My Holiday Wish - Letters to Senate!

I think we need a place, I think so many of us would love to have a place where all people can make their voices heard.  You know -- instead of a letter to SANTA -- a letter to SENATE with a cc to the Public at Large so that the Senators can have a better grip on what the public actually wants, as opposed to what they have been paid to grant their Corporate Sponsors.  I want A GIANT POST OFFICE where all the disgruntled people in the land can voice their TRUE AND SERIOUS GRIEVANCES; which should lead to a little "redress of wrongs", like it says in Article III of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.

Redress!

It's not as lame as it sounds (well it is; I'm just really angry).  I mean -- I am so sick of hearing  various political MORONS on either side of the aisle use the words "what the American People want"! I am sick to bloody death to it.   

Does anyone around still think these guys whose stated goal is to bring down the President --mostly old, white guys who find cell phones miraculous -- know or care what We the People want or so VERY desperately need? Not a chance, my dears, not a chance.  And I am so so very ANGRY.

I don't think most of us want to see these venal crooks playing craps with our lives as though their political well-being were more important than the health of the planet, true national security, education, poverty -- all the horrible ways our country has headed for skid row in the last decade -- we must reverse this!

Before anyone reminds me that all capital letters = shouting, yeah, well I certainly know that.  I am shouting, shouting SHOUTING, AND SHOUTING SOME MORE.  After enduring the shenanigans for the last two years I'M PISSED OFF POLITICALLY, literally just filled with political rage.

What I want and need at this my hour of capillary bursting outrage is an address.  Not just for my own perfectly fine California Congresswomen, I WANT A PLACE WHERE I CAN SCREAM AT THE SENATE,  those same, gallant 30 or so who are refusing to pass Legislation of real importance to the long-term well being of this wonderful country of ours.  Some weep about the beauty of their home states as they eviscerate the Appalachians and try to figure out every possible way of grinding and smashing the earth for what the sun gives so freely --aaaaargh.   

I am ashamed that the GOP stood and stands shamelessly united in opposition to LEGISLATION THAT COULD HAVE TRANSFORMED OUR COUNTRY POSITIVELY!! These folk value the wealthy above the poor, and they do not care that they are busily creating a Dickensian society filled with  more terribly poor people for them to sneer at.  The irony is that they created the sudden loss of wealth that has put the gob-smacked American people at risk financially, and they blame US for it -- too lazy to work, welfare is easier... 

I was well off for quite some time, for example.  I am now officially literally indigent. Not whining, but it's a weird ride -- had my kids, did my job, caught caught up in the real estate tsunami, got ripped off -- so with $437 social security watch me roll.

 

So -- where's the place where WE THE PEOPLE get to tell these people ruining our Government WHAT WE WANT??  I just do not know where to put my outrage -- or does it just not matter what we want, that we need and deserve basic goods and services?  Christ, at least DADT was repealed -- I have SOME hope!

Nobody can tell me those GOP Senators are not compromised in some huge way, and some of the Dems too, sure.  Some are not. But it's easy to see how Big Business really did rather well for itself, as usual. Medical companies pleased, Big Pharma seems to have struck an early deal, Banks doing great, and I am suddenly indigent, penniless, sans sous.

How in hell did that happen? Not even enough money for a Christmas tree, and certainly there will be no gifts this year. We'll all be together, and I shall have the pleasure of listening to the sweet tones of my blended family quarreling -- stress of relative poverty.

I WANT TO RAGE AGAINST THAT BROKEN MACHINE THAT AFFECTS OUR LIVES SO GREATLY BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE!!!! They isolate themselves, State by State, buffered from the rage of the body politic; and by god I hope some of you are starting to get angry!!

And if these majority-obstructing “law-makers” are quoting the American People it is time we set them straight.  These guys represent  just 1 flavor of the people, and it's vanilla ice milk that has been in the freezer some years.  Yum.

              If you are starting to feel a little populist rage,  START MAKING SOME NOISE!!  If I just knew WHERE TO WRITE THOSE LETTERS OF OUTRAGE I COULD DO IT ALL DAY.  IT'S GOT TO STOP-- what is happening to this country has to stop.div>

It's time for the women and men of good heart, mind and will to step in and push back against these guys , for you may not see it but on some really big level we are being sold out, and it is more obvious by the day.  Broken schools, government, highways, dreams -- where will it end?

DADT IS HISTORY!

Oh mercy --  just heard that ol' Joe Liebermann, Independent from CT, spearheaded the successful repudiation of the discriminatory DADT law that has forced Americans of different sexual orientations than the norm to hide within a culture that SAYS it values truth above all else.

First of all, Senator Liebermann, this does NOT get you off my own personal hooks for all the ways you have sabotaged progress the last few years -- but it sure does help.  Hat's off to you, sir.

I have been waiting for this day as proof that we as Americans had any grace, any goodness, any fairness left in our hearts for those who would fight and die for us, whether gay or straight or any combination thereof.  We're all so different, and this American society, despite what some think, is NOT a monotheistic, straight society of only heterosexual white people.

That would be the 1950's -- one of the most culturally boring times in recent history.  I was there, so you can't tell me it wasn't!!

This is a short post -- my overwhelming joy forced me to do it.  I am so happy for all these Margaret Witts and Dan Chois of the  military, these brilliant, superlative people whose chief desire is to be allowed back in.  Who the hell are those who prefer NOT to be our warrior class to stand in their way?


Glory Hallelujah -- we got it right this time.  I think.  And thanks, Connecticut Senator Liebermann -- you aren't the complete hound I thought you'd become.  Huzzah!!

Nancy Pelosi and Sexism in American Politics

Here's something I forgot to post a while back -- a few years back, I believe. I wish I'd done it then but I've made some alterations so that I can speak of my respect, admiration and affection for my particular Hero, Nancy Pelosi, as she prepares to leave center stage as the FIRST woman Speaker of the House of Representatives. I think we Democrats, caring as we always have for the weakest among us -- are the heart and soul of American politics. I offer this piece as tribute to Madame Speaker of the House -- Nancy Pelosi, one of the Greats in American politics.

It has been amazing to watch her in the last few years -- her graciousness, her command of her caucus -- the accolades of her fellows, who say that her kindness is unflagging and her spine is made of steel. I do not doubt that, as she has passed an astonishing quantity of GOOD Legislation in the House that has gone off to die in the Senatorial Graveyard of GOP obstructionism -- despite the welfare of the American people they claim so often to speak for.

She has been a target for these last few years, this good and brilliant woman, in such an ugly fashion that only the attacks on the President have been worse. She has been demonized for her looks, her clothes, her values -- yes, those San Francisco values of caring for your fellow men, and that has been what her term as Speaker has been about -- trying to accomplish the wishes of the President. She seems a much stronger figure to me than either the President or the Senate Leader, Harry Reid.

At the beginning of her term, the first lashings she received were when she stated that the CIA had misled Congress. For months she was the target of every Republican I can think of. I can still remember the phony, sanctimonious outrage of John Boehner! And then we learned that she was right. We find that the C.I.A. DID mislead Congress by order of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and President Bush signed off on it. Everybody, it seemed, lied to Congress.

Hello out there in GOP-Land -- Speaker Pelosi was correct, and I don't believe I've heard any apologies about that or any other smear you've painted her with. And in fact, when all this was happening, those who knew she spoke the truth let the lies stand as they continued to jump up and down, screeching and flinging their ideological scat on her.

These are the moments when I hate politics -- when people with ideas become ideologues, when those who know the truth remain silent in service to their particular political Party, no matter the cost to the rest of us and the Country as a whole. This country was NEVER meant to be built on a base of lies and corruption -- how far we have fallen.

American women have spoken often and for decades about the difficulty of overcoming sexism in our political theater. The barracuda-like feeding frenzy that occurred around Ms. Pelosi a few years back when she stated that the saintly brotherhood of the C.I.A. had misled Congress about torture, or "enhanced techniques" in Bush-speak is certainly a case in point. The sanctimonious outrage that flared up around the Speaker of the House was hot enough to light the kindling under the stake she had been tied to.

My god, what was that compared to what Dick Cheney has done while in office, and after, until his evil heart broke down and prevented further political interference, except through his wretched daughter? Where is the outrage against Cheney or Bush for bringing this country to the brink of ruin?

Where is the outrage against those who involved us in bank-breaking, heart-breaking, body-smashing endless wars because THEY WANTED TO??? For torturing in our name in order to get the information they wanted to justify a war they had already waged? For continuing to JUSTIFY torture to the point where a huge percentage of our population believe it's okay?

Somehow, in the confused, hostile logic of some Republicans, all the crimes of Bush-Co were as nothing compared to the possible perfidy of Pelosi. Such nonsense. And I do think the attack has been stronger because she's a woman. I'm throwing this out as a possibility though I didn't consider it at first -- and then I woke up and started noticing various attacks on political women.


There is a feeling that nobody is addressing the sexist aspect of the attacks. This has been deeply disturbing to anyone who can see that Nancy Pelosi is a relative angel in the middle of all these power-mad, corrupt men who aligned against her.  The attacks on "fancy Nancy' (Mike Huckabee) have to do with botox and her clothing, mainly, as there's not much else they can think of.

Here's another example -- think Hillary Clinton and her run for the Presidency -- every bloody anchorman in the States (including most of the MSNBC guys) laughed at her voice and freaking pantsuits. How people tried to trivialize that formidable woman! Even Sarah Palin must be mentioned, because she was brought down in a particularly savage fashion (errr -- thank god), although she continues to annoy!

To really regard the level of animosity directed at these women is to comprehend a virulent stream of particularly American sexism that is ignored because it is commonplace. But this was a spectacular witch-hunt, and I thought I might point it out.

Despite all the negativity, there have been of late a few montages of Madame Speaker pounding the gavel and beaming while everything her President asked for passed. She did her job, and she did it well. Too bad about the dinosaurs obstructing progress. Part of progress is letting the women in to clean up the mess you boys have made, and not burning them at the stake for it.

I have heard and read it said that she will be regarded as one of the most powerful Speakers in generations, and I believe that. Can this show us that power can be wielded with grace and gentility, and by a woman? I think so. Madame Speaker, I consider you a truly heroic figure, and I am so grateful for all you've accomplished. You have my complete admiration and utter thanks. Someday your dreams will be not only vindicated, but realized. You are, unfortunately for us all, far ahead of your time.