I’m sitting here, waiting for a phone call meeting to
start. I’ve read the material I need to
read and I’m just waiting… waiting…. As
I often do when I have a moment, I like to just jot down whatever pops into my
head. So, in no particular order, here
are some random thoughts:
**
I think Rachel Maddow is the hottest woman on
Television. Does that make me gay?
**
I underline that Rachel is the hottest woman ON TELEVISION,
not in my life (and I don’t want to spend the next week sleeping on the couch).
**
I don’t believe in Hell, but if it does exist, does it have
a Starbucks? I know it has the Hello Kitty stores.
**
Some introductions are in order:
Sarah Palin, this is Reality. Reality, this is Sarah Palin. I doubt you’ll ever have anything to talk
about, but I just wanted the two of you to, at least, have a chance to meet.
**
He is a U.S. Citizen.
He is the President. Get over it
or get out of the way.
**
An economy in shambles.
A small, discontented group, using fear to try to gain power.
They go to town meetings with the sole purpose of shouting
down any dialogue in order to prevent anyone from rationally discussing
solutions.
They threaten violence against those who oppose them.
They induce fear in the ignorant and, then, play them up to
be the majority of opinion.
They refuse to participate in government and dedicate
themselves to overthrowing it.
They claim to speak about the will of the people and, yet,
they use lies and disinformation to convince people.
They play the race card from the bottom of the deck.
Yes, these are scary times.
Except I’m not talking about now, I was referring to Wiemar Germany in the
1930’s. The discontented group was the
Nationalist Socialists, aka the Nazis.
Next time you hear someone compare Obama to Hitler or the
Democrats to Nazis, give them a little history lesson and ask them how proud
they are to be using the same tactics that led to the genocide and the mass
murderers of World War II.
**
Medicaid IS Socialized Medicine. Stop arguing both sides of the same coin.
**
I think most Democrats react to Sarah Palin much like most
“Christian” men reacted to Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction: Public outrage but happy as all get out that
they got to see it. And with Sarah, you
don’t have to search the web to see it repeated. Her constant malfunctions are only a remote
control switch away.
**
I’m going to stop using the phrase “sexual preference” from
now on. I realized it implies a
“preference”; a choice, not a state of being.
That’s exactly what the homophobes want everyone to believe.
**
Most Presidents are very tentative in their first year in
office. They are testing out the ground,
getting their feet and, since they will undoubtedly run for reelection, pretty
much adverse to doing anything drastic.
They save that for the second term when they are only worried about
their party getting reelected. Anyone
notice that President Obama refuses to follow that trend? He came into office like gangbusters, taking
on the toughest issues and sticking to them (for the most part). He’s not perfect and I have some issues with
his policies myself, but, damn, I’m happy to see someone actually get to work
from day one without worrying about his or his party’s political future.
**
Introductions:
Mr. Cheney, meet Irrelevance. Irrelevance, meet Mr. Cheney. Now both of you go away; we don’t care
anymore.
**
A Death Panel??? Are
you serious, you actually believe there’s going to be a Death Panel? No, really… are you serious? You believe that? Wait, wait, look me in the eye and say that
without laughing. Do you also believe
the earth is flat? I mean, heck, there’s
more direct evidence of that than there is of a “Death Panel” in the health
reform. Or are you just angry and
ignorant?
**
I want to define the difference between “ignorance” and
“ignorant”. Ignorance is when you don’t
know or understand something; all of us are guilty of this now and then. Ignorant is when the truth is explained to
you and, yet, you refuse to let go of your ignorance.
**
I have as little patience for rabid blind Obama Flag wavers
as I do for virulent hateful Obama Slammers.
Overall, I like the guy. But I
want to believe I like him for the right reasons, not because he’s a Rock
Star. And, I disagree with some of his
policies, because I understand them, not because I’m afraid of the big ol’
black man in the White House.
**
The best cell phone service is always the one you don’t
have.
**
True Story: A friend
of mine is on the board for a very successful health insurance and pension
administration for one of the unions. A
few years ago, they brought in an outside auditor to see how they were
doing. The auditor reviewed all their records
and their investments. When the auditor
gave his report, he said that they did everything right. There was no way anyone could have handled
the fund better; it was perfect. And, he
continued, if they continue to make perfect choices… they will be bankrupt in
ten years. THAT is the state of our
health insurance problem. To say it’s
broken is an understatement; it was destined to end up this way because, since
President Johnson, every administration has pandered to big business interests
(yes, I said every). It has to be fixed
NOW.
**
I do want to take a moment to congratulate the Republicans
on something. There has not been one sex
scandal involving a hypocritical holier-than-thou Republican reported in the
last fifteen minutes. Way to go guys!
**
Actually, I do want to give a shout out to the Republicans
who, while not happy that a Democrat is in the White House, still feel a duty
to do their jobs for the betterment of the country and not for partisan
politics.
**
Oh, and to those Democrats who are still dancing around in
their victory dress over the last election, stop performing and posturing. Get to work.
**
Abdel Al Megrahi, the only person convicted of the Pan Am
103 Bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland (270
people killed) has prostate cancer and is asking for early release from his
life sentence on “compassionate grounds” so that he can spend his final days
with his family.
Compassionate grounds?
Do I even have to say anything about this? As soon as he can arrange to have those 270
people released from early death to spend their final days with their families,
I’ll consider it. Until then…
**
California’s
Proposition 8 is still a hateful, illegal, unconstitutional measure that shows
how truly selfish the self-righteous can be.
**
I had great parents.
I’m just saying.
**
Introductions:
Rush Limbaugh, meet Self-Serving-Arrogant-Pandering
Ego. Oh…. I see you’ve already met. What’s that?
You live together?
**
Yesterday, a man showed up at a health care town hall
meeting with a sign that said “Kill Obama”. On the other side of the sign was
written “Kill Michelle and the stupid children”. The Secret Service was notified and they are
talking to the man. However, what is
upsetting is that no one in the crowd did anything about it. I don’t care what your politics are, but if
you can stand next to a guy with a sign advocating the murder of the President,
his wife and HIS CHILDREN, and not do anything about it, then you are a low
life individual. That crowd should have
pulled the sign away from him and told him that was way out of bounds. But I guess not; I guess they all thought it
was just fine and dandy.
Those are the idiots you’re seeing on the news every night, the ones claiming
they know the answers. The ones yelling down
discussion in town hall meetings. The
ones who are afraid of a fictitious “Death Panel” yet have no problem with
expressing their desire to see the murder of the President and his family. The ones who refuse to contribute anything
substantial to the solution and prefer to stand in their own excrement and
claim they smell like sunshine.
**
Only a few weeks until College Football Season. Go ‘Noles!!!!
**
Hey, California. If you can’t serve as a beacon, at least
serve as a warning. Referendums do NOT
work. You can’t brag about having
great social programs without the tax money to pay for them. And you can’t tax people who get to veto
your attempts to make them pay for the programs they demand. There is a reason Representative Government
is still the way to go.
**
I was very pleased to watch President Obama award the Medal
of Freedoms to the following people:
Dr. Pedro José Greer, Jr.- The founder of Camillus Health
Concern, an agency that provides medical care to over 10,000 homeless patients
a year in the city of Miami.
Stephen Hawking - A
pioneer mathematics and physics as well as a noted author of mind-bending books
that have allowed to mysteries of the cosmos to be grasped by the common
person.
Jack Kemp (deceased) – Football player, Congressman, several
Administration posts, who worked to eliminate poverty and starvation around the
world.
Sen. Edward Kennedy – Love him or hate him, one of the most
influential figures in the modern age of politics. He has dedicated his career to equality and
civil reform. His focus on health reform
will, hopefully, be realized in his lifetime.
Billie Jean King – The acclaimed professional tennis player
whose very talent and being in the sport championed gender equality issues not
only in sports, but in all areas of public life. I watched her beat Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes"
tennis match.
Rev. Joseph Lowery - co-founded the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights organization, with Dr. Martin
Luther King. He has campaigned for civil
rights here and around the world.
Joe Medicine Crow High Bird - The last living Plains Indian
war chief; author of books on Native American history and culture, he reeks of U. S.
history. Aside from his familial
connections to the Custer attack at the Little Big Horn, he was a veteran of
World War II and accomplished, during the war, all of the four
tasks required to become a "war chief," including stealing fifty Nazi
SS horses from a German camp!!! He was
the first member of his tribe to attend college, receiving his master’s degree
in anthropology in 1939, and continues to lecture at universities and notable
institutions like the United Nations (can you tell this guy impresses the hell
out of me?).
Harvey Milk (deceased) - The first openly gay elected
official from a major city in the United States (San Francisco).
Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens to live
their lives openly and believed coming out was the only way they could change
society and achieve social equality.
Sandra Day O’Connor - The first woman ever to sit on the
United States Supreme Court. She was a
member of the Arizona
state senate. She was also the first
woman in the United States
ever to lead a state senate as Senate Majority Leader. Despite her retirement, she is still active
in education and judicial review.
Sidney Poitier – Mr. Tibbs, need I say more? He became the top black movie star in the
1950s and 1960s (hell, forget “black”, he was one of the top, period!). Poitier was the first African American to win
a Best Actor Academy Award. Criticized
for many of his racial stances, his dedication to co-existence and
understanding between races is well known.
Chita
Rivera – A triple threat entertainer: an actress, singer, and dancer. She has won Two Tony Awards and received seven
more nominations. She has broken so much
of the ground advancing women and minorities by just being too damn good to
ignore.
Mary Robinson – An interesting choice, she was the first
female President of Ireland. She also
served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights where she got a
lot of flack for overseeing a conference in South Africa that was very critical
of Israel (although she was only presiding; she didn’t express agreement for
those views). She currently works toward
making sure that globalization doesn’t trample the common person’s rights.
Janet Davison Rowley - The first scientist to identify a
chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers. Rowley’s led
to dramatically improved survival rates for previously incurable cancers and
the development of targeted therapies.
Desmond Tutu – Another controversial figure, but only
because of the times he lived in and the strength of his convictions. He is an Anglican Archbishop emeritus who led
anti-apartheid activism in South
Africa.
After the end of apartheid, when the fear of
retribution was in the minds of every white South African, he led a formidable
crusade in support of justice and racial reconciliation which prevented much
bloodshed in that country in a turbulent time.
Muhammad Yunus - A global leader in anti-poverty efforts, he pioneered the use of "micro-loans" to provide credit to poor
individuals without collateral. He founded
the Grameen Bank in 1983 in his native Bangladesh to provide small,
low-interest loans to the poor to help better their livelihood and
communities. Surprisingly to most, his
bank is solvent and he’s managed to spread its successful model throughout the
world.
These people are commendable for many reasons, more than I
stated above. No, they aren’t perfect;
they are all human beings. But human
beings who did what they did, not because of the promise of a Medal of Freedom,
but because helping others was a part of who they are. Whether directly helping or as a result of
the thirst for knowledge, we have all benefited from them.
I’d also like to point out how proud I am that this group is
a true mixture of the ideal of the U.S. Whether or not they are U.S. Citizens
isn’t the point. Men, women, black,
white, latino, Native American, conservative, liberal and two openly gay
recipients. Congratulations to all of
them. Aside from what they have already given us, they continue to give us
hope.
**
Finally, I said that I just sat here to do some writing, my
mere thoughts while I was waiting for a phone call. You’d be surprised how liberating that can
be, the simple act of just writing down your random thoughts. Try it.
If you have the time, just open a blank page and, for the next fifteen
minutes, just type whatever comes into your mind. No matter how silly, no matter how poignant,
no matter how embarrassing. Do it. And, perhaps, learn a bit about yourself in
the process.
Final introduction: You and your unrestricted mind.
Gotta go. Phone's ringing...
.. ..
.. ..