An America Citizen

For the last couple of years, politicians like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, and the like have suggested that being a citizen of this country was to a certain extent about character. And although I have been willing to engage in their attacks on people like me now and then, I've been here for thirty one years, and I can tell you without hesitation, being a citizen of this country, is entirely about character.

For the record: yes, I am planning on becoming a card-carrying member of the ACLU like so many other Liberals, but the more important question is, 'Why aren't they?' Now this is an organization, whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: 'Why would a Congressperson or a Governor, their party's most powerful spokespeople and candidates for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?' Now if you can answer that question folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I still can't fully figure that one out.

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center-stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his or her right to burn that flag in protest." Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

I've heard the right-wings shtick for years, and I'd been operating under the assumption that the reason they devote so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that they simply didn't get it. Well I was wrong, their problem isn't that they don't get it; their problem is that they can't sell it. We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the right-wing is not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.

You gather a group of middle-age, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time and you talk to them about family and, American values and character, and you wave an old Bible around and you scream about patriotism, you tell them that God hates anyone who doesn’t think like them and that those of us on the left are to blame for their lot in life.

We Liberals have done nothing to you, right-wingers. We have done nothing, but put ourselves through school, represent the interests of public school teachers, fight for the middle class, and lobby for the safety of our work places and our natural resources. You want a character debate? You better start with your own reflections, because we Liberals are way out of your league.

We've got serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them. And if you want to talk about character, you better come at us with more than a burning flag and membership cards. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, right-wing, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Mr Liberal, I AM an American citizen and I AM THE 99%!

(This Blog is a rewording of the speech given by Michael Douglas in the film 'The American President. I hold no ownership of the original wording, only the edits.)

Don't ask me where Jose is.

This morning five well armed federal agents decended on my neighborhood. Why where they here; were they looking for drug dealers, rapists, murderers? No. They were looking for an out of work father of three who had committed none of the above crimes. Why? Why were five armed government agents looking for this stay at home dad? The answer is, because he wasn't born in this country.
Jose, not his real name, is an illegal alien. He came to this country looking for a better life, much the same way some of our great great grandparents did. He doesn't have a Green Card, but neither did our ancestors. This, and this alone, is his only crime.
Jose keeps to himself mostly, spending his time raising three adorable kids who are always laughing. Every other weekend he'll have friends over and spend the afternoon playing mariachi music, and they're pretty damn good.
So why are our tax dollars being spent to hunt down a loving husband and father? It's not like Jose and his family don't pay into the tax system. His wife works for a well known poultry producer in NW Arkansas and pays income taxes, not to mention the sales taxes they pay when the spend that taxed income. So why then is Jose being treated like a criminal?
The reason is sickening and simple; he wasn't born here. And, it is that one fact that scares the hell out of "Real Americans".
People say illegal immigrants steal jobs from those of us who were born here. Bull s***! These hard working people do the jobs that we don't want. They mow our yards, clean our pools, pick our fruit, build our homes, etc. I haven't had a single one of those jobs stolen from me; I don't want them.
So when one of the armed agents asked me where Jose was I answered, "I don't know." It was true enough. I didn't know exactly where Jose was. I just refused to share that with the ICE agent. And if the agents come back and ask me again they'll get the same answer whether I know or not.
"I don't know."

Common to the White House, GOP goes insane.

When it was announced that the rapper Common was invited to the White House for a poetry event, the GOP went on the attack. Say what you will about Common, but take a look at his poetry before you do.

 In "A letter to the Law' Common lets his outrage be known and directs it at the police and former President George W. Bush, which he views as corrupt. As someone who lived on the wrong side of the tracks for most of his life, I can understand where Common comes from and I can also see past the negative images aimed at the police and former President and find beauty in the theme and rhyme.

The beauty of Commons poetry is lost on many Republicans. Sarah "Half Governor" Palin praised a story by the Daily Caller that ripped Common for "A Letter To The Law', stating that it was full of death threats towards cops and former President Bush. Karl Rove had much to say on Sean Hannity the other night, calling Common a "thug" among other thing.

Lets face facts here folks. Most old white people are scared to death by rap music. If it was Toby Keith that was invited to read poetry at the White House I highly doubt there would be any problem at all. If you've lived in this country at all, you know that rap music is looked down upon by a large number of old white guys. And the reason they look down on it and are afraid of it is simple, they don't have a clue what life is like in the real world.  Rappers like Common have lived in the worst neighborhoods and have seen first hand how the system has failed those of us from the wrong side of the tracks.

I challenge the likes of Rove and Palin to spend just one year in the public housing of Chicago or on the south-west side of Columbus Ohio. Let them witness how the system has failed these areas for themselves. Then, and only then can what they say about the poetry of Common and other rappers be taken seriously.

Michelle Obama did the right thing by inviting Common to the White House, and anyone who has gone to sleep at night to the sounds of gun fire and sirens knows that.

Self Proclaimed Tea Party Member Asks How To Kill The President, Defile His Body

We've all seen signs at Tea Party rallies calling for President Obama to go back to Kenya (though he's proven that he is an American), and calling him Hitler. Some members of the tea Party even go so far as to call the President of the United States of America hateful, harmful, evil derogatory remarks and slurs. Well, now we can officially add death threats to the list of horrid things Tea Party member say.

Greg W. Howard, a Right Wing Blogger, tweeted something extremely hateful and unpatriotic on May 1st. He tweeted,

@GregWHowardGreg Howard

Poll. Hang Obama's body from Lady Liberty? Ground Zero? Or grave to be used as outdoor latrine? #tcot #p2 #ocra#sgp #tlot #phnm #teaparty

Now, I don't know about you folks, but this looks like a death threat to me. This is how low some members of the Tea Party will go in their unflinching hatred for all things Liberal. I want to know how something like this can even be legally covered by the First Amendment. I thought any threat made to the President, valid or plausible was a federal offence. (Please join me in reporting this wing-nut to the Secret Service)

Mister Greg W. Howard isn't the only Tea Party member going this far; some have gone even further. I posted my first blog on the racism shown in sections of the Tea Party. In that blog I gave a link to www.viletweets.com. The people over at viletweets.com search twitter day and night to show just how sick and twisted some members of the Tea Party can be. This post by Mister Greg W. Howard is just one of the worst.

It's no wonder the Tea Party tries like hell to state they aren't racists, they are afraid that people will come across members like Mister Greg W. Howard, and tarnish their reputation. Don't be fooled folks, this highly un-American sentiment runs deep in the Tea Party. Go to viletweets.com, click on the link below to see this tweet for yourself, just don't by it when the Tea Party claims to be patriotic. It's far from it.

Greg W. Howard's Twitter Post: https://twitter.com/#!/GregWHoward/status/64890861045039104

What's Wrong With This Country is That...

This country is full of "I"s and "me"s. 

The problem doesn't lie in the form of government we have. The problem is the damn peoplel. People are so concerned with their own petty bullshit and that new car they think they need, that they don't care about what will and has happened to the country as a result of their selfishness. As a whole, the American people could give a shit less what happens to some kid in NYC as long as they have what they want. People don't see that there is a need for social minded actions. If only the top 1% succeed & the rest of us fall, we all fail.

It's our "mine mine mine" attitudes that have let our government become the corrupt sewer that it has. We have relied too much on capitalism and look where it has gotten us. Our people are becoming citizens of a third world nation in the richest nation on the planet.

Are we so blinded by our greed and petty worries that as a nation we have let the worst of us rule the rest of us? Face it, we all drank the corporate Kool-Aid; & now that we realize what our country has become its too late. We're screwed. Game fucking over, we lost.

We, as a nation, have let our greed blind us for far too long. We could have stopped it, but we wouldn't put the god damned remote down long enough to see what was happening. So yea, we can bitch and we can try to make little changes, but it's  moot. Its not really going to matter much what we do because we let it get out of our hands in the fucking first place.

I'm not saying "Just roll over and die.". I'm not saying give up. I'm saying it's going to take more than just a few of us. Its going to take all 99% of us have nots to band together to take this nation away from the Kochs and the Waltons & return it to "We the people".

Is the Tea Party Full of Racists?

Many people in the Republican and Tea Party will tell you that racist are few and far between inside their organisations. Well, thats a big steaming load of bull shit! If you watch the news (Fox News is not news), you've probably seen a few of their state politicians caught saying some really nasty shit. Well, its not just the people that are elected that are spouting this racist shit. At viletweets.com you can see for yourself just how many of these teabaggers have a racist streak a country mile wide. I'd quote a few, but to be honest, even I'm not that vulgar.

Until next time my friends.