Socialism, really?

...yeah because capitalist greed has really worked out since the R's controlled the barn, hasn't it....

...unless you enjoy 9.x% unemployment, a fledgling housing market and wages that have actually gone down while corporate profits continue to rise while they enjoy the lowest tax rates in 60 years.

Yeah - I don't think you're grasping what Marxism actually is because it's a nice portable talking point that lacks any real depth of understanding of what it means to be a Marxist or a Socialist.

- Do you still have the right to own things?
- Do you have the right to own an automobile?
- Do you have the freedom of choice to determine where you can live?
- Do you have the freedom to choose who you can socialize with?
- Do you still have the right to leave the country's borders whenever you want?
- Do you still have the ability to voice your opinion? To vote? To criticize your elected officials?
- Do you still have the right of self determination?
- Has the government told you what you can and can't achieve in life?
- Does the government instruct you that you'll be a laborer with no chance of being an artist or a entrepreneur or a doctor or an accountant?
- Does your public school system advocate serving the state and to dedicate themselves to serve their leader faithfully?
- Does the government prohibit how you worship to your god of choice?
- Do you still enjoy receiving your news from Fox?

Next time you want to fling the Marxist/Socialist banter ... take a moment to understand exactly what that means. Don't become easy prey to a mere talking point mishap.

Drilling? Drilling? Gone?

An interesting quote from an LA Times article:

"Without a predictable process, companies are going to look at other parts of the world."

Really?

So all this talk about 'drill baby drill' really doesn't mean anything when companies are wanting more reliable, more predictable processes when they want to harvest oil from the ground.

Imagine that.

Republican Skew

According to the Republican mantra:

It's not okay to marry if you're gay or lesbian ...
- but it's perfectly okay to marry your cousin or get divorced 4 times

It's not okay to give to the poor ...
- but it's perfectly okay to continually help out the rich

It's not okay to nationalize our energy needs ...
- but it's okay to leave that to corporations who continually abuse the public trust - all in the name of profit while industries, families and our government continue to pay for inflated gas prices.

It's not okay to complain about Republican hypocrisies ...
- but it's okay to attack those that are liberal minded who actually have good sound ideas that happen to conflict with the Republican ideology.

It's okay to espouse a moral Republican agenda ...
- but it's not okay to be free to do as you please ... so as long as it has a stamp of approval from the Republican overlords.

It's okay to tax the lower class who have nothing ...
- but it's not okay to take the upper class because they pay for everything.

It's okay to put an innocent man to death ...
- but it's not okay to afford that man a reasonable appeal process in an effort to exonerate him or prove his/her innocence.

It's okay to own, possess and carry firearms ...
- but just not everybody.

It's okay to criticize a black president and claim it has nothing to do with race ...
- but it's not okay to point out their racial blinders if it was a white man who was opined the same idea and they agree with the idea.

It's okay to repeal laws that help equality ...
- but it's not okay to refer to it as "the war on women"

It's okay to end affirmative action ...
- but it's not okay to call out the racially charged statement if a Republican says that because a black man became president, that's why we can repeal affirmative action.

It's okay to enact laws to do away with labor unions ...
- but it's not okay to enact laws to help protect against corporate abuse at the expense of American jobs, wages and way of life.

It's okay to drill baby drill ...
- but it's not okay to hold corporations accountable when they drive up gas prices because they rest their laurels on "it's what the market will bear."


A woman's right ends the moment she has sex with a man ...

- but it's okay to cut social programs while allowing churches to hold the right to dismiss health insurance simply because they offer/cover women's health coverage as it pertains to her vagina.

It's okay to vaginally rape a woman to guilt her into not having an abortion ...
- but it's not okay to hold the man who impregnated her to be bound by his obligation.

It's okay to practice social/economic Darwinism ...
- but you can't teach its science equivalent in class because it clashes with the Christian belief structure...

It's okay to say things you don't mean ...
- but it's not okay to hold them accountable for it.

Do as I say ...
- ...not as they do.

It's not that I don't believe that democrats aren't capable of their own hypocrisy - they are.  But when the Republicans keep hammering home their hypocrisy draped with the American flag and a bible in their hand ... well - then I think that speaks volumes.  Trusting someone with so many faults - becomes nearly comical.

Folks wonder why Americans hate religion and hate politics.  When one's word carries nothing ... then they could be the most articulate person on the planet ... and it won't mean a single damn thing....

Drill Baby .... drill?

I watched a news program that talked about Chesapeake natural gas - which is the second leading producer of natural gas in the country.

Now I will admit that I don't know all of the nuances of why the CEO is under fire - but one of the allegations that the news story reported was .... they were mining too much natural gas.... and that by flooding the market with cheaper natural gas.

Wait.  Wait.  What?

It's the mantra of the Republican Party: Drill, Baby, Drill.

But it's not about making America energy independent ... it's about making profit by drilling and making more profit while the government continues to award subsidized tax breaks on the shoulders of tax payers while enjoying wonderful profits.

It's stuff like this which makes me crazy.

It's soooo disingenuous to say that they want the country to be energy independent from the oil-mongers of the Middle East.  The reality is - the GOP is jealous of the profit the Middle East barons make ... not that they have any real interest in weening off the country off of foreign oil.  It's their selling tactic ... sleight of hand ... diversionary tactics.

It's the foreign profits THEY are after.

The Day the 'verse went right

Mark this day down.  It's an important one.

Today marked the day that a sitting President, who is able to do many things from his position - acknowledged that gays and lesbians deserve the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts.  Today marked the first time this President went on record - into the camera and said: "...I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married."

Kudos Sir.  Kudos.

But while the universe finally smiled on something positive for a change ... I caution that now is not the time to break out the streamers and noise makers.

The hard part is going to be approaching ... very .... quickly.


I know Gay and lesbians have been frustrated with this President's stance on gay marriage.  Understandably so.  I can draw the same inferences of a black man - who has ridden against the same bigotry waves towards his ascension to the White House.  Many feel that the President should be more empathetic towards gays and lesbians - as they draw the same bigotry lines that have plagued this country when it the issue was racial equality or giving the women the right to vote.

Again - I understand.

The country's opinion towards same-sex marriage is changing faster than the Republicans who are trying to throw up laws and roadblocks ostensibly to push their own societal agenda contrary to the 70% who are in favor of domestic unions of some kind.  But the reality is that this is a political hot potato and in an election cycle and it's a hot potato that neither candidate can control.  Not when they are trying to do the things they need to win and be the leader for the next four years.

I understand the President's plight.

I also understand the frustration by gays and lesbians who see their window of opportunity fading with the growing masses on the right.  While my political side-kick will disagree with the potential outlook for this upcoming election cycle, there is a possibility that President Obama will be a one-termer ... the topic of gay marriage only bumps up the political temperature a few more degrees.

This will now become an active torpedo in the water for his re-election bid.  The Republicans have been begging Obama to take up the measure so that they can run their ads confirming everyone's fear that he is single-handedly destroying America.  That's the message.  Fox confirmed that on their website tonight.  That's the platform and that's the reason why he has been tentative about going all in even though he knows it's the right thing to do ... but this position alone could swing some Democrats to stay home because they themselves don't believe in that rights should be extended to gays and lesbians.

I know that's a hard pill to swallow - because as a liberal - I would hope that my democratic brethren would be open-minded to the concept of gay marriage. Instead - I find some democrats fearful about the direction the platform would take the country.  I understand the fear - but I consider it an irrational one.  This issue isn't going to be the tear in the fabric of society that's going to bring civilization to a halt.  It's not that grandiose as the Republican message machine says about it.

The movement is about doing what's right.  Just as women's suffrage was in the 1920's or the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's.

This country is founded on momentum ... and there finally is enough to start pushing outward and onward.

So while I want to take a moment and be happy for so many friends ... I'm looking forward ... and I see problems.  This can only work if the country can unite behind the idea that no group - no matter your background - deserves any kind of maltreatment, bigotry and condemnation by those who believe in their own self-anointed morality.

The simple truth is people deserve to be treated as people - and that's exactly what happened today.

The World We Live In

Nice to see the nice fine homophobic folks of North Carolina have upped the ante when it comes to gays and lesbians.  It's tragic to witness such discourse while they hold a document (the Bible) that supports love, compassion and support for those who need it.

Let's not forget that the Bible says nothing about homosexual relations between men ... or women.

And even if the Bible did say anything ... I'm reminded of the Bartlet episode on the West Wing that definitively proves that the most literal parts of the Bible have been washed and forgotten about ... until some Bible-thumping activist wants to start quoting scripture as though they hold some sort of moral high ground over the rest of us.

They don't ... No one does.  Because this land was founded on the principles of practicing whatever you want to, however you want to, without the tyranny and fear to do so.

The tragedy is that those who vote in favor of the North Carolina measure are now living contrary to God's laws when having absolutely no idea that's what they're doing.  God wouldn't want any of us - to condemn others - even though that has been done under the guise of religion for hundreds of years.  Countries have been conquered for being different and for not practicing their religion as stringently as others were.

The message of kindness, morality and having a strong sense of self that binds us, not divide us ... is the message of God.  Those who hold the Bible to the contrary - simply lacks the comprehension of that notion.