Living up to her expectations...(In memory of Christina Taylor Green)

I have been thinking about Christina Taylor Green a lot the last couple of days, as I hope we all are.  When I think of the Tuscon Tragedy, it occurs to me that at first we put too much attention on the wrong victim.  Sure we are concerned about our lawmakers as they are the fundamental components of our democracy.  Our children, however, are the future of our democracy and if it is ever to change, if we are ever to become better, that hope rests in the innocent smiles of our children.  Another sad and shameful side affect of concentrating our attention on Rep Gabrielle Gifford is that we gave too much voice, too much face time and too much attention to one of the most divisive people on the political platform, Sarah Palin.

   

This is the face of the Tragedy in Tuscon.  A face of innocence.  A face that represents everything that is good and right about us a human race.  This nine year old girl should represent the hope that we have as a nation. Let us face it, Democrat or Republican, what we are doing now is not working.  We as liberals and Democrats refuse to lay down and get walked all over by the Right and the Republicans.  If you talk to the Right and to Republicans they will say the same thing.  Both sides are both victims and villains.  It is a deadly dance for power, one that both sides are willing to sacrifice this country over.  We, as a nation, are a shameful representation of what happens when politics get out of control.  Regardless of what Mrs. Palin says, this national political conversation is not healthy in its current state.  The result is cynicism, negativity and ultimately a disinterest in the process, or worse, a violent rejection of it and its participants.

I was reading President Obama's speech at the memorial service in Tucson and was touched by this portion:

"That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. 

Imagine -- imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her expectations.  I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it.  All of us -- we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations. 

As has already been mentioned, Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I hope you know all the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart."  "I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in Heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on this Earth -- here on this Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and we commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit."

President Barak Obama

As I read these words I thought about children. The things we tell them and how those gems of advice could be put into practice by us, the parents, in our involvement in the national political conversation.  Consider this:

(1) "Don't yell"  Tone is everything.  If we could tone it down and approach this conversation with less anger, less disrespect and more consideration.  If we could bring ourselves to swallow our pride and learn to agree to disagree we could possibly turn around the tone of the conversation in this nation.  I am guilty as the next person.  I am passionate.  I yell, snap, cuss and all kinds of other negative tones but in the final analysis it does not help the situation any.

(2) "You don't always have to win every time"  Boy this is a hard one.  On both sides, left and right, we cannot concede once.  To concede is to show weakness.  Neither of us are willing to be the first one to "lower our weapons" in this standoff.  We have to win, and we have to win every time.  The goal has somehow changed from governing to eliminating the competition.  Our politics in this country has been degraded to the point that we are like mobsters and mafia god fathers and the point is to eliminate the competition with any means necessary.

(3) "Don't hit!" or "Don't Bite"  I don't care what the Rush Limbaughs, the Sean Hannitys, the Glen Becks or the Sarah Palins have to say...our tone in this country has become to violent.  I have my personal views on whether or not both sides are equal in this, and at some point I may write a blog on it, but that is NOT the point right now.  The point is that violence against opposition has become "funny" and in some cases even patriotic.  When the Glen becks and the Sharon Angles start talking about "Second Amendment remedies" and start talking about armed revolutions and start having target practice with opponents initials on the targets then we have gone to far.  We have to make it clear that violence is not acceptable in a free and civilized society and we will not tolerate it.

(4) "Just because you can does not mean you should"  Yes we do have freedom of speech and we should not in any way limit it or legislate it.  We cannot infringe on that right and should not.  But we have to learn that just because we have freedom of speech does not mean we are free from the consequences.  A specific example (other than Sarah Palin) comes to mind.  I remember the relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, John Rocker, and the big stink that eventually ruined his career.  The things he said about minorities and about New York and its cultural diversity.  The backlash to his statements was so bad that it ended up becoming a circus that ended up distracting him and ultimately ended his career.  The lesson was simple...just because you CAN say something, does not mean you SHOULD say it.  Yes you have freedom of speech and freedom of expression but that freedom does not protect you from the consequences.  Sarah Palin has the right to say the crazy things she says...but that right does not protect her from the consequences.  And criticizing her, censuring her and ultimately rejecting her is NOT an infringement on her rights, to the contrary, it is the natural process.  If you CHOOSE to say things you should not just because you can, then you must prepare to face the consequences.  She CHOSE to use cross hairs on that map, she has that right, and the American people have equal right to judge her actions.

(5) "Stop calling your sibling names"  Ok...once again...I am guilty of this as well.  Just a brief perusal of my blog will show  exactly how I feel about Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, John Boehner, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity and a few others.  My treatment of the Tea Party has not been nice at all.  Sometimes in the heat of the moment we say things that are not fitting of us as an intelligent species.  How many times have we told our kids, "If you don't have anything nice to say...then don't say it?"  This is good advice for all of us to follow. Will I do it again at some point in the future?  Probably.  We all will and do.  That does not change the fact that we should become more aware about it and learn to soften our words. Vehement conversation and intelligent conversation rarely take place at the same time.

(6) "If jumps off a bridge are you going to jump after them?"  One of the most frequent defenses I hear for the tone of our national conversation is, "Well they do it too and heck THEY are worse!"  Really? Are we THAT juvenile as to think that just because the other side is violent, petty, childish and immature that it is ok and justifiable to behave the same way?  We are, as we tell our children, just "lowering ourselves to their level." Which is never a good thing.

These are simple rules that we apply at our house, with our children in the hopes that our houses become homes and our families become a little piece of heaven on earth.  Imagine if we all just took one big "time out" and reflected on these rules and applied them to our lives and our own behavior.  Just maybe we could live up to the expectations of a bright eyed smiling girl who went to see her Congresswoman with the bright eyed hopes and innocent expectations of a child. This would be a much better world for it..that much is for sure.

Please watch the following special comment by Keith Olbermann...Truer words Have not been spoken...

A horrific look into my past...

For those that may think I am a horrible partisan single minded stubborn rude and antagonistic butt wipe now as a Democrat...you should have seen me ten years ago.  My daughter stumbled across a website I had a long time ago...ten years ago to be exact.  I was mortified that Becky saw this me from so long ago...

At that time I was a pastor, fiercely loyal to God, church and the King James Bible.  I was a fire and brimstone preacher.  I believed in holiness and a judging fierce god that loved us and that at the same time we were to fear and love.   I was everything I hate today.  Everything I blog against today.  I was a bigot, I was self righteous, judgmental, I was homophobic, xenophobic and racist.  I was a religious purist who had little patience or tolerance for people of a different faith or political view. I am ashamed of what I was then but am proud of how far I have come.

A lot has changed since then.  I have been through a lot.  I got knocked off my high horse and taught some lessons in life.  The loss of a child, the loss of a lifestyle, the loss of my faith, the loss of my marriage and the loss of my other children to a cheating ex wife led me through a catalyst that changed the person I was and the way I thought, the way I looked at the world around me and as a result the ideology I espoused at that point in my life.

I am still passionate.  I would like to think I am overall a little more accepting of others and a little less judgmental...but I know I have my moments still.  I still have little patience for idiots.  I am opinionated, I am sometimes extreme and I am somewhat stubborn.  I still see the world in black and white; there is little room for gray...though I am learning it somewhat.

Overall I am ashamed of the person I was then; the way I really thought I was the shit.  I thought I had all the answers and I thought I was THE man of god.  I had a wife, two kids and I had a ministry.  I was getting invitations to preach at other churches and I was THE man.  I was being invited to pray in Spanish on the court steps to rally people to vote against alcohol sales on Sunday (because heathen folk should not be allowed to do what they want on MY sacred day dammit and if I have to legislate their rights away then so be it.)

I am still pretty opinionated and I guess I always will be.  I take sides and I throw myself behind it with passion and enthusiasm.  It is who I am...I am glad to see the progress and am glad to see I stand on the side I am standing on today.  I do so unapologetically.  Hey what can I say?  I do hope though that ten years from now I will look back and maybe still be embarrassed by what I write today...it shows growth, development...

So anyway...for whatever it is worth...here is the link...please be kind and remember....it was 10 years ago...and I even hate the person I was back then...

(Radical Religious Right Rants

gawd....I really was an idiot!)

For Whom the Bells Toll

Ok.  So today I am feeling a little apocalyptic.  I have already been told (affectionately) that that is no new occurrence but rather that I am always like that…maybe so…but I have reason to feel this way today.  I know I tend to be partisan…I kind of grew up that way.  You think I am a rabid Democrat…you should have seen me as a Republican several years ago!  I have been really working hard at being “statesman” like.  I have worked hard at trying to see the gray in the world around but to be honest I suck at that.  I grew up in a world of black and white.  While I do see shades of gray sometimes it really comes down to black and white for me.  It is a failure of mine.  One I try to change.

The situation I am living in is one that encourages me to seek that balance and to seek out the gray.  Mandy, her mom and brother are all adept at that.  For them the world is all gray and there are very few (and I do mean VERY few) things that are simple black and white.  It is a trait I attempt to emulate but I fail miserably sometimes.  Today is one of those days for me.  I look at the election and to me I see the beginning of the end.  Mandy just smiles, shakes her head and I think mentally pats me on the head! Lol  I am passionate about some things.  And my utter despite that I have for the current crop of tea party right wing nut job Republicans is one of those things I am passionate about.

Now I know that this will just get tossed into the pile of ridiculous partisan bullshit and ignored.  That is fine.  Given my past writings I can’t say I blame you.  But I do want to clarify that my problem is not with the actual party of the GOP/Republicans.  My problem is with the current crop of Republicans.  The rabid homophobic, xenophobic, God Fearing, gay bashing, religious purists, racial profiling, civil rights allergic tea party Republicans are, at least to me, a terrifying group of people.  I am terrified that at the end of today, the Sarah Palins, Glen Becks, Rush Limbaughs and Jim DeMints will be fist pumping in elated victory.

So yes, I am feeling VERY apocalyptic.  Today I hear the voice of the American people.  And make no mistake; it is the voice of the American people.  That is something I understand.  It doesn’t matter that they were lied to.  It doesn’t matter that they were incited by the basest and ugliest of human emotions.  None of that matters.  The voice that spoke the loudest spoke at the polls.  Because THAT (Mr Boehner), in the voting booths across this nation, is where the voice of the American people is heard.  Not rallies, not polls and not threatening riots and filibusters, but rather at the polls.  That is where the American people spoke in 2008 when the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , (not enemy of the state number one) was voted into office by a resounding voice.  So today the voice that spoke the loudest was heard, and in it I see the beginning of the end for us all.  See?  I warned you I am feeling apocalyptic.

 So for whom do the bells toll?

 (1)       For human rights

The current crop of GOP politicians are a group of righteously indignant radicals.  They attack the rights of gays, of Muslims, of Latinos among others targets with impunity and without remorse.  Human rights mean nothing to these people.  The tea party has demonstrated time and time again that they are racist, that they have channeled their anger into a movement that is giving them what they want an outlet for their hate and their fears and their homophobia and xenophobia.  When they rally around the Confederate Flag in backwoods Georgia, people, I lived there; they are not rallying around “history”.  There is a reason people of color and other races don’t dare show up at these rallies; and that reason is simple…WE DON’T FEEL WELCOME.  For the first time in my life I am afraid of what my Hispanic name can cause.  Now for those that judge me for how I feel, for how passionate I am about these things take into consideration this question…when is the last time you went into someplace, called someplace, went into a bar or in any other situation felt the need to refer to yourself by your initials rather than your given name?

The GOP attempted to make much of the President referring to them as the enemies of the Latinos in this country.  Well news flash…I am an atheist, I am Hispanic, I support gay rights…guess what?  They treat me as the enemy.  Not only THEIR enemy but they treat me as an infiltrator, a hater of this great country and a traitor.  To them, my defending my rights from being racially profiled, my defending my right to NOT worship their God makes me an America hater, a traitor.  I have felt targeted by the Republican party, I have felt intimidated and bullied by the “angry white man” that the GOP has stirred up to win this election.  Whether you agree or not, you cannot change how some of us feel.

(2)   For Civil Rights

The bells toll for civil rights.  Do you understand how this group of people actually feel about civil rights?  Do you understand that Rand Paul believes parts of it should be repealed?  Do you understand that helping our fellow man in a tough time is considered a crime, is considered socialism, is considered a destructive force in this country.  Do you understand that these people are against equal opportunity employment?  Do you understand that they are calling for the changes to these bedrocks of our country?  Do you understand that the Republicans are running against each other, trying to make laws intended to curb the immigration problem, a problem they are blowing out of proportion so as to excite the fears of the voter, laws that blatantly disregard the dangers of racial profiling?

(3)   For our economy

All I can say is I hope I get on full time where I work before the “euphoria” of the Wall Street fat cats wears off and the economy takes its double dip into the recession…going even further into a full out depression.  Look.  I don’t agree with Republicans and Tea Party radicals.  That much is obvious.  Studies show a decade of trending where the income gap favors the wealthiest 5% of this country.  Their income is going up and for the rest of us it is going down.  They make more, on the backs of the hard working Americans, and thanks to a conservative activist Supreme Court can influence the idiots that slave away making them richer.  All the while, as they get richer, we are told over and over how we have to give them more money, they should have to pay less, because THEY are the job makers in this country.  Really?  At almost 10% unemployment you want to talk about the job makers???  I quit believing in the trickle down myth a long time ago.  Well, now the fat cats on Wall Street and in the Insurance industry can get back to business as usual, because they have people watching their back and the rest of us be damned.

Furthermore, the downfall of this economy is necessary for Republican aspirations.  Make no mistake, 2010 was merely a stepping stone.  They want 2012, they want the White House.  Call me cynical but a successful economy means they lose the White House in 2012.  They won’t take that risk.  You and I must fail for them to succeed.  And that is all that matters to them.

(4)   For Religious freedom and rights

The Republicans of today are religious purists.  There is only one faith that has any rights…their own.  If you are a Muslim then you are an enemy of the state.  If you are an atheist, then you are an enemy of the American way.  These are no grays for these people.  It is black and white for them and if we give them the power then the world will be the world they legislate into place.  There is no room for backing down from them anymore.  Make no mistake, they have made it clear where they stand.  A recent communication to the tea party faithful singled out a congressman for no other reason than he was Muslim.  Do you not understand the danger these religious purists present.  The distance from them to Milosevic is access to mustard gas and freedom to eliminate and chase out those of a different faith.  That may sound extreme, but that is the thing people are not getting…These people ARE extremists.  We are talking of people who have no problem talking about mine fields at the American-Mexican border.  We are talking of people who have talked about armed uprising and civil war with the carelessness of a child talking about the weather.  These people ARE violent.  These people ARE extremists.

I am not saying that all Republicans or people that claim to be Tea Party members are violent and hate filled.  I simply mean that the voices that are being heard, the people that are being voted into office…the people that will be making the rules are the ones that are talking this craziness.  We are NOTHING to them.  We are the enemy.  They are true Americans and patriots…we are traitors.  

(5)   For we the People

I hate that people I love and respect will read this, and will just shake their head and think I am going over board, that I am an alarmist or that I am maybe a little crazy.  I guess only time will prove the point…sadly.  This is history repeating itself.  We will not always be the great super power we are people.  Like it or no, history is scattered with the ashes and ruins of the Roman Empire , The Babylonians, The British Empire, and many many other super powers.  Our economy is our strength in this world right now.  China is working hard at catching up.  If our economy falters again we may never recover.  Already this afternoon the world looks at us and is afraid at how the republicans and their policies will affect the global markets.  Sure our markets jump with glee, the Wall Street fat cats got what they wanted.  But abroad, the people we owe money to, those people are losing faith in us, and it is already expected the dollar will weaken.  Don’t believe me? Read it here on yahoo. 

Remember, remember the 2^nd of November…(and yes I know it is a misquote and is supposed to be the 5^th but hey…I am adapting it…it fits my mood…)

P.S. I wrote this yesterday, November 2^nd and am posting it today.  Since then I found out that my job is being eliminated and replaced by a computer program.  So let’s see if ANY of these idiots…asses AND elephants can do something…because while they are manipulating the system, while they are building empires and plotting take overs…we are hungry.