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.   

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.

 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

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.

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

 News update:  Check out this story on the Muslim Prayer Room that was in the World Trade Center.

New York Times Article about Muslim Prayer Room in World Trade Center

For any of you who claim to be “Christian”, then you know that Jesus said we would be judged on our ability to forgive and love the people who have hurt us the most deeply.   He also said, it’s easy to be nice to the people who are nice to you, even the Gentiles do that.

So,  I hope you’ll read this letter, from a fellow Christian, about why neither of us want to live in a country that reacts to the most intolerant and hateful instincts in human nature, an America where our basic values of “fairness” and “equality under the law” can be erased by political whim and a group of so called “patriots” who use fear and loathing to further their Fascist political agenda.

And that’s what it is, a Fascist Political Agenda.

If you’re not sure about this, read the definition of “Fascism” here, then decide for yourself if it fits the current “Patriot” and “Tea Party” agenda:  “Fascism”

Ed Garren

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If That ‘Mosque’ ISN’T Built, This Is No Longer America

OpenMike 9/11/10Michael Moore’s daily blog

I am opposed to the building of the “mosque” two blocks from Ground Zero.

I want it built on Ground Zero.

Why? Because I believe in an America that protects those who are the victims of hate and prejudice. I believe in an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, wherever you want to worship. And I believe in an America that says to the world that we are a loving and generous people and if a bunch of murderers steal your religion from you and use it as their excuse to kill 3,000 souls, then I want to help you get your religion back. And I want to put it at the spot where it was stolen from you.

There’s been so much that’s been said about this manufactured controversy, I really don’t want to waste any time on this day of remembrance talking about it. But I hate bigotry and I hate liars, and so in case you missed any of the truth that’s been lost in this, let me point out a few facts:

1. I love the Burlington Coat Factory. I’ve gotten some great winter coats there at a very reasonable price. Muslims have been holding their daily prayers there since 2009. No one ever complained about that. This is not going to be a “mosque,” it’s going to be a community center. It will have the same prayer room in it that’s already there. But to even have to assure people that “it’s not going to be mosque” is so offensive, I now wish they would just build a 111-story mosque there. That would be better than the lame and disgusting way the developer has left Ground Zero an empty hole until recently. The remains of over 1,100 people still haven’t been found. That site is a sacred graveyard, and to be building another monument to commerce on it is a sacrilege. Why wasn’t the entire site turned into a memorial peace park? People died there, and many of their remains are still strewn about, all these years later.

2. Guess who has helped the Muslims organize their plans for this community center? The JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER of Manhattan! Their rabbi has been advising them since the beginning. It’s been a picture-perfect example of the kind of world we all want to live in. Peter Stuyvessant, New York’s “founder,” tried to expel the first Jews who arrived in Manhattan. Then the Dutch said, no, that’s a bit much. So then Stuyvessant said ok, you can stay, but you cannot build a synagogue anywhere in Manhattan. Do your stupid Friday night thing at home. The first Jewish temple was not allowed to be built until 1730. Then there was a revolution, and the founding fathers said this country has to be secular — no religious nuts or state religions. George Washington (inaugurated around the corner from Ground Zero) wanted to make a statement about this his very first year in office, and wrote this to American Jews:

“The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy — a policy worthy of imitation. …

“It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens …

“May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants — while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

3. The Imam in charge of this project is the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. Read about his past here.

4. Around five dozen Muslims died at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Hundreds of members of their families still grieve and suffer. The 19 killers did not care what religion anyone belonged to when they took those lives.

5. I’ve never read a sadder headline in the New York Times than the one on the front page this past Monday: “American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?” That should make all of us so ashamed that even a single one of our fellow citizens should ever have to worry about if they “belong” here.

6. There is a McDonald’s two blocks from Ground Zero. Trust me, McDonald’s has killed far more people than the terrorists.

7. During an economic depression or a time of war, fascists are extremely skilled at whipping up fear and hate and getting the working class to blame “the other” for their troubles. Lincoln’s enemies told poor Southern whites that he was “a Catholic.” FDR’s opponents said he was Jewish and called him “Jewsevelt.” One in five Americans now believe Obama is a Muslim and 41% of Republicans don’t believe he was born here.

8. Blaming a whole group for the actions of just one of that group is anti-American. Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Should Oklahoma City prohibit the building of a Catholic Church near the site of the former federal building that McVeigh blew up?

9. Let’s face it, all religions have their whackos. Catholics have O’Reilly, Gingrich, Hannity and Clarence Thomas (in fact all five conservatives who dominate the Supreme Court are Catholic). Protestants have Pat Robertson and too many to list here. The Mormons have Glenn Beck. Jews have Crazy Eddie. But we don’t judge whole religions on just the actions of their whackos. Unless they’re Methodists.

10. If I should ever, God forbid, perish in a terrorist incident, and you or some nutty group uses my death as your justification to attack or discriminate against anyone in my name, I will come back and haunt you worse than Linda Blair marrying Freddy Krueger and moving into your bedroom to spawn Chucky. John Lennon was right when he asked us to imagine a world with “nothing to kill or die for and no religion, too.” I heard Deepak Chopra this week say that “God gave humans the truth, and the devil came and he said, ‘Let’s give it a name and call it religion.’ ” But John Adams said it best when he wrote a sort of letter to the future (which he called “Posterity”): “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.” I’m guessing ol’ John Adams is up there repenting nonstop right now.

Friends, we all have a responsibility NOW to make sure that Muslim community center gets built. Once again, 70% of the country (the same number that initially supported the Iraq War) is on the wrong side and want the “mosque” moved. Enormous pressure has been put on the Imam to stop his project. We have to turn this thing around. Are we going to let the bullies and thugs win another one? Aren’t you fed up by now? When would be a good time to take our country back from the haters?

I say right now. Let’s each of us make a statement by donating to the building of this community center! It’s a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization and you can donate a dollar or ten dollars (or more) right now through a secure pay pal account by clicking here. I will personally match the first $10,000 raised (forward your PayPal receipt to webguy@michaelmoore.com). If each one of you reading this blog/email donated just a couple of dollars, that would give the center over $6 million, more than what Donald Trump has offered to buy the Imam out. C’mon everyone, let’s pitch in and help those who are being debased for simply wanting to do something good. We could all make a huge statement of love on this solemn day.

I lost a co-worker on 9/11. I write this today in his memory.

“The man who speaks of the enemy / Is the enemy himself.”

                                                                        – Bertolt Brecht

 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