The justification for rape

It’s funny, we often hear how women provoke rape because of their attire and behavior.  I find this ludicrous.  That’s no different than a bank robber defending their actions by saying the presence of the money in the bank  caused them to have the uncontrollable urge to get a gun and rob it.  It literally is NO DIFFERENT!

I hear it more and more, how women are provoking these attacks.  Maybe it is time to reconsider.

If men are so unable to control their behavior, perhaps it’s not the women’s attire, but rather that men themselves are incapable of self control.  Of course, by making this sweeping decision, we’d have to make a lot of other changes too.

Someone who can’t restrain themselves from forcing sex with someone obviously shouldn’t be able to vote.  They might see a woman at the polls, because at least in most of the polling places I have been, half or more of the workers are female.  Some of the candidates on the list  might also be female, and their uncontrollable thought patterns might be inspired by the sight of a feminine name.  So, no more men voting.

Then, we have men in political office.  Any one of them might have uncontrollable urges at some point.  They obviously are not competent to hold public office, since sex is their strongest instinct.   We may even have proof to further this point of view with so many male politicians caught up in various sex scandals, with women, other men, and with children too.  Joined with the whole issue of men not being able to restrain themselves if an attractive woman in attractive clothing should come into view.  Then again,  not all victims of rape are attractive women.  Sometimes, they are elderly women, disabled women, disfigured women, handicapped women, or just plain average women.  It might not be the clothing either.  Even nuns wearing habits have been raped.  I’d not call that garb exactly “provacative” in any sense of the word!

Of course, soldiers have historically had a reputation for raping and pillaging, dating way back to biblical times.  We would have to immediately dismiss all males from the various branches of the military too.  Obviously, we cannot expect them to work with women, see women, defend women, or fight women.  Even other men might not be too safe, if all of the old lewd jokes about sailors is true.

Men would not be allowed to roam the streets freely either.   After all, it is a proven fact that most rapes are committed by men who were not restrained.  So, all men would have to be confined behind fences and walls, or shackled for excursions into public areas where women and children might frequent.  That situation will also cause a great deal of problems, because now we’ll have a large number of dependent men who must be guarded and confined, no longer allowed to contribute to society in general except within the confines of their secured homes and the prisons that we’ll undoubtedly need to house the immense number of men who are unclaimed by a responsible female.

Of course, the issue of at what age a boy would no longer be allowed in the company of respectable women due to his increasing risk of uncontrolled urges to rape.  Most boys would probably be deemed “safe” until they neared puberty and started exhibiting signs of their uncontrolled natures.

Just think of all the freedom women would enjoy if they were released from the tyranny of these men with their uncontrollable urges!  What contributions to society women would be able to make if they were free to work, study, and socialize without the fear of this behavior!

Come to think of it, we’d probably do away with wars too, other than as a way for these violent and uncontrolled males to vent some of their aggression in non-raping activities.  With the men confined, the wars would cause far less damage to our planet and our society too, as they would have to war within their own compound area, rather than over entire countries.

While this may seem utterly ridiculous as a response to rape, so are the rapes themselves.  Rapes are a violent assault on a person, and they are also a theft of the vilest sort, as everything the victim has believed in has been shattered permanently.  No rape victim ever goes back to being “normal” again.  They will always have that scar across their psyche, permanently and viciously implanted by the callous act of another.  To let the perpetrators of this crime pour more salt onto the wound by blaming the victim is ridiculous, even if the woman was walking stark  naked down the street, any man should be able to respect her rights as a person to determine her own actions without coercion, regardless of whether there was a law or not.  Rape of men is also the same, they too bear the scars of the crime, and it will affect the rest of their lives just as it does a woman’s life.

I don’t care how many ridiculously and deliberately obtuse politicians stand up at the podium and claim that women don’t get pregnant during rape.  Ask a doctor, it CAN happen.  STDs can also be transmitted, and we all know that some of them are dreadful diseases to try and live with.  That’s just the physical results of the rape, if there is no damage done physically beyond the rape itself.  Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.  Sometimes, the victim is also damaged physically, leaving them in pain, needing reconstructive surgery, and/or permanently disfigured from the assault.  Rape isn’t a joke.  It is a violent act.  It cannot be condoned.  It cannot be ignored or swept under the rug.  The victims should not be put on trial, and I don’t care if they just finished making a porn flick and were wearing the most provocative club clothing ever seen on the streets of the town.  It cannot be justified.

So guys, you can’t have it both ways.  You are either fully capable of being rational and exercising control, or you aren’t, and if you aren’t, you should NOT be put in a position to control anything.  If I can’t trust you with my daughter, how could I possibly trust you with my government, my money, my anything?

Stupidity of Daylight Savings time and election mania?

I’ve ranted about it before, and I will rant about it again today…and twice a year for as long as the idiocy continues.  Daylight savings time is an idiotic concept, dreamed up and perpetuated by ridiculous propaganda that far too many people buy into.  If it saves so much energy…why don’t we just STAY on that time?  What do people really think they are saving?

But speaking about ridiculous propaganda, have  you paid much attention to the stuff circulating on the social media sites as people wave the figurative flag of their favored candidate?

It’s made me realize, with a two party system, we really are given a choice.

Between a rock and a hard place.

That’s about all the difference I really see between the parties.  The parties and their candidates are so far out of touch with what life is like for Average Joe and Average Jane that we may as well elect Brad Pitt for president.

Heck, he might even do a better job.  If not, well, at least he’d make interesting photo ops, right?

Neither party represents what we’ll call the “working man” of American society.  They don’t have a clue what our lives are like.

Like Mitt Romney’s wife, featured in an article about how she went shopping at Sam’s Club.  She was immensely proud of her ability to feed a large gathering of family for only $4.50 per person for the meal.  I don’t think she’d be too happy with my food budget, capped at $5 per person per day.  Some months, if there are extra bills to pay, well…the food budget gives up a portion of it’s funding to cover the deficit.  She’d even be more horrified to discover that if I’m serving guests, it comes out of the monthly budget, not an extra slush fund.  So does holiday cooking, as a matter of fact.  While the Romneys might not be concerned at the reports of higher prices for serving up the traditional turkey dinner later this month, for the rest of us, that IS a concern.  We can’t spend what we’re not earning, and there are still not enough jobs to get everyone back to work that has been looking for work since this recession started.  It’s unfortunate that with each passing year, we’ve seen more jobs going overseas too.

For those of us struggling to make ends meet, to pay our bills, and to just get by, while family members are unemployed or underemployed…having to deal with an English-is-a-second-language customer service rep in some foreign country is really a slap in the face.  It’s another reminder of how many jobs we’ve lost to countries with lower standards of living and more relaxed workplace laws.

In the stores, it’s hard to buy American made goods.  It’s harder yet to buy from companies that have American based customer service.  I don’t think it’s an unrealistic expectation that if I buy an item or service with American money while I am in the United States, that customer service will be provided in the United States as well.

Then, there is health care.  I’ll admit, I am not thrilled with the Obamacare package, but…I wasn’t thrilled with nothing either.  Do I think that it’s the best that our government could come up with?  No…and it shouldn’t be so long that nobody can possibly read it and understand what it says either.  That’s the problem with these bills–they are excessively complicated and too often contain unrelated stuff.  Each bill should be one thing, written in a manner that any average person can understand it, but they aren’t.  Washington has become a place of bureaucrats worried about perpetuating their own existence, whether elected or appointed or hired.

The part that I think stinks is the idea that people are to be forced to buy health insurance.  Seriously, I don’t know anyone who can afford health insurance and opts to just not buy it for some reason.  I’ve priced it, long before Obama was ever heard of, and there was no way I could afford it, even just major medical was about 30% of my monthly take home pay, and there wasn’t any way I could give up that much of my monthly income and survive.  Utilities, rent, and automobile insurance already took care of about 80% of my net pay!  That left very little for luxuries such as food, gasoline, clothing, medical expenses, and assorted sundries.  Taking a second job wasn’t an option, really–my job required extensive overtime already, and while I was paid for it…that extra overtime is what was used for those “luxuries” I bought.

So I read the things that the candidates say, I read the things that their opponents say about them.  I read the things their supporters say about them.  I read the “fact checker” articles.

I’ve concluded that I was right.  We do have a choice between a rock and a hard place.  It then comes down to specific issues that are…or are not…supported by the two parties.

What concerns me?

1. Women’s rights, including reproductive rights.  I’m pro-choice, and before anyone gets their underwear in a wad over that…let me clarify that statement.  I am pro-choice, not pro-abortion.  There is a very clear difference.  While I don’t think that abortion is the right choice for me, in any circumstances that I have actually faced, I also don’t think that it is the government’s job to make that decision for me…or any other woman.   I don’t think my boss should be able to decide if my insurance is going to cover birth control either.  There are many reasons and many circumstances for a woman’s choice, and few women are going to choose to use abortion as birth control if they have any conscience or concept of right and wrong.  If they don’t have those things, well, do we really want her reproducing anyhow?  Morality cannot be legislated, and there should not be an attempt to do so.  Laws are to protect society as a whole, and allow individuals to not have their personal rights infringed upon by others.  While that includes freedom of religion, it does not give anyone the right to impose their religious standards and expectations on others.  Period.
2. Right to bear arms.  Okay, these mass murders we’ve had at schools and theaters have been horrific and shouldn’t have happened.  Yes, I know many other civilized countries have banned weapons of all kinds.  That doesn’t mean I support weapons being banned in this country.  Regulated and restricted perhaps, but not banned.  Assault rifles aren’t needed for hunting or self-protection.  Automatic rifles and handguns aren’t either.  Armor penetrating ammunition and weapons are also not particularly appealing to think of my neighbor having and using for target practice.  I think we need to address the underlying causes of these incredible acts of violence more than act on restricting gun ownership excessively.  Do we ban bathtubs for the accidents they cause?  Have pools been banned due to the high numbers of children that have drowned in them?  Do we still allow downhill skiing after people die in skiing accidents?  How about cars and car accidents and their fatalities?
3. Same sex marriage.  I’m not gay, and I never was.  I’m not even bi-sexual.  I am in a traditional marriage, even if our wedding was far from traditional.  My parents weren’t gay, neither is my daughter.  That doesn’t mean that I can’t support the concept of equality among all Americans.  While I don’t deny that states can allow or forbid same sex marriage according to their citizens’ wishes, I don’t think that the federal government should be able to override those states’ rights to choose either.  Currently, federal law does not allow federal employees in a legal same sex marriage to enjoy the same benefits for their spouses that someone in a so-called traditional marriage enjoys.  I think this is wrong.  I have little hope of Mississippi, my current home state, is going to legalize same sex marriages anytime soon.  It’s got far too high of a percentage of ultra conservative citizens for that to happen.  But, if it was allowed…I don’t think the federal government should deny benefits to those people’s spouses because they don’t agree with it.
4. Education.  It wasn’t working, so they tried “No Child Left Behind.”  That’s working about as well as new math did.  It’s absolutely not working, instead of educating kids and preparing them for the real world, whether that includes college or a job, kids are spending the year prepping for their standardized test.  Something else needs to be done, and this ineffective method of measuring both school and teacher performance needs replaced with something a bit more effective.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you went to a fast food restaurant, local store, or other location with staff that needs nothing beyond high school to get a job…and they actually could SPEAK American Standard English?  How many high school students can actually write down a coherent telephone message that anyone could read and understand, let alone write an essay for a college class?
5. Jobs/Industry.  Face it.  We lack an industrial base and we’re importing too many goods.  We need jobs, we have willing workers.  We need to figure out how to get people back to work, back to creating the things that made America into what it was.  We need factories running, producing goods that are high quality and reliable.  We’ve all had enough of cheap, shoddy, imported garbage.
6. National Transit System.  We rebuilt Europe’s trains after World War II, or so I’m told, but we can’t get trains to cover the USA in anything resembling efficient and cost effective.  It costs more to ride a train than it does to take a plane or even drive, and Amtrak is subsidized by the federal government.  Few cities have train stations where passengers and small freight can be economically transported to the next city, county, state, or anywhere.  In addition, the transit times when trains are used are utterly ridiculous.  We need efficient mass transportation beyond the urban bus and subway systems.  We need it both within states and to other cities and states, providing efficient and low cost transportation coast to coast.  Putting such a rail system into place would employ thousands of people, from creating the infrastructure to service jobs when it is up and running.  It would appeal to foreign tourists as well, especially since most industrialized countries have train systems already.
7. Legalization of hemp & medical marijuana.  Hemp is a good crop, and it’s good for a lot of applications.  It can be used for making rope, paper, and clothing, as well as a host of other things.  It’s a good fiber, and more durable than cotton.  Medical marijuana is a good product too, when properly used.  Even recreational marijuana is less of a problem with the users than those people using alcohol.  Taxed and regulated, it would remove marijuana from the hands of drug cartels, reducing their income and clout not only in the United States, but in the countries where their supplies of marijuana are grown and prepared for smuggling into the United States.  The tax revenue would enhance the American budget, maybe even bringing the annual deficit down a notch, especially if recreational use was legalized.
8. Energy.  We’re going to have to bite the bullet and come up with alternative energy plans.  We’ve seen the disasters nuclear reactors can deliver.  We’re seeing the disaster of the oil industry, each and every day.  We need inexpensive and efficient energy to recreate a strong economy.  We don’t have it, therefore, we need to figure out how to get it.  If we got a man to the moon, not once, but several times, and did it with computers that had less power than the old Nintendo 64…surely we can figure this problem out.  Quit subsidizing the oil industry and let them struggle on their own, they’ve been milking America too long.  Devote attention to alternative energy that is less costly, both to the consumer and the environment, and put America at the forefront again.
9. Taxes.  Corporations.  Okay, taxes are something nobody wants to pay.  We’re all a bit tired of corporate entities making huge profits while paying little in terms of taxes, and then adding to the insult by outsourcing portions of their business to foreign countries.  We’re sick of them lobbying Congress for favoritism.  We’re tired of paying the bill, you might say.  It’s time to start taking a good hard look at how corporations are affecting the way we elect politicians, and how they affect the bills that go through Congress to become laws.  It’s a form of corruption, folks.  Plain and simple.  These corporations are doing nothing more than paying politicians for favors, no matter how it is sugar coated.
10. Foreign aid.  I really do not understand why we are borrowing money only to give it away to other countries.  That makes no sense to me.  If I am unable to pay my bills without borrowing money, it would be foolish to give my money to other people after I borrowed it.  Why is the federal government continuing to do something that any of us would look askance at a private individual doing?  I think it’s time that foreign aid is cut back, if not eliminated, and there should be more accountability as to why we’re giving it to anyone.

There are a lot more issues too, more than I could possibly put in here, but those are the top ten ones.  Neither party is very concerned about all of them.  None of the candidates are either.  So who do I vote for?

I’ll cast a vote in less than forty eight hours now.

I have no idea who I’m going to vote for right now.  Just when I think one candidate or another has trumped finally, they show signs of obviously reneging.  I was never a fan of Obama, so I have to admit that he has done better than I thought he would.  At the same time, the Romney/Ryan ticket isn’t exactly thrilling either.  I’m not a Romney fan, and the idea of something happening that would catapult Ryan into the Oval Office makes me gag.  Biden’s not a rocket scientist either though, and I actually had someone crack a joke about Biden being Obama’s “insurance policy” so that no one would assassinate him–they were afraid that Biden would then become president.

Once again, it seems that I’m faced with a choice of who I am going to vote against rather than who I am going to go vote for.  Which candidate has the most potential to cause harm?  Are we better off with the devil we know…or a new devil?

Oh will I be glad when Tuesday is over.  I’ll have my mind back, as well as cease to see the endless parade of pro-this candidate or anti-that candidate on my Facebook wall!

Terrorism and me

I’m concerned about a lot of things, especially anything that either smacks of anarchy or of the impingement of our rights as American citizens.  I’ve always felt very fortunate to have been born in America.  I like my country, but I don’t like some things I see happening.

For the very first time in my life, I have heard the words “civil war” in terms of what is potentially ahead in this country.

What does that mean?

That means there are a lot of people who think that civil war is potentially a very real event in the coming years.

Why would I care about that?

Because I live here, and in a civil war situation, each and every one of us would be affected, either by actual armed combat occurring in our own communities, but by the complete disruption of the national economy, shipping of supplies, etc.  In other words, it’s going to seriously impinge on our ability to live a “normal” life in any sense of the word.  In addition to that, every man and woman would be involved in the combat, leaving only the disabled, elderly, and very young to “hold down the home fort.”

Can we say starving, children?

How about freezing to death in winter?

Fuel for the car? Not likely.

Even more concerning immediately is issues that can potentially shift the scales even faster towards the anarchy of civil war, such as the idea that any American citizen, without due process of law, could be detained indefinitely by the military without recourse.  This is a civilian nightmare, and looking at it, it is almost as though the current Congress is preparing this nation to crush the idea of freedom and push everyone towards falling into line with whatever orders the government issues.

I’m an independent soul, and that’s just not right.  It’s seriously not right, and to take a line from a Willie Nelson song, “that shit ain’t right.”

We need all three branches of our government to remain separated and intact.  The military is not a branch of our government–it is merely an enforcing arm, and its actual intention is not to be used against law abiding citizens, but rather against foreign insurgents.

America is losing faith in our federal government.  Most people are now somewhat fearful of it–especially as the news of these long lists of organizations that have been designated as “terrorists” are growing ever longer.  Some of the groups on the list?  Local militias, Oath Keepers, Tea Party…and the Occupy Movement.  Basically, anybody who has voiced an opinion that does not agree with the federal government is now a “terrorist” organization.

Add in those who advocate for gun rights, those who advocate for emergency preparedness, those who keep food stored on hand, survivalists, homesteaders, home schoolers, environmentalists, alternative energy advocates…the list just goes on and on.  Basically, 99% of our nation is not only in the same economic groups as the Occupy Movement’s, but we’re all also on the “terrorist” list.

I don’t know if those who claim that massive concentration camps have been erected and staffed with a skeleton staff are right or not.  The idea that they might be right even 10% of the time with the number of locations that have been identified as such is bone chilling.  Why would our government think of sending large numbers of people, including families with children, to these “camps” that are really nothing more than large prisons?  They have never shown any signs of making anything resembling a sincere effort at rounding up illegal foreign nationals, and if they did…they should be deported, not housed long term in massive camps, so the only other possibility is that it is intended for American citizens.

Who would they round up first?  Which group would they target?  Would they really try to round up every member of every group identified as a “terrorist” group?

I’m not a terrorist.  I don’t like violence, and don’t regard it as a real viable solution.  I would never either advocate or support any bombing or anything else that damaged property or caused death or injury to others.  I’m a mother and grandmother, and I always remember that everyone is someone’s child and grandchild.  I believe in using the system to cause change, and our forefathers put a system into place to do just that.  Through apathy and at the hands of misinformation, we have allowed ourselves to lose many rights and have the federal government monitoring and dictating more facets of our lives than ever before.  It’s time for citizens to stand up and demand action from the politicians that are supposed to represent us.

I don’t advocate anarchy–it’s my worst nightmare.  I like having a “normal” life.  I like the security of going to buy gas, food, or anything else any day of the week, without worries about supplies being available.  I like electricity, sewer systems, water, cable, internet, telephone…and all of the other conveniences that are a result of a stable infrastructure that would be disrupted by anarchy.  Anarchy is the inevitable result of a civil war.  I strongly support solving problems before somebody gets trigger happy and angry, and we have bitten off something that will tear this country, families, and our entire world apart.

But never forget, I do believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  I am especially passionate about free speech, the right to peacefully assemble, and the right to bear arms.  I have tried to do the right thing my entire life, even when it wasn’t so easy to do it.  I’ve paid the price over and over again, because doing the right thing is not financially lucrative.  It would be so much easier to fudge on my own code of conduct, but I haven’t.

Am I perfect? Obviously not.  Am I a law abiding citizen?  I try very hard to stay within the letter of the law, and more importantly, within the spirit of the law.

Do I agree with all of them? No.  Some of them I think are actually wrong, but until we can get them changed, we’re stuck living within that rule.  These laws, and the citizens abiding by them, is what makes us manage to be “civilized”.  The laws are a code of conduct, a guideline to ensure that everyone is allowed to live their lives without having excessive interference from others, be they a neighbor or the federal government.

I think those days are done.  If we don’t stand up and demand the right to choose our own food, our own property rights, our own rights to live our lives in “the pursuit of happiness”, we’re not going to have them.

Very few of us are terrorists.  Very few of us would deliberately cause harm to anyone else.  Yes, there are some who would, and those people should be identified and monitored, but at the same time, how can any of us justify some federal agency deciding who is or isn’t dangerous?  The feds have failed us over  and over in this, we’ve seen it in Oklahoma City, New York, and countless other places.  We know they lie to us…for “national security” reasons, right?

I’ve paid attention to the Occupy Movement.  I haven’t shown up to an Occupy Movement demonstration, nor have I donated money.  I’m not in the position in which I can do either one.  But, I have “shared” information in public forums, I’ve made comments about them, and I’m undoubtedly perceived as at least a sympathizer.  They are right.  I do sympathize with their goals, I do see how they are being managed in terms of how they are being reported in the news.  I’ve seen the passage of misinformation and disinformation.  Am I certain that this is what this country needs? No.  I am concerned about a movement that has no leaders, no spokesmen or women, and lacks well defined goals that are publicly stated.  At the same time, I can understand the reasons for a leaderless movement.

I advocate for the right to bear arms, to be prepared, and to be pro-active in terms of working to get laws changed to meet the will of the people.  I believe in standing up for what we believe in.  I believe in fighting within the system.

I’m also appalled at the lack of concern from the federal government in terms of the Mexican drug gangs and their invasion of the United States.  I’m disgusted at the lack of enforcement in regards to illegal foreign nationals from the federal government.  I deplore a government that can’t stay within its budget while we’re still passing out aid to foreign countries.  I hate the lingering unemployment and lack of industry within the USA.

I’m a little uncertain about the idea that anyone would regard me, a liberal-conservative on even numbered days, and a conservative-liberal on odd numbered days, as a potential terrorist.  It’s laughable on one hand, but on the other, it’s horrifying.  What a waste of effort and attention…and how many others are like me, no more a threat to the federal government than falling leaves from a tree in fall.

But maybe that’s the key too.

ONE falling leaf isn’t a big deal.

Neither is a hundred.

But…if there are enough falling leaves, then they can actually block a road and choke a river.

Our basic civil rights

America, land of the free and the home of the brave, right?

These days we have to wonder.  More and more of our former freedoms have become nothing more than dust in the wind with the passage of time.  More and more of the details of our daily lives are managed, dictated, regulated, forbidden, demanded, or taxed by the federal government.

Each year, like some kind of paranoid mental patient, the federal government has been more and more concerned about protecting itself from the likes of us, the average citizen.  You know the sort…ones who just want to have a peaceful happy life, not the ones planning on taking over the world, causing murder and mayhem or even just a minor case of anarchy and government coup.  Only a small percentage of the population is any kind of a potential threat to national security, yet in order to maintain order and security, we all have to be punished?

That’s like putting kids in detention and adding homework to an entire school district’s students because one student put a stinkbomb in the boys’ restroom.  It makes no sense.

That’s exactly what S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act would do.  It goes overboard, and like almost every other bill that wanders through Congress, it has been amended and re-amended so many times that it gives a person a headache to try and figure out what negated what and what is still in.

I still don’t know why the American public doesn’t force Congress to consider bills as solitary issues rather than lump sum packages of unrelated items.  Do we really need to stick in a package about the oil industry, a section on educational spending, some department budget allocations, and foreign aid to some country we can’t even find on the globe with a bill focused on the Department of Defense?

We need to all start using our basic voting rights and start contacting our senators and representatives and demanding accountability from them in regards to following their constituents’ needs and desires when they vote, present bills, sponsor bills, or work in a committee.  That’s why they are in Washington–they aren’t there to line their own pockets, folks!

Start off by finding out WHO your representatives are.  Here’s a website that makes it easy too.  Find your state, and click on it.  It will show  you all of the representatives and senators for your state, along with their websites.  Most of them will have a home page and a web contact form.  Use it to contact them.  (Example: Mississippi has 2 Senators, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker.  Mississippi also has 4 representatives, Alan Nunnelee, Bennie Thompson, Gregg Harper, and Steven Palazzo.    By using my address, I can clearly see who represents ME in Washington D.C.–The two senators and Steven Palazzo.)

Be courteous.  Ranting and sounding like a crazed (or foul mouthed) lunatic will not do anything for your cause.  Remember, a fanatic never changes anyone’s mind.  If you get answers that indicate that the question/request was not clearly understood, or that the issue is not completely understood by your representative, you have a bigger job.  You’ll need to make them understand that their objections to seeing things your way are not applicable or are invalid.  Good luck with that, by the way!

Get your friends and relatives to do the same thing (writing to their representatives.)  Pay attention to responses you get…or don’t get. If your representative isn’t representing you, start looking for a candidate that will do that (or so he says, before he gets there anyhow.)  Vote the one who isn’t right out of office!

We once were a proud nation based on the concepts of liberty and freedom for all.  Let’s get involved, and keep the freedoms we have and make this country once again a great place to live, one we’re all proud of once again.  That requires every citizen to be pro-active, not complacent and apathetic.

1. Start working to stay informed.
2. Get in touch with those who represent your interests, at all levels of government from your local community to your county/parish, to your state and then to Washington D.C.  Tell them what you think, what you want, and what your concerns are.
3. Teach your kids to value their responsibilities and rights as a citizen of the country.
4. Vote…in each and every election, without excuses.  It’s important!
5. Support the candidates of  your choice, not just with campaign donations but with some of  your time too.
6. Be involved in the political process, whether its grass roots or bigger.  It might be petitions, it might be canvassing  your neighborhood.
7. Encourage others to get involved too.
8. Pay attention, it’s the cheapest bill you’ll ever pay!

Politics aren’t worth literally fighting about, but the political process is how we can fight for our rights and what is right.  It’s how we can go about changing unjust laws into just ones.  It’s about creating real change, not just flapping our lips about it.  Our forefathers put this process into place for us to use, and we need to learn to use it just like we learned to ride a bicycle.  We need to ensure that our children learn to use it too.  Our votes DO make a difference!

 

 

Women, girls, feminism, and happiness in America

Recently, a study was released indicating that women are less happy than before, and that there is a “happiness gap” between the genders.  People act surprised, and now wonder why.  (See the report here.)

Duh.

We really have some pretty dumb people both in the media and in universities, don’t we?  They really aren’t in touch with what it is to be an American woman.

While the lack of general happiness is universal among American women, the problems of being an American woman are also universal, although different facets play out in different ways throughout our lifetime.

It’s also about stereo types and trying to meet these impossible standards.

• All American women are beautiful.
• All American women are slender.
• All American women are independent.
• All American women are sexy.
• All American women are promiscuous.
• All American women are youthful/young.

These are obviously NOT true statements.  Seriously…where do we even get these ridiculous ideas?  Look at Betty White, Rosie O’Donnell, and the women in Walmart.  We aren’t those things, we are so much more, but we are forced to try and meet the standards or we’re just not right.  We diet, we do Botox, we head to the gym, we go to the doctor for answers, we hit the beauty shop, we buy clothes, we force smiles to our lips, we avoid the cameras, we are internally ashamed of our inability to be what everyone says we are…and we’re not happy.

Then we have children, and once again…we’re trying to be Super Mom.  We have to do all of the first set, plus we need to lose baby weight, dress well, have ourselves put together, be energetic, and have the perfect child too.  From the time our babies are born, they become an extension of our goals as Super Mom, an extension of our own egos.  We are also passing on our own insecurities and fears as we push them towards that goal of perfection on a scale of standards that few will ever measure up on.

• No child left behind.
• No fat kids.
• No misfit kids.
• Gotta be athletic/smart/academically gifted/musical/artistic/dramatic kids
• Make them Super Kids
• No ugly kids

Kids don’t come with owner’s manuals or make over kits.  They aren’t designed as miniature adults for beauty pageants and spelling bees.  They shouldn’t be on the stage wearing sexy costumes and singing suggestive songs either.  However, the days of mud pies, skinned knees, drinking from the hose, and climbing trees are long gone, and permitting that sort of activity is liable to result in a visit from the Child Protective Agency.

Now we’re trying to keep up with scouts, PTA, lessons, tutoring, scheduled play dates, and extracurricular studies.  We have to meet and greet other parents, and look the role of Super Mom with a smile.  We need the right address, the right car, the right schools, and the right kids, and we usually don’t have the ones we consider “right” which just leads to more dissatisfaction.

In the mass media, we’re continually bombarded with more reasons to run on the consumer treadmill to meet the standards that someone else is telling us is the ideal.  Buy, buy, buy…and if Johnny’s and Janie’s teacher doesn’t think they are wonderful, it’s a personal assault on our entire effort and self esteem.

It’s ridiculous, utterly lacks logic or common sense, and there is no way anyone can win.  We will never measure up.  Add in pressures to “measure up” in terms of career, academic achievement, sports, hobbies, religious goals…or anything else, and no wonder women aren’t happy.

We’ve allowed ourselves to be judged against a yardstick with the odds stacked not only against us, but against any real human ever measuring up.  Who do we really think we are?

It’s more than time to step back, take a really deep breath, and think about things in terms of reality.  I know I will never be twenty again, why on earth shouldn’t I revel in the fact that I’ve survived this world more than twice over twenty?  So what if I’ll never be a super model, I bet most super models can’t do a lot of other things that I can do.

I quit dyeing my hair about four years ago, after going through a phase of “reverse streaking” my hair to gradually blend the natural gray with the tinted hair.  It was necessary because of the fact that I also have long hair, which is also decidedly unfashionable.  I once had a beautician actually tell me that I had no style…

He can stick his style.  I have a style, it’s MY style.  I am not trying to look like Kim Kardashian or Lady Gaga or the girl that married that British prince.  I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the way they look either–I’m just me, and I look a whole lot better as me than if I stuff myself into ill fitting clothes and wear makeup I despise and waste hours of my time trying to make my hair mimic theirs.

There is nothing wrong with being me either.  Yeah, I’m not perfect, but I have never met a real person that really was perfect anyhow. Trying to be perfect is as impossible as trying to be a “normal” family–we’re all dysfunctional to one degree or another, depending on whose standards you are using at the time.

I’m quirky, I’m creative, I’m moody, and I’m a damned good friend.  I’m very happy and recently married my best friend.  I have three dogs and two cats, and I’m a mom and a grandma too.  I’m a lot of things even if I’m not perfect.  Most of all, guess what?

I’m happy.

Yeah, we have problems.  No, we don’t have a perfect life.  Heck, Greg isn’t even perfect, but he’s my perfect husband anyhow.  Perfection is boring, flaws are what makes us all so interesting.  They give us character and ensure we’re unique.

I don’t have to have perfection to be happy, and I don’t have to be perfect to be happy.  I don’t have to use somebody else’s yard stick to measure my life and determine my value either.  I do that with my own choices and actions, all by myself.  Not even my marriage determines whether or not I have value–I’m truly grateful that Greg is my husband, but I’d still be ME even if he wasn’t.

Sometimes I embarrass my daughter when I wear salmon pants and a purple shirt with white socks that show between the cropped pants’ bottom and the tops of my shoes.  Maybe I forget to comb my hair now and again.  Once in a while, even Greg puts his foot down and refuses to go to the store with me until I change into something presentable.  That’s okay, I can live with that too.  After all, the real thing is that I don’t see the clothes I’m wearing because I am on the inside of them and I’m really focused on things that are far more important to me.  Telling me to change is what daughters and husbands are for, I suppose.  I’ve been known to occasionally request a wardrobe change for Greg too, although it’s been a long time since I’ve told my daughter that she was not going out in THAT outfit.

I don’t even realize that what most people see is an aging, gray haired overweight woman who dresses weird.  To me, I’m still young and slim and strong and agile…until I go to move too fast!  I forget I’m old and fat and stiff now.  I look at my granddaughter and I’m mystified how my baby had a baby…especially one that is the spitting image of her mother.

Time is a strange thing, I’ve realized.  Even so, it’s no stranger than the ridiculous standards that American women have begun to hold up for themselves.

Get real.  You can’t be it all, do it all, and be happy too.  You have to pick and choose what is important to you.  You need to realize that you have value as a person, and it’s not dependent on meeting somebody else’s standards either.

Politics, liberalism, socialism, conservatives, and the Occupy Movement

I live in Mississippi, one of THE most conservative states in the Union.  It isn’t known for progressive ideas or having a fondness for change.  I didn’t live here during the previous election, and have no idea if they voted for President Obama or not.  It doesn’t even matter to me.  Sometimes, I have to roll my eyes, because as a Liberal Conservative or Conservative Liberal…I find some things woefully outdated here.  Like requiring Greg and I to have a syphilis blood test to get our marriage license–of all the things to test for in 2011, syphilis is actually the least of them.  Only one other state apparently requires this blood test.  I am not sure what they do if you turn out to HAVE syphilis, no one informed us of that when we were inquiring about the requirements.

There are a lot of things that I do not anticipate happening in Mississippi in the coming century.  Things like medical marijuana are about as likely as a herd of state supported flying pigs.  Part of me is very surprised about the states that have casinos–I honestly wonder how they got the necessary laws passed, since gambling is regarded as a social evil by most of the counties within the state.  I suspect that it was tax dollars that appeared in legislatures eyes and helped push the bill–those dollar signs can often trump moral righteousness.

So this morning, I leafed through the paper, which because of our proximity to Mobile, Alabama, also contains substantial Mobile news.  Inside, there was a political cartoon, often a good sign of which way the wind is blowing in terms of local public opinion.

Mobile is unlikely to have a viable Occupy Movement group get a grasp on the hearts and souls of its citizens, it seems.  I’d not put my money on that horse anyhow.  The cartoon I saw illustrated public opinion (or so we suspect.)  It showed a “future protester” and then the adult protester, indicating that a protester was a grown-up spoiled child demanding something that his betters had decided wasn’t necessary or even good for him.

I’ve heard a lot about the socialism of the Occupy Movement, but I don’t perceive it as socialist movement.  I perceive it as an anti-corruption movement at its core, for it is the corruption that has caused so many problems.  Politicians apparently don’t like being regarded as a pestilence upon democracy either, but they’ve done it to themselves…with the voters consent.

Jefferson got re-elected in Louisiana, while under indictment for accepting bribes, and the videos were apparently shown on national television repeatedly.  The voters did the re-electing, and Jefferson was convicted with the evidence against him, resulting in his seat needed to be filled.  At least you can’t represent your district while currently incarcerated, even in Louisiana.  That isn’t pointing the finger at Louisiana, either.  They aren’t the only state with corruption, even if everyone likes to think they are.  They likely aren’t even the worst about it, they are judged guilty because its often not a secret, whereas the other states like to bury their heads in the sand and deny its existence.  That’s all the fault of an apathetic voter population.  If you don’t get out and demand better, you sure won’t get it!

Politics always caters to the lowest common denominator.

We have let our government become a government stuffed to the gills with corruption, bureaucrats,  red tape, pompous and arrogant politicians, and corporate shills.  This is the result.  Don’t like it? Do something about it.  Like it this way? Do something to keep it this way, like almost nothing.

I’m a bit uncertain about the Occupy Movement, I’ll admit that.  I’m not physically up to coping with the rigors of being a demonstrator myself either, and the idea of being roughed up by police is extremely intimidating to me because of my physical issues.  How would I cope with that kind of abuse?  Is it reasonable to even contemplate such a thing?

Maybe I’m excessively empathetic to their situation and idealism, but once upon a time, I too was young and idealistic, and I would have been right there with everyone else, fighting for what I believed in.  Now…I realize that when you get smacked with a baton, bones and tissue can be seriously damaged and take months to heal.  I struggle with daily routines such as getting dressed and brushing my hair, how could I defend myself when confronted with angry and aggressive police officers?

Do I think that these demonstrators are the adult versions of spoiled children?  Not in most cases, but there can be some–they grow up and go SOMEWHERE, don’t they?  Spoiled children just usually don’t grow up to become empathetic adults with social woes on their minds.  They usually grow up to become adults without empathy for others and greed on their minds–the same ones that have fed this cycle of corruption and greed.

I do think there is a lot of idealism in the Occupy Movement, and while that can be a good thing, it can go horribly wrong too.  We saw the rise of many communes in the 60s and 70s.  They had great ideas, but the idealism didn’t always follow through–too many didn’t realize that EVERYONE has to contribute equally, or some get tired and disgruntled, and move on.  Communes were an extreme example of idealism, and the bigger they were, the harder they fell.  They didn’t work.  Utopia isn’t found in a commune.  People are often lazy and greedy at the same time, and they can shatter idealism to the core in a season of hard work.

We’ve tried a lot of things in America that turned out to be big mistakes, and we’ve had to work hard to rectify them when we made them, as a nation, as states, as communities, and as individuals.  We’ve built a big government, and we’re discovering that it was a big mistake now.  It’s gotten too big for its britches, and it spends more time thwarting individual rights than it does in protecting society from corporate predators.

Corporate predators…those massive entities that apparently have “rights” as individuals, yet lack responsibilities.    Our current woes include things like GMOs, oil spills, high energy prices, low wages, out-sourcing to foreign countries, importing cheap (and contaminated) goods, high priced medications, lack of health care, and unevenly distributed tax loads.  The list could go on and on, with everything from environmental destruction to even genocide.

We’ve let them get by with it.  Over and over.  What’s that old cliche?

Something along the lines of: Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

It’s our fault, and it is long past time to do something about it.

Is the Occupy Movement the beginning of “something about it“?

We’ll see.

What do you really need to survive?

Today, on Facebook, that social networking forum we all love to hate, especially when they update the format…one of my friends posted a comment asking people to list what they needed to survive and thrive.  Truly needed.  It made me think.

What do I need to survive and thrive?

There are the obvious needs for food, water, shelter, temperature control, cleanliness, and light.  But..we’re a complex thing, humanity, and we really need a bit more than the basics to actually thrive.  That’s the kicker.

We need a society of some sort.  The program I did tonight with Dr. Synthia Andrews, we briefly touched on the whole 2012 and the demonstrations and whole social agony we seem to be enduring right now…and what it means in the big picture.  Now our primary topic was energy, the energy that makes us tick…but there is also an energy field that is “us” as a whole, as humanity.

It’s obvious that we cannot continue as we have been.  It’s not working, we’re suffering through the growing pains as a world society that says it is not working.  We need to figure out why it’s not working, not as a few scattered individuals who will then “fix” it for us, but as a whole, as a world society.

Of course, I have my theory.  I’ve talked about it often in the past year on the radio program.  What is it?

Humanity is not unlike a child.  As a child grows, not all of it’s individual parts grow evenly.  We’ve all seen it, stages where the legs are too long, the ears too big, the nose too small, and the teeth too large.  We are the same intellectually too–kids tend to make leaps and bounds in their educational endeavors unevenly as well, advancing in one area beyond their years, while lagging behind in other areas.

Humanity and our society has been growing, just like a child.  We’ve been focused on our physical reality for the past two hundred or so years, learning about science and technology.  We’ve learned to manufacture goods at amazing rates, to fly to the moon and return, and to create computers that are amazing in their compact size and power.  We can communicate across the planet instantly.  We can fly, we can sail, we can drive, we can take the train.

But we have missed the boat in terms of our non-physical selves.  We’ve neglected that “spiritual” side, bandaged it with religions, and pursued the physical.  Now, we have reached a crisis point, we have got to spend more time and attention on the neglected facet of what a human is, what society is, and what humanity can be.  Without that deficit in our development being remedied, we’re doomed, we’ll be unable to make the changes we need in order for humanity to survive.  Once again, chaos will throw humanity back to the stone age for the process to start all over again.  Do we really need that kind of a slap-down lesson?

Many people believe we’ve made this journey before, time and time again.  There are theories about ancient civilizations and even “pre-civilizations” before them.  There are stories of Atlantis and Mu, theories of Egypt, the Inca, the Maya…

How many times have we stood at this cross roads of development, only to crash?

Is that what these aliens are coming here to watch?

It doesn’t matter if you “believe” in alien visitation, in Mu, in Atlantis…or the Seven Cities of Cibola.  It doesn’t matter if  you are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or worship the battered Coke bottle that fell from the sky.  It doesn’t matter if you barely finished junior high or have a PhD.  It doesn’t even matter if you barely eke out enough of a living to feed yourself hand to mouth or if you sit with a massive stack of gold bricks under your bed.

We’re still all humans, and like it or not, we’re all in this together.  We better learn to get along, we’re kind of running out of time.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the world is going to *end* on December 21, 2012.  I think I’ll celebrate Christmas and New Year then just the same as always.  But, our lives are going to change, whether President Obama is re-elected or Billy Bob Johnson is elected.  It doesn’t matter who sits in the Oval Office, really.  It doesn’t even matter which of the “den of thieves” is re-elected to Congress.  (By the way, they’ve long had that sort of nickname applied to both the Senate and House of Representatives, so don’t think we’re the first to be disgusted with the lot of them.)  Our lives are going to change, whether some terrorist blows up all of Washington D.C., whether we have universal health care, whether Social Security is abolished…or not.

It’s up to us to determine what comes next and who’s along for the ride too.  It’s not about genocide–it doesn’t work that way.  It’s about who can adapt to the world we’re all going to be living in…if we’re lucky.  It’s about figuring out new ways to cope with old problems.  It’s about changing the way we interact with our planet, with each other, and with society at large.

We’re not a bunch of small tribes running around with flint arrows anymore.  We better quit acting like we are.

So what do we really need to survive and thrive?

We need the freedom to choose where to live, what to eat, what kind of career path to follow.  We need to be able to get educations.  We need to have access to food, medical care, dental care, clean water, and energy.  We need to provide everyone the best opportunity to be a contributing part of that society too.  We need the freedom to express our spirituality without oppression.  We need the ability to express our feelings, our thoughts, our hopes, and our dreams without oppression too.

We don’t need anyone to tell us what to think, what to believe, and what is right or wrong.  We don’t need to worry about someone inflicting harm on us or our children.

We don’t need excesses, we need enough.

Enough security to be safe.  Enough food to be healthy.  Enough free time to express ourselves and experience life.  Enough work to provide for ourselves and our families.  Enough shelter, enough energy, enough education, enough time to express our creativity.  Enough freedom to excel where we can.  Enough community to prevent our failures from becoming life threatening.

What do we need to get rid of first?

Greed.  Pure and simple, it’s the greed that is killing the world’s society, one starving child at a time.  Greed for money, greed for power.

I guess it’s time for that 99% to start standing up and demanding a bigger slice of the pie.  I may have been disappointed in the lack of a list of objectives from the Occupy Movement, but that is the single unified message I’m hearing.  Greed is killing us all.  It has to stop.

Think about it.  What do you really need out of life?   What do your children need?  It’s not designer jeans and a new car while coming home to the McMansion either.

Muslim holiday with pay?

Recently, I received an email expressing outrage that Tyson Foods had approved exchanging Labor Day with a Muslim holiday for paid holidays at one plant in Tennessee.  It advocated a boycott of Tyson’s products to express displeasure.

I thought about it, and then I did my own research.  The article I found, from Fox News, is right here.

I’m not crazy about the whole Muslim thing, I regard it with suspicion because of the violence associated with it.  I’m not alone, many Americans do.  People are like that–we fear the unknown.  Even so, I have known some Muslims that weren’t budding terrorists and seemed quite normal.

I try to be open minded, to think things over before reacting.  So, I thought it over.  This whole Tyson Foods and Muslim holiday thing makes more sense then.

It isn’t throughout the Tyson Foods’ company, it’s one single plant with a high percentage of Muslim workers.  I seriously doubt that it is some insidious plan to take over America  by creating a “hot bed” of Muslim immigrants in Tennessee.  Immigrants have always clustered together for a generation or two.  They apparently feel better about having people with a similar culture and language and religion.  Would we think differently if it was all about Swedish immigrants and some Scandinavian holiday?  (Sorry, I don’t know of any, but I didn’t know about this Muslim holiday before either.)   Sorry to say, yes, America in general would feel differently.

The holiday swap was voted on by the members of the union that represented workers at that plant.   It achieved a definite majority vote too–over 80% voted it in.  That’s what unions are for–to help union workers at that location.  They got something the workers there wanted, something that validated their beliefs and culture.  That doesn’t mean they get the day off, by the way.  The plant doesn’t close for holidays, and the workers are there anyhow.  They just moved the day that the extra pay would appear on their paycheck.  It only affects union workers at that single plant.  Non-union workers still get the pay on the regular Labor Day holiday.

To me, the entire thing is a non-issue.  Part of the whole American experience is religious freedom.  That means that person A can’t cram religion X down person B’s throat and force them to observe it, nor can person B cram religion Y down person A’s throat.  It doesn’t matter what religion you put in the place of x or y either–you can’t have it both ways, folks!

It also illustrates the possibilities of collective bargaining.  We may not agree with everything, even if we’re part of that collective bargaining group, but we joined the union, right?  We knew it was a case of the majority vote from the outset.  In most states, we also have the choice of working as a union member or non-union member at any company too.  Collective bargaining might not be perfect, but essentially, it’s a democratic process.  The majority rules.  Unions have made things better for many workers in the past century, and while they have often been accused of being part of the problem in the past thirty years, they still do a lot for their members.  That’s why workers join!

How can we bitch about something that is done as part of the democracy we hold dear?  There’s a lot of things in Washington D.C. that happen that are a helluva lot worse than anything that happened at that one plant in Tennessee that are far more in violation of the concept of “majority rules” and “Christian morality” .  Spend your time worrying about that.

A very long time ago, in another lifetime (or so it sometimes seems) I was an employee of the State of Arizona.  During this time span, Arizona combined Washington’s Day and Lincoln’s Day into President’s Day and created Civil Rights Day/Martin Luther King Day.  State employees didn’t gain an extra day off or an extra day’s pay, they just changed the names a bit, swapped the holidays around a bit, and called it a day.  Some claimed it wasn’t enough to recognize Martin Luther King, and grumbled.  Others said it was disrespectful of Washington and Lincoln and grumbled.  In the end, it made no difference at all to most people.

It’s the same thing with Tyson Foods.  In the end, it makes no difference at all to most people.  Seriously, trading Labor Day, which has little meaning for “Labor” in today’s society, for a religious holiday that has meaning for only a portion of the workers a month or so later probably makes very little difference to most people working there.  They still have to work.  Maybe they like having the extra pay in October, closer to Christmas.  In the long run, wasn’t it their choice anyhow?

The Occupy Movement and You?

The Occupy Movement.  I’m not sure what the purpose of these demonstrations really is.  Nobody seems to say.  Mostly they seem born out of a sense of hopelessness and anger, of frustration and youth.  Not everyone is young though.  They seem to range from teens (anybody younger is just there because of Mom or Dad anyhow) to seniors.  I’m like many Americans.  I completely understand hopelessness, anger, frustration and even youth.  (I really wasn’t born with gray hair!)

I’ve been around the sun a few times though, and my days of blind optimism and hapless faith in the power of good are gone.  I know the good guy really doesn’t always win.  I also know that a few will always pay the price of the many in terms of standing up for what is right and just.  I’m a bit cynical, a lot cranky, and a whole lot of wanting specifics.  I really want to know what the Occupy Movement hopes to achieve.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think police brutality is right.  I don’t think the way things has been going is right.  I don’t like a lot of things that have been going on, and I may know a better way…but who’s going to listen to me on how to do anything?    I’m just not so sure that such a disorganized yet obviously spreading “movement” without objectives is really a good idea.

I like objectives.  They clarify things.  They make everyone understand what’s on the agenda, what our goals are, and what our target is.  How can you hope to achieve anything if you don’t even know what you want?

This Occupy Movement seems to be born out of chaos, and it carries chaos in its wake.  That’s the problem I’m seeing.  In chaos, there is no unity, and without unity, well, we’ve already been defeated.  Remember that old saying about “divide and conquer”?  It’s the opposite of “united we stand.”

If you want to believe in conspiracies, if you want to believe in that shadow government, this is exactly what they’d want.  A chaotic and disorganized uprising of the 99% will ultimately lead to complete disorder and the ultimate suppression of that same 99%.  Without unity and clear objectives, there is no possibility of success.

You think I’m wrong?

Start thinking here a minute.  Assume that shadow government is real.  Assume that the conspiracy theorists are right, and it really does exist, and it controls the money of the world, as well as the individual governments.  Along with those governments, it controls a lot of other things.  A lot of things that you may not think about very often.

Things like energy, which includes coal, natural gas, oil, electricity, etc.  That energy fuels everything, from your home to your car, your job, your hospitals…everything.  Shut down that fuel delivery system and guess what?  The world stops moving.  That means there are no food deliveries to cities.  No heat for your house (it is October, mind you).  There is no fuel for mass transit or your car.  The electricity stops coming too.  Telephones stop working, including those cell phones we all depend on.

What are you going to do then?  How long can people seriously keep on demonstrating, without concrete demands when they have no food, no water, no heat, and no transportation to even get there?  How long will they stay there when their families are cold, hungry and sick?

The first rule of street fighting is to not pick a fight you can’t win.

I don’t know how this movement can “win” anything, mostly because of the lack of clear objectives.  Some say they are demonstrating in favor of more socialism, others say they are seeking reform in banking and investment laws, others claim they just want jobs.  What do they all want?

I know what the people around me want.  They want jobs with decent pay that a family can actually live on.  They want the “American Dream” of a car and a house for every family to be an actual possibility, even if they are smaller houses built more efficiently than the McMansions of the 90′s and more efficient, inexpensive cars than the SUVs of the same era.  They want actual health care, not threats and promises that never happen.  They want decent schools for their kids to attend so that they can grow up to be productive, tax-paying citizens.  They want to be able to afford to drive to the beach once in a while for some R&R, or to have a vacation once in a while.

They aren’t asking for a lot, really.  Nobody seems to care what Average Joe and Average Jane want out of life these days.  Nobody seems to notice that sales of cheap bologna and hot dogs go up, while roasts and steak sales are down.  Nobody seems to notice that a lot of families are doing without a lot of things that they used to have.  A lot more families every year end up homeless, without the most basic part of the American Dream…a place to call home.

I’m not sure what the real “cure” is.  We need industry again, with jobs that provide basic income and benefits.  We need jobs.  Millions of jobs.  I’ve seen people who have real job qualifications and experience, who are willing to go anywhere to do that job…and they suddenly are in a position for months or even years, where there is no job for them.  The job isn’t one of those out dated jobs either, the job still exists…but suddenly, companies are shutting their doors or laying off, not hiring.  There is no building, no industry, and therefore no work.

Random chaos does not produce jobs.  Widespread social unrest doesn’t produce it either.  As much as I’m not in favor of big government, I have to say we’re in a position where the government is going to have to do something to produce a lot of jobs fast to save this country.  We have not been in this position since the Great Depression, and maybe we better look back to what worked then for solutions that are fast and sure now.  We already know that the bail out solution didn’t work.

The WPA did work, and it provided a lot of jobs for a lot of people in a very short time.  It started a cash flow that actually had impact nationwide, fueling entrepreneur’s ideas into full blown businesses that offered private sector jobs over the following months.  We could use a program like that now, as we move forward into our own future with less fuel and higher costs.

Why not put people to work building a passenger rail system that works?  Europe has one, one with affordable tickets too.  They even move across national borders, despite language barriers.  Surely we can duplicate a system here in the USA…we all speak the same language, right?  What would affordable train travel do for America besides put people to work assembling the system?

People could travel for work or pleasure, without spending a fortune.  Train travel is more efficient, fuel wise, than traveling by plane, bus, or private car.  Not only would there be service jobs created to feed, house, and entertain these passengers, there would be other jobs maintaining the railroad, the cars, and the engines.  There would be jobs selling tickets, jobs scheduling trains, jobs marketing train travel.  For the first time since the beginning of the highway system, foreign visitors could easily visit the USA and travel without having to master our laws regarding motor vehicles too.

Cargo can also be moved on the passenger trains, just like baggage, making economical shipments of goods from one location to another possible, and if done under the wings of the US Postal Service, would completely revitalize their services.  After all, they already are familiar with moving both packages and letters from one point to another.

There was talk a few years ago of expanding the high speed train system that services the more urbanized areas in the north eastern portion of the USA.  Skip the high speed…a lot of places would like just any speed!

Don’t point at Amtrak and say there’s our passenger system.  Amtrak is a joke.  It’s not only very expensive (usually about double the cost of air travel) but it’s incredibly slow.  As bad as our bus service is cross country, the train is worse.  If one person could drive from point a to point b in 3 days, Amtrak will take 5 days or longer to cover the same distance, often spending over 24 hours in a single location, during which the passengers on board may not have access to electricity, etc.  Train travel on Amtrak is not convenient, efficient, or cost effective, even with tickets being subsidized by the federal government.  There is not one single Amtrak station in the state of Mississippi.

Someone, I’m not sure who or what their source was, claimed that America rebuilt the European train system after the second World War.  If that statement is true, then our train system is truly a disgrace.  I remember, as a child, that car loads of grain and even livestock were shipped to distant markets by train.  When was the last time you saw a train carrying anything  like that?  Trains today are filled with cargo containers and tankers, car loads of new cars and trucks, and rarely even carry lumber.  Train transit for goods is only available to the truly large industries, not a small factory that needs to ship a few tons of goods per week.

So that’s my solution.  Provide transportation for businesses big and small, by moving passengers and small cargo on passenger trains.  Put a few passenger cars on some of the freight trains.  No dining cars?  Sell sack lunches at the train stations or better yet, let local businesses sell them at the train station for more variety and local flavor.  Put up space in train stations for local craftsmen and women to sell their goods too, while you are at it.  Encourage entrepreneurs instead of penalizing them with a magical, mystical list of requirements to get an overpriced permit.

I hope, out of the spreading Occupy Movement, we start to see some concrete goals, some type of leadership that speaks up and says, hey, we need to do this in a more collective manner.  It isn’t enough to just stand up and scream out of sheer frustration when you are older than three…you need to stand up and make a statement of what you need!

America needs jobs.  America needs hope.  America needs industry.  We don’t need more government agencies telling us how to do everything from raising our food to eating it.  We don’t need them telling us what to wear, where to live, how to dress, and what to think.  We need our freedom back, and we need it now.

Be real right at home

Be real.  What does that mean?  It means being really involved with your own life, your own neighborhood, and your own community.  It means getting up and DOING something.

We’ve all seen the “Occupy Wall Street” movement online.  Those are people getting up and doing something, but face it, not all of us can be there or be involved in that kind of way in any type of “movement”.  That doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference in the world we live in.  That doesn’t mean we can’t create our own movement, one that just might have more immediate effect on someone’s life than even these mass political movements have in the cities across the country.

It’s small, nobody is going to take your picture and publish it.  Nobody is even going to threaten you or arrest you over it.  You won’t get any political attention, you won’t get any legal attention, and you won’t even score points towards a Nobel Peace Prize.  You will however, make a difference, quickly and unobtrusively, to someone’s life.  It doesn’t require vast sums of money either.

Okay, so maybe it does take  a little bit of money once in a while.  Maybe it takes a bit of your time too.  It’s also true that you, personally, won’t see a pay off for your investment  immediately, and it might be a very long time before you do, if ever.  Those are all very true statements.

This is how you start being real.

Look around you.  Do you see a problem or a need somewhere in  your own neighborhood or community?  If you don’t, I can just about bet that you need to get out and about in your own community a bit more.  You  might not find it cruising around in your car or SUV.  You might have to get out and ride a bike or walk through your neighborhood and actually meet people.

These needs can be as simple as an elderly person who needs help to get their dumpster/trash can out to the curb for pickup.  Maybe they don’t drive anymore, and need a ride to the grocery store once in a while.  You go too, why not offer to take them along?  They’d likely enjoy the company, and you might be surprised at how much you start enjoying it too.

Maybe its a kid who would love to have that bicycle your own kids have outgrown and abandoned in the backyard.  Why not grease it up, get it ready, and give it to him or her?  Maybe their basketball is flat and just needs someone with a pump and needle to inflate it again.

Maybe its a homeless transient on a street corner looking for a hand out.  A lot of people are one paycheck from that state themselves, but a sandwich, a loaf of bread, or a cheap tarp on a rainy day might make a lot of difference to that man or woman.  Last year’s abandoned school bag in  your closet might make a much better way for them to carry their few belongings than a grocery store bag too.  Ask…they aren’t going to bite you!  ”What do you need today?” isn’t a hard question.

Maybe a family has just moved into the neighborhood, stop by and say hello…and see if there is something they need.  It might be something that you have in the garage waiting for a ride to the local charity anyhow!  Many families are struggling just to have a roof over their heads, and may lack furniture, dishes, pots & pans, and other basics that many of us take for granted.

Maybe its a young adult, struggling to stay afloat in a tough economy, and lacks a support system of family and friends.  Why not offer them some friendship, invite them over for dinner, get to know them and what is going on in their lives.  It’s tough to be on your own for the first time, and an amazing number of young adults don’t have anybody that even cares what happens to them, let alone offers anything in the shape of emotional support or even advice on how to handle tough situations.  You might make a huge difference in their lives, and that difference might be

Sometimes, you can make a difference in somebody’s life just by stopping and chatting for a few minutes.  Sometimes it’s an object you have or can get that might make a difference.  Sometimes, it’s a few dollars that makes the difference.  Sometimes, it’s a skill you have that is needed.  It might just be your brute strength that does the trick too!

Go do something.  Get involved.  On your own, as part of an organization or group, whatever you can do…don’t just send a contribution and go sit in front of your television or computer monitor.  Living and being real means more than just hitting “like” on Facebook, it’s more than clicking the “share” button…it’s being involved in a proactive way.

Our world will never get better if all we do is send a check and hit the like button.  We’re just part of the problem then.