The tea party code.

Tea Party Code...

Benefits MY agenda and beliefs: Government GOOD
Benefits someone elses: Government BAD
Benefits someone elses and I have to help pay for it: Government VERY BAD
Benefits MY agenda, my beliefs and I have to help pay for it: MY TAXES ARE TOO HIGH
Benefits My wallet through Government handout: Getting back what I was FORCED to pay in
Benefits other persons wallet through Government handout: Lazy, worthless, welfare queen
Benefits poor people but not me: SOCIALISM
Benefits me but not poor people: I EARNED IT
Benefits ALL people including the poor: COMMUNISM
Benefits uber-wealt­hy corporatio­ns: Free Market Capitalism
Benefits minorities­: MARXISM

Same Sex Marriage.

200 years ago blacks were not allowed to marry other blacks because according to the slave owner they were not human beings in the purest sense of the word. They were property, no more or less important than the cattle, chicken or goats a man owned. To become a family, blacks adopted a civil ceremony that ended in Jumping the Broom signaling that they were now wed and had joined households­. 60 yrs ago a black person could not marry a white person legally in this country and many states would not recognized the marriage and even imprison the couple if they were found together. In many cultures today, marriage is simply a joining of households and fortunes as the couples are choosen based on family's fortune or lack thereof. Today in one state families will be able to be joined based on nothing more than love. Two consenting adults can make the choice to be together legally with no restrictio­ns. 

Remember that it was Christian men who left out freedom for Blacks in the Constitution. Remember it was Chnristian people ,and their white churches, that supported segregation.  Remember it was the 1964 Civil Right Law that turned the South from Democrats to Republicans. Remember who is against this law today.

To all anti gay bigots I say GFYS !

The Dream Act !

In grade school I was taught that the United States is a melting pot. People from all over the world come here for freedom and to pursue a better life. They arrive with next to nothing, work incredibly hard, learn a new language and new customs, and in a generation they become an integral part of our amazing nation. Although it requires some adjustment by those already here, immigration has made the U.S.A. the most prosperous nation on Earth.  In reality we have not always treated immigrants well. Still today there are members of my extended family who look down on me or my children because of our culture or religious background.

I believe we are in the midst of another sad and shameful period of U.S. history, where promising young lives are being destroyed by bigotry and partisan politics. There are about 2 million young adults who were children when they were brought to this country by their parents. They didn't decide to come here and had no choice, they were children. How we are treating these kids is shameful.
We do not punish children for the actions of their parents. We invest in the health and education of our nation's children and indeed even protect them from their parents if need be. We have a collective interest in children's well-being, and don't hold children accountable for the actions of their parents.

Today, the undocumented children of illegal immigrants are in a terrible mess. These kids were raised in America, went to school in America, speak perfect English, and for many of them, this is the only home they know. Yet they can't get a driver's license, they can't apply for most financial aid to attend college, and they can't travel freely. They can't legally work at any job. Even if they graduate from a top university with amazing credentials (which many do) they can't legally work, even as a dishwasher. Just as they come of age they realize they have almost no options for living a normal productive life. In effect we are terribly punishing them for the actions of their parent


Under the Dream Act, kids are treated like all other American kids, with the exception that they have to work harder to excel in school.  They are given a chance to become citizens and productive Americans. The best and brightest should be future leaders of our country. They all should be welcome.

Shamefully though this Act is being used as a political wedge issue by Conservatives and Tea Party members. Leaders once in favor of this act now are against it. Do we really want bright educated and loyal young kids to return to the country of their birth?  Really !

Tax Cuts are not the answer.

“• 83% of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1% of the people.
• 66% of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all
Americans.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive'­s paycheck to the average worker's paycheck
was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to
one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80% of American households held about 7% of the liquid
financial assets.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17% when compared with 2008.
They’re up another 5% in 2010.
• The top 1% of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate
wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• More than 40% of employed Americans are now working in service jobs, which are
often very low paying.
• The top 10% of Americans now earn around 50% of our national income and the top
1% earn around 24%.


What is the GOP response to all this wealth being concentrat­ed at the top? Give them a tax cut.”

People are misinformed but Fox viewers take the cake.

It is my lazy day and I should write this on my own but would rather post a story from the Iowa Indepentant written by Tyler Kingkade

People who regularly watch Fox News are more likely to be incorrect on a wide range of major issues. But the audiences of MSNBC, PBS and National Public Radio are frequently better informed than most, according to a new study by the University of Maryland.
However, the study, entitled “Misinformation and 2010 Elections,” said the misinformation could not be attributed to one news source. In large part, the entire survey found much of the public did not understand the truth behind a variety of topics. Only 10 percent of respondents knew their federal income taxes had gone down in the last two years, although about 97 percent of households received a tax cut in the federal stimulus package. In fact, 38 percent said their taxes had gone up, although no income taxes for any level have been raised.
Although nearly a third of the stimulus — about $288 billion — was tax cuts, 54 percent believed it did not contain any tax cuts.
This reinforces the notion Democrats failed to effectively communicate to the voters in 2010, as many critics hold.
Only 28 percent knew the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler were initiated under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, 40 percent believed TARP, the Wall Street bailout program to buy up toxic assets, was done under the Obama administration, and a mere 13 percent understood most economists and the Congressional Budget Office believe the health care reform legislation will decrease the national deficit.
The study finds Fox News viewers to be the more likely to be incorrect with each incremental increase of exposure to Fox. The respondents who watched Fox News on a daily basis were at times twice as likely to be wrong as those who never watched Fox. Furthermore, the study found it was not a partisan divide. The respondents who watched Fox, but voted Democratic were just as likely to be incorrect as those Fox viewers who voted Republican.

Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that:

• most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)
• most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)
• the economy is getting worse (26 points)
• most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)
• the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)
• their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)
• the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)
• when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)
• and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)

The study released last week by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland surveyed people in the aftermath of 2010 elections. About 59 percent of the respondents voted Republican.
Those who participated in the study ranked the state of the economy as their biggest factor in their vote, although Republican voters also ranked the budget deficit and the health care reform package passed by Congress highly as well. Both Democrats and Republicans ranked the possibility of foreign money being used by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to influence the election as low in influence for their vote.
Another notable finding was the audience of public broadcasting — NPR or PBS — and MSNBC were less likely to be incorrect on most issues.

For each topic, the news source with the lowest level of misinformation among its daily consumers was as follows:
• most economists who have studied it estimate that the stimulus legislation saved or created only a few jobs or caused job losses: MSNBC, 65% misinformed
• among economists who have estimated the effect of the health reform law, more think it will increase the deficit: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 38%
• the bank bailout legislation (TARP) was passed and signed into law under Pres. Obama: MSNBC, 38%
• the US economy is getting worse: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 34%
• the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts: MSNBC, 34%
• the bailout of GM and Chrysler occurred under President Obama only: MSNBC, 32%
• since January 2009 the respondent’s federal income taxes have actually gone up: MSNBC, 27%
• it is unclear whether Obama was born in the US—or, Obama was not born in the US: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 24%
• when TARP came up for a vote, Democrats were opposed or divided: Fox News, 21%
• when TARP came up for a vote, most Republicans opposed it: CNN, 28%
• it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending foreign money to back Republicans: Fox News, 23%
• most scientists think climate change is not occurring or views are divided evenly: MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), both 20%

My Dad.

My dad never finished high school. His father was an drunk and his mother had a stroke during child birth.  My dad had to work to look after them both. When his mother became too hard to take care of he had no options open to him. She was put into the county home for mental patients. Dad was drafted and had to place his father into the old folks home in Lisbon Ohio during the war.

My dad served his country for six years and was wounded twice. When he returned home he married my mother and I was born. My father took care of his father and his new family.  At the age of seven I contracted Polio and spent eight weeks in a hospital in Youngstown. My mother was with child and my dad drove up to sit with me each and every night after work..

My dad never bought anything for himself. He gave everything he made to take care of his family. He was a very giving person. His family ate first before he served himself.  My dad was aleays kind to other people and was happy with his lot in life. He once told me that having a family of his own was a dream come true.

My dad taught me many lessons in his lifetime. My dad was always my hero and I think of him every day. I love you dad and miss you very much. I hope my son becomes as good a father and man that my dad was.

I wish my dad knew that each and every one of his seven grandchildren has earned a college degree.  Not bad for only third generation Americans.!

Suckers !

Letter to the peasants of America from the Top 2%,

You asked, Where did all the money and jobs go?
We took the money. We didn't think we had enough. We shipped the jobs overseas and took the profits. We started internatio­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­n­a­­l corporatio­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­n­s where we seek out the cheapest labor and the least stringent regulation­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­s.

We use the military (you pay for) to take over any competitio­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­n that can't be stolen or bought. We will destroy anyone in our way.

We set up offshore businesses to hide the money. We deposited our personal money in Swiss and Cayman Island banks. We bought enough politician­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­s and judges to write the laws. We implemente­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­d free trade, free markets, low taxes for us, and no taxes for our corporatio­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­n­s­­.

We crashed the economy on purpose. Now we have Americans just as desperate to have a low paying job as anywhere in the poorest parts of the world. We arranged the largest theft in history and stuck you with the bill.

We bought TV networks, radio stations, newspapers­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­, and internet providers.
We propagandi­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­z­e­­d our point of view to convince enough of you to vote against your own interest. We will go after civil rights, education, environmen­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­t­a­l laws, unions, healthcare­­­­­­, any group or law that stands in the way of us controllin­­­­­­­g the economy and government­­­­­­­, allowing us to profit as much as possible. That's our goal. That is all that matters.

Looking down on you.
The Top 2%

Can't we just all get along ?

What I have trouble understand­ing is why some christians (or any other religion for that matter) so often try to justify and co-mingle science and religion. It never works. The purposes of the two areas are too different. On the one hand, science is a way of looking subjective­ly at verifiable phenomena to seek answers about how the world works. On the other hand, religion is a set of answers waiting for you to bring them a question about how to live your life. I wouldn't say that science completely invalidate­s religion or vice versa, but I would say that it is possible to follow both, in the understand­ing that you may not find all the answers you want in either one alone. That my friends is how I justify my belief in God and my reliance on Science to help me understand the World we live in.

Sara and Paul !

LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear
Of the early evening ride of Paul Revere,
On the twentieth, or twenty-fir­st, of May, or possibly June, in Seventy-si­x, or maybe Seventy-se­ven;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who refudiates that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, while ringing those bells, 'We must see the French a-coming
By land or sea or some other way, maybe by air, from the town to-night,
And tell our British friends, and our British enemies,
And warn them of bears, the big majestic polar bears, that lurk amid the French a-strummin­g
Their mandolins, and other French instrument­s, that make a patriot so squirmish.­...  And say to them.... You can't have our guns.!!!   You betcha !!!!  Oh and I can see Russia from the top of my strawberry tree.

Is God really a Christian ?

Is God really a Christian?  I would like to explore this question by making a couple of points.

My first point seems simple: that the accidents of birth and geography determine to a very large extent to what faith we belong. The chances are very great that if you were born in Pakistan you are a Muslim, or a Hindu if you happened to be born in India , and a Christian if you were born in Italy. I don't know what significant fact can be drawn from this -- perhaps that we should not succumb too easily to the temptation to  claim a monopoly of the truth of our particular faith. You could so easily have been a follower of the faith that you are now tearing down, but for the fact that you were born here rather than there.

My second point has to to with the formation of all religions.  All religions were started be men who were looking for some meaning to life and as a way to defeat death.  If you take the time to study all religions ,as an outsider, you will see both beauty and silliness.  As an outsider many religions will look foreign and invoke a feeling of distrust in the group practing it. As a people we are comfortable in the faith we grew up in. If ,on the other hand, we take a step back and dosect our own faith , most of us will see the silly and foreign elements outsiders see.

I would like to say something about why we feel this way. It is my belief that the leaders of many of the worlds religions foster these feelings in their followers in order to keep their followers in line. How often have you heard the phrase "The only true way to Heaven is to ......"

In closing I would like to point out that we are a silly,scared,and easily lead people. There is a reason that we are refered to as sheep in the christian bible. So I ask ; is God really a Christian ? and does it really matter ?

Not proud at all !

Instead of ending Medicare as we know it and making savage cuts to community health centers and children's health care programs, we must ask the top 2 percent of income earners, who currently pay the lowest upper-income tax rate on record, to start paying their fair share of taxes. Instead of making it harder for working families to send their kids to college, we must end the foreign tax shelters that enable the wealthy and large corporations to avoid paying tens of billions in U.S. taxes. Instead of making major cuts in job creating programs in infrastructure, public transportation , we must do away with a wide variety of loopholes that allow Wall Street executives, whose profits and compensation packages are soaring, to have a lower tax rate than middle class workers.  There are real solutions to our problems but all of or political leaders lack the guts to put forward any real reform.

Did any of you know that Medicare is not allowed to use its tremendous bargaining power to purchase drugs at a discount. This program can be fixed and Americans will suffer at the hands of their elected leaders who either refuse to try or are just too corrupt or are just plain stupid that they stand impotant to our plight. 

As a second generation American ,that served his country,I find it very hard to be proud of the direction we are headed.