Americana vs. America

Everybody loves Americana. And it’s not hard to see why. Americana is people working and living off the land. It’s traveling out west for a piece of land to call your own and make a better life. It’s the land of opportunity where you can start over again when you’ve lost everything. It’s those little pink houses that John Cougar Mellencamp sings about. It’s being born to run like Springsteen. It’s Apple Pie and BBQ and Baseball. It’s picnics and fireworks on the 4^th of July.

Most of all, Americana is an ideal.

It’s an ideal that was and still is very attractive to the rest of the world and many Americans raised to believe it to be the norm contrary to their reality. It was on the promise of this ideal that drove the early immigrants to our shores and created our diversity. It is a good ideal. I doubt you would find anyone who disagrees.

But there is a difference between and ideal and reality.

The reality is that those with money have ALWAYS made the rules here. Sure, the pilgrims left Europe to escape persecution, but the original discoverers of the Americas, (yes, the continent below us is an America too.), were all looking for one thing, riches. Whether is was a better quicker sea route to transport spices from the East, or later on, more mineral type treasure such as silver, gold and jems, greed drove the masses across the Atlantic. Once the white men arrived, the natives of the Americas paid a heavy price for that greed.

Then there were our Founding Fathers. No one questions that these were wise and brilliant men. Yet, when they are talked about, the other thing they have in common never seems to get mentioned. There wasn’t a poor one in the bunch. No, really, all were men of means. Let’s look at the most popular ones:

• George Washington-plantation owner, tobacco farm owner, military officer, married a rich widow
• Thomas Jefferson-lawyer, tobacco planter, founder of U of V, diplomat to France
• John Adams- lawyer, statesman, diplomat to Great Britain & Netherlands.
• Samuel Adams-part of a politically active family, attended Harvard, family involved with a banking controversy, businessman

(Side note: they all owned slaves.)

These men were not the image of Americana that one would hold them up to be. This in no means diminishes their achievements in establishing this country.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are documents that have stood the test of time and inspired those beyond our borders. They are the bedrock for what has been called one of the greatest governments in the history of the world. Not too shabby.

And yet, the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was not originally guaranteed for all it’s citizens. If you were of African origin, (i.e. black), you were considered 3/5 of a person. (Which I find amusing when I try to figure out what 3/5 of a person would look like. Every black person I’ve seen or met always looked like a whole person to me.) And if you read the Constitution, they STILL ARE! Yup, we may have laws on the books now that guarantee people of all races equal rights; it was not changed in the Constitution with an amendment.

And don’t get me started on women. Women may not have been classified as slaves, but they were considered property of their husbands. Of all the discriminated classes, women were the last one to be able to own property, a right of citizenship. The greatest right of citizenship, the right the vote, was not granted to “the fairer sex” until 1920. Yes folks, women could not vote until the 20^th Century, the one that just ended 11 years ago. There are actually people alive today that were around then that happened, though they may be few and far between these days. To help put this into perspective, my grandmother was born 2 years after the amendment was added to the constitution. (And FYI, she is still alive and kicking.)

So who got all this good stuff promised in these documents? (Well, initially anyway.) You guessed it, white men. This isn’t all that surprising when you think about it. Just look at who wrote it. It’s wall to wall pasty white skin and testosterone.

Throughout our 235 year history, we have tired, and at times succeeded in becoming closer to the ideals we have set forth, and that ideal was America, a government for the people, by the people, of the people, ALL PEOPLE. One thing our Founding Fathers knew is that the world changes. They gave future generations the means to make sure our government could “go with the flow” of inevitable and unstoppable progress. We have the power to change.

Americana is an ideal; a romantic, fanciful one, but an ideal all the same. It is one that we may only see now only in movies, books & television. It was an ideal that had a shelf life. Change is a fact of life. The ideals that survive and have a chance of becoming reality are the ones that can change with it. Nostalgia is nice, but nothing is constant, especially when what one is nostalgic for never really existed in the first place.

On the Ugliness of 21st Century Politics in America & Animal Protection Taken to the Extreme

I am doing a post that are basically two posts, but are similar enough that I'm posting them as one as they complement each other.

The Ugliness of 21st Century Politics in America

Though I find that the older I get, the less surprised I am anything people will do, I am still able to be shocked and horrified at the depravity that humans are capable of. Such is the case of what happened to Jacob Burris, campaign manager for Arkansas's Third Congressional District Democratic nominee Ken Aden.

This is a story that affects me on a number of levels. The deprived individuals that committed this heinous act may or may not have considered that:

• They were taking the life of valued family member, not just "some random animal".
• They were taking the life of a cat. (Which is an EXTREME point for me being a cat lover & owner.)
• The results of their actions were witnessed by Burris's four children. (Another EXTREME point for me, as I am sure that the sight of what was done to their pet will haunt their thoughts for some time to come. )
• That the individuals' reason for this was solely the political views of himself and of the person he is employed by.

I feel Mr. Aden, veteran and former combat soldier, said it best.

“It is one thing to engage in civil political discourse, and for Republicans and Democrats to disagree with each other, which is an expected part of the political process. Taking it to this level is beyond unacceptable.”

Well said, Mr. Aden.

I have a sinking feeling that the individual(s) responsible for this, if we ever find out who this was, are going to "claim" to be 1.) Christian, and 2.) conservatives. Jesus was for feeding the poor, healing the sick and loving each other. He was against war and violence, and was for finding better way to resolve our differences. He traveled from town to town with like minded folks to speak of love and peace. And he sought no forms of monetary gain to do so. The Christianist, (to borrow the term from Andrew Sullivan), would refer to their own savior at a hippie liberal. Personally, I don't think Jesus would want to be associated with their actions, but he would forgive and welcome them. I don't think the other side would do the same.

On the subject of Jesus, he is commonly referred to as The Lamb of God. Hey...that's an animal. He is even pictured as holding, very lovingly, a lamb. This is something that is lost on these individuals and politicians like Sarah "the only good animal is a dead animal" Palin. (Yes, she actually said that.)

Just one more thought on this, ANIMALS WERE HERE FIRST!!! And if we as the human race, (of which we are animals as well), do not get our act together, they will be here long after us as well. Don't believe me? Ask the dinosaurs. Oh wait...you can't.

Animal Protection Taken to the Extreme

Here is a little something a friend posted on Facebook. (Original poster credit goes to The World According to Atlas.)

Honestly, I know MANY people who feel this way about this commercial. This is not to say that the ASCPA or the number of other pro-animal organizations aren't doing good work by rescuing and caring for these very needy animals. They do have great intentions. But to play this very depressing commercial over and over and over and over and over, (you get the point), again will have the opposite effect of what they are trying to accomplish. Hell, when anyone in my household sees this just the beginning of this ad, the channel is immediately changed, and the 2 minute countdown starts waiting for it to be over.

Here's another problem I have with this advertisement. Yes, I do understand that funds are needed to help these animals. Got it, have no problem with that. But what they really need is a good, loving home. WHY ISN'T ADOPTION BEING TALKED ABOUT AS AN OPTION!!!!

Giving your $0.05 a day or however much they say is all fine and good, but it's an easy way for someone to say I helped and feel better. I will concede that for some, this is the only way they can help, but for many it is just easier to throw money at the problem than to take the commitment of investing time, are and love into a pet.

I guess you could say I have gone "all the way" in my commitment in helping an animal in need. I spend $15-$20 a month on food & litter, plus treats, plus toys, plus any vet visits and medications she needs. I also pay for her home and provide her with all her utilities. (Because, let's face it, it's her place. I just visit and sleep here in between jobs and getting kids wherever they need to go.) She also gets to jump on me in the middle of the night if she feels she needs something, demands we feed her when SHE thinks we should, steals my cell phone because she thinks it's her "competition", yells at me when I am not giving her my undivided attention, and claims anything in the house she wants. She also loves her family as unconditionally as we love her.

What can I say? She is my furry baby, and is totally worth all of it. So to all those we-want-to-guilt-you-out-of-your-money commercials, I'm walking the walk, so leave me the hell alone! And if you want to really get people to help, why don't you show them picture of how happy the animals are that are being helped? People like happy animals, and to know that their money IS being used to make a difference.

Okay, I've said my two cents. I will not step down off of my soapbox for the evening and go to bed. Good night and good luck.

To Those Who Insist That We Were Founded as a "Christian Nation"...

...you MUST have been asleep during your history and/or civics classes. Seriously!

The first clue that we were not founded as such is the First Amendment. Second is the Free Exercise Clause, which was written to accompany the First Amendment. Oh, and then there is the little law referred to as Article 11, The Treaty of Tripoli. (And to those who feel that their argument against this being proof that it was the forefathers intent simply because in the Arabic version the "non-Christian" nation part, it is in the English version which is the ONE they all received copies of, read and voted unanimously for. The "Arabic" side could care less what type of county we say we are. The most important part of the treaty to them is the "we promise not to attack you because of your religion" part. So yeah, they didn't say anything about 1797's version of a "typo". Looking for the loophole to prove you side of things is so teenager high school-ish.) With the exception of The Free Exercise Cause, these are actual LAWS written by the Founding Fathers. These weren't written later on. These weren't written as interpretation of what people thought the were the intention of the original laws that were written.

(Side note: I find it amusing that the same people that will poo-poo the First Amendment as proof that we are not in fact founded under "their" religious believes are the first ones to trot it out when they feel someone is trying to "silence" them. Just ask the Westboro Baptist Church. The hypocrisy is staggering.)

Don't believe that the Founding Fathers were passionate about the separation of Church & State. Maybe you should then take a gander at the works of Thomas Jefferson, (Hell the man coined the phrase "separation of Church & State".) or Thomas Paine, or Patrick Henry. Even George Washington, who was devoutly Christian, always spoke of respect for other religions in his public speeches and private letters. Benjamin Franklin, who was raised Puritan and espoused their virtues throughout his life, willingly admitted that he was not a churchgoer and followed the ways of the deist more than traditional Christianity.

The Founding Fathers lived under the rule of Great Britain before they called themselves Americans. They were citizens of a country that was under the rule of a person whose qualification to rule was determined by the parents he/she was born to and documents stating this was so by the word of God. The term of their rule was from the death of said parent to their own death, and their power was to rule their country AS WELL as the Church of England. (Also of note: the Church of England was the ONLY accepted religion in England at the time.) Despite their personal religion believes, (or maybe because of them), they knew and understood the need of keeping religion out of politics, and politics out of religion. Combining the two has served throughout history to be toxic. We should follow our forefather's lead.

Tis' the Season to Be Dreadful...?

According to a recent Consumer Reports poll, this is what people dread most about the holiday season.

1. Crowds and long lines: 68 percent
2. Gaining weight: 37 percent
3. Getting into debt: 37 percent
4. Gift shopping: 28 percent
5. Traveling: 25 percent
6. Seeing certain relatives: 24 percent
7. Seasonal music: 23 percent
8. Disappointing gifts: 19 percent
9. Having to attend holiday parties or events: 16 percent
10. Having to be nice: 15 percent
11. Holiday tipping: 12 percent

Some of these I can see.

Having to be nice? Really? Have we become that cynical?

So much for holiday spirit. Ho Ho Ho!

Reasons Sarah Palin Scares Me: Part 4-Her Fans

Note: Even though she has announced that she is not running for President, Sarah Palin is still a prominent voice in the political arena today. Therefore, I still feel this is worth writing about. Also, I committed to this series of posts, and I will see it through. It's who I am.

I’m just going to come out and say it; her fans scare the living daylights out of me. (Yes, they are correctly called fans, not followers or constituents. She is no longer nor shows any interest of ever being a politician again. She is a celebrity now, pure and simple; a celebrity in the political arena, but a celebrity not the less.) These are people that DO NOT take even constructive criticism of their idol kindly. The way they react you would think someone was threading something truly unthinkable of their children. (And, in my opinion, I think they actually care more about her than their own children.)

They have been referred to as Palin-bots, the flying monkeys & zombie bats. These descriptive nicknames definitely don’t inspire any feel good feelings.

Anyone who is perceived as an enemy of one Sarah Louise Heath Palin is subject to the wrath of fans. What this entails is extremely nasty and poorly written emails at best, and death threats to you and your family & friends while broadcasting your personal information at worst. Just ask David Letterman. Or Alaskan bloggers Mudflats, Gryphen or Shannyn Moore. Or Alaskan State Trooper Mike Wooten. Or Levi Johnston and his family. Or Sen. Leland Yee (D-SF), Alicia Lewis & Ashley Briggs.

One of the better known and best documented display of how bad her minions can make life for someone who would have something less than flattering or myth-busting to say is journalist and author Joe McGinniss. He describes his time in Wasilla in his book “The Rouge: The Search for the Real Sarah Palin”. He recounts how the atmosphere got so bad that a number of residents offered Joe weapons so that he could protect himself, including the Mayor, Verne Rupright. As someone who has loved Alaska since researching his book “Going to Extremes”, he could not share that love with his kids and grandkids for fear for their safety. He wrote on his blog about the experience before the book was released.

Disagreement, debate and compromise have always been an important part of our political process. What has been brought forth by the likes of Palin is something completely different and frightening.

Anonymous Random Quotes I've Liked Lately

"Slavery is the legal fiction that a person is property. Corporate personhood is the legal fiction that property is a person." ~Unknown (saw on a t-shirt)

"Why is it easier to believe that 150,000,000 Americans are being lazy rather than 400 Americans are being greedy?"~Unknown

"Don't like gay marriage? Don't have one. Don't like cigarettes? Don't smoke one. Don't like abortions? Don't have one. Don't like sex? Don't have it. Don't like drugs? Don't do them. Don't like porn? Don't watch it. Don't like alcohol? Don't drink it. Don't like guns? Don't buy one. Don't like your rights taken away? Then don't take away someone else's."~Unknown

I'm Back, Baby!

After an unexpected 2 week exodus from the online community, I have returned from the wilderness called "offline". I have not been idle in my time away, and will be posting the fruits of my labors. Stay tuned...

WTF Rick Scott!!

Today, Rick Scott basically told all liberal arts majors that you are wasting your time and money at college and “we don't need them here [in Florida].” Wow. Governor Alien Head is alienating yet another voting bloc. Not even a year into his term, he has pissed off just about every demographic in the state. One has to wonder if he really wants to be re-elected. Hell, one has to wonder if he even wants to make it to the end of his first term. (Mother Jones has an excellent article on his attacks on liberal arts programs on right-wing radio.)

In his emphasis to push to reduce funding for liberal arts and push more funding toward the “STEM” disciplines (science, technology, engineering & mathematics), I think he should have taken the time to check out what is defined as liberal arts. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines them as “The term liberal arts refers to a curriculum that imparts general knowledge and develops the student’s rational thought and intellectual capabilities, unlike the professional, vocational, and technical curricula emphasizing specialization. The contemporary liberal arts comprise studying literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science.^” (Hey Governor, I believe two of your STEM disciplines are in here. Di d you know that? Here’s the Wikipedia link if you don’t believe me.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for more people getting science, technology, engineering and math degrees. Personally, I feel we really need to step up our game in this country regarding these subjects because we have been falling off our game in recent years. We need to get our competitive edge back if we want to keep up with the rest of the world. But this doesn’t need to be done at the expense of other degrees. There is a place in the world for everyone, and not all people are called to be scientists, IT’s, engineers or mathematicians. To dismiss the liberal arts (or at least the one’s he doesn’t like) as “soft” degrees and not worth state funding is arrogant, ignorant and downright inhuman.

He claims it is to have more of our young people to “get education in areas where they can get jobs.” Well, let’s take a look at this statement, shall we? Over here on the Space Coast, we have over the past year LOST over 10,000 jobs. The people who held these jobs held science, technology, engineering & mathematics degrees. When you turned down 2 billion dollars in federal money for the Sun Rail project, that was a potential 17,000 jobs that would have been created, and many would have been held by people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees. Here’s the thing, a college degree is only as useful as your ability to get a job. If you can’t get a job, or the jobs just don’t exist, it is only a fancy piece of paper.

Then there is the impact that cutting funding that goes to the liberal arts programs. For these departments in the larger state universities and liberal arts colleges, this could be a death knoll for them. This would be another economic blow for our state for two reasons. 1.) The loss of these programs & colleges would mean that the jobs of the faculty and staff would no longer exist, therefore more lost jobs. (I thought your campaign slogan was “Let’s get to work,” not “Let’s cut the jobs.”) 2.) The students who would be majoring in these programs would attend colleges elsewhere. When you factor in that these cuts would affect school such as Florida State, University of Florida & University of Miami, the impact is huge. These are schools that not only attract in state student, but a large number of out of state students too. If these students are forced to go elsewhere, they are not spending those college dollars in the Sunshine State.

All I’ve got to say is whoever thought it would be a good idea to vote for this guy, how’s that getting to work-y thing working out for ya?

3 Absolutely False Talking Points

All you hear from politicians nowadays is talking points. Really? Don’t these people have college degrees? You would think with all that higher learning, they could actually express an idea with full sentences, much less actual paragraphs. Let’s be honest, there are many issues that are too complex to be summed up in 10 words or less. This is our country, our way of life we’re talking about here, not a game of Name That Tune.

There are three talking points that particularly annoy the hell out of me. Particularly because they are so absolutely MISLEADING AND DEAD WRONG!!!

~Pro-Life

These are the folks that don’t believe that any woman should be allowed to have an abortion. This is not necessarily a bad position to hold. Let’s be honest, I have not met a person who is pro-abortion. I seriously doubt you have either. (If you have, this goes against every instinct we are hard wired with to continue the species and they are just not wired right.) And let me make this clear, pro-choice is NOT pro-abortion.

Now, there are a number of politicians and their constituents that have taken the stance of being pro-life, when it would be so much more honest to say they are pro-fetus. When I hear the term pro-life, I see it as meaning someone who respects all life and believes it is all sacred. Those in the modern pro-life movement ONLY the unborn is sacred. Once you’re out of the womb, or not human at all, you are fair game and on your own folks. Most people who are “pro-life” are for:

• Continuing wars in foreign countries and starting new ones
• The Death Penalty
• Hunting for sport and trophies
• Denying health care to those who can’t afford it
• Fighting and all attempts at reasonable gun control

Not very pro-life, is it?

~Abstinence is the only safe sex

I have been hearing this one going on a quarter of a century now. We were taught this in high school on up ad nauseam to repeat it to our kids and grand-kids till the day we die. Abstinence is a concept with merit. It is the only 100% way of preventing STD’s and unwanted pregnancy. There is just one thing wrong with what we have been taught. Something cannot be a version of the something it’s not.

Basically, abstinence is NO SEX; therefore it cannot be a safe version of sex.

It’s like saying that the best diet is starvation. A diet is the usual food and drink of a person or animal consumes; starvation is depriving the body of food. There are exact opposites. And so are sex and abstinence.

The correct way to state this would be “Abstinence is the only 100% way to prevent pregnancy and STD’s.”

~Job Creators

This is the newest talking point born just in time for the upcoming 2012 election season. If you make over $250,000 a year, you, my friend, are a job creator. And for this reason, many politicians are saying that you don’t need to pay more taxes. Hell, we should cut them more. Why? So you can take that extra cash, and create more jobs. Sounds good, right?

Here’s the catch, when viewing the figures for the last 30 years the taxes for the $250,000 and above crowd have pretty steadily have gone down, but right alongside it the number of jobs created have gone down too. Actually, the only thing that increased is the number of jobs that were cut. (Facts, the politicians don’t realize apparently, you can find with a mere 5 minutes of research.) So the question becomes, what did they do with all that money they weren’t paying in taxes while the unemployment numbers are at all time highs and the country’s infrastructure is falling apart?

Just today, the CEO for Bank of America defended their new $5 debit card fee that will start next year as people understand that banks “have an inherent right to make a profit.” So how much is enough? At what point is it just plain old fashion greed? And with this profit, will you be creating more jobs at your banks, or will you be cutting jobs to fuel your “inherent right to make a profit?”

The old adage is that you need to spend money to make money. It’s time they put the money where their mouth is and re-invest it in the American people. It’s a very simple equation. If no one has the money to spend on your product, you will cease to continue making a profit. Money needs to keep moving, not be stagnant. That is Economics 101. I think it’s time for these “job creators” to go back to school.