their suffering here on earth reduces their suffering in Purgatory and their acceptance into Heaven, then it’s senseless to remain poor.  They would be justified to take whatever wealth and power they could from the rich by whatever means they could. This new gospel could open another Pandora’s Box of problems as well as the potential to generate violence across the land. 

I, myself, have no use for most religions.  They require their followers to deny their personal relationship with god and replace it with the rantings and ravings of a charlatan whose business it is to keep you frightened of god’s wrath and enchained by the belief that to be close to god and accepted by him, you need to listen to and accept the beliefs of the preacher.  However, I feel that religion has served a purpose in keeping the poor from going postal and taking whatever they can of value by whatever means it takes.  Some Religions are embarking on a dangerous change in course with the result that they will be even more divisive than they are today.

If religion came to us from god, it missed the point of its creator. It should be a thing that brings people together and gives all a hope for salvation and winning a one way ticket to heaven where all are equal and living the good life, forever.  Instead, it is attempting to serve the rich while leaving the poor outside and unsupported.  But hey, let’s get real.  There’s a hell of a lot of money to be made pandering to the rich than there is placating the poor. If the church leaders make more money by playing to the rich, I know that is the way they will take their church. I do wonder, though, how it will change religion’s relationship with the poor, if indeed there will be a relationship at all.

Political Racism. No, really?

It’s 2011, the third year into the Obama administration’s effort to change Washington’s Method of Operation (MOP) and so far at least, they have done zip, nada, nothing different than all previous administrations that also promised to come to town and change the way business is conducted. As the great Seinfeld TV series so aptly tagged as their way of expressing “same shit, different day, carry on” – yadda, yadda, yadda! I’d like to bestow a giant yadda, yadda, yadda on the Obama-ites for promising such nonsense when they knew they had no chance to change anything. I would also like to bestow a huge “what were you thinking” to all of the voters who were caught up in the mood and were willing to try anything to get Washington business performed with some class and honesty.

I voted for Obama and company not because I was expecting change but because he is change. First, he’s Black – a huge change and a good one. Second, he is even tempered (at least he’s able to pull it off having the biggest easy going façade I have ever seen) and handles himself well, keeping his composure in times of great stress and agitation. Third, he’s intelligent, articulate, and one hell of a speaker and speech writer.

The problems that exist today in America are not the fault of Mr. Obama and his team. At least the origins of the problems are not their fault. He inherited one of the worst economies, certainly true of recent times. He also inherited two wars and a POW prison, all very unpopular with many Americans. These happen to be three items on his to-do list that his voters fully expected him to deliver on. A large portion of his voting bloc in 2004 were College students and young professionals who bought the “promise of change”, a mantra that Mr. Obama used throughout the campaign and into the election. He hasn’t delivered on any of the three biggies promised but then when it’s your turn to be the decider, all the hidden baggage of each promise must be taken into consideration and often cold feet result in the inability to make a decision. Unfortunately for Mr. Obama many who voted for him expected him to deliver on his promises and to do so sooner rather than later. This is why, even with all the positive personality traits he possesses, he hasn’t been as popular and effective a president as his supporters wanted and expected.

I’m sorry to say this, but I honestly think it is because he is Black. I am not saying that his supporters held that against him. Obviously they have no problem with that. The problem with his ethnicity lies with the ultra-conservative religious right members of the Republican Party as well as the Party leaders. They have held Blacks to be inferior to them and their beliefs because they have kept alive the old prejudices that Blacks don’t want to work for anything and want only to be cared for by social programs paid for by mostly White workers. This is just one of the prejudiced concepts that are not only false, they are vindictive. As far as Mr. Obama is concerned, the venom that pours out of the Republican strategists and the rhetoric that they use to communicate with him is the most disrespectful and the ugliest of language that I have ever heard directed to the president of the United States. Not only is their talk offensive, they interrupt his speeches with shouts of “liar” and “that’s a lie” and other inappropriate comments. They have fallen short of using the “N” word but I don’t know how much longer that will last.

It is obvious that Blacks are not drawn to the Republican Party and those that are seemed to be upper class, wealthy members of society. There are inordinately fewer Black members in the upper crust due to the difficulty of their struggle to gain equality with Whites, a struggle that was certainly undeserved and that should have been un-necessary from the beginning because they were victims that were turned into villains by their victimizers and made to pay for a crime that they didn’t commit. Sad, isn’t it that we live in such a society that still hangs onto their ridiculous prejudice that a person’s skin color somehow makes them inferior? It really becomes idiotic when you take into consideration that these bigots spend hundreds of dollars and many hours on tanning beds in order to darken their pallid skin tone into one that is darker and more beautiful! Hey, I may have hit on something here. Maybe it’s not prejudice at all, but jealousy! Nah! It is what it is.

Mr. Obama has endured more derisive language and crude and offensive actions from the Republican Party than any other president or, for that matter, politician in Washington, D. C. I think the elephants are stampeding over his good name and character and daring him to complain that they are engaging in racially motivated bigotry so that they could brand him as too sensitive and weak to be an effective leader and president. Well perhaps Mr. Obama can’t and won’t say it but I will. I think you Republicans who are engaging in these tactics are showing that you are unconcerned with the problems and difficulties facing the American people and care only to show what you mistakenly believe is superiority and your distaste for a man who is different from you physically and ideologically, but is your equal, at least, as a person and a child of God (as are all peoples that God has made). You are not only showing your lack of knowledge and understanding what your jobs as elected officials entails, you are displaying a prejudice and hatred that you who profess to walk the moral high ground should be ashamed of. You fall way short of your roles as politician, person, and patriot and hit the bull’s eye on bigotry, lies, half-truths and dishonesty! You should be ashamed but that is one feeling you have long since eliminated along with your conscience.

I hope that the American people get tuned into your Modes Operandi and vote you low-life’s out of office and replace you with Republicans, or politicians, who hold the welfare of America above the selfish desires of mad-men, and women, bent on destroying the greatest nation on earth and replacing it with one of prejudiced, bigoted people who hold their needs and self-interest before that of the rest of their countrymen. May God help America!

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!!!

HAPPY EASTER 2011