"NO VETO, NO PEACE!"

“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.” —Martin Luther King

Today, Lansing passed House Bill 4003, making Michigan the 24^th right to work state. I’m both sickened and proud. I am sickened at the politicians and their back door, lame duck tactics. I am appalled at the strong arm move by our legislators. I am even more disgusted at the man that claims to represent the Michigan people, the in the pocket salesman for DeVos and Koch, Rick Snyder. I can’t, with clear conscience, respect him as a man or as the Governor of Michigan, nor can I title him as such. I am proud. I am proud of the turnout in Lansing, the solidarity, the movement to expose corrupt politicians bought by equally corrupt billionaire businessmen. I am proud of our labor soldiers, the work force isn’t going to bow down and feed from the hand of poverty, simply because it is shoved in their faces via the republican majority.

Yesterday, after discussing the Right to Work Bill with a colleague, I received a phone call saying schools were closing so the teachers could attend the Lansing protest. I felt chills rise in every pore of my body. The people were uniting. We are well bred Americans that don’t accept or take kindly to totalitarianism. It is about time we stood tall and proud and seized the bar that our ancestors reached and the politicians have knocked to the ground spinning us in a backward spiral. I wished for every district in Michigan to close their doors and shout out to the Snyder dictatorship, “We’ve had enough!” Though, I knew this bill was coming when proposal 2 failed. Of course, it didn’t pass due to confusion and false advertising, go figure.

So, I spent yesterday talking to people. I spoke with different levels of educators. It began with speaking with a handsome history teacher.  We stood in the hall and discussed the parallel of American politics with Mussolini’s Italy and the blinders the people wear, in their complacency, to shield themselves from their own reality. There is no doubt, the American people are fat on their own beliefs of what should be, but many are totally misdirected by the hype and commercialism of what is really going on, right in front of them. They tell the giant pink elephant to move out of the way of their 60 inch flat screens so they can continue to watch the deceptions of Shawn Hannity and his FOX news cohorts, a known specialty of Rupert Murdock.

I then moved on to the principle. I wanted to know why this particular school wasn’t closing. (I am omitting the name of the district to protect those who spoke with me.) To me, closing the district and protesting in Lansing was a first hand lesson for my American born children. To me, it is the people, the same people considered in “by and for,” standing for American rights. It is the meaning of being an American in the purest form. If my American government can send my America children overseas to fight against construed terrorism under the assumption of protecting Americans on American soil, why aren’t we teaching our children to protect their own freedoms on domestic soil? Why isn’t our freedom from our own captors far more important than our instilled fears, by that same government, by those same teachers, in our homeland? I don’t think it’s only Benito and I who understand and see where America is moving. I was quite impressed with the response from the principle at the school I was questioning. This meeting prompted me to follow through with an acting Superintendent. There, as I could almost see the lace hanky being laid out for the luncheon prayer, I saw the reason. I left the Superintendent’s office with these words: “If you can’t help teach my children what it means to stand up to be an American, I will.” I turned and walked away, knowing she didn’t understand and was totally clueless as to what I was really saying. I hope she prayed for the clarity.

Being from Michigan, I remember being raised against the entire Right to Work agenda. It was in the Right to Work states that we found poverty, lack of education, hazardous working conditions, and low, if any health benefits. It was a tool the republicans used against Bill Clinton as he ran for office, the republicans cried Bill would destroy our great nation; after all, he governed a Right to Work state. Shame on him. Yet, Bill never did what the same republican base has been doing to workers rights since Bill left office. He did quite the opposite, didn’t he? He raised taxes on the super wealthy by 3 percent and he pulled us up and forward, only for George to come in, reverse those taxes, and the decline in our economy began. The wealthy knew where to put their loyalties, and vice versa.

Unions have been bashed. Gone is the thug mentality of the early days. This is survival of the labor force. Without the power of the labor force we have nothing. Our middle class is being weeded out and who benefits?  We all know the middle class tax base carries the nation.  Shall we foolishly continue to blame the man with the tied hands and universal healthcare?

Right to Work does not feed jobs to the populous. Right to work saps $850,000 from the economy for every million saved in wages. For non union women their earnings are an average of $129.00 a week lower than their union counterparts. The general earnings for non union members is 3.2 percent less than those with the union protections. Let’s not forget the 53 percent more work place deaths in Right to Work states.  At a time when the cost of living continues to skyrocket can we all afford to earn less? At a time when even the union members have given concession after concession, can we afford to lose the protections? What’s on the chopping block next?  I know: child labor laws.

Of course, this is another example of what happens when the billionaires are told no. They are coming out in full force. Oh how the voters are going to pay for not allowing their guy to run the country. That’s okay, though, they still have key players in the governorships they puppeteer and Michigan homes the greatest Pinocchio of all. Snyder claimed Right to Work wasn’t on his agenda, bologna! I think he is lacking air living in the pocket of those who control him. His brain is starving for oxygen. Breathe Snyder, breathe, you may regain a brain cell or two that you lost since you crawled in the pocket of betrayal and bullshit.

To those of you that are bashing the teachers for caring more about their union than about the children, open your eyes. It is standing up for the children and protecting the system. These same puppeteers are opting for a free market education system, too. They want to privatize. That would mean the end to the open mind in America. Oh, yes, I’ve heard that those educated in our system today is the socialist agenda, why is intelligence and the ability to open your mind, to think beyond what is pushed in your face, socialist? If that be the case, I invite it. It may free America from the corporate chains that bind her.

The spin is this bill gives people the choice to decide if they want to join the union. It also takes away automatically deducting union dues, basically choking the financial throat of the unions. The problem with this choice is the non union member will reap the same benefits as the members that pay their dues, eventually abolishing the union. Once that happens, the rights that were gained with the union no longer have protection and they will fall to the wayside. Then, and only then, will the people that supported this Right to Work farce, realize what they have done to us all. They will then see what they have done to themselves, but it will be too late. Wages will be worse than they are now, which is comparatively lower than the late seventies, benefits will be nil, and without benefits they will find Obama care a blessing, because there won’t be anything left, but. They will help the labor force become the dependent farce of the underpaid, the poverty stricken, with the same security as the Wal-Mart worker. I want to be there when they find themselves applying for the entitlement of food stamps.

I hope we shut this state down. I hope the labor force, both union and non union, put an end to the war against the middle class, against women, against the working class that has built America. I want the billionaires to be put in their place. I want the elite to know they are only as good as the workers that built them. I want them to know we are not going to stand for their financial smack down any longer. Stand up, America, and shut them down. Show them the strength and the pride that America stands for, I think they forgot when they shipped everything, along with our jobs, to China.

Right to Work, Michigan? We always looked down on the lower education of the southern states that were forced into this way of living. It is what keeps the civil war alive in many southern minds, the north thinks they are better. Thing is, we were, we didn’t accept poverty with God as a pretense, a wall to hide behind, we didn’t buy into slave labor, until now. Good job, Michigan, I’m ashamed.

Wake up America, Open your eyes,

Till the next time, Solidarity and Peace!

Pam

Take Your Twinkie and Shove It!

Article first published as Take Your Twinkie and Shove It! on Blogcritics.

Ten years ago, my English professor talked on the “dumbing down of America.” He addressed the fallen educational standards allowed in our primary and secondary education system. I think it has gone further than research papers and grammar. It isn’t about the teachers and the education system, it’s about our society. We have dumbed down on levels that are driving us into poverty. We have become a lazy, blame laying, cumbersome society.

Now, it isn’t a secret that I have said Romney was the example of what happens when a billionaire is told no. I don’t understand why the true, tea partying, republican base, didn’t see the corruption in the beginning when their party was using voter fraud against one of their own, Ron Paul. They didn’t even see it. Their hate for President Obama far outweighed the corruption. They couldn’t see it. They hopped on the anti labor force band wagon and they bashed unions, when the destruction to our economy is a blatant continuance of billionaires that are told no.

We have Papa John’s Pizzaria whining that the costs of national health care will boast their costs by a whopping fourteen cents per pizza. Now, simple economics will prove that $.14 cent per pizza will be passed on to the consumer by at least a $.25 cent per pizza increase in price. Instead of admitting that truth, they whine, they say they can’t afford it. “Oh, we are going to have to close our doors and cost American’s jobs, all because of Obamacare.” Horsepucky. If they close their doors it will be because the owner in making a point, he is going to starve his previous employees, the same ones that helped him acquire his wealth, to rebel and whine.

Now, here comes Hostess. They are closing their doors. People are in a tizzy, because they may not get their King Dongs. Are you serious? Is this really the America that stood tall? We look like a country full of idiots, not innocents, because the truth is apparent. The global world can’t even feel sympathy for our position, because it’s based on chosen ignorance.

The truth about Hostess goes far beyond the bakers union. These workers have conceded to the hilt.

Hostess receiving clerk, Mike Hummell, said he was making $48.000 a year in 2005. This was before the first Hostess bankruptcy. The union members voted in concessions due to reorganization last year, dropping Hummell’s income to $34,000, or $16.12 per hour. The latest Hostess demands would have dropped Hummell’s income to about $25,000 per year, with significant higher insurance costs. How is he supposed to live? Hasn’t this employee conceded enough? Should he simply be thankful for a job in this economy?

Here is the bigger problem: While Hostess is demanding their employees take another concession, costing over half of their previous wage and benefit package, twelve of the CEO’s have increased their income by 300 percent shortly before filing bankruptcy. Tell me, Tea Partiers’, how does that work to help America?

How can the poor continue to lose and become poorer, while CEO’s are using their labor force to secure their own insurance, income, and retirement? What you don’t give, they will take, and if you try to stand up for yourself, you will be jobless; you will pay for saying no. Republican’s, let me ask you this: is this what your party considers “legitimate rape?”

How can companies continue to ask employees to take huge hits when they are already struggling to pay their bills, while CEO’s reap millions, securing their personal wealth?

Gregory F. Rayburn, CEO of Hostess says that the problem has always been the cost of structure, the union rules, the pension legacy, the pension cost and cost structure.

Right before bankruptcy, Rayburn’s salary soared from $750.000 to a whopping $2,550.000 million. This is a CEO that is asking his employees to work for $25,000 a year with less health coverage, higher health costs, and pension slashes.

Hostess wanted to cut pension costs from $100,000,000 a year to $25,000.000, while the CEO is securing his own retirement package, wealth. Only in today’s America.

All the while, America is up in arms, paying high prices for a Twinkie. Are the people so dumbed down that they are clueless to the fact that Hostess will not die, they will pretend to sell, open under another name, and push Twinkies, once again? Your King Dongs are safe. The King Dongs aren’t going to let it die, be realistic.

Mexican billionaire, Daniel Servifie Montull, owner of El Groupo Bimbo, the largest bread baker in the world, showed interest in purchasing the 82 year old Hostess. Rayburn quashed that idea, quickly, saying that tariffs wouldn’t allow for the purchase.  Rayburn did say he had many potential buyers, though he wouldn’t disclose the name of the proposed bidders or private equity investor’s, but he did say the company was “more attractive to buyers without the unions.” Of course.

It’s another union busting move. Yes, Hostess will liquefy, reopen, pay minimum wage, no benefits, and you will all still get your Twinkies. Obviously, that is what is important in America, the comfort principle. Then people will complain that the food stamp rolls have grown again, blame the president, say liberals are out for entitlements, and make up whatever else their short sighted minds can come up with.

This is the new way of America. The billionaires are angry. They tried their best to buy this election, and again, just like before, they lost. We are going to hit a new low of poverty, the wage will get lower, the cost of living higher, and job’s bills will become mute in a Congress that presses on for recession to get their way. No, it’s not the president. It’s the stronghold the billionaires have on the nation. Food stamps, low wages, and poverty will be the new way of the land. Get used to it. It is the new American principle.

Till the next time America, Wake Up!!!

Peace,

Pam

 

 

 

The Minion Class

“Attendance was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend the event.” Robert Moore, Chief Operating Officer for Murray Energy, said about the coalminers that claimed they were forced to attend a Romney rally. No comment was made about the cash contributions that are deducted out of the paychecks of the employees that go to the Mitt campaign without permission. Clean coal? I guess Murray Energy wants us to fall for it, so do the Koch brothers, but some of us haven’t forgotten about black lung and the dangers of the emissions of burning coal. Sorry voter’s, there is no such thing as clean coal. Sorry to Murray Energy, because they are a pathetic company that uses their employer status to force politics on their workers. This used to be against the law, and it still is, but how well can it be enforced when the workers are afraid to speak out over fear of losing their job?

Missouri, Utah, and Maine, want to lift child labor laws allowing kids of any age to work. That puts free enterprise at the top of the list for enabling kids to quit school, work for slave wages, and to lock themselves into limited learning situations. Newt thinks kids, even at 10, should work as janitors in schools in the poorest districts. Teddy Roosevelt pushed to protect the American children. He was a republican, but he wasn’t a republican based on the billionaire’s dollar.

The spin says we don’t need environmental protection, OSHA, or any other hazardous chemical protection. The Koch brother’s wanted to lift bans on certain pollutants even though they may be cancer causing. They are fined, repeatedly, for their pollutants, yet they don’t stop. They continue to buy judges and create groups that will satisfy their personal needs without caring who hurts from their creations. Know anyone who has suffered from cancer that lives by the nation’s second largest free enterprise company, Koch Industries? They fight to hide the dangers and the labeling of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and we allow it.

Wages have declined and we are living with the division of labor close to that of third world countries. The conservatives whine about the 43 million people collecting food benefits, but they don’t realize the number of working poor who work hard only to bring in a minimal paycheck. No matter how many hours worked they still can’t reach the level above poverty. Food stamps replace what free enterprise stuffs in the pockets of their dinner jackets.

America set the stage. We stood tall in protecting our working class. We created groups to shield us from pollutants and unhealthy working conditions. We put emission controls on our cars to protect the air we breathe. We raised the bar on starving American’s, low wages, unsafe working conditions, chemical pollution, and environmental destruction. We stood tall and proud and told the world that our workers were respected. We were somebody, no matter what our job consisted of, we were proud American’s. We did that by and through collective bargaining. We created the working class, a dignified position, no matter if you swept floors or cleaned toilets, you were a valued employee.

Today, America no longer has a working class. We have the minion class. This class of workers has been forced to backslide and kiss the ass of the upper class. This class of minion workers is grateful to have any job in this economy. This is the class that will take us back over sixty years, without pride or self respect. We will remain stuck serving the desires as Fredrick Douglas served his masters and with just as much shame and disgrace. Though the real disgrace and shame should be launched on the shoulders of the masters, it isn’t, it’s passed down to the people, just as it was passed on to Fredrick.

Just look at where we are in our free America today. Murray Energy is demanding political support from their workers to a party chosen by the leader of the company. How much more anti American can you get? Aren’t we in big trouble when our employers have that kind of power over us? So many will say it’s an Obama lie, because that’s how it’s now told in the world of spin. The conservatives will ignore Robert Moore’s words, and all will be blamed on the liberal party, no matter what the real truth is.

I never thought I would see the day when all the years of raising the bar with higher wages and better protections would spiral backwards. I never thought I would see American’s reach down and compete for the lower wages of outsourced workers instead of being American and reaching for the top. It’s here and there are people embracing it. The new mindset is all about free enterprise and even those in the minion class, the ass kissing class, are voting for the rich to have the right to keep their money in their pockets. Have American’s been so brainwashed that they think of their contribution to these companies as worthless? Don’t they realize that without our working class the billionaires have nobody to fill their labor slots? Has the American worker become so discouraged that they have decided to live by the old adage: If you can’t beat em, join em?

If you haven’t noticed, free enterprise doesn’t care about our health and well being. They will make every decision for you, without your input. They will tell you how to vote and who to contribute to. They will take your earned dollar to fund their own agenda if that is what they choose to do. They will pollute our air and stifle the life of our children and grandchildren, because there won’t be any environmental group to protect them. Our own will inhale dirty cancer causing coal dust that is being sold as clean coal. Clean coal, what an oxymoron.  

Without collective bargaining rights our work force is doomed. It is these simple workers rights that keep us competitive. It is collective bargaining that keeps us from becoming totally dependent on our employers. No matter if you belong to a union or not, the wage you earn is directly linked to the standard set by the union shops. Once all unions and collective bargaining is dissolved, so is our pride and freedom in what was once known as the land of the free.

Vote YES to collective bargaining.

Till the next time, Peace

Pam

I BEG TO DIFFER: SEVERSTAL STEEL IS NOT DEARBORN

As I snapped a picture of the Severstal Steel billboard, just outside of the Dearborn city limits, I felt a tugging resentment of the words displayed:

                                                  “Severstal is Dearborn. We are steel.”

From my immigrant grandfather, Gaetano Del Giudice, to my American born grandson, Jayden Messingham, we are five generations of Dearborn. We have lived the meaning of what it is to be Dearborn, not the false representation of those wanting to slide into the castle that was built through the power and success of one man and the labor of his community. Together, with one man’s idea and the hard working hands of many, a special little city was built, gifting all with the loyalty and appreciation of one another.

Dearborn is Henry Ford. Dearborn is the United Auto Workers. Dearborn spreads far beyond its boundaries and the multiple Ford Motor Company complexes. Dearborn is the combined force of wealth and labor. Dearborn is the courage of the labor force to picket and strike in honor of a decent wage, less hazard, decent working conditions, forty hour work weeks, and a benefit package that benefits not only the worker, but the families of the workers. Dearborn is decent public education paid by the taxes accrued from, again, the unity of combined labor and corporate forces.
Dearborn is a place where the wealthy meet the median and the poor, without resentment. The wealthy honor and respect the labor force, knowing without them they wouldn’t have their wealth. It’s reciprocal, with the labor force respecting the wealthy who designs and develops the conditions that warrant their labor. It’s win win.

Severstal is not Dearborn. The new contract passed in March validates the anti Dearborn mentality. Dearborn barters their contracts; they don’t try to create unbalanced scales, scales that are weighted by the corporate rich, to people that are struggling to pay their bills. Severstal creates $5,000.00 sign on bonuses if passed in the first round, feeding on the hungry. Manipulating the system with a bribe of momentary economical security is not fair play or the mindset of the labor force. This certainly doesn’t reflect the core Dearborn mentality and is a slam to the very crux of the unity the labor force and Henry Ford valued.

With the nation turning to a right to work status, there are still those that are against handing control of our work force to corporate America. Severstal is a great example of forcing a right to work situation in an area that sees, with open eyes, the reversal of the unity of the work force.

Many of the employees of Severstal went to their union reps for clarity on the contract issues and for advice on how to vote. The union is supposed to direct and represent the worker’s best interest, but not this time. This time the reps told the employees that they could not tell them how to vote. Apparently, corporate found a way to control the minds of those who were unaware and seeking help in their voting decision. Union rep sell outs, silenced, probably clinging to their own jobs, were not the courageous men of the past, men that stood tall for the best interest of the workers. Corporate orders stood firm in a sacred area where they aren’t supposed to hold any power.

The union reps should have bore neon signs guiding against the new contract. They should have warned that it was a brutal move by corporate Severstal. They shouldn’t have allowed the employees to vote on a contract where only the highlights were shared with the workers before the vote, making the employees ignorant to their forthcoming losses. In a time where people act as though we should all be thankful for a minimum wage job with zero benefits, it’s truly not the case. This is still America and our labor force still holds its worth, without it, corporate is nothing.
When the union surrenders it silences the voice of the labor that supports it. Have they, too, been blinded by the green lining in their pockets?

The union is tolerating much more than it should. After many calls referring to a veteran being silenced without recourse, I decided to write this article.
Gerald Dunigan, a twenty-five year veteran of Double Eagle, stood to voice his concerns at a culture change meeting. Immediately, he was silenced. He was told grandstanding wasn’t allowed. Nobody listened to Mr. Dunigan’s concerns; instead they put their hands on him, physically, and escorted him out of the meeting area. Mr. Dunigan took his grievance to the appropriate powers, with his witness list in hand, he was silenced. It was the witnesses that were abhorred by the silencing of one of their teammates who made the first calls to me. They were determined to get the word out. I am Dearborn, I am American, I won’t be silenced.

This is my letter to you, Mr. Mordashov:

Severstal employees seem to have taken the brunt of the once Ford Motor Company owed steel mill. This is the third contract the employee’s have had with the Russian owned company. With each signing, more is lost and sacrificed by the employee, while more is gained by the worlds 45th richest billionaire, you, Alexey Mordashov.

Isn’t it true, Mr. Mordashov, that you just spent $1.4 billion in upgrades at the Dearborn plant? Didn’t you just install a $450 million pickle line tandem cold mill and a $285 million hot-dip galvanizing line? Competing with the world’s largest steel producer and consumer, China, must be getting to you, since you simply fill the number two slot as a Russian Steelmaker. You seem to be peaking in upgrading.

Where do you find the audacity to ask the American government for a $730 million loan for a continuous annealing line? President Obama turned you down, but it didn’t stop you, did it? You recently reapplied, this time for $320 million. That loan is pending.

Do tell me and my readers, why we, the American’s, the Dearbornites, are supposed to loan you money when you fall 45th in the Forbes list of billionaires? You have billions, why should we loan you, a Russian company, millions of our money when we are struggling? Write the check out of your personal account and quit asking for a handout. We, the American’s, whine all the time about welfare to immigrants. I think it’s handouts like these we hate the most.

Alexy, you had $5,000 an employee to spend to guarantee your contract would be passed. You bought your way into that contract, while cutting the throats of the American workers you employ, didn’t you? It was the first time in history that Union reps weren’t allowed to guide their people on how to vote, they were hushed, by you, or someone that works for you.

The voting numbers can’t be checked and there is no contract to be found. The union claims that 87% of the employee’s voted in the contract. Has voter suppression become the norm even in industry? Is that the way of the New America, buy any vote any way you want it?

Yes, Mr. Mordashov, I know, you offered a 50k buyout, but that money wasn’t allowed to be added to the employees 401k, was it? You know the 401k I’m talking about, right? You know the one where Severstal picks the stock options, costing the employee’s even more money. Wouldn’t that make their buyout, after taxes, about 32k? It doesn’t seem worth it.

Your employees have to shower and change before leaving your grounds due to the hazardous waste that layers their body, clothing, and hair. This is mandatory so they don’t contaminate anyone or anything outside of the plant. Why don’t you pay for that mandatory act? Why aren’t you paying for the time it takes to protect the community from your chemicals and your hazardous waste? Why do you think your employees should gift you a second of their time?

You don’t like it when people speak out about the conditions or this contract, do you? It seems very well hidden, at least until the next election, right? Are you going to make it mandatory for your employees to vote for your choice of our American president, too? It seems when the employees speak out they are physically removed, silenced, without recourse, aren’t they? This has happened, there are consequences for speaking out, isn’t there? It’s appalling to have an American silenced, in America, by a Russian.

You kicked the people with seniority by taking away the benefits one achieves from the loyalty of seniority, didn’t you? It doesn’t matter if an employee has been a loyal member longer than you; it means nothing now, right? You took that away when you contractually claused the end of seniority.

You changed your profit sharing formula to reduce those profit sharing payments, too, just cutting the financial throat of your employees even more.

There are now mandatory ten and twelve hour shifts, some of those shifts lasting six and seven days. Could you put in those kinds of hours in a plant with hazardous materials that require protecting the community from, Alexey?

How kind of you to allow for five sick days, including being late? What is the penalty if you’re late or can’t make it in after those five days? Well, rumor has it that if there are four more sick days or if you are late in the next 18 months, it is a reason to fire. Nice.

Without a copy of the well hidden contract, I can only go by word of your employees. They are angry employees. I understand their frustration and anger. This contract and the means in which it became Severstal law is a farce. You know it, too, don’t you? Are you laughing at my people for their need to survive, yet?

So, Alexey, When you post a billboard stating that your Russian company is Dearborn please know what you are saying. Know who built Dearborn to be strong. Know who the people are that are employed in the largest automotive industrial complex in the nation in which your buildings stand with. They aren’t only Dearborn, Alexey, they represent a larger number of the American people, and they are the labor force of the nation, the backbone, the working class. Without them, you fail, you fall short, know my words, breathe them, and remember, it takes a lot more than a building and a few pickle lines to be considered Dearborn, obviously, by this last contract, you lack the core values that would put you in the running for what Dearborn stands for. Ask Henry, he is Dearborn, as am I.

Peace and solidarity to the American labor unions and our working class.

Vote for collective bargaining in the November elections!

Till the next time,

Peace,

Pam

Puppet Man

Article first published as Puppet Man on Blogcritics.

As I read Mitt picked Paul Ryan as a running mate, I heard "Puppet Man,” by the 5th Dimension, echoing through my head. I wondered if this choice, worse than Palin could even pretend to be, would wake up the 50 percent who chant the "Star Spangled Banner," even though they are clueless as to what that song signifies. I’m sure the tune gets blurred between shouts of,Hallelujah and Ave Maria.

I have to laugh at this choice. Obviously, Mitt and his puppeteers aren’t concerned with the vote. The majority of independents are lost on Mitt’s choice. Independents are smarter and above the propaganda. We search out the truth. We aren’t easily bought when pummeled by media. We look at everything, closely scrutinizing every move made by both, and then, with critical thinking skills fully intact, vote. With Mitt choosing Paul, it seriously makes me wonder how fixed the voting system already is. If Mitt can pull this off and become president with Paul as a running mate, our people are either really, really stupid, or it is totally fixed. America doesn’t hold that many ignorant people. People with any intelligence, right now, should be humming Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.” America wouldn’t want any part of a Romney/Ryan team. I’m sure if the independents were polled today, Romney would take a huge hit. The Republicans would cry it’s because of the college educated idiots. If this team wins, I, along with many others, will know this is a fixed vote. We are done. The democracy is over.

I did read a Facebook friend's post about voting. This friend was told he wasn’t allowed to split his ticket. He had to vote a straight ticket. Since when are we told how to vote? I never vote a straight ticket. I won’t now, either, no matter who tells me what. If someone tries otherwise, well, you’ll hear the rest of that story when, and if, I’m released from jail.

While the Republican politicians are singing the songs of the self-righteous God they don’t even believe in, I, and many like me are going to sing "Free Bird," (Lynyrd Skynyrd.) At this point in politics, even I want to roll a blunt, kick back, and remember the day I was a member of a free country. The bird I will sing about isn’t a shy sparrow, but a raging and angry eagle.

George W and Dick Cheney were bad enough. I can’t imagine what will happen if Mitt decides to turn our war games over to Paul, as George did to Dick. I wish the Kochs would grow some much needed testicles and run for office themselves. They couldn’t buy an election to put themselves in power. They would lose, we already know the polluting losers they are. They wouldn’t have the guts to face the nation, one on one, with their lies and schemes, because even the dumbest of dumb could see through it. They have to use puppets. Puppets like Romney, Ryan, Snyder, Walker, and Scott play out the dreams of the billionaires who would be told no if they ran the political race. What would it be like for a billionaire, one who can buy every whim, to be told no? Oh, wait, we know. The Kochs, the Kochs who began their wealth through Stalin, were told no by Obama, weren’t they?

Mitt Romney is what happens when the spoiled rich don’t get their way. Sorry David and Charles, I think you are garbage human beings. What are you going to do if you can’t buy this election? I would really like an answer, but you are cowards. You will also to be too embarrassed to answer that question honestly, won’t you? The Kochs and the Koch cohorts think they are the Geppettos to the Romney's Pinocchio. You embarrass me. You shame me as an American. I do have an idea, though, that XL pipeline deal you desperately want, you know, because you own that Canadian land that wants the oil sands to sell to China, well, move there. Move to Canada, America really doesn’t want you. If we could only vote out citizens who should be imprisoned for poisoning the people in various ways, you would be on the top of my list.

Now, I’m going to end this by saying that anyone who thinks Mitt Romney's running mate is fit for our White House in any way, research. Look at the trash that flows from his mouth. Those who love the ignorance of Palin are in for a real treat with Ryan.

Now, I’m going to go. I “Feel Like Makin' Love” (Bad Company) to ease my mind and blow off the stress of knowing that Mitt thinks my people are dumb enough to swallow Ryan as a running mate. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief at the Koch puppet’s insanity.

Patriot, You Bet!

“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.” ~Ben Franklin.

I am so tired of my patriotism being slammed and put on the line. I am tired of having to defend my position to those who are dizzy from the inhalation of verbal fumes emitted from Rupert Murdock and friends. I have to swallow the creeping vomit that fills the back of my throat when I listen to what some people truly believe. They argue, with Fox News as their source, and I cringe, gag, and throw up in my mouth a little, every time I hear the incredible garbage that is pushed, and worse, believed.

I am lost at what tools to use to wake up a sleeping people. Though, the alarms have sounded, they have been misinterpreted. If I try to explain, I am ignorant, I am unbelieved, and I lack patriotism. Are you kidding me? The problem is, I am not strong enough to remove what seems to be an invisible blindfold, instilled by nano technology or something, that causes one to lose sight of reality without research or reason.

I am an American. I am tired of my people being too weak to face what the powers that be have been doing to us for years. I am not going to allow our government, or any other government or power, to push me to my knees and cry uncle. I will not settle or beg for the morsels of freedom that are left behind, when real freedom was once my guaranteed right as an American. I will not fall or stumble in my beliefs of what my Lady of Liberty stands for. I will not, not for one second, fall to American tyranny, fed by our nation’s leaders, with words meant to make us believe it is for our own good.

I will never cower to sacrifice my liberty, or the liberty of my people, to false claims of terroristic threat. I will not spit in the face of the young, and not so young, American soldiers that have shed blood, lost limbs, suffered from post traumatic stress, and gave their lives so not only I, but all of us, could remain free.

I will not wave a white flag and surrender, because I am an American that stands tall and believes with all my heart in the true meaning of the word: American.

I refuse to eat the Monsanto and DuPont genetically modified food, which is honored, without labels, by our Supreme Court. This is the same Supreme Court that benches Clarence Thomas, who once was the head counsel for Monsanto. I refuse to stand quiet as this food, again unlabeled, is pushed down the throats of my people, poisoning them without a choice. I am not going to shut my mouth about the farmers that are sued and put out of business by the atrocities of Monsanto, and their lead competitor, DuPont. I will not fall victim to state governments, like Vermont, that fear court proceedings if they go against Monsanto by passing legislation that allows for labeling. I will spit in the face of the U.S. Congress for denying its people, our people, the right to know what is in our food when they vote against bills meant to protect, not only our choice, but our right. I will not allow my children to eat school lunches that include pink slime, ordered by the President of the United States. Ammonium is not a healthy choice, though it is favored by the Walton’s.

I am not going to fall victim to the preconceived notion that there are foreign terrorists that bombed the World Trade Center. I never have taken that bait and I surely am not going to take a bite of it now. I do not believe that our government is above such action.

Let’s remember who we are. Operation Northwood, in 1962, the CIA wanted to begin bombings and terrorist attacks on the U.S. Military and the American citizens. It seemed easy to trick the American people into believing there was an attack on our home front by Fidel Castro, which would give the American government the backing of the people to attack Cuba. President Kennedy was the only one against it. Do we have men with that honor today in our government? No, we don’t.

I don’t think it’s the conspiracy theory approach as I have been accused of, many times, I think it’s the common sense approach. After reading all the information, the data is pretty clear. I resent the government, both sides, for standing for the nonsense that allows for the massive loss of American rights under the premise of security. With the false threat to our people comes false security. The laws that are sold to the public, via biased and controlled media, are not protecting us from any terrorist, foreign or domestic. Laws like the Patriot Act I, II, and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), are laws that have robbed us of what stood between us and controlled nations. We are no longer free.

Sad thing, I know many of you don’t even know the rights we have lost as a people, as Americans, in the name of terrorism. They have it wrong. We shouldn’t have to give up our freedoms to give our government more power over us, that is what made us stand above everyone else, we should penalize terrorism, real terrorism, not penalize the free citizens of our country as the government has done to us. I am not going to allow the laws to gag my freedom of speech. They can call me whatever they choose, I don’t care,

I am an American. I was raised at a time when there was honor. I was raised in a public school system that taught us that we had to stand, fight, and even die, if need be, to protect those freedoms, and today we live in a land of police brutality during a simple peaceful protest. I hang my head in shame.

Our government, even censuring Google now, talks about how special it is to be American, then again, I know Hitler talked the same talk, thing is, neither government, not Hitler’s Germany then, or Bush/Obama America, now, can walk the walk. Freedom, as Janis Joplin said, is just another word for nothing left to lose, and after over two hundred years, this time she may be right.

I am not the sell out. I am not the one whining about who is gay and who is having an abortion. I simply don’t care. It isn’t my business. I am not buying into the smoke blown in the American faces about the economy or the jobs it lacks right now. I am not going to allow our billionaires, our David and Charles Koch’s, our Waltons, and the powers that be, to continue to emotionally molest my people of their common and basic rights through rampant commercial lies generated to protect or grow their assets.

I am an American. In America we vote for the candidates with honor and respect for our nation. We vote for those that will protect our rights and help us progress to a better place. Our politicians are people we can stand tall with and be proud of, aren’t they? Isn’t that how it used to be before everyone was sold out to the highest bidder with the biggest anti-American agenda? Didn’t we used to vote with a freedom and respect for our democracy before voter suppression? Didn’t we, at least at a time long gone, have candidates worth more than a lobbied dollar? Wasn’t our democracy special and different and worth the sacrifice of death to preserve? Wasn’t our democracy what all of our wars have been fought to protect? It’s been a long time since America knew a moral and decent leader. It has been a long time since there was dignity in our senate, congress, or presidential house.

Mitt Romney, and what his party did to Ron Paul is disgusting. Barack Obama, and what his party did to Hilary Clinton was horrendous. George W, our first Supreme Court president appointee, began the rapid decline into total shame and degradation of the entire American system. The three of these men, with their lobbied dollars and their crooked party power, took away the precious American dream.

Thanks, Mitt, for your lies and outwardly showing what a coward you really are. You couldn’t speak the truth if it hit you in the face, you disgust me on so many levels, but you shame the Mormons with your past Bishop status. How does it feel to be bought by the Koch’s? You are strumming their drum and we know it.

President Obama, how can you stand as the President of the United States of America, and after claiming you would veto NDAA, you signed it, knowing exactly what a slam that is to our nation and our people? How could you not reverse the Patriot Act I and II? How could any real and just American president sit idle knowing the freedoms you signed away?

I am done with your agendas, guys. I am done with your lies. I am not on your road to global assery. Because of you three, I am ashamed, and I will remain so, until a real American can stand tall, free of lobbyists, free of fear of bucking the rich, free of Stepford governing, and free of Koch addictions. I will hang my head in shame until one person, one qualified American, stands up and leads with dignity and honor. Can any politician remember what that is? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was just one politician that could pass through the cut throat party games and survive to lead with something this country has lacked since the beginning of the George W. Bush regime? Patriot? Yes, I am a Patriot. I am not bought or sold. I am not easily led. I am informed, educated, and an American. I am leaving you with this quote: “The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism, but the theory of necessity on which it is based is false; for the government, within the Constitution, has all the powers granted to it, which are necessary to preserve its existence; as has been happily proved by the result of the great effort to throw off its just authority.” ~Exparte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866) Till the next time, Peace. Pam

Honesty

I was asked to write a piece on honesty. It seemed like an easy write. Honesty should be cut and dry, tell the truth, simple as that, but it isn’t. The capillaries of truth can either feed arteries, or sever them. We never know the outcome until the words flow and the reaction begins, leaving us sometimes wishing we kept our words silently dancing in our own minds. For every truth spoken there is an ear that heard, ready to make us choke on the consequences that may be pushed down our throats via our open mouths. Honesty is a responsibility that sometimes bears poisonous fruit, at least momentarily. That fruit, once fully matured, releases integrity, honor, and self respect, allowing one to stand tall and face not only themselves, but any adversary, with a clear conscience.

Fear and denial seem to be the greatest inhibitors of truth. So many people live their lives oblivious to who they are; afraid their reality will do nothing but pollute those they love. They pull out their favorite Crayolas and color the picture pretty to hide what they have deemed the ugliness of their soul.  They etch vibrant color to replace what guilt has deemed dark. The crayon seals their fate, and if they see it begin to peek through, like a rebirth, they abort what is real, once again, by adding a new layer of colored wax.

A soul dies, snubbing out the spirit of who they were created to be, choking the life out of what is real. Years pass with adaptation to the artistic print, but the feelings beneath, still profoundly inhibited, don’t die or go away. They teach, through actions, true self is unimportant. They are easily led and those who lead them, those that contain and control, are given the leash to lead, with guilt and damnation. Though their spirit is numbed and the truth is still unknown, their captors see the crack in the drawing; the emotional jailer will throw the book of Hell fire and mortification, casting one lower than the serpent of Lucifer or whatever tactic will create the most shame and guilt, to keep the “less worthy” intact and securely under their command. The weak, the crayon holders, read the book, bow their head in shame, believing they are bad, wrong, or deserve to be severely punished and caged. They live in a world where their mind is lead by other’s choices for them. They are far too afraid of change, strength, or the rewards of simply being self loving enough to say: I am me.

Sadly, the choices these people have made for themselves slaughter the very crux of life’s intention. They live on their knees, begging forgiveness, for the lies they live. They don’t see or recognize, through their conditioning by their captors and their abusers, that the only real sin, the only real punishable issue of their life, is the sin against themselves. Yet, they don’t inhibit the strength to feel worthy of reality. They strengthen the lie, in their minds, under the terms and conditions of commitment, when, in reality, a commitment based on a lie, continued on a lie, is the very disgrace they think they are avoiding. Commitment becomes the glass mountain to hide, justify, and mask what is really simply fear, lack self respect, and insecurity.

The ring leaders of the weak also hide behind the premise of love, devotion, and righteousness, when in reality; they are living their own lie, controlling others out of their own fear, insecurity, and dishonesty. They, too, are internally ugly and have drawn their own pictures. Each character is expected to follow the etched road to Oz to validate the righteousness of the controller’s life. When one character steps off canvas, they are damned, not because they are wrong, but because the controller fears the wax has began to melt exposing what is real underneath their artistic fantasy. Their betrayals are more serious than the follower. They painted their character as the supreme, the good, the just, creating themselves “better than.” They lead through deception, enacting vile laws of devotion and penance. When questioned or exposed, they hide behind the self portrait of perfection, knowing the lies that live inside. They can’t take responsibility; they cannot admit any wrong doing that will weaken the stance of the almighty self-righteous controller. Out of fear of losing control of the unit in which they command, they hide behind the Bible, or some other equally vicious weapon, to cast punishment on those that may begin to question.

Wearing the cloak of deception under the premised fear of, “what will people think of me if I am true to myself?” invalidates the essence of human existence. The consequences to being true to yourself is self respect and with self respect we find we can love ourselves, warts and all, and only then we can free our own spirit.

In The Name of Jesus

Article first published as In The Name of Jesus on Blogcritics.

I couldn’t sleep last night. I tossed and turned, thinking of everything from “the 6 second rule,” to the Bible, and the facts, or less than facts, which back the words scripted, bound in leather. Due to the political affiliation of fundamental religion, the heavy God theorem, I thought of the depth of the question: What would Jesus do? I usually hold particular politicians responsible for using and manipulating the God fearing. Last night, my head spun with the fact that the politicians only have the power the people give them. The hypocrisy-laden fundamentalists create the fertile ground of tyranny against the Jesus they pronounce as their savior. They march, donate, and vote to pass pro-Yahweh laws, criticizing and passing judgment, supporting laws that prohibit one’s own free agency, ignoring their own God with their profound judgment. It is these very same people who would crucify Jesus Christ, once again, with their self-righteous belief and their values taught from the pulpit of man. Jesus would once again be shackled and nailed to the cross, or maybe just held and tortured, without charges or trial, in Gitmo, by those who claim to believe in him the most.

Let’s begin with thou shall not kill. People picket clinics with painted signs bearing this commandment. They lobby for anti-abortion laws, trying to rob the people of God-given free will. They try to deny the right of choice promised by God’s will of choice. Under the premise of doing God’s work, they pass judgment. They claim it isn’t right. It’s murder. Yet, out of the other side of their mouths, they support capital punishment. They vote in favor of crucifixion, time after time, as if their form of death by man is different. They also send off their young to war, again supporting violence and death by the hand of man. They vote on the side of their Lord for man-induced death. Thou shall not kill wasn’t meant just for robbers who break into your home at night, or for unborn children; it was meant just as written: don’t kill, plain and simple. I guess they decided to modify those words, putting God in their terms, not themselves in God's. Christian? Laughable. I don’t remember a single Bible story where Jesus ever raised a weapon, not even to save his own life. He didn’t gather a violent army to protect himself against the Jews who were casting stones at him. He didn’t create a political party to outlaw the behaviors he deemed violent and unnecessary; he shed his blood to save those who didn’t know any better. The Bible-righteous should know this better than any of us, but some of us don’t need to focus on a two-thousand year old book to understand the Jesus principle, the people principle, also known as the human condition.

I would also like to know where the anti-poverty votes come into play in the Bible. I don’t know of a single case of Jesus walking away from someone hungry, sick or cold. He didn’t ask them if they paid their taxes. He didn’t cry out: “All you want is a handout and why should I have to pay for you to have food, shelter, or healing?” He simply fed the hungry, clothed the cold, and healed the spirit of the leper. There was no condemnation of their class position, no questions asked as to how they got to where they were, no judgment passed, and certainly no self righteous ego that led him to believe he was any better. Again, he didn’t create an army to hide the crumbs of the crust that society had left behind. He simply lived what he was trying to teach to the world, he reached out and cared for those who needed, without question or ridicule, shedding his own blood to mask the sins of those who were too ignorant to grasp it, begging: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

I don’t understand how the biggest Bible believers miss this point. I don’t understand how they can vote for politicians who put far more priority on military spending than on the people, far more than other countries; and when cuts are needed, they vote against the people.

Man preaches his personal beliefs from the pulpit to the minds who have lived in a box for so long, believing every word spoken, that they have forgotten how to think for themselves in their own chosen darkness. They use the Bible to levy war and hardship on those who are less fortunate. They vote on the side of societal control. These votes show no real belief in the Jesus they proclaim to love, for with each vote they desecrate the blood of the true meaning of Christ, just as did Pontius Pilate or the Jews, and in the same manner, I must say. The congregation votes, upon that preached word, casting stones for their own quasi-salvation, against the free will of God, but the box they have allowed themselves to fall into, keeps them in the darkness, unable to see the truth beyond the book.

I guess it all falls into play. The Bible, written by man, by those in power to control societal conditions of the time, continues. History repeating itself, over and over again. It is those same beliefs, in the day of Jesus, which led to his crucifixion, and it is those same hands, in our modern world, that would crucify him again today if he were to stand up for the people. If Jesus were here today, what would he do? Would he stand for the corruption of big business? Would he choose to vote to pollute the land on which he walked? Would he speak out against collective bargaining? Would he publically demean people for their sins? Would he cast stones upon the poor, the elderly, the children and those in need, all the while holding hands with the super rich who say: “To hell with them?”

To you fake Christians, who vote against all that Jesus Christ stood for,I leave you with this quote from your own Bible, Matthew 25:35-40:

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.’

Remember that when you paint your signs of disgust against those you don’t understand. Remember who Jesus Christ was. He had no malice and no prejudice against anyone, not even those who nailed him to the cross. Have the courage to step outside the box, think with your own mind, free your own God given spirit to learn the truth, and know the only damnation in by Jesus is authored by man. When you understand that, you will then be free of the guilt and shame attached to salvation and you will then truly know that salvation was granted from the blood Jesus shed, even to you as your hand continues to drive the nails against him.

What would Jesus do? He would shed tears, along with his blood, knowing that his agony was in vain.  Would he still beg his Father for mercy? Would he still utter the words: Father forgive them, they know not? Trouble with that is, you do know better, but you fell to the mercy of man.

Till the next time, Amen.
Pam

Food in America: An Entitlement?

Article first published as Food in America: An Entitlement? on Blogcritics.

America has sold itself as a loving and giving nation. We feed and rescue the less fortunate on a global status. Our television broadcasts shows of starving children. The malnutritioned children, with swollen bellies, cry out in filthy, bug ridden, exploitation. Our tears fall. We dig deep in our pockets, to send whatever we can, to make ourselves feel better. We shake our heads in pity at life in third world nations. All the while, we don’t realize that starvation in our own country is growing. It isn’t aired, there are no global donations, no adopt an American child, picture enclosed, programs for our hungry and homeless. Yet, as we send donations to rescue the less fortunate in other countries, we try to cut funding for our own, as we scream, Get a job!

So many Americans believe there is no reason for American starvation. The starving Americans are at fault and they need to work. That’s the solution. People refuse to look at the total picture, and when the evidence is put in their face, they close their eyes and turn their heads while uttering: It’s because of Obama.

Somewhere between breaking collective bargaining and a desperate economy, we have come to believe that a $10 an hour job is sufficient. (A $10 an hour job falls $1 below the national poverty line.) The mindset is gratuity, period. We defend the fifty year high of corporate profits, and bash the president for the equally high unemployment rate.

Doesn't the reality that 46,405,204 Americans are collecting food stamps convincingly paint the picture of poverty in our nation? For some, the visual is overweight, lazy, black, Hispanic, Arabic, drug addicted, people who are baby machines, kicking out children to earn money on the system. Others believe massive fraud is taking place; people aren’t entitled, they are raping the system, cheating. These things are simply untrue. The fraud rate is down from 56 percent to 1 percent. That’s statistically insignificant. Meanwhile, one in five people struggles with a shortage of food. One in three is eligible for food assistance, but doesn’t apply, probably out of false pride, shame.

Even many of our best educated, struggling to repay crippling student loans, find themselves below the poverty line: there are 293,209 people with Master's degrees and 33,655 PhDs dependent on food stamps! We have underemployed people trying to support their families on minimum wage, burdened with paying child care, medical care, and transportation costs. Every single mother struggles; many are earning minimum wage or less. Even if they are lucky enough to receive child support, still they can’t afford to buy food for their children. They count their saved milk, bread, and egg money to put in their gas tanks to make it to their low-paying jobs. These are not lazy people who can be put in a color class. They can’t be put in a class of white/black/Arab/ or Hispanic. The fact is they are Americans who would starve without the food assistance program, no matter how hard they try to work their way out of the hole they have been pushed into.

Although there aren’t any numbers I can point to to prove it, I think it’s a safe bet that the majority of food stamp recipients would gladly take a job that would give them the ability to feed their children and handle all of their other living expenses without having to deal with DPS. We are Americans; we don’t want to admit we have to use the system. We hang our heads in shame, blaming ourselves for our personal failures, don’t we? There is no shame to be had. We are loving people. We will care for our children at any and all costs to ourselves. That’s what we do as parents.

We are not responsible for this crisis, this deep, very serious recession which is growing uncomfortably close to becoming a full-blown depression. The current president isn’t responsible for the lack of job creation and the rising level of poverty. The EBT card is the only thing that shields America from the shame of 1930’s food lines. We are in serious trouble.

To find out who is behind this economy all you have to do is see who is benefitting from it. The proof is in the pudding. Our manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to those around the world who are forced to work for slave labor wages, without environmental protections or benefits. Health has boiled down to work at your own risk. After all, why should corporations clean up their acts to provide a safe environment, that isn’t on their money making agenda. They hide behind the premise of the costs of collective bargaining and unions. The truth is, without collective bargaining and unions we are re-creating the pre union condition. Are we really ready for that in a country that claims to be civilized? Again, we are falling behind the countries that are truly free and civilized.

The corporate money machine is fertilizing the ground for slave labor. Look at our economy. Look, open your eyes, to who is making billions, as jobs dwindle. They are supposed to be our job creators, not the president, and if you follow their profits you will also follow their employment demise. They are holding jobs tight in their little hands, making our nation fall to its knees before third world countries and their slave wages. Some of you, way too many of you, have come to believe in their deceptions. Half of Americans have swallowed the Kool Aid. You blame the poor. It isn’t the lazy, black, Hispanic, lowlifes who are looking for a handout who have drained our jobs. To find the perpetrators of the state of our economy, just like finding a drug lord, all you have to do is follow the money trail. Where ever it leads, you’ll find the kingpin. That is who is truly responsible for the crisis we are in.

The Kool Aid full, constantly cry out, “Why do we have to pay to support our social net?” Shouldn’t the bigger question be: “Why do we have to pay, shed blood, watch our children go without, watch our citizens suffer from homelessness and poverty, so you can line your pockets and buy our governments? Why should we have to pay to continue to gag from the chokehold the rich have on our throats, choking away our freedom and our ability to take care of our own?" Isn’t that a much better question to ask? Isn’t that a stronger moral question to ask? After all, seriously, all you religious folks need to ask yourselves, "What would Jesus do?"

It’s very sad to see America fall to the premise that capitalism and free enterprise have the right to mold us into a slave society. American capitalism once held a standard that has disappeared. Our democracy was based on shared profits, enabling all to grow. Now, big business takes the money and runs with it, creating no jobs, and we feel we are indebted to them for any crumb they may throw our way. I don’t understand.

I remember, when I was the in fourth grade, Ms. Sechrist taught us that in our lifetime we would suffer the loss of the middle class. She told us that we would live in an America ruled by the rich, which would create a two class system: The rich and the working poor. How did she know that over 40 years ago? Ms. Sechrist was obviously a very smart woman.

So, the next time, America, when you cry your tears of sympathy for the starving African child, remember that the same circumstances may be happening to a poor American child, next door, or down the street from your very own secure life. Remember, when you open your mouth to stuff it with some goody you purchased at a high end bakery that a child is going without formula somewhere near you. Remember, while you curse rage upon our own starving, that you, too, are only a paycheck away from the same poverty you demean. Eat well.

Wake up, America!

Pam

About that Romneycare

Article first published as About That Romneycare on Blogcritics.

I had to take a break from writing. The Republicans have Tim Taylored the spin machine, and just as all of Tim’s supped up creations, it is out of control. While the people are focused on some lame ruling somewhere, big bills are being signed without any common person’s knowledge. There are so many things I could write on, but these things are flying so fast, I don’t know where to start. The rapid fire of the Billionaires Club may stun me for a second, but I will overcome the dizziness. Eventually, I will cover all of the bases. I refuse to become a part of their plan. I refuse to let the lies fly by, without sight. They may appear blurry, but I still see them. Today, as I promised many, I am addressing the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable healthcare Act.

I have read many things regarding Obamacare. I read, time after time, that the political people are exempt. Well, Hilary Clinton had a perfect healthcare plan which opened the same insurance to all that the political base shared. We all see what happened to Hil. There has never been a doubt that Obama was going to put together a healthcare plan. Voters, you get what you voted for. I don’t think his plan is the best, Hilary’s was much better, but the truth is, we need a healthcare plan in this country. We are the only leading country that fights it. I know the Republican base is crying, kicking, and screaming, like the sore losers they are, but we have to continue to move forward. We grow stagnant and barbaric without forward growth.

Of course, I fully understand the power of the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the medical profession, and the big business behind them. I know it’s going to crimp their style, just a little. Like every big issue in America today that splits our country, it leads us right back to the billionaire's club. They so don’t like being told no. To them I say: bummer dudes get over it.

As for Romney, the puppet Pinocchio of the billionaire's club, how dare he speak out about Obamacare when he is the master of forced healthcare? Why aren’t people aware of Romneycare? With Romneycare, we, the entire United States tax payers, pay taxes that cover Mitt Romney’s healthcare plan in Massachusetts. Fifty percent of the costs are paid back to his state by, yep; you guessed it, the American federal government; you and me. Of course, he raised taxes to put his healthcare plan into action. It was the largest expansion of Massachusetts Medicaid, ever.

Mitt does give three choices, but those aren’t plans you are able to choose, they are plans that are assigned, based on qualifying income. This is all run through the nonprofit sector (which I found absurd) of Blue Cross.

Under Master Pinocchio, all Massachusetts residents are required, by law, to be insured. If a resident chooses not to seek coverage under one of his plans, then they are fined $1,000 dollars a year.
So, for me to hear Mitt Romney talk against universal healthcare, I want to spit his hypocrisy right back in his face. It shows his puppet status loyalty to the club that is funding his presidency. How can you stand, knowing you created much of the same plan as Obama, then talk against it? It certainly shows who he works for, doesn’t it? A man who can be bought to the point of selling out his own convictions is not a man I want for a leader. Then again, who did he prostitute himself to to secure his governorship? That is something I may look into.

When the facts are examined, without the Tim Taylored spin machine, America’s state of health is in shambles. We are a leading country that falls short, drastically, when it comes to our healthcare. I hear people, all the time, talk about how our health system is better than anywhere in the world. I can’t believe they think this. It is a pure fallacy. There isn’t a bit of truth to it. Our state of health is deplorable matched to our 1st world status.

America is 48th out of 222 when it comes to infant mortality. Infant mortality shows the overall health of our nation. We fall below Taiwan, for Pete’s sake. Our life expectancy over all is 70 years old (67.5 for males and 72.6 for females.) We rank 24th. We fall 14th, or last, on the countries rated for preventable death. This is what superb healthcare is? Not by any broad scope of the imagination.
Our medical costs are astronomical.

I remember twenty years ago, my son was born with a hole in his heart. The pediatric cardiologist charged almost $800.00 dollars per office call. That didn’t count the ultrasound. My cost was only $20.00, because of insurance co-pay, but what if I didn’t have insurance? What if my son fell in the crack between too much income for Medicaid and not enough income for health insurance?

Today, if it weren’t for Children’s Special Care Services, which is a form of Michigan Medicaid, my daughters would have been buried long ago. Am I looking for a handout? No, I’m grateful. If it weren’t for this social net my daughters couldn’t survive. They both suffer from juvenile onset diabetes. I pick up monthly supplies that would cost about $400.00 per month just in co-pays. The true costs, with insulin costing over $130.00 a vial (and they get 15 vials per month, each,) would be financially crippling. That’s just for the insulin alone, not counting all the other supplies that go along with diabetes. I do have to say, there was a time that I could go to Windsor and purchase the insulin for $17.00 a vial, same brand, same insulin, but George W put a stop to that. Why? I wonder. Oh yeah, American free enterprise.

I had a dear friend, a very successful makeup artist for the movie industry, Lynn Campbell. Lynn was born with congenital heart issues. She married, and divorced, losing her instate medical coverage through her husband. She couldn’t find another insurance company to carry her with her prior condition. She needed new wires in her pacemaker. That surgery, along with serious leg surgery after being hit by a taxi in New York, wiped out her savings. No longer able to work while still healing, another health issue popped up: she needed a heart valve replacement. Without any money to pay the hundreds of thousands in American medical expenses, she was thinking of moving to France, for there they have superb universal healthcare. Living in L.A., her time was growing short. She spent a lot of time trying to get state coverage. After many denials, finally, her surgery was covered, maybe too late. She had the surgery, but died from an infection due to the surgery, and malpractice due to the lack of administration of antibiotics. The malpractice was blatant, but the caps and regulations inhibiting us from suing, another George W implantation, rendered nothing for her loss.

So, before people whine about Obamacare, think about what you are really saying. Do I think American’s should be required to have insurance or pay a fine, of course I don’t, no more than I think they should have to pay the Department of Treasury in Michigan for a traffic ticket, or wear a seat belt, or do a lot of things we suddenly have to do. Personally, I think the attack should be levied against the medical industry to bring down the costs of care. Nobody wants to talk against free enterprise. We can cap income on athletes, but not on our medical profession, interesting. We can throw a lid on malpractice, so the guilty go free, but we can’t cap our pharmaceuticals and our medical services? We can, we just continue to vote in favor of free enterprise. This isn’t democracy, this is capitalism.

The people cry out on the tax issue. The issue is, as with any social net programs: “Why should we have to pay for someone else to have insurance when we have to pay for our own? It isn’t fair.” Well, to those of you who simply can’t get it, here is your answer: Who ever said life was fair? Deal with it, get over it, and pride yourself for being able to help those less fortunate.

I wonder when the people are going to open their eyes. Take off the blindfolds that the billionaires have wrapped around your heads. It hasn’t only inhibited your sight, but it seems to have cut the oxygen from your brains, as well.

We have a former GOP spokesman saying healthcare is a reason to draw our guns and to revolt. We have the conservatives saying Roberts isn't fit for the Supreme Court, now, because of epilepsy medication, and then we have the presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, speaking out against Obamacare when he was the first to put mandatory healthcare in the works in Massachusetts, making all Americans responsible for the health of those in Massachusetts.

When you speak out to wage civil war all in the name of free enterprise, we must seek out the reasoning behind it. The words aren’t to create a free society, don’t be fooled, those are words that are simply spoken to give even more control to the billionaire's club (I do not use that term lightly; there really is the Bilderberg billionaire's club.)

The chatter of taxes on the middle class feeds the outrage that divides our country. Divide and conquer is a very old and reliable tactic. The club loves the division, they know exactly what they are doing, and they are laughing at their ability to buy feigned intelligence, almost subliminally, that is gaining power to strangle the real intelligence in our country. They are creating the minion class who will fight for rights they will never achieve.

Let’s overthrow the government under the premise that the Supreme Court doesn’t count (unless it’s in their favor,) we are Communist due to healthcare, and God only knows all the other extremist jargon the far right will come up with. Beware of those who use middle class taxes against you, when they are the corporations that can afford to pay, yet pay nothing.

I really wish the fundamental Republican base, the ones who aren’t eligible for membership in the billionaire's club, could look beyond The National Enquirer type political sites, like The American Thinker, and see the facts that stand independent of any political affiliation. They don’t seem to be able to do so.

Maybe they were stung by drone mosquitoes.

Till the next time....Over and Out,

Pam

Thrifty Thursday: David Porter: Porter Property Maintenance

I decided to make Thursday my day for consumerism. I will share my view of small business from my personal experiences. I will promote the businesses that have gone the extra mile with old fashioned, superb, customer service. On the other hand, I will also share the experiences that fall short, both on services and attitudes. If any reader decides to hire any of these services, upon mentioning my article, they will receive a ten percent discount. I am not paid to advertise for these companies. This is purely my personal promotion based on excellent service.

My first promotion is for Porter Property Maintenance. The owner of this company is David K. Porter. Mr. Porter handles all of my lawn care and snow removal needs.

Dave is a lifetime Downriver resident. He graduated from Woodhaven High School in 1988. In his junior year of high school, Dave joined the Army Reserves.

Dave’s childhood was one of many struggles. His mother and father divorced, leaving Dave’s mother single with four young children. Nancy Porter soon remarried. This caused loyalty issues for young David. He didn’t know how to remain loyal to his biological father while accepting the new stepfather into his life.

The new marriage started off with many trials. Dave and his three siblings now had to share their mother with the addition of three new siblings, the stepsiblings, and a new head of household, Doug.

Doug took on the financial responsibility of seven children and a new wife. In the beginning it wasn’t too hard. Doug had a towing business that was thriving, but soon the bottom fell out and they became desperate. As hard as it was, the family fell to the welfare rolls. Though, poverty took a financial toll, Nancy and Doug didn’t let that affect the children. They remained very close knit as they struggled to survive.

Dave remembers his Christmas’ as bittersweet. As a young child, before his father left home, his Christmas’ were normal, traditional. There was the tree with all the trimmings and many presents from Santa. Though, Christmas was normal with his biological father who had a stable job, his father was never there. He recalls a story of Christmas as he was a little older, maybe 10 or 11. He was taken to the VFW Hall in Rockwood and was told to take a toy out of a box marked by age. At the time he didn’t think much of it; it was sort of cool getting to choose a toy, but soon the embarrassment took hold and he understood what it really meant. He felt this shame while listening to his friends talk about their Christmas gifts. They were poor, but the stepfather, Doug, (which he calls “my dad,”) was always there for them.

Dave remembers the feelings of the high points of both Christmas situations. The early education molded him into the Santa Ninja. At Christmas, Mr. Porter makes sure no child is left behind. Santa comes for any child he may know, or even have a brief encounter with. His heart will not allow for any child to feel the bite of choosing a toy out of a box. He makes Christmas wishes, even the largest, unreachable dreams and wishes, a reality for every child he knows. I know this for a fact; he has done it for mine.

Dave married at a young age, had a son, Robert, and two daughters, Chelsea and Kelly. He recently divorced. He is in a relationship with a woman, Nicole, and helps in raising her son, Aiden. There is no doubt he sees Aiden as one of his own.

Dave is a family man. He loves to golf and he plays hockey weekly.

Though, Dave’s appearance may intimidate some, with his shaved head, piercings, and tattoos, he is a very hard working, meticulous, perfectionist. He establishes a personal relationship with his customers and he cares about pleasing them. He goes the extra mile, throwing in little things, just for esthetics, and he always works with a genuine smile.

David Porter is trustworthy and dependable. He can plow snow, remove ice, and cut a standard lawn, all at a reasonable cost.  Payment can be by monthly contract or pay as you go. He will work with you. He even has barter accounts, which are pretty nonexistent in today’s world. Dave isn’t just the snow and lawn guy. He is a landscaper. He can take the most dismal surroundings and make them weep luxurious beauty. He is talented and enjoys both the work and the people he meets along the way. His customers become friends and are treated as such. He appreciates every one of us. His appreciation shows in his work.

So, my first small business promo goes to David K. Porter, owner of Porter Property Maintenance. I couldn’t imagine promoting anyone else in this field. I know, with payment, he will take the minimum for himself and he will provide for someone else, somewhere, that isn’t as fortunate. Dave is a true American with impeccable family values.

I am so confident with Mr. Porter’s preformance that if you try him and aren’t completely satisfied, I will pay for one snow removal or lawn cut by a company of your choice.

To contact Mr. Porter please call: (734) 308-3459.

Till the next time, enjoy your beautiful yard…

Pam