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.

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

A friend sent me an editorial, published in the Wall Street Journal (of all places, but remember it’s now owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns Fox News) about so-called “reverse racism.”  The author, Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia basically argues that anti-discriminatory laws should be abolished because white people also experience discrimination because of those laws.  He says that white people don’t have “privilege.”

 A link to the text is below, a well as my own thoughts about this issue, and the rise of overt racism and other divisive tactics by “conservative leadership.”I hope you enjoy them.

 Ed

  Senator Webb’s Editorial in the Wall Street Journal

First off, “privilege” isn’t about wealth per se, it’s about living without fear.  Most white people never experience that fear, unless they are in the minority (like if your car breaks down in a “non white” neighborhood, particularly after dark).  People of color live with that fear 24/7 in most of this country.

 On the plantation, and in the post civil war era that leads up to today, the game has been the same, pit one group/race against another, “Massah” always wins.  This goes all the way back to plantations having white overseers, who were usually Irish, also brought in as “indentured servants.”  Their descendants would swell the ranks of the KKK and other “White Supremacy” groups later on.

 I agree with many of the statistical comments made by senator Webb.  He misses a larger point, Scotch-Irish (Southern White) culture has always eschewed “book learning” and discouraged it’s children from seeking higher education.  In my own family, my mother, who was reared by a sharecropping single mother, was the only one of her six siblings to get more than a 3rd grade education.  My mother finished high school (on scholarship at a boarding school operated by the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs) and her mother disowned her for leaving home at 15 to do so.  I am the first and only to finish college of my siblings.

 My aunt Velma, her daughter’s father in law,   my maternal grandmother Nancy Garner, and my aunt Frances.

  In Southern culture, devotion to “family” and “staying close to home” conspire with the values which say that “bettering one’s self” equals “social climbing” and “putting on airs” that keeps most poor southern whites from completing college, or remaining “ignorant” even if one finishes college.

 I have cousins who completed higher degrees, one has a Master’s in philosophy from Harvard, who all still talk very “country” and who prefer their slow and narrow way of thinking and living.  I don’t begrudge them this, but I learned early in my life that I had to accept my father’s half-Jewish genetics and that included a highly inquisitive mind for which slow and narrow would assure boredom and depression.  In other words, I made peace with my inner “New Yorker.”

My father’s birth certificate.  He changed his name to his step father’s last name “Garren” when he was five because “Edward V. Garren” sounded more “American.” 

It is a fear of expanding, of anything new or from “outside.”  It is formed and nurtured by the Southern Baptist Church (and it’s evangelically related cousins).  It is a spiritual way of life that has a clear pecking order, that says that only “people like us” are safe, and the rest are not deserving of God’s grace, kindness, or generosity, and it is killing our country. 

To take this even further, senator Webb misses an even bigger point, we don’t really value education in this country.  If we did, our funding for education wouldn’t be at the lowest point in decades.  40 years ago, when I was in college, most of the cost was paid by the federal government.  I graduated with less than $4,000 in debt.

 Now, a student can spend twenty times that just completing a Bachelors degree, because the government doesn’t want our kids to complete college.  It’s easier to manipulate ignorant people.

 ALL of this recent chatter is part of the larger smoke screen that obscures the largest military industry and war spending in the history of the world.  Doesn’t anyone notice that this stuff always “drops” just when they need to distract the public away from something else?  The FACT that the Democrats passed an extension for unemployment was lost in the media with all of the drama about Ms. Sherrod, the tea party and the NAACP.  They ALWAYS do this folks !!!  Wake up and smell the coffee!!!  It’s the oldest game in the business.   Make a distraction at one end of the store, while someone else raids the cash register.

 The Republicans have been doing this since 9/11 and the “War on Terror.”  In case no one noticed, the Obama administration and congress announced that it did not intend to extend the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans either.  All of this hoopla over Ms. Sherrod has kept that story out of the news too.  You can bet that any opportunity for the Obama administration to get some GOOD press will be quickly distracted by their gigantic “spin” machine.

 Frank Rich put it best in a recent column: ”None of this legacy, much of it accessible to anyone who wanted to look (or ask), prevented the tarring of Shirley Sherrod last week. And it all unfolded while the country was ostentatiously marking the 50th anniversary of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

 If we are to learn anything from this travesty, it might help to retrace the racial soap opera that immediately preceded and provoked it. That story began on July 13, when the N.A.A.C.P. passed a resolution calling on the Tea Party to expel “racist elements” in its ranks. No sooner had Tea Party adherents and defenders angrily denied that such elements amounted to anything more than a few fringe nuts than Mark Williams, the spokesman and past chairman of the Tea Party Express, piped up. He slapped a “parody” on the Web — a letter from “colored people” to Abraham Lincoln berating him as “the greatest racist ever” and complaining about “that whole emancipation thing” because “freedom means having to work for real.”

 Williams had hurled similar slurs for months, but now that the N.A.A.C.P. had cast a spotlight on the Tea Party’s racist elements, he was belatedly excommunicated by the leader of another Tea Party organization. In truth, it’s not clear that any group in this scattered movement has authority over any other. But one thing was certain: the N.A.A.C.P. was wrong to demand that the Tea Party disown its racist fringe. It should have made that demand of the G.O.P. instead.

 The Tea Party Express fronted by Williams is an indisputable Republican subsidiary. It was created by prominent G.O.P. political consultants in California and raises money for G.O.P. candidates, including Sharron Angle, Harry Reid’s Senate opponent in Nevada. But Republican leaders, presiding over a Congressional delegation with no blacks and a party that nearly mirrors it, remain in hiding whenever racial controversies break out under their tent. “I am not interested in getting into that debate,” said Mitch McConnell last week.

 Once Williams was disowned by other Tea Partiers, Breitbart posted the bogus Sherrod video as revenge under the headline “Video Proof: The NAACP Awards Racism.” To portray whites as the victims of racist blacks has been a weapon of the right from the moment desegregation started to empower previously subjugated minorities in the 1960s. But its deployment has accelerated with the ascent of a black president. The pace is set by right-wing stars like Glenn Beck, who on Fox branded Barack Obama a racist with “a deep-seated hatred for white people,” and the ever-opportunistic Newt Gingrich, who on Twitter maligned Sonia Sotomayor as a “Latina woman racist.”

 The worst part of all this is that “we Democrats” confuse the ability to engage in academic “debate” with real wisdom, intelligence or action.  We think that because we are “on top of an issue” in terms of “talk forums” or other media chatter, that we are in the stronger position.  That’s not how life works.  The reality is that whoever wins, wins.  And while it’s important to “play the game”, it’s also important to win, particularly when you’re facing up to a bully, which is what the Republican leadership has become, lying bullies who stop at nothing until they win.  We have decades of this in our recent history (since 1980), yet we continue to hide behind academic debate, and hope the rest of the country is listening.

 Well, it isn’t listening.  The rest of the country has been systematically reduced to sound bytes, a fifth or sixth grade reading level, and a greater appreciation for the Super Bowl than the State of the Union.  The Republicans have figured that out, what’s our problem?  We need a lot more of our folks to take lessons from Congressman Alan Grayson (the guy from Florida who did the “Republican Health Care Plan, “Don’t get sick, and if you do, just die”). All this “Bi-partisanship” is the legislative equivalent of date rape.  We have the botched “health care reform” without a public option to demonstrate that.

 Instead of compromising on the Public Option, we should have kept it, let the Republicans in the senate filibuster, and show the public just who they really are, privileged WASP men and women who benefit from the old social order.  But as usual, instead of taking the courageous stand on behalf of the American people, we caved in.  And we wonder WHY the electorate has no respect for us (Democrats)?

 When we “compromise” on important things, we prove the Republicans right, that government doesn’t work, and that it doesn’t matter who you vote for.

 We should be talking about how the Republicans in the senate were willing to throw millions of people to the wolves by denying them unemployment benefits (extension), but never object to increased war spending.  We should be talking about how under Bush, the very wealthy in this country have not paid their “fair share” of taxes to support a war they are making money off of.

 We also need to educate people that politics is not about morality, it’s about power.  My 97 year old mother said it best decades ago, “Politics is a dirty business, and most politicians are crooks.  But at least the Democrats are OUR crooks.”

My mother, Lois Edna Verner Ramsay-Garren, at 95.

She lived through the 20s, the Great Depression, WWII and like most of her generation, valued the “New Deal” politics that re-aligned wealth in this country by making sure that “working people” got a fair wage, decent benefits, Social Security, their children got a GOOD public education, and that the money they put into savings wasn’t squandered away by some stock deal gone mad.  Her other favorite quote, “I’m not wealthy enough to vote Republican.”

 The Reagan/Bush/Gingrich/Bush decades have systematically dismantled the “New Deal” which is why the economics in this country recently looked a lot like 1928 until it all came crashing down, and now the economy looks too much like 1931.

 For the sake of the future of not just the country, but the planet, we Democrats need to get our act together or we are going to remain part of the problem, not the solution.

 Edward “Ed” Garren, MA, LMFT

Psychotherapist 

Dear Mayor Adams and Commissioners:

I want to thank all of you for your tenacious and consistent commitment to improving the very broken relationship between Law Enforcement and our community.

I lived in Miami during the 1980 riots over the beating death of Arthur McDuffie and subsequent attempt by the police to cover up their actions.  The rioting lasted three days, and left millions in property damage and about 10 people died. I lived in Los Angeles during the riots that erupted over the beating of Rodney King.   That one cost billions and dozens of people were killed. In both situations, it was NOT the specific actions of police that prompted the rioting, but two acquittals of law enforcement personnel by all white juries.  It was the breakdown of the judicial system, that protected officers, not members of long abused communities, that prompted the civil unrest.

My fear is that we are be sitting on top of a similar powder keg here in Portland, which is why we must continue with this work of reforming a police department that appears to be out of control.  I echo the statement that was made that the rank and file in the department must embrace change in order for it to be effective.

There is significant anger in this community among members of many communities who have articulated that anger very clearly at the two hearings related to this ordinance.   I know from experience that if the anger is not addressed, it will emerge in very ugly ways that will significantly damage our city’s reputation.

Lastly, I want to clarify one other point.  At the February 18 meeting of the African American Alliance at the Red Cross, I was the person who publicly asked Commissioner Saltzman if he would commit to calling in the FBI to investigate the shooting of Aaron Campbell.  I reminded all present that if this shooting had occurred in any “southern” state, FBI participation would be mandatory as required by civil rights legislation that was passed in the 1960s and 1970s.  My specific request to Dan was that he not only call in the FBI on this incident, but that he draft policy requiring FBI inclusion in any similar incident in the future. At the time, he said he thought it was an interesting idea and would consider it.

I am pleased that he decided to follow through with the FBI inclusion on this one incident, and hope that policy will be drafted to set parameters for any future events (as a part of departmental oversight).  I would suggest that the language in the civil rights legislation would offer appropriate guidelines.

It is my belief that given the history of this region with regard to race, we must adopt many of the attitudes and civil rights policies and procedures that have been in place in the “south” for almost 4o years.  Clearly they have worked in that region, and I think an honest look at our history, our current issues, and the adoption of existing policies which have worked in other parts of the country is a better solution than offering one patch job at a time, each driven by the most recent crisis.

If this was any issue related to our material infrastructure, that is what we would do.

Regards,  Edward “Ed” Garren, MA, LMFT

Psychotherapy/Consulting

A Killing on Fourth & Washington

Spoticus, the big purple octopus at 4th & Washington (downtown) is dead.  His carcass may sit on the building for a while, but the Greek Cusina closed on December 31, a victim of a series of failures and the depression.

Timing is everything, and few could have fully assessed the extent of the current economic downturn.  But Ted Papas is a survivor, and it’s not the recession that killed his restaurant, at least not the downtown one.

Two things, conspired to put a stake through the restaurant’s heart.  Mr. Papas started some renovations in his building without getting some permits, and that fell into the cross hairs of Randy Leonard’s HIT squad.

I need to be very clear that I like both men.  Randy and Ted are in many ways, very similar men.  They both are strong willed, stubborn, survivors, and “hands on”, “what you see is what you get” kind of men.  One could sit back and look at their squabbles and almost find it amusing, except for one fact that seems to have been lost in the lack of due process that prevailed in this affair.  The closing of the Greek Cusina puts about 50 people out of work.  One of them is a dear friend of mine, who was one of the first casualties.  Her job as events manager, was scheduling wedding receptions, birthday and graduation parties and such in the beautiful Minoan Room on the third floor.  Due to the renovations which had not been approved by the city, the HIT squad closed the building above the 2nd floor.  This included the Minoan Room, offices and residences.  While I understand the initial fire safety concerns that closed these facilities, what followed was premeditated suffocation.

The city decided to impose a 24 hour, 7 day a week “fire watch” on the building, ostensibly until an additional high tech smoke/fire detection system could be installed.  There was a working “sprinkler” system in the building, but apparently that  was not sufficient.  The city demanded the additional system, which was not cheap, that had an automatic alarm at the closest fire station, so that it would automatically signal either smoke or fire and send the fire department coming instantly.  In the meantime, Ted had to pay for the cost of the security guard service that patrolled his building 24/7.  Of course it was a city approved contractor, and that was not cheap, $500 a day.  But, the smoke/fire alarm system got installed, so the fire watch should have ended, right?  Well, not exactly.  For whatever reason, it remained, for over a year, it has been in place, to the tune of five hundred dollars a day.

So the price tag for the fire watch started adding up, and since Ted’s ability to earn money was significantly compromised with the closure of his biggest income source  (the Minoan Room), he couldn’t pay the bill, so the city put a lien on his property.   With the lien in place, Ted could not get the necessary financing to complete the renovations to his building to bring it under code.

Then, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (O.L.C.C.) somehow got involved, due to alleged violations.  Suddenly, every alcohol sale had to be within the letter of the law.  One example, normally when a customer in the dining room would purchase a bottle of wine to have with their dinner, the wine would be brought to the table.   The OLCC ruled that could not happen since technically the dining room was not in the bar area, so after the server poured the glasses of wine, the bottle had to be returned to the bar.  Imagine how that went over with customers?  The OLCC was “encouraged” to place the restaurant under heightened scrutiny by the City.  That scrutiny chased away even more customers.

During all this time, I was at a couple of City sponsored meetings, and the question of a restaurant to host a meal for the group(s), I suggested the Greek Cusina.  Both times, city staff said “Aren’t they closed?”  The first time this happened was about a year ago.

So clearly, the word was out about closing the Greek Cusina around City departments.  Someone’s mind was already made up.

Because my friend was the first casualty in this war, I had a vested interest in trying to resolve it.  I talked at length with Ted, and in one of those conversations talked with a couple of City inspectors (one of whom was a police officer), and had a brief conversation with Randy Leonard.

There was a lot of passion over these issues.  In a sense, it was like dealing with two siblings who were fighting, both proud, both having a deep sense of being “right”, and both determined to prevail.  What was also clear was the City’s determination to close the Greek Cusina.  Randy had the power of his office, and his HIT Squad, Ted was just one person, trying to keep his business open.

I also need to add that I got to know a lot of people who worked for Ted over the last few years, and all of them shared about what a generous employer he was.  My friend was dealing with the declining health of her elderly mother, and Ted was always flexible, allowing her time off to deal with her mothers doctor and hospital visits.  If she needed an advance on her salary, he was there for her.   That kind of generosity, and treating employees like “family” is rare in today’s world, and the loss of it is one more aspect of this that is difficult.  If one looked at the demographic of Ted’s staff, he employed many more minority staff and people over 45 than most employers.  Being an immigrant, he understands prejudice and hunger in a much more personal way than most.  The loss of his generosity will be missed as well.

I don’t like bullies.  Part of my feelings about this relates personally to being “big enough to go bear hunting with a stick” (6′1″ and 260#), part of it is a genuine distaste for any abuse of power.  Power is a very interesting thing, the more you have of it, the less it should be used.  Sometimes people confuse passion with power, but ultimately, the person who has a lot of power shouldn’t use it to hurt others.   This urination contest between Randy and Ted has cost 50 people their livelihood, and that’s what has made me so disgusted by the situation, and specifically irritated by city leadership that used it’s power to punish rather than assist.

In the rush to “punish the evildoer”, 50 people are now out of work, and one of the landmark hospitality establishments in the city is now closed, and gone forever.

As much as one might want to place the blame at the feet of one commissioner, there are three others and the mayor.  In the midst of a depression, it is inexcusable for the city to encourage or allow the destruction of a business that employs 50 people downtown.   Moreover, if this could happen to one business, what might stop it from happening to others?

Some “back story” for those of you who may not have heard about the attempt of CRC to exclude as much public testimony as possible.

I arrived at the Port Building around 8:35 AM with Pam Naugle, a neighbor.  The sign in sheets and table were already in place, we both signed in.  Marcela Alcantar was also signing in.

The young man who was staffing the table asked us if we were going to testify, and we all said “Yes” and took the small testimony slips to fill out.  While doing so, we mentioned that we had come early to make sure that we would be first on the list to testify because we knew time would be limited.

The staffer, Dennis Sandstrom explained that there would be no order for testifying, “We’re going to put them all in this box, shuffle them around and then pick folks at random” was the explanation we were offered.  He went on to explain that the reason this method had been chosen was “It’s more democratic.”

I explained that I had a leadership position with the project (Co-Chair of the Hayden Island Plan Steering Committee, member of the Community & Environmental Justice Group) and he said that wouldn’t matter, that a decision had been made.   Several other persons were told this as well, all the way up to just before the meeting.

I called Mayor Adams and left a message for him, informing him of this issue, and also made a statement to the Channel 6.

When  the room opened up, the I heard CRC staff try to tell Channel 6 that they were not allowed to bring their cameras into the room.  I confirmed this with the cameraman on our way in, the news teams just ignored this “request” by CRC staff and went in to film anyway.

In addition, Sharon Nasset made an announcement in the room just before the meeting started, that our public testimony was being picked at random by the project

Because of the pressure exerted by all of us, and the presence of the media, the process was changed, and everyone got one minute to testify.  A staff person came to me and asked me to fill out a second slip, apparently the first one I filled out could not be found.

My name was called a second time at the very end of the testimony, but I had already spoken.  Ms. Nagle and Alcantar, the first two people to arrive, were among the last five to speak.

I share all of this because of the blatant attempt to manipulate public comment, circumvent democratic processes, and exclude the press from the meeting.  This is one more example of how CRC continues to circumvent democratic public processes in order to push through their agenda.

In the face of this, they wonder why increasing numbers of people have lost trust in the project, and are so angry about the process.

I hope that an investigation can be done to find out who at CRC ordered this protocol for the meeting, and that person can be censured in an appropriate manner, including prosecution of any laws that were broken. I am not a lawyer, but this could be considered “Conspiracy to obstruct Justice” or some other violation of public meeting laws.  Whoever ordered staff to do this needs to be held accountable, even if is just some time off without pay.

I am calling on our elected leaders to not just let this sweep under the rug, and let it go.  No matter what one’s position on the CRC, the decisions should not be made in an illegal manner, or one that specifically attempts to exclude public concern and testimony.

Regards,  Ed Garren, MA, LMFT

Candidate for Portland City Commission, seat #3

www.EdForPDX.com

503-922-0338

If only we could pass on wisdom as effectively as we pass on pathology.

The biggest challenge for a person or a society is to move from where we are,

to where we have never been.

ed@edgarren.us

www.edgarren.us

If only we could pass on wisdom as effectively as we pass on pathology.

The biggest challenge for a person or a society is to move from where we are,

to w

ed@edgarren.us

www.edgarren.us

If only we could pass on wisdom as effectively as we pass on pathology.

The biggest challenge for a person or a society is to move from where we are,

to where we have never been.

ed@edgarren.us

www.edgarren.us

If only we could pass on wisdom as effectively as we pass on pathology.

The biggest challenge for a person or a society is to move from where we are,

to where we have never been.

ed@edgarren.us

www.edgarren.us

Posted in the Oregonian on 12/02/2009 by edgarren

December 02, 2009, 9:18AM in response to the article:

“Portland police commissioner explains turnabout on cop who fired beanbag round”

Link Below:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/12/portland_police_commissioner_e.html 

I worked with Law Enforcement agencies and have family members and friends who work in Law Enforcement, so while I am empathetic to how difficult and stressful the job is, how this all played out is unacceptable.

Turn the situation around, imagine a “suspect” who was acquitted of manslaughter, now involved in an assault case. “Where there is smoke, there is fire” is the usual comment. The police union is embarrassing itself, protecting someone who has been involved in two excessive force incidents.

Does anyone in the union realize that when the plaintiffs familes file lawsuits against the city and win that all of us pay for it, including them? Do they also realize that by strong arming the situation, they just further alienate citizens who feel “no confidence” with their ability to self regulate one of their own who has twice been involved in situations perceived to be excessive force, one of which related to someone’s death?

The initial decision to remove badge and firearm was reasonable and appropriate. This is the second questionable situation for the officer. That reality seems to be lost to the police union, and to Mr. Saltzman.

I also think the negotiations should have occurred BEFORE the initial decision was made. The public hates to see this sort of “flip/flop” and it does not bode well for the person doing it.

As for “de-escalation”, if a “no confidence” vote had been made, nothing would have happened afterward. There was no runaway train, the police department would not have evaporated. A disagreement would have been declared (which both sides are entitled to do) and life would have gone on the same for everyone, except that members of communities traditionally at odds with law enforcement would have felt some vindication, that finally someone was listening to them.

Our obsession with “let’s all just get along” and avoiding conflict at all costs is not serving us well with regard to law enforcement issues in the city. Sooner or later the buck stops somewhere, and I thought that is what we elect management to do, take the heat that goes along with doing the right thing, not the expedient thing.

Regards, Ed Garren
Candidate for PDX City Commission, seat #3

www.EdForPDX.com