Tag Archive: politics


Shirley Sherrod. Honest. Heroine

Filed Under: Misc Stuff, Politics, Rants by Fan of Jane — 1 Comment
July 21, 2010

Oh…the end of worry is near! My girls are getting in tonight and I have missed them like crazy!! I have had the requisite conversation with my long dead dad and he has his marching orders to keep their plane in the air and land them safely. It’s amazing how I immediately feel some semblance of power once they are in my sphere of influence even though I have no more power than when they are away. Mind games, ain’t they swell?!!

Had a girlie day today. Got the old hair and nails done. Don’t know why, not going anywhere but I guess I just needed to feel pretty. Being under the weather for several weeks can do that to a girl. Before the elder daughter left she let me know that the skunk look wasn’t really cuttin’ it and I had to agree so didn’t really want her to come back to the “bride of Frankenstein”…

Here’s something really random for you…What about that Shirley Sherrod case? It just goes to show that anything we say at any time in our life can be taken out of context and used to further an agenda. A three minute snippet of a twenty-seven minute speech was used to portray Ms. Sherrod as a racist. And on the basis of a YouTube airing of this snippet, she was forced to resign her position as the Georgia Director of the USDA.

Don’t be fooled by what you see on that three minute piece! This is propaganda of the worst kind and the best evidence I know of how important it is to get your information from more than one source and make sure you have the whole story before you make judgments. After all, our perspectives are the result of lives lived and as such we think they have a solid foundation. However, some of our experiences lead us to make assumptions and oftentimes those assumptions are just plain wrong. And I guess I would suggest that anytime we allow our assumptions to lead us to snap judgments, then that should be the red flag that says, “take a minute (or twenty-seven) to rethink.”

Now, the full twenty-seven minutes of Ms. Sherrod’s speech takes the audience on a journey that paints a complex picture about the role of not only race but also poverty in American culture. It presents a woman honestly airing her prejudices as well as the epiphany that showed her the error of her position. Oh, that the rest of us could be so honest! Because if we can’t face our shortcomings how will we ever grow and be a agent of change?

What did she get for her courage? Lambasted! Verbally tarred and feathered! Undercut by the very people who should have gotten their information from more that one source, who should have taken twenty-seven minutes before making a judgment! I am disappointed in the NAACP, I am disappointed in the Obama administration, I am disappointed in knee-jerk liberals who were so concerned with appearing to take the high road that they wound up in the gutter. I am disappointed in anyone who painted her a racist before knowing her. Isn’t that what every important civil rights leader in the last half century has asked. Get to know me, him, her, whoever…before judging.

Shirley Sherrod is about as far from a racist as she can get. Because one thing I know about a racist, they don’t question their belief system. They don’t recognize that they might be wrong. They don’t admit that they are behaving badly. And they certainly don’t encourage the choir to sing a different tune. I admire Shirley Sherrod’s willingness to use her life lesson to plant the notes of a different song in the hearts of her choir…

Thanks Shirley!

Some People’s Kids: Courageous. Honest. Deserving of much better treatment…

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The State of the Nation Just Makes Me Tired

Filed Under: Politics, Rants by Fan of Jane — 1 Comment
July 19, 2010

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Socialism as…
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

I really can’t mesh the definition above with the reality of life in 21st century United States. How exactly is Obama moving us towards socialism? According to a recent poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows that 55% of likely voters believe that the word “socialist” describes President Obama and his policies as “well” or “very well.”

If this is so, then why didn’t he just create a national bank instead of administering a bail out that allowed our banking system to not only continue doing business but also enabled a number of companies to grow even bigger? Why didn’t he have the government take over GM, Ford, and all of the other auto manufacturers that were failing instead of helping many of them to survive? Wouldn’t it have been better for them to go under and then have the government step in to save the workers?

I mean really…look at the definition, “collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods” not helping companies to continue to function independent of the government.

Is it Obama’s commitment to healthcare for all US citizens that makes him a socialist? If this is a socialist idea then your grandma and mine better be ready to give up their Medicare. And I hope you, your siblings, parents, and friends have great retirement benefits because social security will not be an acceptable option for any of us.

What is so scary about making sure that we all have access to affordable healthcare? How are we disadvantaged by making sure that preexisting conditions are covered? Where does it say that the availability of safe medications will undermine the democratic process? Someone please explain the problem because I just don’t get it.

As a nation we are just full of contradictions. We think the Democrats are better suited to run the country but we want to kick the bums out. We like Obama but we hate his policies. A new Time poll paints a schizophrenic picture of the electorate and frankly I’m just feeling tired of it all and a wee bit depressed. It’s not enough that we have to deal with the “party of no” killing any chance for bipartinsanism but we can’t even count on the voters to stick it to the real bums…

Some People’s Kids: Schizophrenic. Ignorant. Wouldn’t know a socialist from a hole in the ground…

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The Unemployed as Political Pawns

Filed Under: Politics, Rants by Fan of Jane — 2 Comments
July 15, 2010

Tuesday will bring yet another Senate vote on whether or not to extend unemployment benefits for those coming to the end of their benefits. A number of weeks ago the vote went against the extension. Why? Because there was no provision to pay for it! Really?!!!

Ok, I’m officially boggled. When we went to war the projected cost wasn’t even included in the budget. When we decided to create huge tax cuts, the cost was subsidized by a government surplus (built during the Clinton administration) that could have paid for that war or any other number of crises that followed. Any yet, when it comes to supporting those who have paid the price (losing their jobs) for years of mismanagement both in the private as well as the public sector, we hold those innocents as political hostages. Fucking crazy!

Passage of this measure seems like a no brainer to me. There are approximately five unemployed for every available job. In other words the labor market is still unable to keep up with the large numbers of unemployed as well as the increase in the population. So when workers lose their jobs and are coming to the end of their benefits, how are these former workers supposed to pay their rent let alone buy food and clothes and cars and houses or just keep the homes and cars they have.

Notice the reference to the term “former workers.” This is a rather important tidbit since one must have worked in order to collect unemployment. These aren’t those dreaded, scary deadbeats, these are people like you and I who have, so to speak, earned their unemployment checks. In addition they prove every week that they are actively looking for work in order to collect that check.

I don’t know if there are very many out in the world who have never lost a job but for those of you who don’t know the drill here are some insights. Each state determines their own guidelines. You only get a percentage of pay based on a predetermined number of months worked. In my state payments are a whopping minimum of $116/week to a maximum of $496/week (now that’s definitely the road to great wealth!).

Wow, now that I see it in black and white, I can see why an extension is soooo hard to vote for. After all, where is the motivation to go back to work? With all that free money coming in and all that free time to do whatever you want! Losing one’s job is simply the best of all possible worlds!

Let’s get real here. The money is barely enough to live on, if that, and looking for a job is kinda like having a full-time job without the payoff. And if you have half a brain, you can see that these are FORMER WORKERS!!! People who want to work, have worked, want to work again. Some have kids in college, homes they are trying to hold on to, elderly parents who depend on them, and a score of other reasons why they HAVE to earn an income.

So what is the benefit of supporting this previously hard-working population? Well, how’s about if they don’t receive financial support while they are trying to find a job they won’t be able to pay the rent/mortgage, buy food/clothing, or support the economy in any other viable way. They might become homeless, go on welfare, commit suicide…Is that what any of us would want for a member of our families?

The national unemployment rate as of June 2010 was 9.5%. So that means that somewhere in the neighborhood of 14.6 million people are unemployed with just under 4.5 million receiving benefits and just over 4.5 million additional receiving Federal extended benefits from the initial extension. What happens to the economy if those receiving the extension money lose it or the others come to the end of their unemployment?

My closest friend is one of those coming to the end of her benefits. Although she is currently working a contract job, she will only have two weeks of benefits left to fall back on. See, you don’t get to include contract work in your formula for benefits so even though she is working her available benefits will not grow. So if the contract work dries up, she might face losing her house, her car, all she has worked so hard for since her first job at sixteen.

Multiply her by 4 million! What does that do to the economy not to mention the psyche of a country? We don’t exactly have the strongest economy right now anyway! I don’t have the answer but I do have the feeling that it would not be a pretty sight. I also have the feeling that it will impact all of the rest of us, in ways we can’t even comprehend, for years to come.

These former workers are the backbone of our nation. They made our cars, computers, stereos, and espresso. They fixed our cars, built our houses, and carried our groceries. Think about it. What happens to our bodies if our backbone isn’t cared for or working properly? Maybe your foot hurts, then your head begins to ache, maybe your hand goes numb and maybe you can’t even walk!

We need a healthy backbone to have a healthy whole. Why is that so hard to understand?…

Some People’s Kids: Short-Sighted. Narrow-Minded. Unbelievably Stupid…

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