Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Four Letter Words

Yesterday the citizens of North Carolina voted in favor of Senate Bill 514, better known as Amendment 1, banning same sex marriage and domestic legal unions. This bill claims that only marriages between a man and a woman are valid, rendering all other unions, particularly same sex marriages illegal. 

I am, up to a point, happy that these people did this to themselves. In their never-ending hate and bigotry towards homosexuals, they as usual, shot themselves in the foot.

This new amendment will strip couples that live together outside marriage to include their partners in their insurance as they have enjoyed up to today. This amendment might affect women from being protected by the law from domestic violence from their partner, since law enforcement agents will no longer see their mate as a spouse. According to an UNC study, the amendment might question the legality of “contractual agreements and equitable claims between unmarried couples together; and (2) child custody and visitation determinations.” 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey from 2009 there are at least 186,366 couples in North Carolina that live together but are not married, 91 percent of them are heterosexual. According to the latest Census, almost half of all marriages in North Carolina end in divorce. As of 2010 the total population in North Carolina was of 9,535,483.  The population over the age of 18 was of 7,253,848 and 3,042,733 were over the age of 50. This means that approximately 4,211,115 were in what is commonly considered the "marrying" age. This amendment will affect approximately 372,732 people that are living out of wedlock and where only 33,546 are gay. I don’t think you need to be a mathematician to realize who will hurt the most by this new amendment… Isn’t it funny how hate can bite you in the face?

North Carolina has one of the highest divorce rates in the country, so it’s not as if they held the “sanctity” of marriage to such high standards. I will never be able to understand the opposition to marriage between two consenting adults, regardless of gender, race or religion.  How would a marriage between two women or two men, negatively affect a marriage between a man and a woman? Are heterosexuals afraid that gay marriages might last longer than theirs and therefore it will look more valid or valued? Or are they afraid that same-sex marriages might last longer than theirs and therefore making gay marriage more “sanctified” than their own? I honestly believe that is what they fear.  As it happens with most things, what motivates them are their own insecurities.

People in this country are using every vile excuse they can find to go back in time. They keep wishing to return to an era that besides of the golden era of Hollywood and of what can be considered the beginning of the African-American musical influence in what was up to that time an insipid musical repertoire of Caucasian America nothing else was as good as they fantasize it. Quite frankly, not even what I just mentioned was as good as they think, except for a handful of “classics.” The time in history where the Republican and Tea Party want to take this nation back to, was a very sad era where only the Caucasian Americans had rights; women, blacks, native Americans and the rest were considered sub-citizens. I refuse to accept this; we must fight this regression together as a country and as a people.

I rather live in a country where what matters most is the respect we have one another, where my neighbor can love whoever he or she chooses, where we all have the same right under the sun and under our Constitution. A place that constantly moves forward never to look back, unless it is not to repeat the same mistakes; but never wishing to go back and always moving forward. A country that puts its sight on a brighter future, where we are all the same regardless of sexual preferences, racial differences, religious beliefs or financial status. I know that we still have a long road ahead of us, but the road must always lie ahead of us, not behind us.

I am very proud of our Vice President Joe Biden, that so candidly spoke in favor of same-sex marriage this past Sunday on Meet the Press. He might have opened a can of worms, but may the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless him for it!



Perhaps it was the candor with which VP Biden expressed himself coupled with the fact that the world didn’t end after he offered his personal support that moved our President, Barack H. Obama, to openly support gay marriage today.  I don’t know, all I can say is that for the first time in American history a President has had the guts to say this to the world and I've never been prouder of my president than I was today.



Four letter words and they have such opposing meanings: LOVE and HATE… which one do you prefer to honor?


North Carolina Divorce Statistics (2010): (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/divorce_rates_90_95_99-10.pdf
North Carolina Marriage Statistics (2010): http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/marriage_rates_90_95_99-10.pdf

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Torture of Innocents

Today I received a petition in my inbox. I was about to sign without reading it or giving it a second look since it seemed it was for a good cause. I have no idea what prompted me to read it and then watch the video that was attached to it.

I was not only upset at what I saw, I was enraged… I am still enraged!

I must apologize for showing a FauxNews video, but they have the exclusive and couldn't find any other without their logo, this is too important, so without any further delay, I give you FauxNews:



I am very lucky that I don't have a child that has been diagnosed with Autism, or acute ADD/ADHD, schizophrenia or any of the mental illnesses that are so prevalent lately. That doesn’t mean I am ignorant about these disorders, but I am not familiar as to what parents with children suffering from these disorders go through.

I never imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, what was taking place at schools specializing in children with these illnesses across the country today. Whilst the country has been, and rightly so, up in arms about the tortures inflicted on “enemy combatants” ever since the attacks on the Twin Towers on the fateful morning on September 11, 2001 no one ever mentions the torture these defenseless children are subjected to at these “schools.”

I recall the horror stories about children with Down syndrome being left at mental institutions from birth, where their parents placed them never to visit them again because these children represented an embarrassment to them, more so if the parents were part of high society. Children who had Down syndrome, Autism and others mental illnesses where warehoused and separated from society even if their incapacitation was considered mild by today's standards. I remember hearing about the terrible treatment they were given by an unloving medical staff and the rejection of their parents. When I heard of this as a child, my heart went out to these poor children, and my innocent mind suffered imagining what I would feel if I were to experience something similar… I couldn’t help feeling poignant for these children and angry at society, and I couldn’t have been more than 8 years old. My views and position on the subject remain unchanged.

I thought those days of abandonment and torture of children was a thing of the past, a past that I justified thinking that people didn’t know any better. I was wrong.

Right here in the United States, there are plenty of these “special” schools where children are basically warehoused. Usually, parents take their sick children there because the children have been either rejected from regular schools due to the severity of their disorder or because of recurrent incorrigible behavior. Most, if not all of these parents, truly believe they are doing what is best for their children and unlike the parents from the past, they do visit them frequently and dream of their children improving enough for them to be back at home where they belong.

One of these schools is Judge Rotenberg Center – http://www.judgerc.org/ – from Boston, Massachusetts. If you were in desperate need of help for your child and you were to visit their site you would think you found an answer to your prayers. Nothing could be further from the truth. There has been at least 2 cases of extreme abuse inflicted on children and young adults. According to various sites, one of the two cases resulted in death of an almost blind young woman, who had the mental level of a preschooler and deaf. Before this young woman died, this institution punished what they thought it was an unacceptable behavior by withholding food from her, at times this poor young woman was fed less than 300 calories a day. On the fateful day when she died, she didn't want to eat and was vomiting, the school staff punished her with intense, repetitive and severe electroshock treatments. It turned out that she had an ulcer that burst and the case was dismissed because there was not enough evidence to support the accusation that the "treatment" was what caused her to die. I say that at minimum it was negligence. When that incident happened, the Center was called Behavior Research Institute, the judge that ruled in favor of the Institution was named Judge Rotenberg, the Institute was so grateful for the ruling that changed their name for the name they have today, Judge Rotenberg Center. This judge, in my opinion, should be investigated. The second case occurred ten years ago to Andre McCollins who is Autistic and the one that instigated the petition. Today, ten years later, Andre is catatonic, heavily sedated and with no hope of ever living an independent life, again due to the severity of the treatment.



There are other “schools” such as this one all over the country. These torturous “treatments” should be stopped immediately and we as a society should be infuriated about it, even more than we are about the treatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo.

I am attaching the petition, if you feel as sick as I do about this inhumane treatment, please sign it. Thank you!



Saturday, May 5, 2012

Fly Newt to the Moon


Wednesday, May 2 finally marked the end of Newt Gingrich as a Republican candidate in the 2012 elections. As it is customary with him, the speech announcing that he was suspending his campaign revolved entirely around him, enhancing his "contributions" to the Republican Party where according to his recollection he is the most capable. His speech was full of false statements and presumptions with a hefty dose of disrespectful comments towards the President of the United States.

He began his speech making a recount of his political life, since high school and basically taking credit for almost all the transformation of the GOP. In that regard, he was right, but of course he left out that he is the one that brought hate to the party and single-handedly transformed it into the irrational and extremist party we know today.

(07:40) “…Helping Reagan in the eight years he was president with Bob Walker and others founding the Conservative Opportunity Society.”
Gingrich makes reference that this society developed “a generation of solutions.” What he fails to mention is that the idea for this society was his alone as well as the “solutions,” which basically consisted of attacking the Democrats. The tactics the Republicans were using under the direction of Newt Gingrich, with Newt being the loudest representative of this unethical tactic, which used any means possible, whether they were true or not was irrelevant, what mattered most was destroying the Democratic Party. It is ironic that Newt Gingrich accused the Democrats of corruption… this coming from a guy who was forced to resign due to his improper, unethical and abusive behavior. Nothing has ever stopped this man from being what he is: a narcissist, egocentric son of a bitch that like a pit-bull trained to fight will lock his jaws on the his opponents' neck. How he accomplishes it is unimportant to him, what matters is annihilating them with whatever means necessary. A man that knows not the meaning of marriage, of loyalty and faithfulness, of being there in the good times and the bad times, had the audacity to initiate a witch hunt against Clinton for his extra-marital affairs when he couldn’t keep his own pants up.

(08:39)
“…We were able to work with President Clinton on four consecutive balanced budgets for the only time in our lifetime and we did it in a bipartisan manner because we represented the will of the American people not the will of Washington, DC.”
Newt claims that during the Clinton Administration, there was a balanced budget and it was all due to the Republicans in Congress, particularly himself. This is an utter lie, sorry, there is no other way to describe it. The Republicans in Congress during Clinton’s first budget proposal all voted “Nay” and Newt was asked for his resignation by his own party the following year, so in essence Newt had nothing to do with balancing the budget.

(08:53) “From 2001 to 2006 I worked as a volunteer on National Security and Health Issues with the Bush Administration.”
The National Security and Health Strategy that Newt is so proud of having contribute with the Bush Administration was basically a document granting the United States the right to invade a country if this country was deemed to be under a tyrant ruler. It names a list of countries where democracy – as viewed by us – is not part of their system. The Health “issues” were not particularly impressive and the only thing that I can give Bush credit for was funding scientists to find a cure for HIV.

(09:35) “...she’s [Callista] entered an author face in trying to lead and educate, starting with Sweet Land of Liberty, which Ellis the Elephant introduces 4 and 8 year-olds to American History in an effort to fill the vacuum left by all these very modern educators.”
This statement is offensive to all the teachers that are working hard at educating our children, who are underpaid, work long and exhausting hours and who buy school supplies to use in their classrooms out of their own pockets. This so-called book is a distorted view of American History. Not surprisingly, an elephant named Ellis is the ‘narrator’ of this farce and I say not surprisingly because the only connection of an elephant with American History, her fauna or anything else is with the Republican Party. There are many animals indigenous to America, which do not represent any political party that could have been used; instead Mrs. Gingrich #3 chose an elephant, coincidence? I think not. I went through the trouble of purchasing this book to see for myself their interpretation of American History and what was the message that they are indoctrinating our children with. I found that the pilgrims were brave and that with the help of God they survived and celebrated Thanksgiving. No mention of the God that truly helped them and which they later betrayed: the American Indian. No, other than a drawing there is absolutely no mention of the people from whom this land was stolen from. A few paragraphs later, she moves on to the Declaration of Independence and once more she managed to insert the word God by claiming that our forefathers said, “we have rights from God that can’t be taken away.” Further she mentions the American cowboy, going west in covered wagons, of their courage, their pioneering... again, no mention of the American Indian. According to this garbage, this land was empty and for the taking for those “great and courageous pilgrims and cowboys.” And to think that for this piece of shit I wasted $10.00!

Newt asserts that both he and Callista are committed to American History, if an example of their commitment is Callista’s interpretation of it, then what they are committed to is re-writing the American History where the heroes of the story, the “good guys” were the white settlers that came to this land and, while stealing, raping and murdering the natives had the audacity of calling the victims “savages.”

(10:52) “In addition, we’ll spend a great deal of time on religious liberty.” The Gingrichs are also committed to tackle what is so very important to them, religious liberty. This religious liberty issue is nothing more than their liberty to impose on the rest of America their religious beliefs. Forcing upon all of us their austerity and pushing God down the throat of everyone, including those of us that are either Agnostic or Atheist. They want to bring prayer back to schools and governmental institutions. The only “liberty” that matters to them is theirs; the rest of us can literally go to hell. This "religious liberty" is the same that wants to control every uterus in America making contraceptives inaccessible and abortions against the law. I’m telling you, the word liberty serves just as decoration, since their intentions don’t have a shred of liberty in it.

(12:00) “In addition we’re going to go to College Campuses and talk about personal Social Security Savings Accounts for Robert and Maggie’s generation...”
They are on a crusade to brainwash our youth by promoting among them the privatization of Social Security.

(13:04) “Well – Newt goes on - there is no reason you should give to people ninety-nine weeks for doing nothing and this is an important national debate about a country which was founded in 1607 by Captain John Smith saying to aristocrats, not the poor, to aristocrats citing St. Paul “If you don’t work, you won’t eat.”.”
To begin with, every single worker in this country contributes to the unemployment insurance as well as the employer, that money even though it is held in an account by the U.S. Treasury does not belong to the government. Secondly, at a time where the new "people" on the block have shipped our jobs overseas or simply are not hiring to instill in people the idea that it is President Obama’s fault that there are no jobs; to tell these unemployed and desperate people that they are being given money for doing nothing is an insult. Further, I know that Newt is constantly claiming that he wants to romanticize American History, but saying that Captain John Smith said to aristocrats – not the poor – that if they didn’t work they would not eat is misleading. First, even thought I know that the descendants of the pilgrims that arrived in the Mayflower think they were blue blood, they were not. The pilgrims were the unwanted people in England at the time, the troublemakers that were facing prosecution because of their religious views and incorrigible behavior, the Separatists and the Puritans. England basically shipped them to come to the New World and that way getting rid of them. They were not “aristocrats.” However, I do agree that free training in new fields should be offered to the unemployed, but their earned unemployment check should not be withheld pending this training, it should be voluntarily not mandatory. What about if the unemployed is a rocket scientist that NASA laid off? Should he need to be trained into a technical job, like a job in an oil field, in order for him to receive his unemployment check? Ridiculous!

Newt, of course, will devout some time to do what every other Republican is doing: (14:10) repeal Obamacare. That is nothing new; it is in the Republican rhetoric manual, their new political DNA.

Having the personality of a raging elephant, Newt couldn’t resist to insult President Obama and his administration when he said: (14:31) “I will focus on the National Security’s three zones: Radical Islamist who we still don’t have a grand strategy, it was nice that our President broadcasted from Afghanistan, the center for Al Qaeda today is Yemen, I’m sure the White House hasn’t gotten that briefing yet, but they will, eventually. The fact that we assume our opponents are as stupid as our bureaucracy is very dangerous and I think you would recognize we do not have a grand strategy in this zone.“
He is so arrogant that he truly believes that we are all idiots, and that we don't know that the reason why President Obama broadcasted from Afghanistan was to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden. Actually, Newt was very careful not to mention bin Laden at all because this will give credit to our President; rather he ridiculed the Administration for not knowing where the center of Al Qaeda is, supposedly Newt, who has no security clearance, is better informed than the President of the United States, and only he has a strategy, no one else… and to think there are idiots out there that believe what this man tells them it’s unimaginable, but it is obviously that he does have followers.

(16:49) “…I happen to think that there is a better future than methamphetamine and cocaine and I am going to argue for a romantic American future of doing things that matter that gets to the human spirit.”
I can only respond to his stupid sentence with an equally stupid comment: Wow! Apparently the rest of America believes that a better future entails the use of methamphetamine and cocaine, for all of us to be high as a kite! I think he is confusing Democrats with Paulists, who by the way is a Republican, what a moron!

(17:29) “...we do need to have a national discussion on how to get Congress to be effective. Congress has decayed dramatically in the last twenty years; the Senate in particular has become a stunningly dysfunctional institution.”
But of course that is the Senate in particular the one that has become dysfunctional! The Senate holds a majority of Democrats. Forget that the obstructions have come from the Republicans in the House and the Senate that refuse to collaborate with the Democrats. No, they [GOP] are doing their job, bringing Congress down in order to discredit the system, to make Americans disenchanted with it. That is the same strategy Newt used back in the 90s when he destroyed the reputation of Congress by attacking every Democrat in the House and the Senate. He succeeded back then and that was the only reason why Republicans held a majority for the first time in decades in the 90s; the same tactic they used and why we lost the majority during the 2010 elections and the same tactics they are using during the current elections. Republicans are the main reason why politics in this country became a dirty word.

Newt continued to what I think is a very dangerous and completely un-American statement: (18:05) “That is why, Callista and me, campaign for a republican president, a republican house, a republican senate, republican governors, republican state legislators, you have to recognize America is a complex mosaic of sub-government, the presidency matters, but so do all the other offices of sub-government.”
In other words, he envisions a one party system, a system that is the basis for a dictatorship. This is very dangerous indeed, if we remove the multiparty system that we enjoy in this country, the basis of government foreseen by the founding fathers will be ancient history.

Newt, however, brought to light what I always tell those that are not sure if they should or should not vote for President Obama in the upcoming elections: (18:59) The Supreme Court Judges. Newt did too. He mentioned that if only there is one reason to vote for Mitt Romney it should be because of the kind of Judges he would appoint. That is the same argument I present to the undecided. We already have too many conservative justices that are appointed for life, who have been appointed by Republicans and who have inflicted enough damage to the American people. How? All I have to say to you is, how do you like the personhood of corporations? You don’t like it? Thank your Republican Supreme Court Justices!

The attacks continued but what I think is worth mentioning from the rest of his speech are two things: First, his support for (19:26) Paul Ryan’s proposal and second, his support for (20:48) Scott Walker. Paul Ryan's “Path to Prosperity” is an attempt to eliminate all safety nets from the poor, the elderly, and the needy in favor of those that are wealthy and corporations; Scott Walker has ignored the will of his constituents imposing a kind of dictatorship in Wisconsin, which has propelled the citizens of Wisconsin to demand a recall.

Finally, Newt Gingrich refers to Mitt Romney, most of the time, as Governor Romney while, in contrast he refers to the President of this country as Obama, all the time except for once and that once I really think it was a slip of the tongue. That is completely disrespectful. That is a manipulation to place in people's minds the insignificance of President Obama and to escalate the status of Mitt Romney. I shouldn't be surprised; nothing straightforward, respectful or dignified can ever be expected from this frustrated loser.

Newt’s dream is the colonization of the moon. I propose that we collect enough funds to help him get there… Let’s buy him a one-way ticket to the moon; we could do very well without him on this planet! 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There is nothing I could say that could be better than being able to compare, side by side, the Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney and the President of the United States.

To be able to "feel" what they believe America's future should be. One believes in helping the American youth get an education by providing easier access to Federal Pell Grants, Financial Aid and lowering the interest rates of their loans; the other suggests that our youth ask their parents for a loan to start a business. That alone, should tell you the vision Mitt Romney has of America: a place where parents have financial solvency, a solid financial situation enough to lend their children money to start a business, like the story he mentioned in his speech, we all have parents able and capable of lending us $20,000 just because we want to venture into business immediately after high school. Perhaps, this is very easy for him and his circle of friends, but for the common and almost extinct middle class American its a dream beyond their current capabilities.

This is the man that wants to run this country. A man that thinks that a college student should start their own business instead of finishing school and of course, do not ask the government for help, ask your parents... after all, he is positive that everyone in America has 5 mansions, 10 cars and probably several bank accounts with over six figures in all of them, so there should be no problem!


Please notice the students behind President Obama, their enthusiasm and participation throughout the speech.  The atmosphere was vibrant.  No one can deny that President Obama is a great speaker, he lifts the spirits and inspires the masses.





Now in contrast, notice the students are barely keeping awake.  Not only do we have to endure Mitt Romney's sucking his teeth every so often during the speech, but he has some sort of speech impediment, he stutters a lot. The rhythm he maintains during his speech is enough to knock anyone out, it is almost unchangeable, from beginning to end.  The audience is not engaged, actually it's comatose.


THE UGLY:  I had to throw this in here to cover for the Ugly, sorry no transcript...   

Well, what can I say about Ron Paul, I think he is delusional if he still believes he has any chance of winning the primaries... but I think he will run as an Independent, I sure hope so, it will be better for President Obama if he does.




ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012

VOTE DEMOCRAT

RE-ELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA ONE MORE TERM!