Doctor Grandma

The President addressed the nation tonight. He told the American people to call their Congressmen and women & tell them to quit playing games, raise the debt ceiling like it’s been done for every President throughout HISTORY UP TO TODAY, or we are in serious trouble. Then, his short speech ended & Boehner came on to get “equal time”! I was floored. Equal time? to the President? What does this mean? It means that our Congress, our out of touch, self absorbed elected “leaders” consider themselves SO COMPLETELY divided, that they believe the American people want to hear “both sides” because they are diametrically opposed to one another.

I cannot write in a blog the language I used in my own living room, but I have this to say to Mr. Boehner.

SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU, SHAME ON YOU. Who the “heck” do you think you are? Who are you serving? Who elected you? Who are your constituents? It certainly is not ME, one lowly worker whose husband just got laid off through no fault of his own. It’s not me you’re speaking to. You are obviously speaking to corporations, private companies who are mad its taken so long to let them take over and privatize Social Security and Medicare.

Go ahead guys, stop the presses, make it so the rest of the entire world looks over here and says, “Oh my gosh! The heck with their credit, they can’t even come to agreement enough to prevent a wholesale slaughter of their economy.” I got cold chills listening to tonight’s broadcast, because I realized, “It’s beyond the great divide. They are completely, totally divided, and they don’t care.” We are on our own, folks. We’re about to crumble and fall like a house of cards. We thought this last 3 year recession was bad, wait ’till we see what’s around the corner.

I would like to think that our Representatives will wake up and do something, even just for show, something to make it look like they care whether or not every social program in America is cut down to nothing. People are on the streets already, but the masses that could be there will be WAY beyond what we’re seeing today. Rather than people under the bridges and camped out in parks, we will see people dying in the streets en masse.

But I really don’t think they’re going to do anything. I think they are THAT FAR GONE. There is a point of no return, and it appears we are there. I believe Obama is one of the most progressive, far-sighted Presidents in our history, and could have taken us far. Perhaps we might have caught up somewhat with Europe and Asia. But they’re not going to let him do it. They are hell bent on stopping him, and they don’t care if they take down the whole country to do it.

It occurs to me that we all work too dang hard. This is most people. This is America. Hard working people with strong beliefs and ethics. We work so hard just to pay our bills, have a little groceries and a tv set. Some of us busted our backs earning a PhD and it’s still that way. We LOVE our work, we are dedicated to what we do, but there’s no extra money, there’s no yacht, much vacation, luxuries, or even new clothes. I just think people in America are working too dang hard for very little return. Unions have become the bad guy, corporate America keeps raking in the profits, Congressmen serve themselves and live in some other world on the opposite side of the moon, and the world is crazy. Everyone’s running around working hard and trying to move up, and we all basically manage to just tread water. Today, 1 in 10 are even losing their HOMES. This just isn’t fair. Something is very wrong w/ this picture. It makes me very sad when I can’t even help my kids out because we can barely pay our own bills. There was a time in my long life that we lived without hot water. My mother lived in the same town and didn’t help us out. I can’t imagine watching my kids go through that and not paying their gas bill, especially when those were my grandkids in that house. But that’s just me. I think sometimes BECAUSE of what I’ve been through, I am even more sensitive to it. We all have to find our own way in life. But when you’re a mom, you just don’t want your kids to suffer. I think at my age, I pictured life a little different by this time. I am HAPPY, it’s just that you look around and realize, most of America is in this same spot, but those at the top of Banks, Insurance companies and Politics just keep on arguing about who else below them they can rip off somehow. They will cut it all before they TAKE a cut and show themselves worthy of anyone’s respect. But it doesn’t matter and they know it. They just keep doing it. Because they can.

I must say, applause applause to the UN for countries coming together to end the reign of Ghadafi, before he goes “house to house” to “hunt down” his own people as he promised. I hope for the release of these people from the threat of annihilation, before it happens.

and I must say, it seems to me that our President did not go in there like a cowboy, and he garnered the support of the countries of the world before helping to end the reign of this madman. Either that or some of the countries came together with or without the United States, but in any case it is not just one nation now, but a force of some nations coming together to end one oppressive ruler.

The reason it is significant that 18 people were shot in a mass murder in AZ, at a friendly, political event where a democratic Congresswoman was meeting her constituents, is that AZ has become the hotbed of political hate speech, hateful spewing along with irresponsible suggestions of violence toward other politicians. AZ has been in the news for bigoted practices lately, and SOME people there spewing hateful comments to the world, and calling it their right to free speech. And yes, I’ll mention Sarah Palin’s incredibly unwise posted page where she included “target bullseyes” such as those you see through the telescope lens of a gun, directed at fellow politicians, one of them being the Congresswoman who got hit. She is now lying in a hospital struggling to survive and recover, with half her skull temporarily removed.

The sheriff, in his comments last night on tv, stated, “Hateful words may be free speech,  but it is not without consequences.” He also stated America needs to do some soul searching and develop civility. His words came from his heart, and I applaud him.

The 22-yr-old who did the shooting, it seems obvious, was mentally deranged and disturbed. The question is, does the hateful spewing BRING THIS OUT in mentally deranged people? Does it accentuate EITHER / OR and US vs. THEM mentality, and possibly ENCOURAGE lunatics to act on these hateful thoughts & feelings in the worst way possible?

I think people are responsible for the words they spew, and shame on anyone who spews hate speech to get elected. Shame on them.

This child was mentally askew. Had to be, in order to start spraying bullets, one of which killed an innocent 9-yr old girl who was there to meet her Congressional representative because she was an honor roll student. Of course, no one can be blamed for what he took their words and did with them. But the VERY INTERESTING side point is the number of people who, because of this incident, are now voicing THEIR disgust and disapproval of hateful speech by political candidates. WHETHER OR NOT this person did this act BECAUSE OF being influenced by their words, which is always an impossible thing to prove and rather pointless, people are VOICING their disgust over this hate-mongering.

People want tolerance, appreciation for our differences, respectful discourse, intelligent discussion of issues, civility toward one another, and (if you can imagine) actual LOVE of humanity for the sake of our being a creation of God. I believe people want that. Now’s the time to voice those beliefs and not be silent.

I don’t know what to say about these past elections. It is depressing to me, really. Honestly I think that capitalism is about done. The greed that is manifested, the viciousness, the hate-mongering, it is about at its limit. We will either move into fascism, or change to be a better, more fair-minded society that is not hell-bent on putting the blame on the wrong set of people. We will put limits on wealth and take care of those in poverty, OR the system of capitalism is about done. “As ye have done to the least of my brethren, ye have done unto Me.” hmm

What always amazes me is the way that corporate America, those at the top of the business world who make MILLIONS more than most of society could ever dream of,  remain anonymous and hidden from view. It’s not President Obama, people, who is taking all your money and jobs!! Don’t you see how those at the top of business are laughing at your pitiful accusations? They don’t care who you blame– it can be the illegal Mexican families in this country, who are here out of desparation and are working harder than any of us– you can blame them if you want. You can blame the government that just came to power a whole 2 years ago. They don’t care who you blame, as long as it’s not THEM, those who are claiming bankruptcy and calling on the Federal govt. to “bail them out,” with accompanying threat of America’s economy falling apart if they lose their … let’s say… posterior… while still paying each other millions (millions) in bonuses and then spending their bail our money on BUYING UP other small businesses — not on helping people to stay in their HOMES (oh no). They’re not losing their homes, and they’re not losing any sleep over it. They’re in control as they always have been and laughing at the rest of us struggling to survive.

Unemployment rates are running around 10 percent right now across the country. Some places are less, some are more. Some are at nearly 25 %. That’s 1 in 4 not having a job in some communities. Are we going to fix this by not letting our elected government provide a more equitable society?? I don’t think so. Let’s open up the free market & see who survives. It ain’t gonna be you, Joe plumber, trying to start your own little business. Those miners are going to re-enter those mines in very unsafe and hazardous conditions, and next time a bunch of them will die– like they did in, was it West Virginia a few years ago? They died. They didn’t make it to CNN filming them being pulled up out of the hole they were in and companies offering them presents. They died. The little guys are dying. The wage gap is ever wider in America, and GROWING. That means those at the top, who remain very much the same people over long periods of time, gain MORE of the total wealth and income pool, while those at the bottom earn less and less, or control a very small percentage of the total income and wealth pool.

Who is MAKING MONEY, making a profit over hiring those illegal workers, some 12 million of them, across our country? Why are they here, really. Who is making money off them? It’s not THEM. THEY work long hours, and don’t complain when they are treated unfairly, because they fear being sent back home. At least here, they are working, earning some wage, and they hope for their next generation to have a better life. They’re not earning a profit, they’re stuck in dead end jobs and can’t complain about working conditions. It’s not really their immediate BOSSES although they certainly profit from their low wage laborers. It’s the owners. Those at the top holding stocks in their company, making the true profits on these workers. Are they even going to suffer if there’s some kind of ‘crack down’ on businesses employing them? NO. Ever heard of the unemployed “reserve army” out there waiting to pick up jobs lost by others? That’s a term from Marx. Karl Marx. No, I am not a communist. With miserable unemployemnt rates, it only HELPS those at the top because there is a literal reserve army of workers ready to pick up where others leave off. Always available. Happy to work and not interested in building coalitions or any such thing, for workers. Hooray for their stocks gaining more & more profit.

And now we have for-profit PRISONS, run by private companies. What does this mean? The state or federal govt. actually pays a company so much PER PERSON, to manage them in their prison system. The ethical problem is, these companies now have a vested interest in keeping those prisons FULL at all times. So much for thinking about society in general and trying to PREVENT crime in the first place. They’re in business to keep it going, now.

anyway, I’m tired, really. I have to turn away from politics because this is how it makes me feel. People are suffering. My students are too young to have any life experience to tell them these things are for real and threatening their own plans and goals. So they want to believe if we just keep power out of the hands of the government, everything will be okay. So now we have tea partier idiots calling for an end to social security, Medicare, and other such federally-funded, federally run programs. Great!! Let’s do away with the state and federal highway systems as well! Perhaps we can go back to local police taking care of their own communities and do away with the federal database system that means they can actually SHARE and benefit from each others’ information. In that case, all a criminal has to do is cross a state line & he’s in the clear. Cool. It is so ridiculous, I can’t even tolerate listening to them on tv. The scary thing is that so many people are rallying behind them! I don’t get that at all.

I am not for either party. There are things that would place me in either party. But I am for a more just society and I think the way to go is to further unite our states to share information and laws, all that stuff. We are a NATION after all, are we not? Didn’t we resolve this issue when we were only 13 states? Aren’t we proud to be a NATION, united, with one government? Where is all this going?