It really all depends on whether you know what those numbers represent. There is a greater percentage of people who recognize that those social, political and economic changes we were promised before we went to the polls in 2008 are not visible. Many are wondering if they ever will be. I'm one of them. Getting a single payer option for healthcare doesn't mean anything if it doesn't really manage to create the competition that will force the health insurance companies to change their ways. All I've seen is a lot of politicians doing what most of us fear they always do: take care of their own needs at the expense of the people.
It really is disgusting and I'm ready to let it all fall apart so that building can begin in earnest.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thanks to the professionals
I would like to thank Renee Fountain at http://www.bookfetish.org. and James A. Cox at http://www.midwestbookreview.com for their reviews of my book, Just How DO Affirmations Work?
Check out what they have to say.
Check out what they have to say.
The Numbers are rather revealing
Over the past several months I've heard that as many as 83% of Americans are FOR a single payer plan for health care. And still there is none. Even the politicians who are for it haven't chosen to gather up the others who could make it happen, right now. I understand why President Obama cannot do it by himself. I don't understand why those who have the political power to make it happen are not using their clout to bring about the change that they can. Why is it they are still trying to convince the inconvincible, rather than just getting on with making the change that is being clamored for by their own constituents?
Okay, this is not Britain or Canada, but there is no reason why this country cannot come up with a way to have health care for all of our citizens that is unique to our own system and way of doing things. Right now. The idea of health insurance did not become a profit making system until a few political administrations ago. When the HMOs and PPOs first came along, they were non-profit groups. So, it is possible to have health care within groups that provide care in a unique American way as long as the issue of profit is removed. Health care is not something that needs to be profitable and it is possible to use a form of our current system for health care as long as it does not include a profit.
I listened to the speech President Obama made last week that intended to resolve some of the fear based rhetoric being spread all over the media. I was impressed with his candor and style. But I was left, just like everyone else, with the concern that his basic plan will not take shape for another four years. And I was also disturbed that the health insurance companies may just continue to rake-in profits. Actually, unless the government imposes laws to prevent them from charging the high amounts they already do to obtain health care, the only change is that those groups will gain an even greater ability to rake-in more profits at the expense of us, the citizens. It is very obvious that health costs must be governed. Just making it illegal for health insurance companies to not offer coverage or cancel coverage due to pre-existing conditions will not resolve the health care crisis unless part of the plan includes a cap on the price for the coverage. A lid without any thought about profit. As I listened to the speech I could just see the hands of the insurance company executives. Each of their hands caressing the other as they had greedy thoughts about the legally enforced expansion of their business numbers bringing their profits up to get them more private jets and exotic vacations.
Let's face it: this health care situation is the perfect place to decide what Americans believe about individual citizens and what we believe about business. The idea that corporations have the same rights as human beings is at issue. I am on the side that corporations are not human and therefore are not to get the same rights as individual citizens. Corporations are made up of individual citizens, so nothing is taken away from the corporations, but if those corporate entities get the same rights as humans, our political structure is then no longer democratic. Our politics becomes a free-for-all with those having the most money and power ever struggling to maintain or gain more and more at the expense of everyone else.
Okay, this is not Britain or Canada, but there is no reason why this country cannot come up with a way to have health care for all of our citizens that is unique to our own system and way of doing things. Right now. The idea of health insurance did not become a profit making system until a few political administrations ago. When the HMOs and PPOs first came along, they were non-profit groups. So, it is possible to have health care within groups that provide care in a unique American way as long as the issue of profit is removed. Health care is not something that needs to be profitable and it is possible to use a form of our current system for health care as long as it does not include a profit.
I listened to the speech President Obama made last week that intended to resolve some of the fear based rhetoric being spread all over the media. I was impressed with his candor and style. But I was left, just like everyone else, with the concern that his basic plan will not take shape for another four years. And I was also disturbed that the health insurance companies may just continue to rake-in profits. Actually, unless the government imposes laws to prevent them from charging the high amounts they already do to obtain health care, the only change is that those groups will gain an even greater ability to rake-in more profits at the expense of us, the citizens. It is very obvious that health costs must be governed. Just making it illegal for health insurance companies to not offer coverage or cancel coverage due to pre-existing conditions will not resolve the health care crisis unless part of the plan includes a cap on the price for the coverage. A lid without any thought about profit. As I listened to the speech I could just see the hands of the insurance company executives. Each of their hands caressing the other as they had greedy thoughts about the legally enforced expansion of their business numbers bringing their profits up to get them more private jets and exotic vacations.
Let's face it: this health care situation is the perfect place to decide what Americans believe about individual citizens and what we believe about business. The idea that corporations have the same rights as human beings is at issue. I am on the side that corporations are not human and therefore are not to get the same rights as individual citizens. Corporations are made up of individual citizens, so nothing is taken away from the corporations, but if those corporate entities get the same rights as humans, our political structure is then no longer democratic. Our politics becomes a free-for-all with those having the most money and power ever struggling to maintain or gain more and more at the expense of everyone else.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
How long does it take for all of the changes to….well, change?
Here we are still waiting for all of those elected politicians to realize that they are NOT the "elect". The majority of the people in this country are demanding a single payer health care system. You have to ask: Why don't we already have it? And why is it still being discussed? One reason is the amount of money being spent by companies to tell half truths and full blown lies so they can retain the status quo that lets them continue their business as usual. It is a case of double-speak. Those health insurance companies know that when there is a better system available too many of the current health insurance policy holders will change to that better system and stop paying exorbitant premiums. Another is the silent majority. We have spoken up and obviously been ignored, so we must continue to speak up and be heard or our personal heath care will remain an impersonal business!
The vast majority of companies in this country are not found on the Stock Exchanges. Nor are most of the employers and employees flying around in private jets. As long as we allow our most basic infrastructure to be based on the unrealistic ideas of those privileged people who gain their life-styles from stock earnings rather than from actually working there can be no parity, let alone equality of living in this country.
When the businesses in this country are freed from the extraordinary burden of an unhealthy system those who are in power and continue to block needed changes will be exposed for what they are. Well, with all of the information that has recently been made known they already are exposed. You remember when people were told they were not supporting our country if they did not support the war? That was a lie and it certainly will not work to suggest that a person who says the health insurance system in this country is not very good means that person is a bad citizen.
So I say, as are millions of other citizens, to all those elected politicians: pay attention. We all know that your first item of business is to keep your job. The people of this country are telling you that for you to keep your job, you are absolutely obligated to get those changes we voted you in to get, actually get changed.
The vast majority of companies in this country are not found on the Stock Exchanges. Nor are most of the employers and employees flying around in private jets. As long as we allow our most basic infrastructure to be based on the unrealistic ideas of those privileged people who gain their life-styles from stock earnings rather than from actually working there can be no parity, let alone equality of living in this country.
When the businesses in this country are freed from the extraordinary burden of an unhealthy system those who are in power and continue to block needed changes will be exposed for what they are. Well, with all of the information that has recently been made known they already are exposed. You remember when people were told they were not supporting our country if they did not support the war? That was a lie and it certainly will not work to suggest that a person who says the health insurance system in this country is not very good means that person is a bad citizen.
So I say, as are millions of other citizens, to all those elected politicians: pay attention. We all know that your first item of business is to keep your job. The people of this country are telling you that for you to keep your job, you are absolutely obligated to get those changes we voted you in to get, actually get changed.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Optimism is a BELIEF
Atoms are the tiny particles making up everything. And they have their own composition. Quantum physic scientists are still trying to figure out how all the electrons and protons are affected by some person conducting experiments with them. We are all made up of energy—protons and electrons—set into various patterns of motion. Our thoughts are energy and they travel faster than the speed of light. Thoughts are not physical. Thoughts are not some active neurons in our brains. No matter whether every neuron in our brain is mapped out and examined there is not a single thought to be seen. It is very important to know that our beliefs, no matter their origin or cause, energize our thoughts. Each of us retains every belief we ever had. They are used to understand all of life's encounters and experiences. Yet, because they are based on personal perception, there is an ability to make changes. Truth is subjective and fluid.
There is no doubt that staying positive is an asset in anyone's life. But, we need to remember that every person lives what they believe! No thing ever happens in any person’s life that is not believed will happen. It is also important to remember that beliefs are not necessarily aligned with what a person says she or he believes. Many a personal belief is not popular and has gone underground into the sub-conscious, where emotionally hot topics are hidden, as a protection device for the person who does believe it.
Each of us has an obligation to reconcile our need to deal with our instincts to survive and our need to overcome our instinctual beliefs that self-protection is the only way to survive. We are responsible for reconciling our instinctual survival beliefs with the truth of unconditional love and absolute abundance. When intellectual reasoning indicates the issues of life are not reconcilable it is mandatory that life and life's events be looked at from another perspective.
We do affect the orientation of energy, forming molecules and wave patterns that are used by our minds. We thus put into effect our beliefs and create our reality. All energy shifts and changes, as it is formed within our unconscious and sub-conscious states, so we then experience it in our conscious condition. What we do not consciously think about we remain unconscious about. What we feel sub-consciously about that bothers us, well it still materializes in our conscious reality. All three: unconscious, conscious, and sub-conscious thoughts and beliefs shape and form the energy that creates our lives. Every one of us is the result of what we believe. We select the energy to create whatever we believe we can have and what we can be. The right sides our brains imagines it and the left sides of our brains bring it into reality.
All we create in our conscious mind becomes limited by our consciousness. It is placed within some type of structure. And all beliefs are controlling in some way and to some extent. Our controlled beliefs are the expressions of our self-perception. Those perceptions extend to the groups, communities, states, and world self-perceptions. All of us together make up our group-consciousness. Both individual and group consciousness that is positive, compassionate, tolerant, creative, enlightened, forgiving, and harmonious allows us to evolve mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
There is no doubt that staying positive is an asset in anyone's life. But, we need to remember that every person lives what they believe! No thing ever happens in any person’s life that is not believed will happen. It is also important to remember that beliefs are not necessarily aligned with what a person says she or he believes. Many a personal belief is not popular and has gone underground into the sub-conscious, where emotionally hot topics are hidden, as a protection device for the person who does believe it.
Each of us has an obligation to reconcile our need to deal with our instincts to survive and our need to overcome our instinctual beliefs that self-protection is the only way to survive. We are responsible for reconciling our instinctual survival beliefs with the truth of unconditional love and absolute abundance. When intellectual reasoning indicates the issues of life are not reconcilable it is mandatory that life and life's events be looked at from another perspective.
We do affect the orientation of energy, forming molecules and wave patterns that are used by our minds. We thus put into effect our beliefs and create our reality. All energy shifts and changes, as it is formed within our unconscious and sub-conscious states, so we then experience it in our conscious condition. What we do not consciously think about we remain unconscious about. What we feel sub-consciously about that bothers us, well it still materializes in our conscious reality. All three: unconscious, conscious, and sub-conscious thoughts and beliefs shape and form the energy that creates our lives. Every one of us is the result of what we believe. We select the energy to create whatever we believe we can have and what we can be. The right sides our brains imagines it and the left sides of our brains bring it into reality.
All we create in our conscious mind becomes limited by our consciousness. It is placed within some type of structure. And all beliefs are controlling in some way and to some extent. Our controlled beliefs are the expressions of our self-perception. Those perceptions extend to the groups, communities, states, and world self-perceptions. All of us together make up our group-consciousness. Both individual and group consciousness that is positive, compassionate, tolerant, creative, enlightened, forgiving, and harmonious allows us to evolve mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Anger turns to Disgust
You've got to ask how the health care companies and drug manufactures dare to use Medicare as an example of how much it would cost the government—the tax payers—to provide universal healthcare to everyone in this country. Using Medicare as an example is pure double speak. When everyone in this country, including the young and healthy, gets to use the same system the costs drop automatically—and dramatically. It's the hodgepodge of heath insurance options that maintains the high costs of health care.
It is mandatory that people stop taking from others because of their irrational fears about there not being enough to go around. Whether they are greedy, arrogant, or fearful doesn't matter because it still brings about the same results.
Does President Obama desire that he be remembered throughout history as just another president who got elected and then didn't follow through on his campaign promises? Is he going to maintain a status quo because of the pressures from those who did not elect him into office, but gave him campaign funds that can be used against him, to prevent him from making the changes he espoused? Are those elitists, who are willing to sacrifice the long term future of this country to retain the short term position of greed, be allowed to destroy this country? And will the president along with members of our government continue to be blind-sided by those fearful people heading companies based on greed? Will they allow a system that ignores so many millions of this countries people and is based on profit to continue? Will they allow this country to remain a global laughing stock?
Do we truly have a government of the people for the people? Or are we an enslaved people to the wealthy? Are we victims? Or are we a people courageous enough to demand that we get the changes we were told we were going to get? If we, the workers, are going to continue to work so hard that we are exhausted and can only manage to sit—checked out—at our internet screens, then at least email a letter to those who were elected letting them know there remains a spark of energy left in us to demand those changes that were promised to us.
Stop feeling separate and special. Know the truth: half of all the bankruptcies filled recently were caused by the fact that people were unable to pay medical related bills. And three quarters of that fifty percent actually did have health insurance.
The populist vote got Obama the Presidency. Be one of the people for the people to stop those actions being taken by the greedy and fearful in power. Be courageous and honest. Allow for the reforming of the foundations of our current politics. The business of government must be about creating equality for all. The powerful can be prevented from using their unequally taxed wealth to brain-wash an over-worked and under-educated population to deflect what is really going on. We have the ability to stop them from continuing their self-serving frauds and bring about a true free-market that is not concerned with life's basic necessities.
It is mandatory that people stop taking from others because of their irrational fears about there not being enough to go around. Whether they are greedy, arrogant, or fearful doesn't matter because it still brings about the same results.
Does President Obama desire that he be remembered throughout history as just another president who got elected and then didn't follow through on his campaign promises? Is he going to maintain a status quo because of the pressures from those who did not elect him into office, but gave him campaign funds that can be used against him, to prevent him from making the changes he espoused? Are those elitists, who are willing to sacrifice the long term future of this country to retain the short term position of greed, be allowed to destroy this country? And will the president along with members of our government continue to be blind-sided by those fearful people heading companies based on greed? Will they allow a system that ignores so many millions of this countries people and is based on profit to continue? Will they allow this country to remain a global laughing stock?
Do we truly have a government of the people for the people? Or are we an enslaved people to the wealthy? Are we victims? Or are we a people courageous enough to demand that we get the changes we were told we were going to get? If we, the workers, are going to continue to work so hard that we are exhausted and can only manage to sit—checked out—at our internet screens, then at least email a letter to those who were elected letting them know there remains a spark of energy left in us to demand those changes that were promised to us.
Stop feeling separate and special. Know the truth: half of all the bankruptcies filled recently were caused by the fact that people were unable to pay medical related bills. And three quarters of that fifty percent actually did have health insurance.
The populist vote got Obama the Presidency. Be one of the people for the people to stop those actions being taken by the greedy and fearful in power. Be courageous and honest. Allow for the reforming of the foundations of our current politics. The business of government must be about creating equality for all. The powerful can be prevented from using their unequally taxed wealth to brain-wash an over-worked and under-educated population to deflect what is really going on. We have the ability to stop them from continuing their self-serving frauds and bring about a true free-market that is not concerned with life's basic necessities.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Why is it made to sound so tricky?
I don't know about the rest of the country, but I personally feel a bit angry about this health care business. And that's about what sums it up—business. Why does health care need to be about businesses making a profit? I've been in the position where it became necessary to choose to pay the high cost for insurance under the COBRA system when my husband was laid off from his job and $800.00 a month for health care is expensive! The health laws are still being geared towards companies making profit from people who are in need of a basic necessity. Look around the globe and see how other countries care for their people. Surely, Americans are bright enough to take the best of what those countries do so we can create something even better here.
As long as profit is part of the dynamics we will never be able to sort this situation out. Companies in the United State of America that offer really acceptable health insurance to their employees are unable to compete with other countries that provide health care in a national format. How can that be good for the free-market system?
I am not for revising a system that continues to be geared towards making a profit on health. President Obama needs to stop listening to the insurance companies that have ruined the ability for citizens in this country to obtain health care and pay attention to what must occur to gain a health care option for every person. Anyone who wants to pay for health services outside a national system is welcome to do it, but as long as everyone is not included in a national system, there remains a real lack of freedom in this country.
As long as profit is part of the dynamics we will never be able to sort this situation out. Companies in the United State of America that offer really acceptable health insurance to their employees are unable to compete with other countries that provide health care in a national format. How can that be good for the free-market system?
I am not for revising a system that continues to be geared towards making a profit on health. President Obama needs to stop listening to the insurance companies that have ruined the ability for citizens in this country to obtain health care and pay attention to what must occur to gain a health care option for every person. Anyone who wants to pay for health services outside a national system is welcome to do it, but as long as everyone is not included in a national system, there remains a real lack of freedom in this country.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Americans Are Not Stupid
Go ahead, send a picture of a tea bag to the President on April 1, 2009, but include a letter that states what you think about how our taxes are generated and used.
Some people take from others because of irrational fears about there not being enough to go around. It can be argued whether that is a true definition of greed, but the results of being greedy or fearful ends up being the same. The people at the top of major corporations are an arrogant and greedy bunch. The regular working people who have good ideas within those companies are required to accept a pittance for "selling" them to the corporations. So, without any justified reward the workers keep their best ideas to themselves and continue to endlessly complain about the corruption, greed, and mismanagement at the top. Having worked for the largest corporation, many tiny companies, and been self-employed for over 30 years I know who gets what and when in each of those situations. Don’t kid yourself into thinking the auto manufacturer company's top executives will give up much to get the bail-out money from the Federal government. Most of the money will come out of the paychecks from those on the lines and staff personnel—unimportant people who just do the work.
The arrogance of egotism has always been and remains a large part of our tax system, too. How can the government prevent those who used their seemingly ever present poor judgment to lose so much money held in 401Ks from getting super incomes and bonuses when they have lawyers to protect them? Our government needs to look at it in an entirely different way. The middle income tax-payers need not always be the group losing as the process of exercising a "free-market" continues. By making everyone, including corporations and companies, pay taxes on the gross rather than the net there could be trillions of more dollars going into the tax funds, and those taxes would be paid on an equal basis. It is not possible for equality to occur as long as there are so many hidden loop-holes only known about or remotely available to the wealthy. Recently it has been clearly shown that only a few reap the rewards—and continue to do so no matter how big the gains or the losses might be. But don't get lost in the emotionalism in letting those excessive bonuses and salaries beome yet another means of keeping people angry and unable to think clearly about the fact that the system is simply unequal and therefore unworkable.
Economists refuse to look at a flat rate tax because it's too simple. Complexity is preferred as long as real human conditions are not part of the analysis. Citing the issue of the poor not being taken care of is a lame excuse because it's easy enough to set a bar where zero tax is part of the rules. Or, if there is some concern that those living on the edge of poverty are "getting a free ride" then use a sliding scale. However, the scale must be: less paid by those at the bottom and more paid by those at the top, and without any loop-holes or write-offs being involved. Maybe it's okay to let major corporations spend their money on lobbyists and dubious advertising as long as none of it is tax deductible.
Rather than taxing the middle-class again to maintain the status quo, let's go about providing free universal health care, pure water, clean air, education, housing, and food that still truly offers incentives to get to work by including every person, company, and corporation in the tax system equally.
The populist vote got Obama the Presidency. It can also clear away those actions being taken by the greedy and fearful in power, but only when courage and honesty are the foundations of the current politics. The business of government could be about creating equality for all. But as long as the powerful are allowed to use their unequally taxed wealth to brain-wash an over-worked and under-educated population while deflecting what is really going on there is no free-market, only self-serving fraud.
May Sinclair, PhD
3/16/09
Learn more about history: http://mythoughtsonhistory.blogspot.com
Some people take from others because of irrational fears about there not being enough to go around. It can be argued whether that is a true definition of greed, but the results of being greedy or fearful ends up being the same. The people at the top of major corporations are an arrogant and greedy bunch. The regular working people who have good ideas within those companies are required to accept a pittance for "selling" them to the corporations. So, without any justified reward the workers keep their best ideas to themselves and continue to endlessly complain about the corruption, greed, and mismanagement at the top. Having worked for the largest corporation, many tiny companies, and been self-employed for over 30 years I know who gets what and when in each of those situations. Don’t kid yourself into thinking the auto manufacturer company's top executives will give up much to get the bail-out money from the Federal government. Most of the money will come out of the paychecks from those on the lines and staff personnel—unimportant people who just do the work.
The arrogance of egotism has always been and remains a large part of our tax system, too. How can the government prevent those who used their seemingly ever present poor judgment to lose so much money held in 401Ks from getting super incomes and bonuses when they have lawyers to protect them? Our government needs to look at it in an entirely different way. The middle income tax-payers need not always be the group losing as the process of exercising a "free-market" continues. By making everyone, including corporations and companies, pay taxes on the gross rather than the net there could be trillions of more dollars going into the tax funds, and those taxes would be paid on an equal basis. It is not possible for equality to occur as long as there are so many hidden loop-holes only known about or remotely available to the wealthy. Recently it has been clearly shown that only a few reap the rewards—and continue to do so no matter how big the gains or the losses might be. But don't get lost in the emotionalism in letting those excessive bonuses and salaries beome yet another means of keeping people angry and unable to think clearly about the fact that the system is simply unequal and therefore unworkable.
Economists refuse to look at a flat rate tax because it's too simple. Complexity is preferred as long as real human conditions are not part of the analysis. Citing the issue of the poor not being taken care of is a lame excuse because it's easy enough to set a bar where zero tax is part of the rules. Or, if there is some concern that those living on the edge of poverty are "getting a free ride" then use a sliding scale. However, the scale must be: less paid by those at the bottom and more paid by those at the top, and without any loop-holes or write-offs being involved. Maybe it's okay to let major corporations spend their money on lobbyists and dubious advertising as long as none of it is tax deductible.
Rather than taxing the middle-class again to maintain the status quo, let's go about providing free universal health care, pure water, clean air, education, housing, and food that still truly offers incentives to get to work by including every person, company, and corporation in the tax system equally.
The populist vote got Obama the Presidency. It can also clear away those actions being taken by the greedy and fearful in power, but only when courage and honesty are the foundations of the current politics. The business of government could be about creating equality for all. But as long as the powerful are allowed to use their unequally taxed wealth to brain-wash an over-worked and under-educated population while deflecting what is really going on there is no free-market, only self-serving fraud.
May Sinclair, PhD
3/16/09
Learn more about history: http://mythoughtsonhistory.blogspot.com
Friday, February 13, 2009
POLICITAL MATURITY
During this time of people trying to get the government to deal with the real issues that are preventing this country from being on a balanced and even keel, the old complaints are being used to ground and beach our political boat onto the shores of despair.
How difficult is it to understand that throwing money at a problem without accountability is part of the problem rather than a solution? We all know that is what already occurred with the results being what we are dealing with now: lay-offs, company closings, home foreclosures, and inaccessible health care. All of this bickering only adds to the problem of being unable to trust our government. Nor is there much credibility in the media when we repeatedly hear the depressing and misleading stories put out by those who use fear tactics to maintain their position within the disillusioning status-quo. If politics isn't about the welfare of the people being governed, but continues to focus on infighting and using the current political structure to get elected then our country is in more trouble than we think.
How difficult is it to understand that throwing money at a problem without accountability is part of the problem rather than a solution? We all know that is what already occurred with the results being what we are dealing with now: lay-offs, company closings, home foreclosures, and inaccessible health care. All of this bickering only adds to the problem of being unable to trust our government. Nor is there much credibility in the media when we repeatedly hear the depressing and misleading stories put out by those who use fear tactics to maintain their position within the disillusioning status-quo. If politics isn't about the welfare of the people being governed, but continues to focus on infighting and using the current political structure to get elected then our country is in more trouble than we think.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Here is a great book to read...
Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush
I just read a book that I'd give a ten star rating! I recommend this book be read by everyone. We need to know what actually happened during the Bush Administration. We already know the results, but this humorous book is full of the actions that lead us all to the state of our nation's unhealthy economic and social position.
Jim Hightower names names and quotes quotes along with giving public statistics that are alarming rather than tediously boring. This is not just another gloomy look about what's happened. It issues a message to individuals: that we each do count and can make a difference. How? By demanding that those people we vote for, at all levels of our government, do what they say they will do. And, if they don't, remove them from their elected offices. By not being fearful of bullies, the bullying will stop.
I just read a book that I'd give a ten star rating! I recommend this book be read by everyone. We need to know what actually happened during the Bush Administration. We already know the results, but this humorous book is full of the actions that lead us all to the state of our nation's unhealthy economic and social position.
Jim Hightower names names and quotes quotes along with giving public statistics that are alarming rather than tediously boring. This is not just another gloomy look about what's happened. It issues a message to individuals: that we each do count and can make a difference. How? By demanding that those people we vote for, at all levels of our government, do what they say they will do. And, if they don't, remove them from their elected offices. By not being fearful of bullies, the bullying will stop.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
RELIGION DOES NOT HAVE THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS OF MORALITY
I do wonder whether this country is ready to explode into civil unrest. There have been so many instances where civil rights and the US Constitution are simply ignored or manipulated. Yes, certainly in the past, but I'm actually referring to our current experiences.
Recently I listened to Mike Huckabee (Republican Governor of Arkansas) calmly spar with John Stuart (The Daily Show) about the issue of marriage being between one woman and one man. It was curious how Huckabee drug out the biblical scriptures to support his position, but was rather silent when Stuart pointed out the hazards and flaws in using "the way things were done in the past" per the Bible when it is just as easy to insist that men should have many wives and even concubines.
It was pathetically clear that the religious right is extremely comfortable in selecting whatever is useful from the past to support their current means of holding people hostage to the right's own ideas by using morality as an emotion weapon. Everyone has a strong desire to be considered moral. The challenge is to be moral, not just rationalize some personal agenda.
Besides, this issue is about a secular position, not a religious one. The US Constitution is a moral document. It is not based on any brand of religion. One of its major points is to keep Church and State separate. Is it not obvious that various people's ideas about religion have and continues to cause much strife in this world? A person does not need to see this matter is not about homosexual or heterosexual rights to the sacred, it is about civil rights.
Recently I listened to Mike Huckabee (Republican Governor of Arkansas) calmly spar with John Stuart (The Daily Show) about the issue of marriage being between one woman and one man. It was curious how Huckabee drug out the biblical scriptures to support his position, but was rather silent when Stuart pointed out the hazards and flaws in using "the way things were done in the past" per the Bible when it is just as easy to insist that men should have many wives and even concubines.
It was pathetically clear that the religious right is extremely comfortable in selecting whatever is useful from the past to support their current means of holding people hostage to the right's own ideas by using morality as an emotion weapon. Everyone has a strong desire to be considered moral. The challenge is to be moral, not just rationalize some personal agenda.
Besides, this issue is about a secular position, not a religious one. The US Constitution is a moral document. It is not based on any brand of religion. One of its major points is to keep Church and State separate. Is it not obvious that various people's ideas about religion have and continues to cause much strife in this world? A person does not need to see this matter is not about homosexual or heterosexual rights to the sacred, it is about civil rights.
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