What Is Wrong With These People?

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/friday-truth-or-fiction/#comment-24954

I got a ton of hits referred from that blog today and went to check it out. This is fun. First, they cross post me, send a ton of people to my site and then spend quite a bit of time bashing me.

It gets better.

I go out there to defend myself right and put up a post. Then they turn around and bash me some more and throw a temper tantrum that I'm posting on their pro-Hillary website!

THEY INVITED ME WHEN THEY CROSS POSTED MY BLOG!

Now, I'm a troll for responding.

It gets even better!

I respond to the remarks bashing me and the host of the blog BLOCKS MY POSTS!!!! Not only that, they took down my original post! You can tell it was there because there are responses to Renee and I'm the only Renee who posted in the comments, but none of my original comments are there...

They did however leave the original post they put up with the link back here, so just so you know readers of that site, it's monitored for one sided opinions only. I'm not entirely sure it's not a GOP front site... trolling for internet trouble on the web LOL!

They are apparently afraid of the truth and content to hide behind their delusions... I'm now asking my readers to go to this site and post requests for the blogger in charge to release my comments. They were quite insightful and I find it incredibly hysterical that they are so afraid of what I have to say that they won't even let it post...

Cowards....

Sick, Wrong... The Kind of Stuff I Imagine God Sends You to Hell For...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200805210001

I really have nothing more to say on this except here's the list of WTJM bigwigs for you to call/email and ask that this show be removed from the air in Milwaukee...

He may have the right to free speech to say this kind of stuff and I would defend his right to say it without government interferrence. That does NOT mean the public doesn't have a responsibility to act and remove this type of behaviour from the public airwaves.

Call the station. Call the advertisers. The market can decide this effectively on it's own.

Republicans are really sick sick people. The irony that they call themselves "Christians" is beyond my comprehension...

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Squandering Every Bit of Respect...

I just wanna cry for Hillary right now... I know she really wants to be president. In addition, if not that, some really cool other job. VP, SCOTUS, AG... She really could have had anything she wants at this point and I think every American would be excited about it.

But some misplaced sense of desperation has driven her to the brink. The comments about RFK today came from pure desperation. They came from some psyche that will not let her give up no matter what it takes and they came from some sense of entitlement that's been rejected by the Democrats of America without regard for a lifetime of work to achieve that sense of entitlement.

I do have empathy for her and her supporters. This was supposed to be the crowning achievement of a movement that is 220 years in the making and a lot of women suffered to allow her to achieve what she has achieved. Many other women have lived long enough to know how hard women have struggled for generations to get here and they are just not quite ready enough to let that dream go for another 8 years...

I get this. I care about this. I think caring about this so much is why I think it's time to call it off.

This is not out of some loyalty to Obama. I do support him and for similarly great reasons, but also because I'm a party loyalist and haven't seen people this excited in my lifetime about a candidate and a message. He's touched something in the American public that is truly wonderous and we are ready for him right now in America.

I think he's good for us as democrats. His message is good for me. I even have found myself reading again to my girls who read on their own so much now, the habit was dropped. But we enjoy it anew and I realized the other day that he's been telling me to read to them and somehow that sunk in without me realizing it. He is making me a better mother by reminding me of the simple joys of life again.

For months now, I have railed on Hillary for her seemingly race baiting tactics, her careless comments, her lack of dicipline, cohesion, and organization in her campaign and her inability to articulate a coherent message besides I'm Hillary, I care about healthcare, I'm a woman and its my turn...

My anger and disappointment have nothing to do however with my love of Obama's sharply contrasting primary performance.

In fact, I am as frustrated as Hillary about all of this. I expected so much from her. I really had high hopes even though I preferred Obama as early as mid-December that this would be a positive campaign that at the end of the day all democrats in America and in fact all Americans would be proud to have participated in regardless of their preferred candidate.

I don't want Hillary to stop campaigning because I don't want her to take this to the convention. In fact, I don't think most democrats would disagree with me on this. Its not an exciting convention that will have Americans on the edge of our seats watching every minute of on CSPAN that would be problematic. In fact the opposite would be true.

I want Hillary to stop campaigning, suspend her campaign and not drop out, whatever, just go home, get some sleep think about all of this and get your head back on straight. Mistakes like the one she made today come from the depths of disappointment and would cease immediately if she just took some time off.

In other words, I'm tired of every few days seeing her say or do something that squanders her good will built over decades any further. The only way to stop that is for her to just flat out take a break and stop campaigning for a while.

I saw the pained look on her face today as she made her apology. Something in this formula MUST change because I want her as a Justice, an AG, a VP, or whatever position she wants to have.

She's gotten much love from this country and given much more to it. She's made her point. She's earned her choice.

Continuing on this self destructive path down this dark road to nowhere is helping no one, least of all Hillary...

Stimulus Checks... sigh Our Government at It's Finest...

Wondering where they are???

Get this... If you have a VA health insurance bill, tax debt, child support, student loan in default or any number of other debt obligations to the Fed Gov't, your so called Stimulus Check will be used to pay those off first just as your regular tax return was...

LOL! This is hysterically insane to me!

So you are giving people money and asking them to spend it, not save it or invest it or at least hold it so you can pay for gas to get to work for the next few months, because it's soul purpose is to stimulate the economy, Bush's master plan and only economic fix in his toolkit is to ask us to spend, spend, spend and when we got to the point that everyone was broke, he decides to take out loans your kids will have to pay back to give you money to spend, but no one thought to exempt that from your government garnishments???

The gov't gave people money so they could spend it and then took it back before they could spend it... ??? The irony of this is almost too much to comprehend!

There are millions who will face this issue. On top of it all, it will probably hold up checks at least another few weeks and that's if you have direct deposit. Some of those affected won't get a check at all and some will get some portion of it, but not the entire check and maybe not until Christmas at the rate their actually coming out and with the crazy formula their applying to decide if you get it many others will wonder why they didn't get it at all or had it reduced for incomprehensible reasons...

Thanks a lot Bush... thanks for nothing on behalf of all those who will get nothing... including the retailers who were counting on these checks to get them through until the holidays since everyone I know is broke from the outrageous gas and food prices...

(In case you're wondering we'll get ours, but I found out about this through a friend who did not...)

GOP and Deliberate Voter Suppression Tactics... For Patrick

Patrick has been waiting for a list of Republicans who have deliberately attempted to suppress the vote of certain people in certain voting areas around the country in order to have a more favorable turnout for their party in an election... based on my conversation with him on my Voter ID post a week or so ago.

How's this to start with? All legit press articles, no time to list all the links, just google them and they should come up. Please note, none of these are more than 4 years old although if you really want me to, I'm sure I could go back much farther.

I promised 20, but just don't have the time to pull them all right now.

Here's 14 different cases to start with... The point is well made here that the GOP is quite fond of and even surprisingly vocal about using suppression tactics as a way to stop US citizens from having access to the ballot when they think it can affect the outcome in their favor.

Voter ID is just the latest voter intimidation tactic they've sold to a public that is still alive because it's driven by unfounded and ludicrious fears of the myth of voter fraud instead of common reason and actually working the polls on the ground for 25 years as I have every four years...

Renee
______________________________

1. RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Vowed to Challenge Voters at the Polls. During an appearance on behalf of the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Virginia in 2005, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman vowed to "do whatever we can to help make sure Jerry Kilgore becomes the next governor of the state" - including, according to the AP "having poll workers on hand to challenge voter eligibility." [AP, 05/26/05]

2. Convicted Republican Phone Jammer Blamed GOP "Culture" and Was Afraid to Push Back on RNC Official. As he finished serving a prison sentence for "jamming Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire during the 2002 US Senate race," Allen Raymond told the Boston Globe that the "scheme reflects a broader culture in the Republican Party that is focused on dividing voters to win primaries and general elections. He said examples range from some recent efforts to use border-security concerns to foster anger toward immigrants to his own role arranging phone calls designed to polarize primary voters over abortion in a 2002 New Jersey Senate race." The scheme led to "the convictions of Raymond and two top Republican officials, and a Democratic lawsuit that seeks to determine whether the White House played any role." Allen said "he got caught up in an ultra-aggressive atmosphere" and that "he had been reluctant to turn down a prominent official of the RNC, fearing that would cost him future opportunities from an organization that was becoming increasingly ruthless." [Boston Globe, 06/10/2006]

3. Virginia County Asked to Halt Plan for Armed, Uniformed Police at Polling Places. The ACLU said that the planned police presence is a reminder of when armed government officials were used to prevent minorities from voting and will only intimidate many potential voters, causing them to avoid the polls. [http://www.aclu.org/VotingRights/VotingRights.cfm?ID=16862&c=32, 10/21/04]

4. RNC Funded Company Trashed Voter Registration Forms: "Voter's Outreach of America" aka "America Votes" is responsible for ripping up democratic voter registrations in Nevada. According to the investigative report, hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals who think they are registered to vote actually are not. The organization has reportedly left Nevada and gone to Oregon. Full transcript of story attached... Well, the company [Voter's Outreach for America, aka America Votes] has been largely, if not entirely funded by the Republican National Committee. We should also point out that similar complaints have been received in Reno, where the registrar there has asked the FBI to investigate. It's a complicated story and we'll have a lot more tonight and I think in the days ahead." [KLAS Las Vegas Channel 8, 4pm news, Oct. 12, 2004]

5. Armed, Plain Clothes Police Officers Intimidated Elderly Black Voters In Orlando. Plain clothes police officers, revealing their side arms, made house calls to elderly, black voters who voted in Orlando's mayoral race in March 2003. The voters were in large part campaign workers or volunteers that helped to organize and get out the vote, mainly using absentee ballots, for African- American Mayor Buddy Dyer. Dyer won with just under 51% of the vote. His challenger, Ken Mulvaney and other defeated candidate alleged that Dyer aide, Ezzie Thomas, the 73-year old head of the Orlando League of Voters, filled out multiple absentee ballots on behalf of black voters. These actions came in spite of the fact that in May 2003 the Florida Dept of Law Enforcement had concluded "that there was no basis to support the allegations of election fraud."[Bob Herbert Column, New York Times, 8/16/04, 8/20/04; AP, 7/17/04]

6. Florida Election Officials Sought To Purge African-Americans From Voter Rolls.Florida Officials Struck Over 2,000 Eligible Voters From Voting Rolls, 62% Were Democrats, More Than Half Were Black. An analysis by the Miami Herald found that the Florida Division of Elections had improperly included 2,119 voters who were on a list of more than 47,000 felons potentially ineligible to vote in the November elections. Florida law requires convicted felons to request clemency in order to regain their right to vote. Of the 2,119 people on the list, 62% were registered Democrats, almost half were Black and less than 20% were Republican. Only sixty-one Hispanics were included on the list of over 47,000 felons though they comprise 11% of the prison population, a politically significant fact for the November elections since Hispanics in Florida vote overwhelmingly Republican while Blacks vote Democrat. [Miami Herald, 7/2/04; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 7/7/04, 7/8/04; New York Times, 7/10/04]

7. Native Americans Told "To Go Home" In June Primary. Poll workers demanded identification from Native Americans in South Dakota's June primary, and they illegally turned away Native American voters from the polls when they did not have it. The state's elections auditor sent out a memo to state poll workers stating that all voters must have IDs, but did not widely disseminate information that said that voters could sign an affidavit in lieu of showing identification. State Democrats say that the actions by poll workers were an extension of a wider move by the GOP controlled state legislature to suppress Native American turnout. The law requiring voters to show identification was passed last year. One South Dakotan voter turned away from the poll was told by an elections worker that "if she didn't' have a photo ID, she could just turn around and home." [Argus Leader, 6/11/04]

8. Kentucky Republicans Will Place Vote Challengers In African American Precincts.Kentucky's Jefferson County Republican Party announced that it will place Republican vote challengers in predominantly African American precincts during the November 2004 elections, reiterating their 2003 attempt to suppress voter turnout. In 2003, county Republicans placed challengers at 18 polling places in predominantly black districts. However, even Republicans have taken offense this year, and a dozen Republicans including two African Americans joined together to protest their party's actions. [AP, 7/30/04; Courier-Journal, 8/3/04]

(As a side note here, I saw these specific intimidation tactics in play by GOP from groups in the fall of 2004 in Milwaukee with my own eyes...)

9. Michigan Republican Lawmaker Says Gop Needs To "Supress" The Detroit Voters. Michigan State Representative, John Pappageorge, told members of the Oakland County Republican party that the GOP would do poorly in this year's elections if it failed to "suppress the Detroit vote." Pappageorge's comments were a thinly veiled mandate to suppress African American voter turnout in a city where 83% of the population is Black and overwhelmingly votes Democratic. [Detroit Free Press, 7/16/04; AP, 7/21/04; Washington Post, 8/26/04]

10. http://www.alternet.org/rights/63574/?page=1

11. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/01/2218/ This is the granddaddy of all voter suppression tactics... Here are their 3 main goals... "Tax-exempt groups such as the American Center and the Lawyers Association were deployed in battleground states to press for restrictive ID laws and oversee balloting.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division turned traditional voting rights enforcement upside down with legal policies that narrowed rather than protected the rights of minorities.
The White House and the Justice Department encouraged selected U.S. attorneys to bring voter fraud prosecutions, despite studies showing that election fraud isn’t a widespread problem. "

12. Which leads us to this... http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/using_justice_to_suppress_the_vote and this http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/conyers_subpoenas_rove_over_doj/ from today's news...

13. and there's this scathing report by a Libertarian (weren't they in the GOP at some point) http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/3145ohio_fraud.html

14. This list alone may push me over the top of my 20... http://mediamatters.org/items/200410310001

WTF? DNC-HRC Campaign Mailing...??????

For some unknown and inane reason, just days before the supposedly neutral Democratic National Committee is about to decide how rules will be applied that could have a huge impact on who eventually becomes the Democratic Nominee in a tight, often contentious and incredibly divisive primary season, I get this in the mail today...

Along with this

and a survey on the 2008 Presidential Campaign. I am not even going to begin to discuss the survey questions and the oddness of them. I get these all the time and try to return them, but this is just weird... oh and a solicitation for money... that I at least understand...

That said, for the DNC to put out a campaign mailing for Hillary just days before they decide what to do with Michigan and Florida has to be the most idiotic move I've ever seen by a party attempting to look neutral.

How did this happen? Did some party staffer just lose their mind days before this huge decision is made? Is one hand not paying attention to what the other is doing?

I'm flabbergasted, irritated and worried... What were they thinking? The DNC by its own rules does not interfere with a primary process. Why put this out now? What allow her to use DNC funds to campaign when she is not likely to be the nominee? Why undercut the Obama campaign at this point in the process?

Again, this is a post that will probably get me in trouble with my friends. What they all need to know is this is NOT okay. This was stupid and unnecessary. This destroys the appearance of neutrality in the MI & FL decision, in fact I would venture to say that after this mailing the decision to send out this mailing could actually hurt Hillary's chances of a favorable ruling next week.

Should they end up ruling in her favor, the rumors of the "fix is on" now have tangible proof of a conspiracy.

Howard, my friend, you know I have enormous respect for you and all you do and consider you a friend... I just don't get this decision. After months of pure neutrality, you throw it all out the window for now reason???

What were they thinking??????????????????????????????

What a Day/Night!!!

First it starts out with the most landmark decision on same sex marriage rights ever in the history of the United States.

As if that wouldn't be a great enough day, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to overrule the FCC's rule that would have expanded media's ability to consolidate even more than they have so far.

Then the House passed a new GI bill that would actually HELP GI's.

Finally, as if we needed ice cream with our cake, Congress defeated a $165.5 billion war funding bill. 141-146 with 132 REPUBLICAN congresspeople voting present (i.e. I don't want this job anymore...)!

Big thank you's to Mississippi for finally proving that if you refused to listen to the people of this country, they will eventually vote you out of office.

People spoke earlier this week in LA, MS and IL. Finally Congress is beginning to listen!

I love election year politics! It may be the only time really good things get done!!!

Thanks to all who did the right thing today and the people who worked to force them to... We ahve a lot more work to do, so roll up your sleeves!

It was a good day all around!

Huge Win for Marriage Rights in CA!!!

This is a big deal. The CA Supreme Court upheld the rights of same-sex couples to marry! I just want to cry right now.

It's so cool. So just. So right.

It doesn't get any better than this. As goes California so goes the country is the old saying. The fight for basic fairness goes on around the country. Go to the link I've provided for more details.

My congratulations to all the happy couples in California!

Actual language from the decision:

Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation—like a person’s race or gender—does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.

I personally know civil rights attorneys who are in tears of joy right now...

Free Speech/Media Conglomerate Fix Action Alert for Wisconsin

Senator Herb Kohl really needs to hear from local independent media and community voices in Wisconsin TODAY! If you choose to call Senator Feingold's office also, please thank him for his commitments to free speech and let him know you support this legislation.

Please contact him before the vote this evening and tell him you strongly support SJ28 on Media Cross Ownership limits. More info is below and in the link in the press release.

Please call his office asap at 202-224-5653 ask for Paul Bock, his Chief of Staff, or Chad Mitzler his and let Senator Kohl know you want him to support SJ28 to restore reasonable limits because they encourage diversity of voices in media options and access to free speech in America.

Please also forward to anyone you see missing from this list and discuss this in your forums so that all who may have an interest in acting on this issue can do so immediately!

Wisconsinites can make a difference! Make your call now and let me know about it at rcrwfd@gmail.com.

Thanks! Renee



ACLU Urges Restoration of Reasonable Limits on Media Cross-Ownership

For Immediate Release: May 15, 2005
Contact: Linda Paris or Liz Rose (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON, DC -- The ACLU urges members of Congress to support a resolution (S.J. Res 28), reversing the FCC’s Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office:

“The new rules create enough loopholes for the merger of just about any broadcast station with any newspaper in any market. The consequences of greater media consolidation are no small matter. The concentration of TV, radio and newspaper ownership means fewer and less diverse opinions over the public airwaves. As a result, citizens depend on more and more homogeneous news and information.

“Our democracy requires the participation of an informed citizenry. Journalism that fails to speak truth to corporate and government power hurts our ability to make sound choices as consumers and voters.

“Under the pre-December FCC rules, media companies had been already consolidated to the point that threatened our marketplace and public debate. Six major companies control most of the media in the country, including the most popular sites on the Internet. Three titans, Comcast, AOL and Time Warner, own 40 percent of households with cable and a single company owns 1200 radio stations.

“With passage of Senator Dorgan’s resolution, Congress will direct the FCC to prevent further consolidation. The Murdochs of the industry argue that further consolidation will offer Americans more media outlets over the Internet, TV, radio and print. But it is still a handful of corporations controlling everything we read, watch, listen to. We urge Congress to take the lead in returning the limits on media cross-ownership to their pre-December rules.”

Link to the ACLU’s letter urging passage of the joint resolution on broadcast ownership: http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/34734leg20080401.html


# # #

Elizabeth Rose
Deputy Director Legislative Communications
ACLU Washington Legislative Office
(202) 675-2303 direct
(202) 527-0040 mobile (Note NEW number)
(202) 675-2312 press line
lrose@dcaclu.org

Also go here for more info!

I Am Suddenly Feeling Much Better!

Could this be our ticket???

I'm absolutely beeming, cheering and as excited as I've been in weeks!!!

THANK YOU JOHN EDWARDS

Thank you for making my day, my week and my month!

On top of his amazing speech, John edwards was so much more gracious than I have been today. I'm not taking what I said back. I just think it's less important now that it's finally over.

She tried to spin this as unimportant, she's wrong. This is the next most influential Democrat in the nation who has decided this race is over.

The rest will follow suit.

My worst fears about the Democratic party in my last post have been alleviated. Everyone knows what I'm feeling and they are responding.

In every campaign there are turning points.

Seeing Barack Obama and John Edwards on the stage together tonight is one of them.

Obama/Edwards???

It's all good again!

sigh...

I'm having a hard time discussing the democratic primaries with you out here...

I'm trying really hard not to flip out on Hillary. It's getting harder and harder...

What I want to say about West Virginia for example is probably not helpful right now.

I SO want to believe that this country is looking at the candidates and asking who would make a better President among the two of them. I used to believe that electibility is not an issue, I don't believe that anymore for one simple reason. Who is lifting our country out of the funk of divisiveness and bad policy and who is trying to drag us back down...

Hillary has split the party right down the middle. This post could destroy my standing with my fellow democrats in Wisconsin and nationally. I no longer care. I am a person of principle and my principles have been so severely damaged, that I no longer can hold my tongue. It's important for people to know all over this country my outrage as a hard core democratic African American woman...because I know I am not alone...

I find it fascinating that in a year when we have a candidate who's entire message, the one that resonates most with the vast majority of Americans, is unification for change, his opponents only and best strategy is to divide and conquer. As of yesterday, I believe she is intent on destroying the best chance we have in November and she's doing it out of some selfish entitlement concept. Anything to win did not have to mean ANYTHING...

NO ONE IS ENTITLED TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The entire point of a democracy is to elect the people who speak to all of us, who will work for all of us, who represent all of us and who can bring us all together to build a better life for all of us. What about Hillary's campaign in the last 2 months has done that?

I won't vote for her in November... She's driving me to want to drink. I'm smoking more than ever because of the stress I feel whenever I watch her speak. I cannot remember ever being so disappointed in someone. This is real, raw and honest. I cannot and will not do it.

The argument that she will mend fences after the election is idiotic. You cannot repeatedly and deliberately insult an entire race of people in this country and win the presidency as a so-called democrat. If you do win like that, I want no part of the democratic party anymore.

If this works, I may do what my girlfriend did and move to Mexico. She's very happy there and says the only way she'd consider moving back is if Obama becomes president.

Not if Hillary becomes president.

If Obama becomes president.

I'm to the point of being angry with my friends who are still supporting her. ANGRY. I don't get angry! I don't like to be angry!

Let me give you three reasons Hillary will be destroyed in a general election.

1. She's lost my vote. I am so personally and deeply offended right now as both a woman and an African American, I could cry. I'll vote for Cynthia McKinney the Green candidate or Bob Barr the crazy Libertarian first. This is not an idol threat. Don't even begin to try to talk me into voting for her. I may even have a hard time voting for Obama if he chooses her as a running mate. I am a life long democrat. I've worked for the party. I have worked for more dem. candidates than I even remember. I am a party committee member and a delegate from 2004. I am a passionate and principled democrat and except for one small mistake (I voted for Alberta Darling in her first race... big mistake actually), I have NEVER voted for anyone but a democrat. I am telling you this though. I will not only not (sorry for the dbl neg) vote for her in the fall, but will actively work against her presidency.

I no longer believe she's qualified to be president and believe that McCain would not have gone the places she's went. This is why. When McCain is racist, people expect it. They are not surprised and it carries no weight with the majority of general public.

What Hillary's done is make it OKAY to be racist and to SAY you are!!!
Her racism carries weight. By giving voters the okay to be racist, she's effectively sent politics in this country back decades. It's unforgiveable. It's disgraceful. It's forced me to write this post... one I have dreaded and avoided for months... I SO did not want to go here, but if she's going to force my hand, I have no other choice. Do you have any idea how difficult she has made it in this world for African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Muslims, etc... By making prejudice acceptable she has depressed me more in the last two months than Bush has in 8 years...

Let's set the record straight on this. Despite what Hillary has been pushing for weeks, it is NOT okay to be a democrat, progressive, liberal and be a racist.

That just needs to be put on the table right here, right now. It's just NOT okay and if you are a racist and a democrat, leave our party. I would rather LOSE than have your vote. We liberals are better than that. We are better people than that. We MUST be or we will never get anything done.

2. Her supporters are racists. Period. This was funny yes on SNL on Saturday, but the general rule is that funny is only funny if it's true... If you voted for Hillary Clinton at anytime after the 3am ad, you are not supporting a woman because you are a feminist, you are supporting racism.

Period.

You may or may not be racist, but regardless, you are supporting racism if you support Hillary.

I will remember those who blindly followed her into the depths of this hell. If Condelezza Rice were running for president and you vote for her as an African American woman, just because she is an African American woman, you are an idiot.

I don't see any difference between Condelezza Rice and Hillary Clinton any more.

A bad person is a bad person. A poor leader is a poor leader regardless of what may or may not be hanging between their legs...

If you really believe you are voting for her for some pure ideal that a woman will do things better, you are an idiot. She clearly has NOT done anything better to date, in fact, her rhetoric is disgusting, anti American and infuriating.

3. Hillary cannot win because she could not win the primaries. She cannot raise money. She has narrowed her voters to the racists and the white women in this country willing to blind themselves to the racism because they so badly wanted a woman for president. She should be ashamed of herself for taking advantage of those women and their passion. I did not support Obama because he was African American. I am a woman first and the genes that add extra amount of melanin in my skin makes me AA as well.

I have been discriminated against more for being a woman than an AA in my lifetime.

I had every reason to support Hillary, not the least of which is I was a true blue Clintonian for decades, and yet, Obama spoke to me. I did not see the color of his skin first as a reason to support him, in fact, I thought it could be an obstacle.

What drew me to Obama was the fact that he was honest, he was passionate, he actually seemed to care about everyone in this country. Not just the blacks, not just the women, not just the poor, not just the immigrants, not just the wealthy, not just the followers of one faith or another, but he had a vision of this country coming together to rise up and turn a page that inspired me.

When it came down to it, I thought race and gender equalized on the campaign trail, so I looked at the candidate who really spoke directly to me.

Barack Obama is that candidate.

The democratic party is afraid that this race will divide the party... It's too late. Somehow that woman managed to make me question one of the beliefs I hold most dear. That democrats stand for what's good in us all. I question that now because of her, and I'm angry that she has managed to raise that doubt in my mind.

Should she find some back door way to become the nominee, I may just not vote at all...

I feel as if I kept quiet, I would be as bad as she is. People need to know this, my party leaders need to know this, the world needs to know why we are so upset. I feel as if my silence one more day would make me complicit in the insanity.

I am still reeling that she's forced me to think and say these things...how dare she?

And yet, if I love my party, my ideology as much as I say I do, how dare I not say them at this point in this race?

Go ahead, nominate Hillary in an overthrow of the people at the convention, just know this, she definitely won't have me to kick around anymore...

SNL Buries Clinton Campaign For Good "My Supporters are Racists"

I just wrote a long post that disappeared when I hit publish post. Not sure I can recreate it now because it's Mother's Day... Suffice it to say that:

1. SNL buried Clinton's campaign last night for good.
2. Her behaviour this past week was appalling and she may have ended her ability to even be on the ticket with the "hard working white people" comments.
3. I'm hearing from Repubilcans, Independents and Democrats alike that they WANT Obama to be the next president. The cacophony of my friends, neighbors and even people I don't know well all saying this is stunning even to me.
4. The superdelegates don't have to wait, no matter how much she begs them to, until June. This can be over tomorrow and not only for the sake of the party, the nation, unity, Obama's message and our chances to beat McCain in November, but for Hillary's sake. She's so desperate now she's embarrasing herself. Saying things that are inexcusable at best and argueably despicable on their face. Her senate career could be in jeapardy if she keeps this up and we NEED her seat! Continuing to allow her to become more and more desperate and watch her turn desperation into a plea to all the racists in the country to come on board the train's pulling away is... well, just so damn sad...

I get the "let her supporters down easy" argument (although I think it's patronizing and irritating, no one had to let Edwards' supporters down easy...). I get that she needs money to pay herself back. I get that she's a fighter (although stumbling around punch drunk is not her best side...). I get that women in the remaining states want their chance to vote for a woman for president before it's over.

The RACISM MUST STOP! Playing on bigotry only reinforces the bigotry. I never said before that her supporters are racist. I didn't believe that, but she changed that this week. I will say this, if you vote for Hillary Clinton as a democrat after the disgusting display of this last week, you are reinforcing an America I want to move beyond. An old America where you could destroy a black candidate by saying things that essentially say "White people must stick together". After her comments last week. A vote for Hill IS a racist vote. Women can no longer hide behind sufferage on this. The bottom line is you can't claim to be progressive, a liberal, a reformer, a good person and cast a vote for someone who in desperation goes there to win...

At some point, the candidate's behaviour has to be taken to task regardless of the history being made... She no longer has the ability to say "I'm with you" the the African Americans in this country. Latinos in Puerto Rico and around the country take note. She threw African American's overboard as soon as it was politically advantageous... Latinos are usually next in line... "and then they came for me...".

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN THAT. IT MUST STOP!!!

TOLD You So: Disfranchised Nuns in Indiana Yesterday-Thanks to the Supremes

So the Supreme Court has really done it now...

Last week they came down with a landmark decision that the most restrictive Voter ID law in the country in Indiana was constitutional because they believed that no disparate impact had been proven. As a caveat they said, come back to us if we're wrong...

Wait a minute, so they said that since no large numbers of people HAD been disfranchised, there is no reason to prevent them FROM being disfranchised, but if AFTER they are disfranchised you wanna talk again, come see us...

Well, they are VERY wrong... LOTS of Americans were disfranchised yesterday...

We said, that this would disfranchise students, minorities and the elderly...

At least 12 nuns and several students were turned away from the polls yesterday because
they lacked the proper id to vote.

Of the 137 nuns in the convent, many more did not even try because they heard from those turned away that they would not be allowed to vote.

Losing even ONE legitimate voter in a democracy due to overly strict ID requirements is a travesty. Indiana legislators and the Supremes who held up this law should be ashamed of themselves. Indiana voters should kick out their entire legislature... oh yeah, that'll be hard with out the youth, minority and elderly vote. Isn't that the point of the law though?

This law is shameful and being pushed by the GOP all over the country. It is bought hook line and sinker by those who have some sort of irrational terror that the "wrong" people are voting and raising the spectre of an invisible and mythical "voter fraud". The GOP has long know that if everyone in this country could and did vote, they would lose. Their policies don't mesh with the majority of general public. Because of that irrational fear, they are on a crusade to disfranchise as many Americans who are not white, middle aged and male as possible. You'd think they'd just try to write policy that helps the people they want votes from, but no, instead their strategy is to just stop them from being allowed to vote altogether.

You won't vote for me, so I'm going to not allow you to vote. Some strategy, almost childish in its cynicism, in what's supposed to be a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people...

THIS IS A DEMOCRACY!!! We should be encouraging as many people as possible to exercise their RIGHT to vote.

Voting is NOT a priviledge. It the RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY of every citizen in this country and restricting that right when the citizen is attempting to exercise their responsibility is disgraceful.

I hope this is the END of the debate in Wisconsin. Strict and ridiculous voter ID laws disfranchise people...period.

No questions about it. Ask the Indiana nuns how they felt yesterday when they were disfranchised. Told they weren't legal enough to vote...

Imagine if that were you??? An American citizen being told their papers are not in order... Sound famililar???

The IN legislature and any other in the country that has passed or considered passing Voter ID laws needs to repeal them and drop them altogether.

It's time we call this issue dead in the water. Well, Supremes, you said come back if you're wrong...

Problem is, you won't even begin to hear about this before November 2008, so it's too late already.

Hate to say we told you so, hate it even more for the people who were denied their right to vote yesterday, but WE TOLD YOU SO!

My New Favorite Blog

So I was watching Jon Stewart last week and after a long story by Colin Firth about his distress over his penis getting photographed in a bathroom without his permission, Jon asks him "What happens if you Google 'Colin Firth's penis'?"

I, like many Americans I'm sure, had to find out.

So I did. Immediately. I Googled exactly that and really at the time only a few random links appeared (today it's significantly more).

For some reason, one link caught my eye and I clicked on it.

As a result, I have a new favorite blog...

The two women who write Wit and Wisdom are amazing.

I have been unable to write for several days due to the simplicity of their writing and the complexity it now presents in how a blog should be written. I read the post "I fold" and chuckled. It was enough to make me read another post, and then another. The next thing I knew it was hours later (reading blogs on Blackberrys is still not quite up to par...) and I had read their entire blog (including their links and videos when they worked on the BB... urrgghh).

The concept is so simple they gab about their lives, basically to each other with random awareness that anyone else is reading, you know, random stuff, but the blog is incredibly aptly named.

The incredibly funny and wonderfully dry humor is terribly entertaining.
You will laugh out loud.
You will also cring, worry, recognize some of your paranoias and probably want to meet them both for a beer.

For several days after this adventure into their world, I was literally unable to blog. I have my own style, topics, bits and pieces that I blog on, but somehow, I felt inadequate...

I blog in a strange manner anyway. I have two basic processees. One is something hits me like a lightening bolt and I pound it out with appropriate links. This tends to lead to some rash and often emotional posts that mmmm..., maybe someday I will wish I had read a few more times.

Most often though, I will have something stewing for days. Something I want to blog about, but need to think through before blurting it out to the entire world.

Then one day it will hit me what I want to say, and the post basically writes itself. I do such minimal editing, I don't think I can claim to do it at all. A "who" instead of "whom" will often drive me nuts when I come across it again LOL!

They do this freehand. Stream of consciousness. So impressive. They explain themselves here in their first post on Jan 1, 2008. Spot on.

So maybe I was exhausted and everything seemed funny or maybe posts like this and this and this ditty and and this which starts out:

I have no interesting excuse. Except for being asleep for most of the past two weeks. I blame the crippling bout of flu. Also: laziness.

I've made a discovery this week. Which is not quite a discovery, and more like a realization. And it's very profound.

Or perhaps this one (you must click the link, read the ad in its' entirety and then go back and finish her post, I say "me too"...) was the one that forever endeared me to these women.

So for a good time check out these ladies...

The Best Research in Wisconsin: Institute for Wisconsin's Future

The Institute for Wisconsin's Future says this about itself:

The Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF) was established in1994 to help citizens fight for state laws that maximize everyindividual’s opportunity to achieve educational, economic and personal success.

The Institute for Wisconsin’s Future is a non-profit organization working for:
■ Excellent schools. Schools need adequate funding so all children have qualified teachers, small classes, up-to-date books and technology, safe buildings and necessary resources for children who live in poverty, have disabilities or do not speak English.
■ Quality public services paid for by a tax system that is fair to working families. Wisconsin needs sufficient revenue to preserve a public sector capable of meeting diverse needs. The tax responsibility of this should be shared equitably by all individuals and businesses. IWF plays a vital role in strengthening citizen power with information, training and public action.
■ Accurate information: Reports are available online at: http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org/.
■ Getting the word out: IWF brings the facts to thousands of people each year in communities across the state through presentations, newsletters and the media.
■ Organizing for change: IWF brings citizens and organizations together to press for effective and compassionate policies. Alliances include:
 The Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES): Over 150 and growing school districts and organizations united around school funding reform.
 The Alliance to Protect the Public Good: A network of organizations, congregations, labor unions and individuals working to protect public structures and services in local communities and at the state level.

They are all of this, but they do so much more! As a groundbreaking research organization, they have released the results of their excellent work and the results are stunning!

Consider this from their newsletter:

April 15: Wisconsinites pay their state income tax.. and the corporations' too You paid your state income tax. Wouldn't it be nice if corporate Wisconsin did too? Chances are you paid more than Microsoft, McDonald's, Pepsi, Sears, Budget Rent-Car, Kimberly Clark, Boston Market, Frito-Lay, K mart, Victoria's Secret and Stockely-Van Camp. In fact, you paid more than all of them put together. For the last year of information available (2005), they paid zero (0) income tax. Big corporations avoid over $500 million in state income tax every year. They skip taxes by using loopholes that allow them to move their profits to non-tax states. That means our families and small businesses cover the cost of the roads, police, fire protection and other services these mega-corporations rely on. Do you think it's about time to close
the loopholes or should we just keep paying their public service bills?
See Revenue Gap: An analysis of corporate tax avoidance at http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org/

Check out this video and this report from one year ago.. It doesn't get any clearer than this. The legislature and the governor have some work to do. Enough starving the beast and then blaming the service providers (teachers, police and fire, transportation, etc) for not having the resources!

Our corporate environment is basically stealing from us and our children and enough is enough!

A friend of mine calls this the "starving the beast" philosophy of government. Cut all the funding out and make the service providers, the poor and the needy fight for the scraps that are left.

There are a few good citizens, NML, Coca Cola, Kraft Foods even Exxon Mobil all paid some taxes, although as a portion of their income it was minimal.

We can fix this. A few bills in the legislature and property taxes would plummet and corporations would pay their fair share. They do business here, they take our money, they own property in Wisconsin, they employ hundreds of thousands between them all and yet use shady loopholes and lack of accountability to hide their income and avoid our taxes.

Other states have closed those loopholes and these companies do business in those states as well, it's time Wisconsinites take a closer look at WHY there's no money for schools and services and WHY our property and income tax burden is so high on us as individuals instead of falling into the false choices of raise taxes or cut services.

The bottom line is we don't lose companies in Wisconsin because the companies have to pay taxes. We lose companies because the executives can't find a good enough school system for their children, their property taxes are too high and the workforce is so poorly educated.

We could lower taxes and increase and/or fully fund services if the legislature had the will and the mandate from the people to do so...

For all those conservatives out there, really comb this website. Take a serious look at the facts and while you're doing so, and don't tell me all the businesses will leave Wisconsin if we force them to pay the taxes they rightfully owe the state.

I cannot for the life of me believe that WalMart, Exxon Mobil or Kohl's Dept Stores will close their stores in Wisconsin and stop doing business here because they have to pay their taxes... Taxes don't stop them from opening stores in other states because the bottom line is the small percentage they would pay of their income to be good citizens is Wisconsin is well worth the gross profits they make here...

In other words the false notion that WE need to pay the burden of all the services instead of stregthening and enforcing our tax laws is just that... a false notion.

Thanks to IWF for the work they are doing, we now know the facts and the results of conservative "starving the beast" legislation in the 1980's and 1990's.

Now it's time to rebalance the system so everyone pays their fair share.

The Disenfranchisement of Disabled and Injured Veterans

I've been following this story for about a week now and am just unbelieveably shocked by it! How could the VA take a position that it cannot allow disabled veterans in it's facility register to vote?!? This is a disgrace to America and we must find a way to make this outrage stop.

These men and women fought for our country, gave their health and youth to democracy and they are being denied the right to vote???

• Write your Congresspeople!
• Write the VA!
• Write the President!
• Write your local newspaper and get this story out!

I don't care what it takes, the veterans of our elected official's wars must be allowed to register and vote regardless of their health status or the fact that they are trapped in VA facilities because of their injuries.

The RIGHT to vote is sacred. It must not be infringed by some bureaucratic b.s. in the Executive Branch.

What kind of people are they that they think this is okay in America? I thought we were the greatest democracy on earth. I'm beginning to wonder...

Could Hill Win a General without Liberal Elite Snobs?

I wonder how all the "liberal elite snobs in San Fransisco" feel about Hillary's debasing them last week??? She's already bashed and alienated young people and African Americans, soccer moms, and men, why not go after the money base of the party... That makes perfect sense.

I'm trying to figure out how you bring the country together when you continually attack portions of your own coalition!

Now, I don't consider myself a liberal elite snob. I'm pretty sure not many people do, but I do go to liberal fundraisers (although I can rarely afford to give) and I do have some friends who may intentionally fall into that category. I'm guessing though that the people at that party in San Fransisco are pretty insulted right now that she characterized their attempt at participation in the political process as some shady back room closed party in San Fransisco.

First of all, liberals come in all economic levels. We are the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. The poor most often participate by voting and speaking out when they can, the middle class most often participates by voting, volunteering their time and when they can donating small amounts of money that add up in large quantities, and the rich most often participate by voting and holding small parties and giving a lot of money so everyone else can get the work done that needs to be done. That doesn't mean the poor don't give, or that the rich don't or shouldn't volunteer, but eachperson in our society gives back to our society in the way they feel they can be most effective and that fits best with their means.

In our society, the liberal movement would not be able to function without the generosity of wealthy liberals and belittling their contributions is no way to run a campaign.

Second, divide and conquer is a republican strategy not a liberal one. Class warfare is what got this country in this mess in the first place and it has NO place in the liberal realm. What is she thinking????

Third, yeah, Obama's comments if taken absolutely literally and out of context do seem a bit odd. Conceptually and in context, though I totally get what he was saying and he's right.

When Howard Dean railed about people voting on three issues that absolutely did not affect their daily lives he called it the "God, Guns and Gays Agenda". Get people so riled up about meaningless (I mean this is in that these are not political issues, these are social issues that have no context in the political realm and we all have individual freedoms that "shall not be infringed" in a governmental context so it's a false political debate on straw man issues) social issues that they forget that they don't know how they will feed their kids or pay their rent or mortgage, or that their job was outsourced, and they forget who's responsible for the reason they have no food or shelter.

Let me give an example. Poor people in this country of nearly all races have heard over and over that the immigrants are taking their jobs. This is just NOT the case. Corporations, especially under Bush, have destroyed unions in this country and the work still needs to be done, but they don't want to pay the wages it would take, deal with OSHA safety standards, and pay social security/medicare taxes, health insurance, and vacations, etc... to get an American to take that job. Not that Americans shouldn't demand fair jobs.

Corporations just don't want to hire Americans because they come at a higher cost, but the work still needs to get done, so they hire undocumented workers. Even go so far as to spirit them into the country and encourage the workflow. Now they have a ready workforce of people who will take whatever jobs they can get to try to stay here.

They pay them much more than the same companies pay the workers in their home countries, but also pay them under the table because legally they don't exist, so no SS taxes, no health insurance, insane hours, no vacations or sick days, and most importantly they have a workforce that perceives itself outside the justice system. They feel as if they cannot organize, they cannot complain about workplace safety abuses, they cannot go to EEOC or any other government organization for justice, they cannot even go to the police, because to do so would risk someone finding out about their immigration status and them being sent back. Corporations in this country have been finding ways to introduce and reinstate slavery since it was founded. This is just a form of slavery that we haven't seen since the early 20th century when immigrants were greeted with the exact same welcome from poor America they are receiving today. Then, all those workplace protections were put in place, now they get around them by getting the poorest in our communities to divide themselves from a coalition of the poor and immigrants which would really change things for both groups in this country.

Let me give you an example. There is a meat packing plant in Iowa that used to be union and the starting wage 15 years ago was about $20-25/hour. That was a family supporting income (still is...) and most of the people in the towns surrounding the plant went to work there. Then the Reagan revolution railed against unions as "unfair to the workers" and the union was finally voted out of there about 10 years ago. Today, almost none of that plants workers are American. Nearly the entire plant is staffed by primarily part time (no benefits necessary) undocumented immigrant labor with a starting wage right around $7-9/hour. So let's look a little deeper. When people had a union, the plant was forced by the people to pay a decent wage and good benefits. They could afford meat and meat was affordable and available. When the people got rid of the union because it was "unfair" to them, they all lost their jobs (no more just cause, they could just be fired for no reason), their jobs were taken by a slave labor force paid poverty wages and the meat factory is still running, but the owners have a ton more money in their pockets, except that no one can afford the meat anymore except them. Health benefits for the new labor force are gone so they go to emergency rooms, that makes taxes rise and people cannot afford their homes anymore...

What do the conservative politicians offer for relief? A rant against the powerless immigrants themselves! and the people buy it because they have no other answer. This one is just too long for a sound bite on CNN... Lou Dobbs just isn't smart enough to figure this out...

What they should do is help the people in the meat packing plant to organize a union, force wages to American standards again, punish the corporations who encourage new undocumented workers into their plants (not the workers, they literally are innocent pawns in all of this) and get their jobs back. Then set up a path to citizenship so the undocumented can come out of the shadows and under the protection of our labor standards making them a less desirable labor force for the corps. It's such a simple answer... and yet so complicated to explain...

One other thing would help. Most people don't leave their families, children, wives, lives and homes because they want to leave them to be abused in another country. They leave because they don't have any other option in their own country and the jobs there are so much worse.

Until NAFTA and all the other so called labor "free trade" agreements are revised to require that companies doing business with us comply with international labor, environmental and safety standards, this will be an ongoing problem. As long as American companies are allowed to abuse people, safety and the environment abroad, they will choose that. Make them be good citizens around the world and you solve the problem all together for billions of people including Americans. And I'm a bit off track lol!

It was clear that Obama was getting to that message of "You are being distracted so you don't fight for real things that would make your life better.", but mispoke and she definitely knew that and blew it all out of proportion. Shameless to attack the eventual nominee of our party with ugly rhetoric that is unnecessary and ridiculous.

I just hope beyond hope that Pennsylvannians make a decision. A real decision to end this once in for all and vote in a 20% margin for Obama! PA has the opportunity to save the Democratic Party's chances in November if they just put an end to this so-called primary.

As a dem with deep ties in Pittsburgh, PLEASE END THIS NOW!

Wanna Good Laugh?

My friend Jay over at folkbums' Rambles and Rants put up this post last Wednesday.

People in Wisconsin are SO uptight! You'd think no one here ever took a biology class, let alone sex ed. In Miami, they have a radio station that plays ALL the dirtiest songs that are made completely and totally uncut...as the artists meant them to be. It's extreme, but made for a fun drive one day late last summer on my way to South Beach LOL!

We freak out over the anatomical name of a human body part. We need to lighten up here...

That said, my friend at Pundit Nation pointed out the best part of this post over the weekend and I'm echoing his sentiments, you just have to read the comments! Truly a great way to waste a half hour today.

Laughter is good for the soul and the unintentional and intentional puns are chicken soup.

Have fun!

And to Think That I Learned it on Mulberry Street...

Last month was Dr. Seuss Week across America and I spent a good deal of it reading to and listening to my children reading the good doctor's stories. My girls are nearly too old for Dr. Seuss books, although I'm not really convinced there is a "too old" when it comes to Dr. Seuss. I still love them all endlessly. We have nearly all of them and as I was reading to my daughters night after night we just could never get enough of them!

I'd like to ask everyone out here to tell me your favorite Dr. Seuss story. The one that you read until you had it memorized the one you can still interrupt your child while reading with the exact words in the book.

For me it's two. The first I ever read was Fox in Socks. Now I know this seems hard to believe, but my parents swear I started reading books back to them when I was 3 years old. I don't remember that, but I also don't remember not knowing how to read, so who's to say. One of my earliest memories was sitting in front of my preschool class at St. Mark's Church on the East Side and reading Fox in Socks to the class.

I remember being very proud of myself not because I knew that I was the only kid who could read because I don't remember knowing that. I was proud of myself primarily because the nuns were so stunned by how well I could read and it was really a fun way of getting the attention of those lovely women.

The next one I remember reading was Green Eggs and Ham. I remember trying to climb on mom and dad's bed (and it being really hard to do because that bed was SO BIG!) and daddy picking me up to help me on the bed while I clutched that book as if it were a treasure. I asked if I could read it to them. They excitedly complied and I remember just laughing with them as we all shared this wonderful world of Dr. Seuss.

There was Hop on Pop (more a favorite of ours than our father's), Dr. Seuss's ABC, The Foot Book, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think, The Ear Book, The classic Cat in the Hat, the Nose Book, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are!, Yertle the Turtle and other Stories, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Horton Hatches the Egg, If I Ran The Circus, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut, Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You? Oh the list goes on and on and each more delightful than the last!

So why am I telling you this story?

Something else came to me the other day when I was again reading Dr. Seuss books with my girls. My 8 year old had chosen The Sneetches and Other Stories and as she was reading it to me, she stopped and said, "Mommy it's kind of like black people and white people isn't it?" I stopped and looked at her stunned and said, "Yes, sweety it is." Then it hit me like a ton of bricks!

Dr. Seuss taught me to be a liberal!

The Sneetches "Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches had bellies with stars and the Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars" was about the pointlessness of racism, bigotry and intolerance, and how "the man" in this case Sylvester McMonkey McBean makes money off the pointless racism until they realize that "Sneetches are Sneetches and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches. That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars and whether they have one, or not, upon thars."

If I Ran The Zoo was about taking care of the animals on the planet and the power of imagination.

The Lorax was a clear nod to hard core environmentalism and the evils of corporate America.

The Cat in the Hat taught me about the dangers lurking around corners for latch key children.

Horton taught me two lessons. One was about loyalty, duty and responsibility. He sat on that egg no matter what. "I meant what I said and I said what I meant, an elephant's faithful 100%" And in Horton Hears a Who I learned about the vastness of the universe and the importance one voice can make in the lives of millions "a person's a person no matter how small".

McElligot's Pool taught me to keep our waterways clean for our own enjoyment as well as respect for the animals that live in them. And about the beauty of sitting on the side of a lake fishing all day, day dreaming, and not catching a thing...

Happy Birthday To You! "when it ends, you're much happier, richer and fatter and the bird flies you home on a very soft platter" not sure where the liberalism is here, but I love that verse!" he goes on and maybe this is where he touches that liberal bent again "...and I wish I could do all these great things for you."

The Grinch taught me about enlightenment and forgiveness and redemption and the power of love and community.

Yertle the Turtle was a story about the evils of fascism (Ted himself said the evil Yertle was Hitler or Mussolini in 1987). "all the turtles are free as turtles and, maybe all creatures should be."

The Butter Battle Book was clearly about the nuclear arms race. As a child of that era, I even got the idiocy of what was happening in the 70's and Dr. Seuss' take on it back then!

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! taught me to think beyond the obvious.

Green Eggs and Ham ... don't judge a book (or a green egg) by it's color...I mean cover ;)

The last book Dr. Seuss wrote, is one of those books that I've bought so many of I lose count, was Oh! The Places You'll Go! He wrote it 1990. I was well into adulthood, but got it hot off the press.

I LOVE this book and consider it among his masterpieces. It is the only gift I give a graduating Senior when they leave high school. It is about hope, optimism, reaching for your dreams and watching for (and working through) the pitfalls. It is as lovely as Dr. Seuss's books can be and every time I read it I learn something new about my life and find new optimism to keep going.

That's what Dr. Seuss gave me.

He gave me something else that I'm not sure I would still have today if it wasn't for him. He gave me a love for reading. An ear for lyrical verse. The courage to write.

I'll leave you today with a line from The Lorax that seems to have stuck with me for decades. It is also a call to action...

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

For 40 years now I've cared a whole awful lot. I still believe. I'll always be a liberal because of Dr. Seuss.

Read to your children. I'm going to keep on reading Dr. Seuss to my girls because from one person who cares a whole awful lot, I'll send three more into the world and maybe, someday, there will be enough of us to make things better for all of us.

Thank you Dr. Seuss.

(p.s. try to spell check a document with Dr. Seuss titles in it sometime. It's worth a giggle!)

Apparently Congress Saw the Tibet Photos Too...

Nearly unanimously (one one no vote) passes US Condemnation of China for human rights abuses in Tibet. I watched the debate the night before and it was actually touching to again see a bipartisan effort to make a statement in favor of human rights regardless of any potential economic impact the statement could take.

Thank you to all the Congresspeople who stood behind the people of Tibet in this critical hour of their struggle.