Now here's a politician...

Playwright and Hollywood writer David Beaird created this character for the first episode of 'Key West'...Mayor Pembrooke. The speech he gives at this political rally is wonderful because he speaks to the heart of what we are missing today-- a spirit of service. Too often we think of service as a volunteer or a donor to a charitable agency-- in this case I am talking about having a government that recognizes that it is its responsibility to protect the people, to serve people. In the episode, Pembrooke is running against a Republican woman (Chaucey Caldwell played by Denise Crosby) who is allied with the wealthiest man in town and others in the business community. She also has supporters among the religious community as we find out later. In Key West(the actual city) tensions were high during the making of the show over the business community's desire to be more tourist friendly (a battle that continues- or has been mostly lost- today) He says, "I am for abortion rights. I am for gay rights. I am for human rights. I also want the right to put some criminals in jail and throw away the key! And I want the right to demand that all those on welfare get off of welfare as soon as humanly possible. I am my brother's and my sister's keeper, not their sugar daddy. If you can work and you do not work, I am for your right to starve to death!

But, if you are old or disabled, or a child born into a poverty not of your making and beyond your understanding, if you are new to these shores and are confused and unable to speak the language, if you are a woman whose husband has died, and you are breaking your back to feed your children, then it is our obligation, our right, our joy to take you in, to wrap you in our arms and shelter you against the storm, to hold you safe against our breast and to make you understand that on this, the darkest night of all our lives none of us is really safe.

The storm that has blown your houses down one day will rage for us. And the only structures that will stand are the bridges that we build from misfortune to compassion. From denial to consciousness. From one heart to another. We are, thank god, our brother's and our sister's keepers. And this is our safety. And our joy. And our salvation."

An unpopular position

There is a phenomenon that can happen among those who have been victimized-- and while I know that I am not taking a P.C. position on this, it is an issue that should be addressed-- if, for no other reason, often those who wind up being the final victims are children.

It is not an unusual occurance-- Victim becomes abuser. Unfortunately, being a victim does not necessarily mean sensitivity for victims! Historically this has been true-- obviously it is not unusual for an abused child to grow up and abuse his or her children. It was a well known phenomenon among slaves-- the ones with more prestige were oppressive and victimized the less powerful among them. Women are hit by their husbands and when one fist hits one cheek the woman's hand goes out to slap the face of her child. It's a sad reality that cannot be excused by the initial violence. Even on a societal level it is not unusual for groups to impose rules on another that they themselves would find abhorrent. For instance, the black community voted against Prop 8 in California, banning gays from marriage. Blacks hate hispanics and hispanics hate blacks. Chinese hate Taiwanese-- japanese hate Chinese, Indians hate Pakistani (which is also a religion problem and don't underestimate the role religion plays in feeding hatred and prejudices) Hatred begets hatred. (And to further your outrage at my unpopular opinion: racism didn't begin with white Europeans.)

I have tried not to use personal experience too much on this blog but perhaps it's time...

My X was a master at this– if he felt that I was taking on too much of a role in raising his son or influencing the financial decisions that he was making, then he reminded that I was ONLY a white person. And he reinforced this with our children. “You know your mother is white– she’s not hip. She doesn’t get it.” (marginalize, marginalize, she’s a nobody, she’s a nobody) My daughter (whom he beat one dark night) was heavily influenced by this and when we divorced, she would not live with me and as I have also stated, became as abusive as he was toward me. Sadly I myself fell into the trap that his experiences with racism as a child and an abusive parent would give him a sensitivity concerning race and abuse-- I was wrong. As I well knew, he was ignored in the classroom. He was harassed by the police. He was beaten by his father (step-father, really) But does this give him cartes blanches to turn it on me? Does it give him the right to control and manipulate (and in some cases become physically aggressive) with my daughters? But it was my sympathy concerning his experience with racism that allowed him to keep disappearing me and gave him the leverage to do it to them-- and worse leave them with the feeling that this was normal and okay. (And frankly, it wasn’t just his prejudice toward white people– it was a hatred for women. He treated me just like his father treated his mother. The white part was a convenient way to try and disconnect me from my daughters.)

In another, less personal situation, a young black woman penned a new book this last year. The book was about an issue of some import– a history of the Ku Klux Klan in Denver. But it was poorly written and received a bad review for being POORLY written (I know the reviewer well and I KNOW she would not reject the book if it were well written). The author emailed, called her, pushed her, bullied her into changing the review. She didn’t do herself any favors by doing this- nor did she do her book any favors. A better written tome on this ugly time in Denver would have been so much more effective! But she got her good review and stifled free speech in the process.

Some young(hispanic)men in the building I work in stole a camera from a paraprofessional (who happens to be black- although in this case I think it's more significant that the para is a woman). The young men are under the supervision of the assistant principal (who is black and hispanic but it seems more significant that he is a man- although he clearly does feel sorry for the poor hispanic boys because he feels the are headed toward disaster because their culture does not value anything that will give them any true hope for a better future...) because they have gotten into a lot of trouble-- pre-gang behavior. But when the woman accused the boys, a strange thing happened. The assistant principal called them into his office and said, "Louis (I made up the name here) said he saw you guys with Ms. C's camera. Do you have it?" But of course they all said no. And that was where the matter ended. No locker check- no questioning of individuals-- and naming the person who pinpointed them may have resulted in his receiving a pummeling. Procedure wasn't followed because this principal is too interested in saving his young hispanic men to care if they have learned the wrong lesson in all this.

When the oppressed take the role of oppressor then the cycle continues to continue in the neverending cycle of oppression. And if we don't recognize and hold accountable those who become oppressors via their own status of victimhood, then we give a rubber stamp to yet another abuse. Just a cursory a moment of deliberation would add some sanity to this issue, but the knee jerk reaction of many liberals who believe that you can't speak on a subject unless you have experienced it, allows the abuse cycle to go unaddressed. After all, if all blacks are victims that are beyond reproach then how can you hold them accountable for abuse they may themselves issue??? And who is it that often incurs the wrath of the abuse? Their children.

We voted for issues, not values!

The systemic problems we have with patriarchy are not going to be solved by going nuts over individual incidents. Yes, we should all feel aware and empowered enough to address an offender in an appropriate manner and as an individual each time I do this, it makes me stronger. But it will not fix the failure of the system (though we often have the illusion we can fix things one person at a time)…

We have a BAD system which needs to overthrown. Not just in the U.S. but internationally. The U.S. in case after case makes the rules –and supports oppressive regimes that use sexism, racism, etc. in order to keep segments of the population down. And women and children are the easiest target although they are not, by any means, the only victims.

We need to change things. We won’t change them with a Civil rights kind of movement. There is simply no way to do that now. We really need to change the government and stop allowing them to tell us that we have to work within the system. For a example– If women had healthcare via the government and could find work that pays them what the men in the building make (and to that point– Education: Education is not valued in this country- Anti-intellectualism in this country is insidious! but in addition to that educators are paid what they are because it’s generally “woman’s work”. They don’t really need the income in too many voters opinion. And the voters vote school board members in who uphold their values– is that local and instant enough?…) but I digress, if women made better incomes then there would be one less thing to be dependent on a man for. But changing the healthcare system or education system in place won’t happen with the lobby system that currently operates in this country. Insurance companies and healthcare companies are far too powerful. They pull the strings where this issue is concerned. Any politician who is not willing to take on the insurance companies with the awareness that they are failing women in this country is not the woman’s rights advocate he claims to be. And as long as there is no way to provide the basic most fundamental needs that a woman has when she leaves-- then we can’t expect women to leave bad situations with the pie in the sky dream that they will just walk out in the world, get a job and everything is now good. They have to be able to provide for themselves, get healthcare, get food, pay electric bills, etc. The system is set up right now so that trying to get help for issues such as this is nearly impossible.

Here’s another example: Right wing agencies are now in the business of “helping”– I was a referred to one not too long ago when I needed some legal advice. Here is what happened: I was afraid I needed some representation because my X was pushing me into transporting my son back and forth to sports on his side of town (30-45 minutes away). It was creating havoc on our time together but it was also impeding my ability to work the second job I have to work to provide for us. So I called this agency that offered legal aid. Initially I was told that the "expert", the person best able to help me was not in and would call me back. She did- almost right away. All good, right? Wrong. No one said they were a christian agency but it was pretty clear, pretty quickly OR if I am wrong, then they have been influenced heavily by christian values. At any rate, I told the woman my story. She said, “Well I think you just need to take advantage of that drive time… you know, just talk and have time to be together.” “What???” says I. “But I have a second job and I wasn’t so much as ASKED about the schedule for this. I was told. And on top of that, I don’t want my son to play football.” Her condescending response?? “Well, I think you have to do what’s right for your son here. He wants to play football and you should just take advantage of that drive time.” When I expressed my outrage at her advice she said, “I’m sorry I’m not saying what you want to hear, dear.”

So this is the advice that is being offered to women who have nowhere else to turn–??? their ex is taking advantage of the situation, using the children to bully her now and the “helpful” people that the government now pays to “help” are christians who want their patriarchal sytem to be the defining system in this country.

Sorry but that is a bad system! Our government should not be giving a dime to religious institutions -for women’s sake -for humanity’s sake. For that matter they should be taxing these damnable institutions.

It is the rich and powerful in this country who benefit and encourage ongoing systems that subordinate and they are the real problem. If our government were about the business of protecting PEOPLE in the first place, rather than being of and for and by the corporations, then we might BEGIN to change the systemic problems inherent in the patriarch. If we had a government that did not walk hand in hand with big business (and I will include the church in that “big business” category because the religious institutions in this country are big business, they have tons of political power and they have a tremendous desire to be the defining influence in what the family should look like, men’s roles, etc.) then we might have a system that protects women -for that matter protects all the poor- when they need help rather than continuing their subordination.

That is where real change begins!

Any chance our "leader" will lead us on this?

Will the madness never end...

Well, probably not. And as I -and my swee-tart- predicted it, I think I will pat myself on the back. Here are the headlines from the Huffington Post today: "The Credit Card Debt Crisis: The Next Economic Domino ...According to the Federal Reserve, the total outstanding credit card debt carried by Americans reached a record $951 billion in 2008 -- a number that will only climb higher as more and more people reach for the plastic to make ends meet. What's more, roughly a third of that is debt held by risky borrowers with low credit ratings." Read the full article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-credit-card-debt-cris_b_169657.html

Also on the blog a Karen Talavera points to her article which asks for donations for a family on the brink of homelessness. My response?

"Ms. Talavera, I am going to take the bull by the horns here and say that I applaud your efforts to help this family --but this kind of action is also part of the problem. Volunteerism and donations and personal generosity are all well and good-- I hope you are able to help this family-- but really if you are going to do this, you need to expand your Christmas list. But more to the point- you're pointing us in the wrong direction. We cannot save ourselves or be saved by volunteers or generous donations or by nonprofit organizations who "help" if you do all the right things, say the right things, believe the right things, etc. (I so resented the millionaire Obama had at his speech last night- an example that should be followed??? How did he get his millions in the first place? He gave out blood money as far as I am concerned. Sickening!) It's wrong to keep steering the American public away from the corruption and scandal and keep them focused on what they can do to ease the suffering (as if!).

There are so many people who are suffering from this economic crisis and most of them are at the bottom end of the totem pole- not at the top as the bank CEOs and Wall street would like us all to believe.

Your outrage and compassion at the hardships this family is experiencing should be directed more explicitly at the system that got them there, not simply at asking for help for the next few months. You should be ringing the bell for more public assistance and crying to the rooftops for some of the bailout money to go directly to families who are about to be homeless. We've stripped our government agencies the past 20 years so that there is virtually no place to turn for a family going through hardship and what resources there are are like a drizzle in a drought.

Playwright and Screenplay writer David Beaird wrote in his show Key "West" "The storm that has blown your houses down one day will rage for us. And the only structures that will stand are the bridges that we build from misfortune to compassion. From denial to consciousness. From one heart to another. We are, thank god, our brother's and our sister's keepers. And this is our safety. And our joy. And our salvation."

It's just too bad we didn't have that attitude when our government was stripping us of our safety nets."

Play it again Sam!

I was perusing a blog the other day-- one that I check out to hear some really radical views- views that make me pause... as a result I was considering the issue of the patriarchy and sexism once again (There was a huge stupid debate over the blogger's use of the term "Concentration Camp" when referencing schools-- all the sensitive Jewish readers were up in arms over the insensitive use of that word as if it only references the Holocaust. Here's news folks "Concentration camp" isn't a synonym for Nazi Holocaust). I continued on with my deliberation-- thinking about my own life and some of the women I know-- considering some of the advice I have received from women about parenting- (especially post-divorce) and it suddenly occurred to me that as a species we are simply too damaged. And in so many cases we do not have the strength to even think of ourselves differently, let alone make others think of us differently.

Being a librarian at a middle school (and indeed the schools are concentration camps!), I watch the girls, help them find books, watch how they function in the world and I am astounded, simply astounded, that they are actually worse than the girls I grew up around in the sixties and seventies. (I will qualify my statement with the note that I work in a largely hispanic community-- but even among the white girls this is true!) The most popular books going for girls are those rancid "Twilight" series and many of the popular books The nuddy pants series, the Gossip girls, etc. are just as bad if not worse (I could make myself sick naming them all and I might add that what we read really says a LOT about who we are and what we think about and what we enjoy) All this crap-- the junk the girls read is indicative of the mindset these girls have. Our children in general are going the wrong direction but OH MY GOD! the girls. But it's as if it's a non-issue. We (women) got the vote so there's nothing to think about.

But it's really unsolvable in the system as it stands...

And here we come right back to the drum I have been pounding on for a bit already... the problem with an issue like the ongoing propagation of the patriarchy (Or racism or anti-gay statements, etc.) is the connection it has to a wider issue - that of the rape and pillage of the common wealth (that means ALL OF US!)on the part of the wealthy. This might seem disjointed, but it's easier to rob people when the little people are fretting over the cartoon monkey in the New York Post. And it's easier to rape them when they are obsessed with the obnoxious sexist-pig co-worker. We won't change things concerning the patriarchy when the power and the money is with a VERY small group of male (or male-ish- which is what I call women who wind up in that tiny subset of our wealthiest individuals and make a lot of money from bowing to the patriarchy) group of people in this country. They have us singing "I got no strings" all the while they are pulling at the strings. And while we're bickering or going nuts over words like "concentration camps" or the afore mentioned cartoons they are laughing all the way to the bank!

And to top the hot chocolate off with a generous helping of whipped cream, pop culture does not real allow for depth or real awareness. If sex sells, we're going to sell it. If religion sells, we'll make the prices reasonable. And as long as we're selling (and teaching) pablum, then we will produce children who will continue to gorge themselves on pablum. To have a truly more egalitarian, nonsexist culture, a woman friendly world, we would need real change. The kind of change we don't really seem interested in making.

We are really only interested in making money.

Enough is enough...

I am running out of patience with the conservative mindset in this country. Last week in Barnes and Noble, a twenty-something hopeful stood among the regional books, less than a vague interest in books obviously. He was far more interested in getting the designer jeans off the blonde he was talking to than finding the most remote ghost towns in the Colorado high country. Their "conversation" had turned to politics-- not real debate or discussion but politics-lite, the non-committal don't want to sound too radical or thoughtful or offensive conversation that is common among the mating (or mating hopefuls). He hemmed and hawed about the new president and finally said, "I don't have any major problems with what Obama is doing but I don't want my taxes to get raised sky high. What is the point of working hard if it means that you're just going to have all your money taken by the government?"

And that is when I ran out patience. I nearly walked over to him and said, "What the hell makes you think you are EVER going to make enough money to pay that many taxes? Only one percent of Americans are making most of the money and they have tax accountants and lawyers and congressmen all making sure they are not going to pay more than they want to!" Well, fortunately I restrained myself. Doing this would have been bad form while I was working-- but it continues to baffle me that so many people are brainwashed into believing that the only thing that will keep them from making their millions is laziness and/or government interference.

Wake up people! I know you don't want to hear this. I know it runs counter to your massive American egos and sense of invincibility, but the cards as they are dealt right now are stacked against you. In fact, the odds of "making" your millions are probably about the same as winning the lottery.

You might make enough money at your chosen career path to get yourself a big overpriced house, two car payments and lots of credit card debt -especially if you are married to someone who also brings in a significant paycheck- but the odds of having any money leftover to invest and make your millions on a stock market that is as volatile as a supervolcano are next to nil... and almost as dangerous. And even finding careers that pay anything significant for your services are becoming more rare. Most frequently it is about who you know. And even worse-- you might find a job out of school and get the nice house, the car payments, etc. and find yourself out of one or both incomes because the mindset that allowed you to find your job- this love affair we have with youth- will mean that as you get older there is actually less security in your job. Then you might be lucky if you are left with any retirement-- let alone the millions you planned on in your twenties.

But what really infuriates me about this mindset is that it is based on pure selfishness. Taxes need to be raised on the wealthiest of Americans. They just need to be. Jobs need to be created for common people and there needs to be universal healthcare so that small businesses can pay their employees more and not have healthcare as an expenditure. (Healthcare for small businesses is a prohibitive cost which means they are often not able to provide it or they cannot hire as many employees.) Since we already wind up paying for the uninsured via our tax money it seems logical for the government to intervene and provide a healthcare that is based on a good workable model like Canada. There are many more changes that need to be made in the way our government operates (as has been discussed in other pasts on this blog) but there is no will to do it in Washington. They represent the wealthiest of Americans and the corporations-- they are not there with genuine intentions of changing the business as usual politics of D.C..

So it's up to us.

When FDR became president, a group of progressive activists asked him to push for some really big changes. His response? "I agree with you. I want to do it. Now make me do it."

Will we, as Americans, ever push for change that represents what is best for ALL or will we continue to hold back afraid of too much "socialism" and government "interference" with the wrongheaded notion that you won't benefit from the "free" market (HA! As if it were actually free)???

The alarm is sounding! It is time to wake up!!!

Jamie Lee Curtis and I seem to be on the same wave length-- check her article out on the Huff Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-lee-curtis/a-fish-called-denial_b_168817.html

Hamster on a wheel

So you want to be a droid--- a robot in the mindless machine of making and buying produce. Luckily, you're on the right track! And we have just the education system to make sure neither you nor your children, nor your children's children will ever be on the verge of living any life other than the one that we have planned for you.

It all begins in childhood. Products designed to "give your baby a head start" that run the gambit of in the womb CDs to Baby Einstein-- a learning system that paradoxically uses television and video for educating the infant to toddler set-- are marketed to you. (I say "paradoxically" as all studies show that television for the young do more to HARM the ability for tots to think and learn)When they finally get to school, they will be given data entry (just like computers) which is often complicated and challenging giving you the illusion that your child is really learning something. Thus, you run out to buy teaching aids or send them to private tutors so that they can keep up (once again contributing to the swelling of our pocketbooks, not really helping your children in any meaningful way). What they are really getting are the system tools to regurgitate the information we want them to spit out so that one day they will be able to enter the workforce and produce the type of work we need. They will also often be completely turned off of learning and education because all they will have ever known is a drudgery that stilts and plunders one of life rather than enhancing and contributing to life (as a real intellectual life & thought will do).

This will continue throughout their young lives- even into college (although occasional trip-ups in college do lend the possibility for intellectual development-- we try to halt this wherever it happens!) We are able to do this because colleges are, after all, a business and if they are seen as too radical and oppositional to the system, money dries up. Professors don't like losing money-- for their homes or otherwise. We also quickly wrap the students up in debt. Although the school loans they are receive are low in interest, they are for many thousands of dollars and force the student to make a certain income in order to make the investment worth his or her while. In addition to this, we seize the opportunity to help these poor struggling students through their financial difficulties by offering them credit which they use for survival purposes. They are now completely reliant on the system that we offer them to pay these debts back. They will not head off for a year of exploration through Europe or spend their early adulthood seeking adventure and a meaningful existence. They will spend their energy trying to make enough money to pay their bills back and have a nice enough car to impress their family and friends.

Once they are out of college, we will continue to disguise real information and facts with pseudo-science and opinion. And we will use this method to keep you continually off balance. If you are unaware that there are actual facts out there, you will, most likely be stunned into immobility, unable to act in your own best interest simply because you do not have the ability to make the proper decision for yourself. We are helped with this endeavor by the media. They are owned by the companies that require your servitude, so they rarely give any information that might cause you to ask difficult questions that would shake up, even minutely, the status quo. We will also feed your obsession with yourself and your "needs", talking at great length about the need to be whole and happy and balanced- all the while ignoring and even cheating the real needs of the body (i.e. food and healthcare). We will perpetuate and fertilize racism, sexism, homophobia. These will ultimately divide you so that you are always at odds with the people around you who might unite with you against us. We will enable and in some cases even outright support religious institutions to convince you that are noble child of a deity with a higher purpose than the mundane realities of an earthly existence (this is all temporal-- you should be focused on your eternal destiny!). It will also, hopefully, guilt you into subordination. We encourage the nationalism and loyalty to our system that religious systems ally themselves with. As as result of your miserable existence, you will be devoured with the desire for entertainment and distraction of all sorts, never realizing how this further enslaves you to your master.

Thus, you are left, like the hamster in the cage, with a wheel to turn and nowhere to go. You will wake up, run and run and run, getting nowhere and finding nothing. You will eat the foods we give you at whatever price we mete them out at. You will consume entertainment and spend all your waking hours making a lovely little nest for yourself- all the while ignorant that there might be more meaning to life than the bars of your cage allow. You will spend your time so busy with YOU: your needs, your emotions, your eternal preparations, your status, etc.-- oh and, the bearing of offspring that you won't even try to reach for the latch on the cage door. And your offspring living what they have learned will be compelled to continue the cycle in this great Circle of Life. At least the circle we have provided for you.

And YOU should be grateful for it.

Death and Politics at the end of the world

Five miles to the best Key Lime pie!
Number One Key Lime Pie…
Favorite Key Lime Pie…
Award Winning Key Lime Pie…
Who decides?
Key Lime cookies-
Key Lime cake-
Key Lime ice cream
Key Lime soup
Chocolate-covered Key-lime-on-a-stick
Key Lime off-a-stick
Key Lime Lemonade
Key Lime Margueritas!
Key Lime edible underwear…
hmmmm

Some people claim that
there’s a ma-an to blame.


Hog’s Breath—God’s Breath—hamburger yummers!… with everything… fries, Bartender’s special drink--- P-Thingy.


Bone Island: Boner…
Boner Island?
Key-
Boner Key—Bonkey…
Don key Otee.

For God’s sake, move- need to go!
“Land of the Free because of the brave”- figures, moron.



Left turn, right?
Right… Right?
No! left… right.


Southernmost Point
Southernmost Real Estate
Southernmost Hotel
Southernmost Café
Southernmost Bank
Southernmost Key Lime Pie
Southernmost oxygen.

Most Southernmost


turn…


Busy!

People everywhere.




It’s a zoo…

Death and Politics at the end of the world

Bells over my right shoulder. I glance over, startled to spy a stout, charcoal-skinned grandma in full gypsy garb, hobbling off the curb just as the Conch Tour Train rattles up to the light. She leaps nimbly backwards, the fluid motion in surprising contrast. She lifts her fist and shouts, face contorting as though uttering a curse. The train rambles around the corner. A tall broad-shouldered… woman? adorned in a floral, foo-foo tutu and flowing hot pink boa hung out the door of the train, shouting back to a thick-chested man leaning against the back window sporting a leather bustier, one thigh-high booted leg draped casually down the side of the car. The passenger-laden train is practically bursting with men outfitted in a rainbow of feminine fashions from antebellum to Harlem harlot. A rowdy rooster struts down the sidewalk, ostensibly unaware that dawn is long past, his squawks punctuating the human cacophony. A swimsuit clad couple, sporting matching full-body tattoos, brattles by on bicycles, weaving in and out of idling traffic.

“… more like a carnival.” I ease my vice grip on the wheel, clicking the red ruby slippers of memory. “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”

Involuntarily, yet necessarily drawn to the water, I drive. Past the turn in to an abandoned bar where, once upon a time . . ; past palm and pond; past bougainvillea and banyan; and finally, past the fort . . . past the past.
Bread crumb colored shoreline nearly deserted.

The gulf breeze tousles my hair


I come to myself, agape…

Stimu-- what?

Political discourse in this country is in crisis. We do not have two distinct parties- we have one party with two different branches, one extremely pro-corporation while the other gives lip service to being for the people. But the democrats still fundamentally believe that if the corporations fail, then the people will suffer. This means that they have to continue to prop up corporations in order to support "the people". It's just a convenient excuse to be pro-corporation. And we let them do it! Obama's plan was never meant to be anything different than what we already had, it was just a stab at "a correction". The economic philosophy we are currently being driven by, thanks to Milton Friedman, calls for less and less government regulation- except when the system crashes. Then we pour money into the system to try and prop it up so that we can "free it" again. The Clintons and the democratic party bought into the chicago school of economics whole heartedly in the 90s and the dems have never looked back. Obama is the same! Saying "change" over and over again does not make it different!

Corporations drive mom and pop shops out of business. Small businesses are no longer able to compete because corporations can do things cheaper & faster. How many independently run shops can any of us think of? Perhaps a handful. I would not mind owning my own bookstore... but how can I compete with Barnes and Noble or Amazon when they can set the price for the publisher? How is supporting big business in any way for "the people"??? Do we really think that the kind of job creation most commonly talked about (i.e. giving a company more money to hire more factory workers) is really going to move us forward? No, it simply allows the CEOs and the share holders to give themselves big salaries and nice fat bonuses while workers make less and less. Tax breaks for the wealthy and for the corporations will bankrupt this country! We have to quit buying into two lies the republicans have spread: 1. government is bad (thanks to Reagan for that one: "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.") 2. the private sector is the way to get things done. While most might not agree with these statements overtly , the attitudes are still omni-present in many liberal discussion and in their support of the "compromises" within the stimulus. It's time for the people to stand up for themselves and stop allowing the corporations to run our government. It truly should be a government OF, FOR and BY the PEOPLE.

Classic Savannah

Savannah introduces herself..."Today, you're gonna learn everything you're ever gonna need to know about women. I'm gonna teach you. And when you walk outta here tonight you're gonna have a Ph.D. in me. And your stock is gonna soar. And your self-confidence is gonna go through the roof. You hear what I'm telling you? And for the rest of your natural life, women are gonna follow you around like kittens after a bowl of cream. You know why? Because you are gonna have my stamp on you. Now, close your eyes."