Genetically Modified Sheep

I was going to write about what Congress did this year… But we all know that Congress accomplished almost nothing – to be magnanimous – and that it will go into the annals of history as the laziest, most incompetent Congress in history. Quite an accomplishment!

The whole world is a mess!

2013 has proven to be quite a disastrous year, where the poor get poorer and middle class is quickly disappearing, if it hasn’t disappeared already.

During 2013, we were witnesses of the greed and lack of compassion from almost every government around the globe. The rich is getting richer, most reporting profits never seen before and yet, there are no jobs, here or anywhere else.

What’s more, while these fat cats are purring in content with their accomplishments, they are reducing salaries, laying off more people, forcing people to work harder for less… and we silently obey.

In this country, at State and Federal level, many bills have been presented by the insensible Right wing to change the laws of this country to allow for children to earn a living. Of course they dress up the bill as a way to help families in need, so there is more money coming to the family and all that crap that they think will make them look “compassionate.” Of course, a child that works for any company (no limitations in the type of work or hours worked) will earn less than an adult… isn’t that grand? That will create more lay-offs of adults, since we do know for certain a corporation will not give a damn about a worker’s needs, if they can hire someone else to do the job for far less, they will do it without hesitation... after all for corporations, all it matters is to keep the shareholders happy.

Several attempts by the GOP have been made to privatize education… There is a collective effort to squash the middle class, to create more and cheaper labor to please the elite class. And we are doing nothing, we remain silent.

During 2013, they went as far as claiming that a person can survive, perfectly well, on $4.50 a day. Of course, for them it didn’t matter that nutritious food couldn’t be purchased with $4.50 a day; you won’t go hungry, you may not last long, but you will have your tummy filled with ramen soup and some slices of bread, good enough for the poor. So they slashed food stamps, damn poor people! How dare they get $4.50 a day?

Abortion is another issue where bills are being introduced all over the country, repeatedly. They need more people, more cheap labor and they are doing all possible to get them, as fast as possible. Of course, no health insurance for these indigents, that’s why they have tried to repeal “Obamacare” so many times and they are completely against single payer… who do we think we are for them to “pay” for anything that will benefit the masses? They want us broke in spirit and financially, ignorant and in masses, the more the merrier, after all… the more poor and broken people there are, the cheapest the labor for their masters.

Not satisfied with creating Citizen's United, turning Corporations into people as far as contributions is concerned, various bills have been introduced by the GOP and Teabaggers in Congress giving corporations the right to vote! Fortunately, these bills have died on the floor... but we know they'll keep trying and pretty soon, "We, the People" will be referring only to corporations as we will become "We, the Parasites."

The above wasn’t sufficient, so Congress closed the year with a bang. They ended unemployment benefits for over a million people and went on, to what in their opinion was a well-earned vacation, to enjoy Christmas and New Year’s with their families, at their mansions and with their stomach filled with the best the country has to offer. Theirs is a life of luxury: a good job with great salaries and benefits, a good future even if they are voted out… if they are, they’ll tour the country giving speeches for a few hundred thousand dollars and life will keep going, as grand as ever.

I truly hope for the sake of this country and my own, that 2014 will be different… But as long as the people are dormant, ignorant, condescending and sheepish nothing will truly change. We will still be extremely happy at the dry bone they throw at us and we will lick their hands in appreciation. We cannot conceive any other way of life but to be slaves for the rest of our lives while others earn in a year, at minimum, ten times more than we will ever earn in our lifetime and for far less work… No, it doesn’t matter, as long as we can pay for a roof over our heads at ever escalating prices, a car that won’t last for more than 10 years, insurance that when needed doesn’t cover much, electricity that keeps rising, water which is contaminated, food which has been genetically modified and the list goes on and on, but we are happy… at the end, we work and we work, but no matter how hard we do it, we will not have money left over for a decent vacation or to save for when we are too old to continue with the madness.

What would it take to change our fate? Basically a miracle! We must accept that we are either cowards, conformists or we have been genetically modified to be sheep.

Baaaah!

2013

2013 was a damn awesome year

For the wealthy, the lobbyist and the rich puppeteers

$4.50 a day was too much for a meal

So they slashed food stamps and destroyed meal on wheels.

.

Healthcare for everyone? What a terrible idea!

They fought and they fought

To block it, to change it and to have it repealed.

They cried about jobs, because there was none

But not once they came up with a thought or a plan

To create more jobs or to help the unemployed.

.

In virtue of the situation

With so many without work

They decided it was best

Not to help the unemployed.

.

Off goes the unemployment assistance!

Off goes food for the needy! After all, they are claiming

The poor, the elderly, the unemployed and the vets

It’s what’s causing our country to have such great debts.

.

So have a Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year

Remember who screwed us

And vote them out next year.

Faith in Humanity

This year has been a very tough year. I lost my job, my mother was very ill for several months and I lost my uncle, who I loved as a father. In order to make ends meet, I moved to a smaller place that is basically a dump but at least we were able to be together, my mother and me, and that’s all that really matters, that is what is truly important.

 

Many of you know that I’ve been having computer issues and that I’ve tried to raise funds through ads that no one ever clicked, through actually begging for donations, etc. I was never able to raise not even $100. I understood because not only I am unknown to most of you but also because most of us are struggling – I know that I am not alone.

 

But, I am grateful for the trying times I’m going through. If it wasn’t because of this time in my life where I have nothing, none of the magical and wonderful experiences that I am receiving from friends I’ve never met in person and who are at faraway places, would have taken place.

 

I love nature and animals… I love people and life. Those that know me know that along with politics, I am very passionate about animals.

 

A dear friend of mine, who lives in England, surprised me with a very kind gesture: A 2014 Calendar from the Save the Elephant Foundation (SEF), he knew I couldn’t afford to purchase one and ordered it for me. It is now sitting on my desk; I get to enjoy daily the pictures of these wonderful creatures, greeting me every day… I encourage everyone to get one, you will be helping a wonderful cause.

 

That gesture moved me, I wasn’t expecting it and fills me with joy ever since.

 

Then, I had the most wonderful proof that there is still kind people out there.

 

Another friend, who I haven’t met in person, made an offer to me that I couldn’t refuse. I was offered to buy any computer I wanted as long as it had everything I needed to continue my blog and school. The offer was made in such a way that I couldn’t refuse. My friend offered to buy it for me and I could pay it back once I got back on my feet… or not, it was up to me. I was astonished! I have never seen such generosity from those close to me, imagine from a virtual friend! I began to cry, couldn’t contain myself… it wasn’t as much the computer but the act of generosity, the unexpected act and unselfishness from a friend that really moved me, that restored my faith in humanity, which was almost completely gone.

 

Today, I received another confirmation of how wonderfully unselfish people can be. A friend from Canada sent me a package that contained beautiful ornaments, two of which had the picture of a very loving child that I adore: Hannah. Hannah is a very special little girl that sings like an angel! I’ve never seen her in person, but I can tell you all I love her very much and try to follow all her advances and sometimes, her tribulations. This little girl is an example to follow, she has gone through hell and back… she is a true champion and fighter. The package also included two Christmas ornaments of two angels, which were done by my friend’s mother who makes them, sells them and the money collected she donates to help cancer patients. What a wonderful gesture, what a wonderful woman! Inside the box was an envelope that clearly had a card in it; the envelope read: OPEN LAST, so I obeyed. When I opened it I began to weep… it contained $60! Thanks to my friend, my mother and I will have a Christmas dinner since I didn’t have any money for that this year.

 

I am so happy that I have had the honor of knowing wonderful people such as my friends, friends that I have been mocked for calling them friends when we haven’t met. I have always said that I didn’t need to meet someone in person to feel close to them, to feel their happiness and joys, their pain and frustrations and to be “there” for them even when we are thousands of miles away. I know some people in person that have no idea of what I am going through, however, my cyber-friends do. Perhaps it is because I feel free to express myself since I will not see their faces if they disapprove of what I am saying. Maybe it is because it is so easy to unfriend someone in Facebook… who knows! All I know is that I’ve spilled my soul with them and they have been there, every time, every step of the way and I am grateful to have them in my life... Every single one of them.

 

I might be going through very rough times, rougher than anything I’ve gone through before but… I am thankful and very fortunate for it. It is in times such as this that you learn who your friends are and in my case, the best gift I have had in all of my life was given to me this holiday season where I learned, first hand, that there are good people out there, that humanity hasn’t been lost.

 

To my wonderful friends: I will never have enough words to thank you for your kindness and for the love you’ve shown me, but know that you have a friend in me, unconditionally, until the day I die.

 

Happy Holidays!

Takes Two To Tango

This week Michigan became the 9th state where a woman would need private and separate health insurance to have an abortion. It is known as “Abortion Insurance Rider.”

A Rider is an extra expense weighing on women and women only. But even though a woman pays an additional premium for this coverage, if she is not ready to have a family or if the fetus has no chance of surviving outside the womb, she still is not allowed to have an abortion unless the State gives her the thumbs up.

These laws are being forced on women by the religious right who cares not for the rights of anyone, who doesn’t believe in the democratic system of voting – mostly because they know that if these bills are placed on the ballot, they will be rejected by the minority - so they sneak their opinion and believes into other bills, sometimes not even related to health or reproduction.

In most red states, only if the mother’s life is at risk can a woman have an abortion. This means, that even when she pays more for her insurance plan than her partner and more than a woman from another, she still doesn’t have the right to end a pregnancy… it is not her choice, it is the choice of the State, the religious right and the doctor, but never the woman.

In Idaho [R] women must get a Rider to cover the possibility of an elective abortion. The only acceptable reasons to have an abortion in Idaho is if the woman’s life is at risk and if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. No other reason is accepted, even with a Rider.

In Kansas [R], Kentucky [D], Michigan [R], Missouri [D], Nebraska [R], North Dakota [R] and Oklahoma [R] a woman can have an abortion only to “preserve the life of the female.” Rape, incest, a deformed fetus or intrauterine death (fetus dead in the womb) any of these possibilities are not good enough reasons to have an abortion, not even with a Rider.

Oddly enough, out of the nine states that have passed legislation to control a woman’s womb, Utah legislation on Riders is not as strict. Utah’s legislation is the only one that allows an abortion for fetal impairment.

Every one of these nine States prohibits health insurance plans in the Healthcare Exchanges to provide elective abortion coverage in their plans.

According to The Guttmacher Institute, the percentage of abortions in each of these states (latest data collected is from 2008) is very low and the study doesn’t specify the reason for these abortions, only the number of abortions that occurred that year. Given the figures, I truly cannot understand the obsession by the Right to interfere with a woman’s right to choose.

FIGURES ARE BASED ON THE GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE AND 2008 DATA

Most of the Red States, if not all, have been very busy passing legislature to prohibit women control over their own genitalia and reproductive system. These are the same governors and legislators that claim they want smaller government, but they do not mind to expand that government as much as they can if by doing so they can keep women under their control.

It’s worth mentioning that many of the States prohibiting abortions even in the case of incest or rape, gives parental and visitation rights to rapists. If this is not absurd and an openly war on women, then nothing is!

We are slowly going back to the times where women were sub-citizens, at the mercy of the men in her family, church, neighborhood and the state. When a country needs to create laws to subjugate and control one section of its citizens, then that government cannot call itself a Democracy.

I am yet to see any legislation regulating men’s genitalia... the only one was to have Viagra deemed a necessary drug covered by all insurance plans… You see, most legislators at State and Federal levels are old enough for their penises not to work properly; it is in their interest to have that blue pill covered by insurance.

If we can’t reverse these horrific laws, then I think it’s way overdue that we start getting into men’s prostate, testicles and penises. If we want to preserve our Democracy, the government should get into every citizen’s genitalia. We might have to consider mandatory vasectomies and Riders for men between the ages of 14 to 90 that will cover supporting a child until adulthood, in case they impregnate a woman by mistake... After all, when it comes to sex, it needs two to tango.