Ed Garren’s Weblog

 Normandie is awash with D day festivities. This must be the largest party in Europe right now. The beer and wine are flowing, the cheers and laughter pierce the air, lots of toasting and well wishes.

 In the midst of this, I am traveling with my brother, and we accompany a few of the surviving D day veterans who return every year. The remnant of veterans is lost in the circus of re-enacters, food stands, souvenir vendors, all of it awash in alcohol.

 There is a lot of pain here. The surviving veterans are the kernel of it all, but the children and grandchildren of the English veterans swell their ranks.

 At the Pegasus bridge cafe, Madame Gondree welcomes the returning vets who liberated the place decades ago. She was five years old when she opened her window in the morning to see what the noises were outside as the british commandos scurried across and around the bridge to disarm the explosives the Germans had set on it.

 Today, the cafe welcomes a group of bicyclists, riding to raise money for injured Afghan war vets in Britain. It seems that carnage is determined to continue.

 Last night we had dinner in an 800 year old farmhouse. The family that owns the farm, and has for six generations, offered us excellent steaks from the family business of raising beef cattle. The parents of our host entertained both German and British troops after D day. The house was in no mans land, the family trapped in it. The Germans spent the nights, the Brits spent the days. I wondered if they ate the fine steak. The stand off lasted 85 days, somehow both the house and family survived.

 History is very real here, but so is the present. Talks include the current banking mess that appears to be pervasive. It seems that banks in the UK also got bailed out, but are not lending money either. The current Middle East wars are sucking the British dry also, though at least the rich seem to be paying their fair share in United Kingdom.

 One of the elderly commandos made a comment about the issue of gays in the military, assuring himself that he never knew any. That one set me off, and I politely suggested that he knew and served with many.

At least one of the other elderly commandos had spent some of our shared time commenting on the pretty little faggot boys of his youth, as well as the nipples poking up under my knit shirt. It was our special bond as he winked at me. We truly are everywhere.

 My brother and I make a full compliment. He is a retired Sgt. Mjr. Airborne, Special Forces, Black Opps. I am semi retired from decades of working as a psychotherapist, child welfare worker, addictions counselor and Gay Rights activist. We both understand that freedom is not given, but must be fought for, that all the generosity in the world means nothing without respect.

On a very personal level, the cost of freedom for both of us, has been high.  I live with the hundreds of friends and peers who died in the AIDS plague years, the ongoing struggles of having basic rights and freedoms tossed around in dozens of ballot initiatives (during my lifetime) and other political games, mostly by so called “conservatives” who have no problem spending this country into massive debt, while telling me and my kind that we shouldn’t exist.  My brother has given his left hip, his right knee, and the bottom of his back to protecting freedom, not to mention living with PTSD for all the death he has seen.

 Though the content of our lives has been very different, what we both share is a life lived that only peers can really understand.

  This trip has been more than worth the cost. My brother and I have never felt closer, I have met some wonderful people, and I have spent time with many veterans. The young ones from Iraq, Afghanistan and such are living in as much or more pain than the old ones. On the bicycle ride, I see many young men with no legs, or an arm missing, or both. I wonder how their lives will fare in the coming world. The older vets came home with bodies more intact. Medical technology then did not allow for saving the lives of the almost dead.  There were no “Medi-vacs”, just dump trucks filled with bodies.  The American cemetery on a bluff above Omaha beach goes on for acres and acres.  

 The WWII ones returned as heroes in 1945. The D day vets were in units that lost 70 to 90% of their members.  Most of the carnage stayed in Europe in the enormous cemeteries that are part of the landscape.  We visited the British cemetery and the German cemetery as well.  In each of them, the special bond among the soldiers, which easily crosses national and political lines, is apparent.  Old men who once fought as enemies, now easily embrace and sob together as brothers, remembering their fallen comrades.

 The bond remains the same, maintain the mission, protect your buddies, bring everyone home. The old vets generously salute the young ones, they understand and honor their sacrifice. Not too many others do these days. 

The current crop of veterans return to a world that rarely remembers there is a war going on, much less that these young men and women left behind their innocence, along with arms, legs and shattered lives in some desert in the middle east.  The stories of being haunted by the faces of those they killed, often children and civilians, are rampant in their confessions to me. Their scars are deep, and few people take the time to listen to them. All of the beer and bravado fails to remove the faces that haunt their dreams. Self forgiveness is often elusive, and few beyond their ranks understand.

 Will we honor them as we honor the old ones? Will we have events for their fellowship and renewal? Or will we prefer to forget them, like we have so effectively forgotten our Vietnam veterans? As I write this, newly elected Tea Party members of congress are trying to privatize the Veterans Administration services. How quickly will our greed make these new veterans political orphans in their youth?

Our last night in France, Gene and I were sitting in the bar at the IBIS hotel with a friend of his who is a historian.  He was on his way to Poland to tour Aushwitz.   Joe is as “conservative” as it gets, probably a Tea Party supporter, who lives in Alabama.  A well dressed woman from Canada joined us, a retired teacher and principal, and we had a somewhat restrained conversation about the current state of the world.  She was holding a copy of “Time” magazine with the story “What Recovery” on the cover.  We spoke of the current state of things in North America, and she basically said the real problem is that no one seems willing to work together anymore.  Her father was a union organizer, she was a teacher, and then a principal.  When she became a principal, many of her friends had to stop speaking to her because as an administrator, she became the enemy.

She noted that Germany had similar economic problems a few years ago, and then leadership started working together to renew Germany’s industrial assets so that they could start making things that could be sold worldwide.  In other words, they started working together, not apart.

So it seems that we live in a very divided America these days, and the real reason we can’t seem to fix anything effectively is that we are working apart, not together.

If the D Day veterans have anything to teach this current world, it is that differences, even extreme ones, are temporary.  Today’s enemies become tomorrows allies.  What is essential is meaningful dialogue, forgiveness, and a vigorous commitment to common goals.  All of these elements seem absent from the current leadership landscape in our country these days, and the Europeans are genuinely baffled by it.  They remember an America that forgave Germany, helped it rebuild, and welcomed it into full partnership in NATO.  The current isolationism and arrogance of our immediate past leadership (Bush/Cheney) genuinely baffles them because they know Americans to be hospitable, generous of spirit and resources.

 The next question is, will we remember and renew that generosity as well?

 Edward Garren

My brother Gene standing in front of the remains of Carl and Velma Yearwood’s home

in Mt. Airy Georgia 

Today we remember the birth of one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.  Much will be written and much will be shared today, including the page of quotes below, but I want to write about my personal “Dr. King” and why I thank God for his life and work on a very personal level.

I grew up in the segregated South, and like most of my peers in that time and place, felt threatened by the Dr. King because he was the icon of unwanted change.

Change is difficult for most people, and particularly difficult for “Southerners” because change has always been a bad thing for us, particularly after losing the Civil War.

In my little town in central Florida, the assertion of civil rights by black people was nothing short of blasphemous to a way of life we all took for granted as enshrined by God himself.

And of course, since the shackles of that segregated world didn’t affect white people, we did not understand the daily indignities and humiliation that “our way of life” imposed on our black neighbors.

At the risk of death by lynch mob, or being “burned out” (having one’s house torched), our black neighbors certainly were not inclined to tell us how they really felt.

Martin Luther King Jr. articulated all of the honest feelings that others would not share with the rest of us.  Though it was Rosa Parks who sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it was Dr. King who gave it voice, and that voice moved a nation.

I became personally touched in a moment at my recently integrated school by the dignity, warmth and heart of the newly arrived black students, as did most of my white peers, who quietly came to the universal conclusion that all we had been taught was wrong.

I cannot sufficiently articulate the significance of how our hearts were changed, but they were.  And it wasn’t just me, it was most persons of conscious, in a time and place where “Christian Values” were more than words.

The best example of those moments of revelation I can offer was sitting in my aunt Velma’s living room in Mt. Airy Georgia on a summer afternoon, watching the March on Washington in the summer of 1963.  A photo of the remains of that humble house are above.  It was four rooms, covered with “tar paper”, and had a wood burning stove, a well in the back yard and an outdoor “toilet” at the end of the path.

Sitting watching Carl and Velma’s Sears Silvertone TV,  A. Philip Randolph, the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters quietly recounted the difficulties faced by black people traveling in the South under segregation. My aunt Velma turned to her neighbor, Lorrie Iverson (who didn’t own a TV and had long before lost all of her teeth) and said, “That old darkie is right.”  Both women, who themselves had lived very difficult lives, quietly agreed that no one should suffer indignity or humiliation trying to eat or find rest for the night.

I was privileged to witness the quiet melting away of centuries of assumptions and attitudes, all of which were based on a one sided conversation that did not allow honest communication, until Dr. King and others decided to tell we white southerners the truth about how black southerners felt about the institutions we whites took for granted.

In his speech in Detroit earlier that summer, Dr. King made it very clear that oppression requires the cooperation of the oppressed.  “As much as we want to blame white people for all that they do to us, we will never be truly free until we take responsibility for letting them do it.”

My own journey through deeply personal change in that time and place, afforded me significant insight into the nature of change, and the processes involved in changing deeply held beliefs in the face of new information that challenges those beliefs.

About a decade later those insights helped me discover and make peace with being gay and they also helped me to understand the importance of honest dialogue in the face of injustice, ignorance and hatred.

I also learned that most of the time, injustice is not perpetrated by evil people, but by people who are simply perpetuating a status quo that they have never really thought about which might cause others in their midst ongoing pain and hardship.

I have studied Dr. King’s work extensively, as well as that of his mentor, Mohandus Gandhi.  Both men gave us a way out of the madness of violent conflict, and the hatreds that develop when people refuse to consider that they may be wrong.

Both men also understood that forgiveness is essential, and without it, nothing can change.

The tragedy of this time and place is that we have devolved into a society that believes that conflict is best resolved by academic discourse and debate, a very legalistic process that requires that someone lose.  At the same time, we have created a very competitive society where losing is a horrific thing to be avoided at all costs.

We can see the ineffectiveness of this.  Our media has become a circus of “talking heads” articulating opposing perspectives, presumably because that is somehow supposed to be the appropriate way to offer balanced perspectives and presumably resolve conflict.

Conflicts are not resolved in this manner, only perpetuated and escalated.  The simple assertion of any problem assures conflict, everything becomes an argument, and or society becomes unable to come to terms with any issues, much less resolve them.

One of the difficulties I observe in Portland is that this “debate” model appears to permeate any and all assertions of any need for change.  While it may be an appropriate model for academics or politics, it has not shown effectiveness with regard to the deep racism and homophobia that permeate the region.  It’s hard to admit a need for change if one cannot admit that things are wrong.

This specifically manifests itself in the mental health of this community, where many people feel deep shame for having or expressing emotions that are deemed not acceptable.  Since anger is the emotion we are given to protect ourselves from being assaulted, and the culture here equates anger with “hate”, persons and communities that are chronically abused are trapped in a cycle of abuse and not being able to defend themselves.  Hence the very high depression and anxiety levels in our community.

We also have so called “leadership” that rarely appears able to admit it’s own deficiencies, or take a moral high ground and consider it’s own culpability in creating this mess.

Again, this permeates the provision of mental health services in large institutions, which have become unable to encourage, create or nurture genuine diversity of opinions, staff or treatment options.

The hyper escalated rhetoric about the “evils of government” and the possibility that rhetoric may contribute to home grown terrorism is a classic example of an entire political perspective refusing to consider that it may be wrong.

Both Gandhi and King were deeply spiritual men, whose work was rooted and centered in a very personal relationship with their understanding of God.  One of the steps in “recovery” programs is “We continued to take personal inventory and promptly admitted when we are wrong.”

We seem to be living in times when most people appear to be unable to do this simple act of contrition, and we are paying dearly for it.

Our ability to make societal decisions has devolved into an accounting formula that assures decisions will be made on the basis of economic expediency, competition and “C.Y.A.”, rather than community benefit and a sense of higher purpose.

And since there is always economic gain to be made by conflict, there is little incentive to “wage peace.”  Also, making peace involves interior “work” and too many of us just don’t want to be bothered.  In this way, we have become a society of greed (personal ease) and cowardice (unwilling to look at our own “dark side” and deal with our selfishness and fears).

The other tragedy is that for most Americans, Dr. King is a historical figure, if not a curiosity.  We hear snippets of quotes, we know he had a dream, we know he stood for equality, but we don’t really know how he accomplished these ideals.  And we specifically don’t realize that his life’s work was about taking real and tangible anger at the face of chronic injustices, and effectively channeling that anger into processes that create meaningful change in society.

Beneath the educated and eloquent language, Gandhi and Dr. King provided us with a civil way, in both words and actions to say, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” without killing each other.

Removing oppression in a peaceful manner requires two components, non-violence AND non-cooperation.   The non-cooperation piece somehow got lost along the way,

It’s a pity that more folks today don’t realize that.

These quotes from Dr. King, assembled by long time friend and journalist Nick Cuccia,

who is also gay and an Episcopalian.

TO ENLARGE THE QUOTES, CLICK ON THEM

AND THEY WILL OPEN IN A LARGER WINDOW.

I just reviewed Sarah Palin’s comments about the Arizona shooting which she issued today. 

 As a Mental Health Professional, I note predictable patterns relating to the rhetoric that has engulfed this country over the last few years.  The most noteworthy is the apparent internal processes, or lack of them from the so-called “right wing.”  Virtually all of them appear incapable of meaningful introspection.  They also seem incapable of comprehending the difference between “vigorous political debate” and abusive bullying.

I was watching Anderson Cooper two nights ago, when David Guergen was on with Dana Loesch (”Lash”). Though I don’t always agree with Mr. Guergen’s beliefs, I respect his intelligence and perspectives.  Ms. Loesch was quickly contentious, interrupting him with “I reject that” and other bullying tactics that folks in her “camp” repeatedly utilize.

As a therapist, I have learned that all of us are imperfect, all of us make mistakes, and all of us are learning.  I’ve also learned that we need each other, particularly the folks with whom we disagree.  It is their perspectives that help us form and balance ourselves and society.  As a Christian (Episcopalian) I was formed to try to remember that how I treat those with whom I most disagree and “The least of these” is the measure of my character.

But what has happened in the body politic over the last 20 years, has been an ever increasing level of bullying, coupled with the inability of those doing the bullying to engage in genuine or meaningful insights of self or respectful dialogue with others.

These folks are often incapable of seeing any cause and effect with regard to their own actions, instead choosing to pull a martyr card, and deflect back any meaningful introspection at the person they perceive as the enemy.

Ms. Palin’s response to all of this is predictable, because she has never shown any ability to embrace her own deficiencies of character.  We never see her demonstrating any self deprecating humor (** note below explaining what this means), she appears incapable of laughing at herself, or any of her beliefs.  The lack of that kind of humor is the first sign that something is wrong.  And it is central to bullying.  We have become a nation of bullies, and like a train wreck, it is tragically fascinating to watch.

There are two notable historic philosophies that emerged in the early 20th century as a response to the rise of communism.  One was Fascism, which remains one of those things that few would openly embrace.  The other less discussed response is Objectivism, whose principle advocate was novelist Ayn Rand (who was also a Republican).  There are marked similarities in both, most notably, a significant difficulty with any dissenting perspectives, and a personal difficulty on the part of their devotees to engage in introspection, even with significant others.  They specifically celebrate personal independence in a manner that is synonymous with that of the “Lone Wolf.”

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

—Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged^] 

Ms. Rand quietly developed a generation of followers amongst baby boomers and their children, by name, and by actions. My observations over the years is that these are folks who disdain any connection to others in society who they deem as “less than”, and often have little patience with those they perceive as “losers.”

In political discussions with conservative friends over the years, her name pops up regularly, as they quote her like an evangelical might quote the bible.  The common thread in all of these interactions is a patent inability on the part of the person quoting her (or the persons who quote the bible for that matter) to engage in introspections about their own inadequacies, character flaws, etc.  They do not like to talk about their own pain, they do not like to talk about the pain of others.  These folks can’t even share their vulnerabilities with friends or family members.  They appear to be people who have difficulty forgiving themselves for their own inadequacies, or the inadequacies of others.  They have a lot of secrets.

The deeply spiritual 12 Step recovery programs such as AA, NA, etc. have an expression within their ranks that I have found (as a clinician) to be absolutely correct, “We are only as sick as our secrets.”

I hope that while we are discussing the mental health of Mr. Loughner, or others like him, we can begin to discuss the mental health of our society, because it is that society that helped create these people, and in that regard, we are all culpable.  If we cannot own that reality, and engage in meaningful introspection collectively, then we perpetuate the problem.

Edward Garren, MA, LMF

** Note on “humor”  It’s difficult to explain the “humor” I meant.  The best thing I can try to say is that it’s NOT planned or contrived (like the TV programs that are scripted), but more from the heart, and about her heart.

For example, most public figures in interviews will talk about their personal struggles with their fears.  Barbra Streisand has talked about her paralyzing fears of performing, Barack Obama talked about his internal doubts in his early days as a community organizer, Franklin Roosevelt shared his struggles with polio, etc.  Even Bill and Hillary Clinton talked about their struggles in their marriage.

People like Sarah don’t appear capable of doing that.  She has pointedly avoided any contact with the press unless it is scripted and that alone is cause of serious concern about her.  We have yet to see similar conversations from most other current commentators.  While Glenn Beck has shared that he is a recovering alcoholic, his tone and style are more akin to a “dry drunk” (someone who is no longer drinking, but is not really working the 12 Steps of recovery which “demand rigorous honesty” about self).   Rush Limbaugh is another one, who once his revelations about his drug addiction were revealed, has never shown any tone of humility or forgiveness since.  This sort of behavior is simply not synonymous with the spiritual path that is a necessary element of “recovery.”

And because there are so many of them in the public eye, as icons in society, they contribute to the creation of an attitude about personal humanity, that resonates with people like Mr. Loughner, who then take the same processes off the deep end.

In other words, if people in the public eye don’t talk about their own personal journey with self forgiveness and forgiving others, we don’t model or teach that behavior to our followers.   I think this is an element of why we have become such an intolerant nation.  In our highly competitive, “winner take all” culture, we are all contributors to our current mess, and we will only change it by taking personal responsibility for it in our daily interactions with other people.

While this exists on both sides of the political spectrum, I don’t hear the level of personal vitriol coming from the “left” that spews constantly out of of folks like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Bill O’Riley and Sarah Palin, as well as countless “Conservative” commentators on TV.  

Since a large portion of the country gets most, if not all of it’s news and commentary from these folks now, and reject more genuinely “balanced” news outlets like CNN, as being “liberal, we have further polarized the country.   

 On Saturday, January 8th, a U.S. Congresswoman was shot, along with many others, at a community event at a Safeway store in Tucson Arizona.  Gabrielle Giffords was the first Jewish Congresswoman in Arizona and a Democrat.

In addition a 9 year old girl, Christina Taylor Green, born on 9/11, who has a haunting resemblance to photos of the young Anne Frank, was among those killed.

The most telling comments about this shooting were to be found on the “Jewish Members of Congress” web site:

 Statement on the Attack on Rep. Gabrielle 

Giffords 

Carly Lindauer — January 8, 2011 – 4:39 pm | Congress Comments (0) Add a comment 

National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) Chair Marc R. Stanley and Vice-Chair Marc 

Winkelman today issued the following statment: 

“NJDC’s leaders and members are stunned and horrified by the attack today on Gabby Giffords, 

Arizona’s first Jewish Congresswoman. Representative Giffords is a courageous and vibrant 

leader dedicated to advancing the causes and values we care so deeply about. Beyond being an 

advocate for health care reform and immigration reform, as well as the people of Arizona, she is 

our close friend. Gabby, those who were murdered and injured, and their families all remain in 

our thoughts and prayers. 

The tragic attack on Representative Giffords, her staff, and citizens participating in the practice 

of democracy in Arizona is beyond reprehensible. One suspect, now in custody, may be directly 

responsible for this crime. But it is fair to say - in today’s political climate, and given today’s 

political rhetoric - that many have contributed to the building levels of vitriol in our political 

discourse that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in which this event transpired. 

Throughout the health care reform debate, we saw an ever-worsening level of political discourse 

- frequently pointing fingers at Democratic members of Congress who were supposedly directly 

threatening our country and our way of life. As elections approached, members of Congress 

increasingly received death threats, even as our public debate became more and more coarse. 

As we learned in Israel through the tragic assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, words 

- and an eroding public discourse - can have profound consequences. The rhetoric of hate and 

anger must be banished from our political discourse before the next calamity takes place. 

The loss of any life - and the injury of any American - is unacceptable. While we do not yet 

know exactly what motivated this deranged gunman, improving the tenor of our public debate 

can only help. It is up to us to act now. Nothing less than our democracy is at stake.” 

What those of us on the “left” know (from experience) and what the well meaning people on the “right” do not (from lack of experience) is that when you promote intolerance and cast FELLOW AMERICAN CITIZENS as evil and disgusting and play the martyr card with expressions like “Take Back America”  that imply that other (less worthy) citizens are somehow responsible for the ills of the country, then someone who is mentally imbalanced will shoot the person who is iconic of all that you (the “right) have vilified and painted as “evil.”

Most white people don’t get routinely targeted, unless you’re Gay (Queer) like I am.  So we don’t really “get” this.

But if you are not white, or if you are Jewish, or Queer, you’ve had people playing “target practice” with you all of your life.  We live with this, 24/7.  We know what intolerance and “baiting” produce.  We’ve all had friends and family members, if not ourselves, who have been attacked, injured, sometimes killed, or who committed suicide because of the constant hatred that exists in this society.

Bullying, Queer baiting, race baiting, Jew baiting, Muslim baiting, “liberal” baiting, and other forms of hatred, causes college students to jump off of bridges, and children to commit suicide and 22 year old college students to go on shooting rampages because they have been repeatedly told by half of the media outlets in this country that “government is the problem” and that those in government are the cause of their unhappiness.  I work in mental health and can assure you that no one is born this way.  They learn it from being bombarded by it at home, in schools and churches, and in communities where they are taught these values and internalize them.

And now we have a dead federal judge, six others killed, a congress member critically shot, and 19 others also wounded.

This shooting of a Jewish, Liberal, Democrat (all terms that right wing “Commonsense Conservatives”  routinely vilify at EVERY opportunity) is the natural outcome of the level of hate and intolerance that have come to define group of people who seem to have forgotten that this is our country too.

Read Sarah’s comments, notice the “cross hairs in a scope” symbols used to “target” the congress people she listed, and then notice Ms. Giffords name listed as one of the congress people “targeted.” which are in Sarah Palin’s Facebook posting below.

Her first lie, an alleged “government takeover” of our health care system.

Her Second lie, “Destructive Government Growing Policies” and somehow blaming the “millions of unemployed” on the government (not the Wall Street crooks who were de-regulated under Bush/Cheney that caused the financial collapse we’re in).

Then there is the third lie, the “job creation and an invigorated private sector” which really means even more tax cuts for wealthy and corporations.  These are the same people who had massive tax cuts under Bush/Cheney with virtually no job creation.

The most frightening aspect of this massive dis-information campaign is not only that people believed it this last election, but now it’s infected the mental health of the nation and at least one deranged young man has decided to start shooting people who are connected to the government that is trying to trick him, or take advantage of him.

In one extended Internet posting, Mr. Loughner (the 22 year old shooter) suggested that the government was trying to trick him, or take advantage of him, although he never explained exactly what caused these concerns.

I don’t know which is more disgusting, Sarah and her ilk with the massive lying, disinformation and vitriol, or the millions of Americans who believe the lies and propaganda coming out of them.

Follow the money people, the Tea Party is being funded by large corporations and billionaires !!!  There isn’t any “grass roots” organizing in it.

If you really think Sarah wrote the book, or got herself on the Disocovery Channel, or into the national eye (along with her daughter who can’t dance) because she’s a good mother, or a “great” American, or by her own wits and talent, then you probably don’t understand what’s going on, and who is really trying manipulate you.

It’s not the “liberal media” and it’s not “big government.”  What it is are large corporations, owned by mega wealthy people, who are profiting off of our ignorance, apathy and the every deepening economic disparity between themselves and the rest of us.

If we don’t start working together, we are all doomed.  And that starts with realizing that what’s really going on is the large corporations that own most of our existence and celebrate this “divide and conquer” thing.

 They pay lots of money to confuse people, and take advantage of the anger that confusion generates.

They have already picked this country clean, destroyed the middle class, and now they are turning the country into a Fascist state, with people like Sarah Palin and the Tea Party leading the new Third Reich and anyone who disagrees with them as the new “degenerates” who are cast as being less patriotic and less worthy of citizenship.

In that world it was the Jews, Gypsies and Queers who got hauled away and gassed.  What this one will bring is anyone’s guess, but we already have Queer kids committing suicide and Jewish congress members getting shot in front of grocery stores.

So Sarah, why don’t you start telling us why you support the end of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, and how you will work to encourage your former running mate John McCain to change his mind.

While you’re at it, how about a national policy that will end bullying and Queer baiting in schools.  You could also support same gender marriage, since you’re such a staunch supporter of stable family units.

Since you love the bible so much, how about some worship in synagogues and mosques, since those folks use most of the same bible you do.

Since I know you’re a strong supporter of all children having loving homes, will you work to make sure that the foster care system is adequately funded, and that anyone can foster or adopt a child, even if they are “different?”

And while you’re at it, I’m sure you want a bright future for your kids, which includes healthy school lunches,  low cost or free higher education if they want it, as well as a world with less air pollution, reduction in global warming, less dependency on petroleum and other fossil fuels.  After all, if the planets ecosystem collapses, there won’t be any halibut or caribou left to fill your freezer.

In other words Sarah, will you join the 21st century, and help find solutions to the problems we are dealing with now?  Or is your solution to return to the first half of the 20th century, and all the intolerance that killed millions?

If you think I’m exaggerating, read the comments and links below Sarah’s thoughts here.

Don’t Get Demoralized! Get Organized! Take Back the 20! 

 Home Profile 

by Sarah Palin on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 6:41pm 

Don’t Get Demoralized! Get Organized! Take 

Back the 20! 

With the president signing this unwanted and 

“transformative” government takeover of our health care 

system today with promises impossible to keep, let’s not 

get discouraged. Don’t get demoralized. Get organized! 

We’re going to reclaim the power of the people from 

those who disregarded the will of the people. We’re 

going to fire them and send them back to the private 

sector, which has been shrinking thanks to their 

destructive government-growing policies. Maybe when 

they join the millions of unemployed, they’ll understand 

why Americans wanted them to focus on job creation and 

an invigorated private sector. Come November, we’re 

going to print pink slips for members of Congress as fast 

as they’ve been printing money. 

We’re paying particular attention to those House 

members who voted in favor of Obamacare and represent 

districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during 

the 2008 election. Three of these House members are 

retiring – from Arkansas’s 2nd district, Indiana’s 8th 

district, and Tennessee’s 6th district – but we’ll be 

working to make sure that those who replace them are 

Commonsense Conservatives. The others are running for 

re-election, and we’re going to hold them accountable 

for this disastrous Obamacare vote.

They are: Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1), Harry E. Mitchell (AZ-5),

Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), John Salazar (CO-3), Betsy Markey (CO- 

4). Allen Boyd (FL-2), Suzanne M. Kosmas (FL-24), Baron 

P. Hill (IN-9), Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), Charlie Wilson (OH- 

6), John Boccieri (OH-16), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), 

Christopher Carney (PA-10), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC-5), 

Tom Perriello (VA-5), Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1), and Nick 

J. Rahall II (WV-3).

We’ll aim for these races and many others. This is just 

the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation 

who will bring common sense to Washington.

Please go to sarahpac.com and join me in the fight.

Stand tall, America. Real change is coming! 

- Sarah Palin

Some of what has happened since Sarah wrote these comments:

 Dem Rep Giffords shot in head in Az. Sarah Palin had put CROSSHAIRS/ BULLSEYE on Giffords on her website! OUTRAGE!http://mmflint.me/fcHmJf

When Rep Giffords voted in favor of health care bill, her office in Tucson was attacked & vandalized.http://mmflint.me/hKYtR7

Palin “set gun sights on 20 Dems (including Giffords).” http://mmflint.me/fcHmJf Palin site now seems 2 b 2 taking down crosshairs map!

In 2009, another gun nut showed up where Rep Giffords was speaking (at another Safeway) & dropped his gunhttp://mmflint.me/gPnApk

Giffords opponent held June event 2 “Shoot a Fully Automatic M16″ to “Get on Target” & “Remove Gabrielle Giffords”http://mmflint.me/hF1BN5

When Palin put crosshairs on a map w/ Rep. Giffords & 19 other Dem congressmen/women, she urged followers to “reload” & “aim” for Democrats.

RT @RichardKimNYC Giffords was impt brave ally in fight to defeat 2006 AZ anti-gay marriage initiative. i covered in briefhttp://tinyurl.com/285hk92

Past photo of alleged Tucson shooter (in background) http://yfrog.com/h5oq9gj

Stunning admission by Tucson sheriff: Arizona “a mecca” of hate & bigotry which unhinges the unbalancedhttp://mmflint.me/hOlRG8 Wow.

Thanks, Keith, 4 ur powerful Special Comment just now & 4 mentioning Glenn Beck’s violent fantasies:http://mmflint.me/eTc1LC

Christina Green was the 9yr old killed. She was born on 9/11. Was on student council & only girl on baseball team.http://mmflint.me/dOs1oY

If a Detroit Muslim put a map on the web w/crosshairs on 20 pols, then 1 of them got shot, where would he b sitting right now? Just asking.

I received a warm Holiday Greeting from my God Daughter Nicole and her husband Jorge (George) Ramirez.  They live in Rancho Cucamonga CA.  We had a very warm conversation last night (Xmas Eve) and it was one of the most enjoyable moments of this season.  “Nikki” always inspires me to do better.  She has such a light around her, from the day she was born, she has brought joy to everyone she has touched.  She also was born on the same day as my father’s mother, March 28, in the same hospital I was born in, Tampa General, Tampa Florida.

 Years ago in Miami when she lived with me, we had a Christmas (1982) buffet at the house we were living in (NE 45th Street). We were as broke as we could be.  I had bought a used artificial tree that summer, $13 at a garage sale, two strings of lights on sale, and we made home made ornaments out of paper cups, pipe cleaners and gift wrap.   

I got a small bonus at work and bought a bunch of food to have dinner party.I invited everyone I knew to come early evening for food, and about 40 people showed up.  It was the “rainbow” Christmas event in Miami, much diversity, and we all had a great time.  

 The highlight of the evening was a friend who was a “grip” for the Channel 4 News, who called and asked if she could bring her news crew, and of course I said “Yes.”  So they came, ate and took footage of the feast, the adults conversing, and the children gazing at our Christmas Tree.

The scenes ended up on the news that night, they played it at the close of the 11PM News and rolled the credits in front of the last of it.  Nikki and I were at church and missed it, but we heard it was lovely from friends the next day.So that was our gift to Miami, which was dealing with a lot of racial animosity at the time, and it was our only Christmas together, and my last Christmas in Miami, I moved to Los Angeles the following September.

The memories we make define our lives.  It’s so important to enjoy today, each day, and drink in the love that others bring to us and then share it back with this broken world.  No matter how impoverished we may feel, we always have “spirit” to share with others, which is how we are “fed” to give more.

I have had a very difficult last two years here in Portland.  Finding meaningful work and sharing my vocation has been very difficult, money has been “tight”, but somehow, in this past week, a lot of things have just settled out.   I haven’t found a job, I have no idea what’s next, but I am (FINALLY) at peace with my life here, after a long and at times difficult process.

I know many many friends are dealing with difficult times, lost dreams, tumult and disappointment right now.  But I remember that in 1982, I wad dealing with difficult situations as well, and yet I created happiness and warm memories for myself and my God daughter.

As I sat in church last night, I thought about all the people in my life who have loved me, even when I wasn’t that lovable. Surely God is good, and more importantly life is good.  It’s just what we do with it, and how we pass on God’s love that matters.

We ask God to help us make “good” out of imperfection, including our own, just as God makes “good” out of us if we let God in and honor our higher selves.  It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth the struggle.

I hope your Christmas season (12 days) brings joy and peace (even if you’re not “observant”) and that the New Year brings genuine prosperity of spirit, and some extra cash for those who need it.

Edward George GarrenChristmas 2010

A friend who subscribes to “Life After the OIl Crash” sent me this. If you think it’s awful, ask some folks who’ve lived in other DEVELOPED countries about life there. Or go visit one. It will really open your eyes to how much the corporations and the war machine have sucked this country dry.

 

Ed 

 

Date: Saturday 27 November 2010, 05:48:54

From: Dennis Kluesner <denniskluesner@hotmail.com>

To: america2point0@yahoogroups.com

 

From Saturdays Breaking News Post.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/BreakingNews.html

Americans, I have some bad news for you:

You have the worst quality of life in the developed world—by a wide margin.

If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.

I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.

I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.

Consider this: you are the only people in the developed world without a single-payer health system. Everyone in Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand has a single-payer system. If they get sick, they can devote all their energies to getting well. If you get sick, you have to battle two things at once: your illness and the fear of financial ruin. Millions of Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills, and tens of thousands die each year because they have no insurance or insufficient insurance. And don’t believe for a second that rot about America having the world’s best medical care or the shortest waiting lists: I’ve been to hospitals in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Singapore, and Thailand, and every one was better than the “good” hospital I used to go to back home. The waits were shorter, the facilities more comfortable, and the doctors just as good.

This is ironic, because you need a good health system more than anyone else in the world. Why? Because your lifestyle is almost designed to make you sick.

Let’s start with your diet: Much of the beef you eat has been exposed to fecal matter in processing. Your chicken is contaminated with salmonella. Your stock animals and poultry are pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics. In most other countries, the government would act to protect consumers from this sort of thing; in the United States, the government is bought off by industry to prevent any effective regulations or inspections. In a few years, the majority of all the produce for sale in the United States will be from genetically modified crops, thanks to the cozy relationship between Monsanto Corporation and the United States government. Worse still, due to the vast quantities of high-fructose corn syrup Americans consume, fully one-third of children born in the United States today will be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives.

Of course, it’s not just the food that’s killing you, it’s the drugs. If you show any sign of life when you’re young, they’ll put you on Ritalin. Then, when you get old enough to take a good look around, you’ll get depressed, so they’ll give you Prozac. If you’re a man, this will render you chemically impotent, so you’ll need Viagra to get it up. Meanwhile, your steady diet of trans-fat-laden food is guaranteed to give you high cholesterol, so you’ll get a prescription for Lipitor. Finally, at the end of the day, you’ll lay awake at night worrying about losing your health plan, so you’ll need Lunesta to go to sleep.

With a diet guaranteed to make you sick and a health system designed to make sure you stay that way, what you really need is a long vacation somewhere. Unfortunately, you probably can’t take one. I’ll let you in on little secret: if you go to the beaches of Thailand, the mountains of Nepal, or the coral reefs of Australia, you’ll probably be the only American in sight. And you’ll be surrounded crowds of happy Germans, French, Italians, Israelis, Scandinavians and wealthy Asians. Why? Because they’re paid well enough to afford to visit these places AND they can take vacations long enough to do so. Even if you could scrape together enough money to go to one of these incredible places, by the time you recovered from your jetlag, it would time to get on a plane and rush back to your job.

If you think I’m making this up, check the stats on average annual vacation days by country:

Finland: 44

Italy: 42

France: 39

Germany: 35

UK: 25

Japan: 18

USA: 12

The fact is, they work you like dogs in the United States. This should come as no surprise: the United States never got away from the plantation/sweat shop labor model and any real labor movement was brutally suppressed. Unless you happen to be a member of the ownership class, your options are pretty much limited to barely surviving on service-sector wages or playing musical chairs for a spot in a cubicle (a spot that will be outsourced to India next week anyway). The very best you can hope for is to get a professional degree and then milk the system for a slice of the middle-class pie. And even those who claw their way into the middle class are but one illness or job loss away from poverty. Your jobs aren’t secure. Your company has no loyalty to you. They’ll play you off against your coworkers for as long as it suits them, then they’ll get rid of you.

Of course, you don’t have any choice in the matter: the system is designed this way. In most countries in the developed world, higher education is either free or heavily subsidized; in the United States, a university degree can set you back over US$100,000. Thus, you enter the working world with a crushing debt. Forget about taking a year off to travel the world and find yourself – you’ve got to start working or watch your credit rating plummet.

If you’re “lucky,” you might even land a job good enough to qualify you for a home loan. And then you’ll spend half your working life just paying the interest on the loan – welcome to the world of American debt slavery. America has the illusion of great wealth because there’s a lot of “stuff” around, but who really owns it? In real terms, the average American is poorer than the poorest ghetto dweller in Manila, because at least they have no debts. If they want to pack up and leave, they can; if you want to leave, you can’t, because you’ve got debts to pay.

All this begs the question: Why would anyone put up with this? Ask any American and you’ll get the same answer: because America is the freest country on earth. If you believe this, I’ve got some more bad news for you: America is actually among the least free countries on earth. Your piss is tested, your emails and phone calls are monitored, your medical records are gathered, and you are never more than one stray comment away from writhing on the ground with two Taser prongs in your ass.

And that’s just physical freedom. Mentally, you are truly imprisoned. You don’t even know the degree to which you are tormented by fears of medical bankruptcy, job loss, homelessness and violent crime because you’ve never lived in a country where there is no need to worry about such things.

But it goes much deeper than mere surveillance and anxiety. The fact is, you are not free because your country has been taken over and occupied by another government. Fully 70% of your tax dollars go to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon is the real government of the United States. You are required under pain of death to pay taxes to this occupying government. If you’re from the less fortunate classes, you are also required to serve and die in their endless wars, or send your sons and daughters to do so. You have no choice in the matter: there is a socioeconomic draft system in the United States that provides a steady stream of cannon fodder for the military.

If you call a life of surveillance, anxiety and ceaseless toil in the service of a government you didn’t elect “freedom,” then you and I have a very different idea of what that word means.

If there was some chance that the country could be changed, there might be reason for hope. But can you honestly look around and conclude that anything is going to change? Where would the change come from? The people? Take a good look at your compatriots: the working class in the United States has been brutally propagandized by jackals like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. Members of the working class have been taught to lick the boots of their masters and then bend over for another kick in the ass. They’ve got these people so well trained that they’ll take up arms against the other half of the working class as soon as their masters give the word.

If the people cannot make a change, how about the media? Not a chance. From Fox News to the New York Times, the mass media in the United States is nothing but the public relations wing of the corporatocracy, primarily the military industrial complex. At least the citizens of the former Soviet Union knew that their news was bullshit. In America, you grow up thinking you’ve got a free media, which makes the propaganda doubly effective. If you don’t think American media is mere corporate propaganda, ask yourself the following question: have you ever heard a major American news outlet suggest that the country could fund a single-payer health system by cutting military spending?

If change can’t come from the people or the media, the only other potential source of change would be the politicians. Unfortunately, the American political process is among the most corrupt in the world. In every country on earth, one expects politicians to take bribes from the rich. But this generally happens in secret, behind the closed doors of their elite clubs. In the United States, this sort of political corruption is done in broad daylight, as part of legal, accepted, standard operating procedure. In the United States, they merely call these bribes campaign donations, political action committees and lobbyists. One can no more expect the politicians to change this system than one can expect a man to take an axe and chop his own legs out from underneath him.

No, the United States of America is not going to change for the better. The only change will be for the worse. And when I say worse, I mean much worse. As we speak, the economic system that sustained the country during the post-war years is collapsing. The United States maxed out its “credit card” sometime in 2008 and now its lenders, starting with China, are in the process of laying the foundations for a new monetary system to replace the Anglo-American “petro-dollar” system. As soon as there is a viable alternative to the US dollar, the greenback will sink like a stone.

While the United States was running up crushing levels of debt, it was also busy shipping its manufacturing jobs and white-collar jobs overseas, and letting its infrastructure fall to pieces. Meanwhile, Asian and European countries were investing in education, infrastructure and raw materials. Even if the United States tried to rebuild a real economy (as opposed to a service/financial economy) do think American workers would ever be able to compete with the workers of China or Europe? Have you ever seen a Japanese or German factory? Have you ever met a Singaporean or Chinese worker?

There are only two possible futures facing the United States, and neither one is pretty. The best case is a slow but orderly decline – essentially a continuation of what’s been happening for the last two decades. Wages will drop, unemployment will rise, Medicare and Social Security benefits will be slashed, the currency will decline in value, and the disparity of wealth will spiral out of control until the United States starts to resemble Mexico or the Philippines – tiny islands of wealth surrounded by great poverty (the country is already halfway there).

Equally likely is a sudden collapse, perhaps brought about by a rapid flight from the US dollar by creditor nations like China, Japan, Korea and the OPEC nations. A related possibility would be a default by the United States government on its vast debt. One look at the financial balance sheet of the US government should convince you how likely this is: governmental spending is skyrocketing and tax receipts are plummeting – something has to give. If either of these scenarios plays out, the resulting depression will make the present recession look like a walk in the park.

Whether the collapse is gradual or gut-wrenchingly sudden, the results will be chaos, civil strife and fascism. Let’s face it: the United States is like the former Yugoslavia – a collection of mutually antagonistic cultures united in name only. You’ve got your own version of the Taliban: right-wing Christian fundamentalists who actively loathe the idea of secular Constitutional government. You’ve got a vast intellectual underclass that has spent the last few decades soaking up Fox News and talk radio propaganda, eager to blame the collapse on Democrats, gays and immigrants. You’ve got a ruthless ownership class that will use all the means at its disposal to protect its wealth from the starving masses.

On top of all that you’ve got vast factory farms, sprawling suburbs and a truck-based shipping system, all of it entirely dependent on oil that is about to become completely unaffordable. And you’ve got guns. Lots of guns. In short: the United States is about to become a very unwholesome place to be.

Right now, the government is building fences and walls along its northern and southern borders. Right now, the government is working on a national ID system (soon to be fitted with biometric features). Right now, the government is building a surveillance state so extensive that they will be able to follow your every move, online, in the street and across borders. If you think this is just to protect you from “terrorists,” then you’re sadly mistaken. Once the shit really hits the fan, do you really think you’ll just be able to jump into the old station wagon, drive across the Canadian border and spend the rest of your days fishing and drinking Molson? No, the government is going to lock the place down. They don’t want their tax base escaping. They don’t want their “recruits” escaping. They don’t want YOU escaping.

I am not writing this to scare you. I write this to you as a friend. If you are able to read and understand what I’ve written here, then you are a member of a small minority in the United States. You are a minority in a country that has no place for you.

So what should you do?

You should leave the United States of America.

If you’re young, you’ve got plenty of choices: you can teach English in the Middle East, Asia or Europe. Or you can go to university or graduate school abroad and start building skills that will qualify you for a work visa. If you’ve already got some real work skills, you can apply to emigrate to any number of countries as a skilled immigrant. If you are older and you’ve got some savings, you can retire to a place like Costa Rica or the Philippines. If you can’t qualify for a work, student or retirement visa, don’t let that stop you – travel on a tourist visa to a country that appeals to you and talk to the expats you meet there. Whatever you do, go speak to an immigration lawyer as soon as you can. Find out exactly how to get on a path that will lead to permanent residence and eventually citizenship in the country of your choice.

You will not be alone. There are millions of Americans just like me living outside the United States. Living lives much more fulfilling, peaceful, free and abundant than we ever could have attained back home. Some of us happened upon these lives by accident – we tried a year abroad and found that we liked it – others made a conscious decision to pack up and leave for good. You’ll find us in Canada, all over Europe, in many parts of Asia, in Australia and New Zealand, and in most other countries of the globe. Do we miss our friends and family? Yes. Do we occasionally miss aspects of our former country? Yes. Do we plan on ever living again in the United States? Never. And those of us with permanent residence or citizenship can sponsor family members from back home for long-term visas in our adopted countries.

In closing, I want to remind you of something: unless you are an American Indian or a descendant of slaves, at some point your ancestors chose to leave their homeland in search of a better life. They weren’t traitors and they weren’t bad people, they just wanted a better life for themselves and their families. Isn’t it time that you continue their journey?

An Open Letter to Democratic Leadership and Elected Officials (particularly in the places where we lost)

Dear Gentlemen and Ladies:

Three days ago, we all watched in horror as our party went down in flames.  Today, my mother Edna Garren, a life long Democrat, would have been 98 years old.  So I am writing this in her memory, and offering some insights she passed on to me.

My mother Edna (at age 92) with U.S. Senator Robert Graham (D) (retired) from Florida

a long time family friend 

You folks dropped the ball.  You didn’t just fumble, you stopped and held it out for the Republicans and the Tea Party to take from you.  I want to offer you some insight, from the street, as to how you did it, and what you need to do to get it back.

The first thing is, STOP RUNNING SCARED.  Take a lesson from your peers who stuck to their values and are still in office.  Stop trying to compromise and make deals.  The deals never work, and you betray your base.  The deal making is how you got suckered into a bogus war for oil profits, a failed Wall Street bailout that you (and the president) then got blamed for, and the loss of the Public Option in health care reform, and the continued shipment of jobs out of the country.

A lot of you are too young to remember the legacy of FDR.  This from a friend of mine, who also had polio, and met him (as a child) at Warm Springs, about being disappointed:

“He (Obama) came into office with such power and esteem and yes he was handed the financial debacle but he had 18 months in which to do some talking to the American people - to wave a big stick and ask for their help and he would have gotten it.

Thomas, my grandson, voted for Obama - his first vote with the same hope I had that Obama would be a president ready to grab the reins of power - do what he needed to do and speak his mind.

That’s where people feel let down.  He didn’t really speak of the horrors of unemployment, he’s considering Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,  he let the Republicans frame the message and damn all of his wonderful advisors.  Once again, they know how to win but not how to govern.

I really thought he had FDR or Harry Truman in him with a bit of John Kennedy - but he held back and he’s so smart that it makes it worse.  I wish I had voted for Hillary.

Kerry let the Reps. muddy him, Dukakas and Carter - where the hell are our leaders.  Why are they so afraid to speak out why must they be so goody goody?

Where are the Churchill’s - my heart is broken because of the huge lost opportunity and by God what the monsters on the other side are going to do to our country - but our guys are not innocent - no way.”

The reason why we lost this election is that too many of you are more concerned with remaining “collegiate” with your Republican peers in government.  While our government needs professionalism in order to operate, you seem to have lost sight of how effectively the Republican corporate wealth machine has bullied most working Americans past the breaking point.  While you’re out there making deals, people are losing their jobs, their homes, their dignity in record numbers.  We are counting on you to fight for us, not sell us out one more time.

One more example from my friend:  “Obama could have stopped foreclosures the minute there was a hint that they were illegal - he could have just done so much with his voice.”   

Most of you appear to have forgotten the basic underpinnings of our party, that we are the party of people who are not from wealth, or management.  We are the party of people who work for a living.  What have you done to protect us from the rampant bullying in virtually every aspect of the workplace, financial institutions, health care, public education, etc?

And in the face of a massive propaganda machine, what have you done to fight back?  This election, we finally saw some commercials that had backbone.  But what about in between?  You had the opportunity over the Public Option to create massive media by letting the Republicans filibuster, and make lots of news that would show them to be who they really are?  Instead, you made yet one more back room deal and betrayed the base that elected you to make REAL change.  And by making that deal, you continued the confusion of the average voter, who basically says, “They’re all rich, none of them care about me, so why should I vote at all?”

Then, demonstrating how out of touch you really are, you were genuinely surprised when the millions of young people who swept us to power two years ago, didn’t bother to show up again.  What have you done to educate them about how government works and who is really fighting for their future?  Instead, you’re “making deals” and politely letting the bullies make you look like fools as you sell out the people who put their trust in you.

My mother passed on some basic truths about how politics affects our lives, and why she voted for Democrats most of her life, particularly in later years:

“Every time I ever voted Republican, I came to regret it later on. 

They always do the same thing.  They tell you what you want to hear to get elected, and it sounds so good.  Once they get power, they forget what they promised, they pay off their rich friends with tax cuts and stick working people with all the bills. 

I‘m not wealthy enough to be a Republican, or vote for one either. 

Politics is a dirty business, and most politicians are crooks.  But at least the Democrats are OUR crooks.”

So, while your scratching your heads and wondering what happened, consider the words of Janet Jackson, “What have you done for me lately?”

If you want to return to power, then you need to fight, and fight hard.  The soul of the country is at stake, and not only are we all watching, but you can count on Fox News to continue to crank out propaganda and lies against all of you.  Consider that the “deal” will just come back later and bite you in the behind.

You can’t win a deal with the devil, and the corporations that own the Republican party (and are trying to buy too many of you) ARE the devil.

Americans HATE cowards.  We love scrappy underdogs, people who fight for what they believe in.  If you want to win back the soul and votes of the American people, start fighting, and like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., make news so that people can see you fighting on their behalf.

Stop running scared, stop making deals, show your backbone, fight back.   The country and the planet you save, is ours, and there is nowhere else to go.

In celebration of the memory of my mother, Edna V. Garren.

From my brother Gene, who is a retired Sgt. Mjr. United States Army, who gave this country 28 years of his life, along with his left hip, right knee, and the discs in his lower back.  Gene walks with two crutches because of “foot flop” in his left leg, a result of a screw in his back impinging on his spinal cord.

During his Army career, he watched the climate change in and near the arctic circle (while on winter warfare maneuvers).  He lives in the mountains of western North Carolina, where this summer, all records for high temperatures were broken, including 100 degrees in Burnsville NC, which has never happened before.

Anyone who thinks climate change is a myth, simply has to spend some time watching the Weather Channel, we passed a CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) “tipping point” a little over a year ago, and look at last winter, last summer, and all of the records broken and bizzare/extreme weather that occurred in the last 12 months.

If people take the time to “follow the money” they will discover that most of this neo-conservative movement is funded by the energy and health care industries.  All these promises of “Jobs” and budget cuts will really translate into maintaining and extending tax cuts for the wealthy, and not much else.  There won’t be any good paying jobs in this country until we start making things that the rest of the world wants to buy, and these are the same people who passed all the laws that encouraged the wholesale dismantling of American Industry and moving it to China and other poor nations.

I will only add that we forget that Hitler and the Nazi’s took over Germany in a legal election.  I listen to the extreme positions espoused by the Tea Party, their thinly veiled racism, their not so thinly veiled homophobia, their not at all veiled disdain for anyone who disagrees with them, and it scares the hell out of me.

Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin are the “poster couple” for bullying in America.

We have become a very mean and intolerant nation.  God help us all if we don’t wake up soon.

Regards,  Edward “Ed” Garren

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gene Garren <GeneGarren@aol.com>

Date: November 3, 2010 6:08:05 AM PDT

To: Garren E G <ed@edgarren.us>

Subject: Yesterdays vote

 

Hello.

Well I am very sorry to see what happened, but not surprised.

It was not as bad as I thought it might be, but it is part of my learning experience since retiring.  Far too many Americans simply do not have a grasp on important issues, nor do they fully understand how government works, nor do they have patience.

To expect President Obama to “fix” everything in actually less than 2 years is a pipe dream and is sadly a demonstration of ignorance.

Now with more Republicans, most whom do not support significant veterans (issues or benefits), climate change, and affordable heath care legislation, means that it is going to be even harder to get things done.  Sadly, even with more Democrats before yesterday in Congress we did not have enough to pass the caping of greenhouse gas emissions in the last climate legislation vote.  This was due to several reasons.  One, there were some Democrats who failed to support the majority of Democrats and President Obama.  Second of course most Republicans voted against it as usual.  So now it looks even less likely.

We have a great President, but ignorance, massive lying propaganda, have now given him even a less chance to get things done.  I think we will sadly be moving into 4 years of gridlock.  There are only 2 things left that could spell hope.  One the Democrats still control the Senate, but it was the Senate that failed to pass the climate legislation last time, and we had more Democrats then than now.  Second there is always the next Congressional election in I assume 4 years that would give President Obama 2 years to try to get some good things done providing we get a lot more Democrats elected.

I sent more letters to friends, spent more money on contributions than I ever have in my life.  Sadly we lost more Democratic seats so now I am not too hopeful of anything getting done now that is going to do a lot of good.  Hopefully my efforts and others did prevent more Republicans taking over.  While there are a small amount of Republicans who do vote for climate change legislation, they are sadly a very small group.

I worry about Michael’s future as to Climate Change, Social Security, Medicare, affordable health care, and housing in his future as I do other young people and of course the even younger ones.Bottom line our voting and elections system can only work if voters are truly informed and also if they get out and vote.  It seems the massive propaganda and impatience for “instant results” won over common sense and reason.Again the facts on climate change have long ago passed the debate.  One only has to access the non-political scientific organization in the USA and abroad who are experts on climate.

Yet almost half of Americans are still not convinced.  This is due of course to the massive propaganda machine of Fox News and others.  Our climate record is a national disgrace.  The ice melt is not going to wait while we as Americans fiddle de de around getting our act together.  In the opinion of most scientists we are moving toward a very much hotter and drier world.  The lose of ice, glaciers, snow pack, means less fresh drinking water and other negative issues.

Since retiring I have found this is the most disappointing issue I have learned about the USA.

Greed seems to be the bottom line major power today in our great nation.

We have always been told that we must Vote.  I fully agree.  However people who vote based on propaganda, anger, prejudice, lies, should have stayed at home.  I know sadly that many went to the polls yesterday who were highly misinformed and really don’t want to know the truth.

A misinformed and propaganda filled voter is our worst enemy. I have long ago learned that these kind of people are simply so programed so well that even showing the truth and the reputable source of that truth will not move them to look at a different point of view with an open mind.

The real tragedy is that most of these folks are basically wonderful people and good citizens.

God Bless and keep standing up for what you believe to be right no matter how many misinformed people try to get you to think like them.

Gene