We as a nation appear to be headed down a dark path to a regression of our society and a diminishing of our individual rights as citizens. Why would I say this? Observations of fellow citizens, research of writings from learned experts in the fields, news reports from valid and recognized reporting media and of course readings from the other side of our political spectrum. In the following paragraphs/sections I will be using some terminology that some may attempt to refute as being the maunderings of an old codger.

Let me just say that my idea of a trend toward fascism and the ChristoFascist ideologies has been spoken by me in the past and was rebutted time and again by people who believed themselves to be smarter, better educated and more worldly aware. However, of late, more and more people of high intellect, education, and awareness of the world’s political leanings, have come to recognize the infestation of these and other supremacist ideologies and these new sources of information regarding supremacist (fascism, theocracy, white superiority and other ideologies that encourage these violent militia types), and as a result, I do get a feeling of being somewhat vindicated in my earlier pronouncements.

However, I understand and am aware there are many who would refute my findings/commentary even if we had criminal trial worthy evidence to prove the findings. These are most certainly a minority, yet are a very vocal, sometimes violent, and demonstrative group. They are also a group that would continue to promote the idea of a flat earth, in spite of all evidence to the contrary. So I put my theories/findings/observations out there within the bounds of this blog essay. Accept it or reject it, not my worry, I know and where one or two of the minority of right wing Republican ChristoFascist supporters believe or agree is of no concern to me. I am at a stage in my life where I speak my mind and damn the consequences. I invite your comments. Understand that this is MY blog, so I have indisputable authority of the content.

So, if you still have an open mind or simply want to find something to refute, read on dear reader, read on.

US Supreme Court

Our USA Supreme Court has become a bastion of political bias, and a facility rabidly being shown to have no integrity or honor remaining. Just a bare minimum of the Court’s Justices as a group can lay claim to any semblance of honor in their lives and their positions as judicial end point determinants. In my research of the decisions, speeches, and writings of these particular Justices, I find that the decisions from this Roberts court have consistently shown the political directions of the right wing ideology. With a majority of 6-3 Republican right wing conservative justices, a balance or a decision based on fair judicial decision making is highly improbable.

Honor by several of the Justices has been shown to be essentially for sale, from expensive vacation trips to flights on private luxury aircraft, travel on luxury mega-yachts, and financial transactions that smack of corruption with the wealthy patrons buying access and court decisions. In the various media, I continue to hear Chief Justice and the other Justices attempting to defend the Court, but they are playing a tune that NO ONE believes. Well, maybe not everyone, those who are “Believers” certainly could be counted among those who actually believe/support those protestations. I would think that some of the Republican politicians who play fast and loose with ethics worked to stack the Court with their radical right wing, theological, and fascist leaning Justices. The actions by Senator McConnell in this regard show a total lack of interest in the moral requirements that he simply discarded, and lied to everyone, just like several of his right wing Justice candidates lied their asses off to the Senate when being considered for that lifetime appointment. The four judicial candidates appointed by Trump and the right wing biased Republican Senate were all found to be liars and corrupted in their actions once they were able to lie their way into a lifetime appointment.

Perhaps it is time for the Congress, the Administration and YES the people of this country to make changes to the Court, time for a reckoning and institutional changes to the structure. A strong ETHICS committee should be implemented, since the Court appears to refuse to acknowledge or implement this aspect, the Senate and House should establish a LAW to create and fund a Supreme Court Judicial Ethics Committee and the Justices made subject to the ethics laws that other Federal judges and everyone else involved with the federal government are subject to. And I might add, I also believe the court should be increased right now, or the numbers reduced causing the last couple of justice members to be removed through a Reduction in Force (RIF). Hey, if that is good for the rest of the civil service and the military, it is good for the Supreme Court members.

Federal Politics

I, along with a majority of the American public citizens are constantly exposed to the perfidy, lies, corruption, and actions against the people of this nation by the same political persons who are elected based on their speeches, their verbal commitments and the absolute lies that these people spew each election cycle, and then once the election are over they ignore the rights, the needs, and the demands of the constituency who got them elected in the first place. My primary ire is directed mainly at the right wing new conservatives who populate the damaged Republican Party. I say damaged because it was once a political machine that clearly worked to provide for the benefit of the American people. Then President Eisenhower was no longer the president and the Republican party began a downhill turn to the worst of political corruption. Over the past few years, the separation between the two major political parties has widened into a gap that is growing almost daily. This political gap does appear to be one that will be impossible to heal and return to those days were politicians from both parties collaboratively worked for the benefit of the country and the people. That comity and collaboration has disappeared and it does seem to be something that appears to be unsolvable. In several decades, the Republican Party has put forth no laws that benefit anyone, except the wealthy and corporate interests. Seriously, there has been no national beneficial legislation from the Republicans in literally decades, frankly dating all the way back to the end of the Eisenhower Administrator, Most folks would say that General Eisenhower was the last true, honorable Republican President. I certainly count myself among that group of people. As a young teenager, I was proud to hand out pamphlets that touted “I Like Ike”. As an adult, I find it impossible to do anything that smacks of support for the Republicans and their fascist leanings.

When one considers the current situation, and the make up of the current Republican Party, the idea of the demise of that original Republican operational institution is very evident. A representative has been proven to be a liar, having made up a resume out of whole cloth with none of it based in truth or fact. Yet. the Republican Party as a whole refuses to take action to censor or expel this massively dishonorable person from the Congressional House. Several other Representatives have shown themselves to be very much liars, dishonorable individuals, corrupt, anti-democracy and simply act as bomb throwers. They present no valid legislative offerings, hell many of these current Republican Representatives and Senators have NEVER put forth any semblance of legislation. They simply make unfounded, nay absolute false commentary and expect those huge lies to be accepted simply because they utter them. In point of fact, one Representative from Arizona is such a defined anti-democracy, lying, and dishonorable politician that his own family disowned him and campaigned for and voted for his opponent. They claim that he is not fit for public office and yet, the Republican Party officials refuse to take any sort of disciplinary action towards this person.

The current Speaker of the House required 15+ vote takings before being elected as the new Speaker when the Republicans acquired a bare minimum of seats to claim the majority. In order for him to get enough votes to claim the Speaker’s gavel, he literally made deals with the worst, most vicious, despicable and dishonorable of the entire Republican House caucus, and as a result, is the weakest Speaker in the history of the Congress in my humble opinion. The new Republican minimal majority also appointed, as committee chairs, the worst of the bomb throwing, dishonorable members, one chairperson has NEVER in all his years in the House put forth any legislative documents yet his district in Ohio for some reason elected him again. He simply is the disruption, dishonorable, and integrity challenged member whose sole purpose is to attack any Democratic Party member, legislative reading, or committee witness called by the Democrats, regardless of any truth to his allegations.

At this point in our political posturing, it has become pretty evident that the Republican Party has been consumed by two ideologies that bear no good for the American society. These two ideologies have been used in the history of our world to corrupt and capture governments, demean and destroy individual rights and freedoms, and murder, rape and pillage entire communities. They are the fascist and theocratic ideologies currently managing the Republican Party. Of course one must always consider the corruption of these Congressional politicians by the corporate and wealthy lobbyists.

Does this anti-American ideology combination include all members of the Republicans? No, I am sure that there are some still responsible men and women in the Party who are horrified by the turns the Party has taken and the depths of ill actions taken by the Republican Party majority. Unfortunately, they either are unable or simply too afraid to stand up to the fascism, theocracy, and pure racism that is overtaking the Republican Party and frankly it should no longer be referred to as the Republican Party but perhaps the ChristoFascist Cult. They and all of us, should remember that ancient adage that “for evil to triumph, requires good people to remain silent”. Remember folks, ignoring evil doesn’t make it disappear, it merely provides acceptance and encouragement for it to grow and expand.

Elective Danger for Politics

The greatest fear for this elderly old curmudgeon is the upcoming elections. I fear that the Democratic Party, the left leaning and moderate independents and yes, some honest, honorable members of the Republican Party are not sufficiently concerned about the impact of their votes in our elections. If one were to carefully evaluate the results of the last couple of elections, we had a minimal turnout overall of our eligible voting population. Our percentage of votes cast based on our national population is among the lowest of every nation that conducts election activity. While in the last election where Biden and the Democrats won the Presidency, and gained a slim majority in the Senate, they lost seats in the House and allowed the radical right wing extremists to gain control of that very key legislative institution.

IF decent, honorable citizens of this nation do not take seriously the danger lurking for our nation and our society with the coming election in November 2024, I fear that we will slide into that horrible ChristoFascist form of governance, our individual freedoms, our society of democracy and our Democratic Republic form of government will be lost. Local citizenry should also take notice of any local elections in their communities or states. We, in Virginia, will have an election of significant consequence coming up this November of 2023. Our legislative body will be pretty much up for election. Especially in the lower house, but also the upper segment of the Virginia Legislature. The current governor, the lt. governor and the Attorney General of the Commonwealth were elected through a highly successful campaign of misdirection, false premises, and outright lies, but sufficient for a very small majority of votes to give them control of the administrative offices of the State Government. Youngkin is doing his level best to undermine and eliminate every decent legislative action by former governors and legislators. His attempts are directed at voters, education, social interaction, minority denigration and simply to push for a governmental environment such as the fascist DeSantis of Florida uses to press the fascist agenda in that state.

IF we do not sweep ideologues such as Trump, DeSantis, Youngkin, and those bomb throwers in the House and Senate from office, replacing them with women and men of high honor and integrity, we will see our nation further devolve into a semi-dictatorial environment where extrajudicial punishments, incarcerations, and yes executions will emerge from this fascist theocratic/authoritative dictatorship.

While Donald Trump has been charged with criminal offenses in four, separate indictments and others may be in the offing, there continues to be a great electoral travesty in that this person is continuing to rob his base of right wing people, and is continuing to strike out viciously at people and actions of the legal processes. My fervent prayer is that justice will prevail and the judicial system will move forward with factual evidence and accurate convictions where this individual, who has perverted everything this nation stands for, will be convicted on all counts and will be sentenced to prison for years.

Sure, I hear the old saw about they can’t put him in prison because the Secret Service protections he is due. Bullshit and balderdash! Frankly in my opinion, he forfeited any right to the Secret Service protectors when he acted in a criminal manner against the United States of America and violated his entire oath to protect and defend the nation and the Constitution. He is a criminal defendant pure and simple and should be treated no differently than any other citizen facing criminal charges and trial by jury of their peer citizens, Incarceration is called for in many of these charges, and frankly in some charges call for significant prison time. Again, that is pure bull shit. IF he is convicted by the jury and sentence is readied, the sentencing judge should apply the standard, and that would, in the majority of these charges, call for incarceration in a federal or state prison based on which court the conviction is handed down. If a federal court and sentence, it should not one of the executive country club type jails, but prison facilities on the order of Leavenworth, or Portsmouth Naval Prison, perhaps even the super max prison where the other traitors and terrorists are jailed. Frankly I would prefer that he be tried and convicted in one of the active state level trials, and incarcerated in a state prison system. At least there, he would not be able to obtain a pardon if we are weak enough to elect another Republican president.

Should the judicial system fail us, and Trump is not punished as a regular citizen, first and foremost, we would cause a significant doubt to arise in our international allies and trading partners. They would be very cautious in dealing with this country since they would have no faith in our judicial system and would doubt any commitments made by our government or many of the businesses they normally did business with. Then we, the people of the United States, would face untold days of his vicious and agitative rants rallying his white supremacist and violent mobs of men and women who have already made threats against political individuals, judicial persons and the entire majority of Americans who are members of the Democratic Party, are left leaning politically, or are “liberals”.

Sort of sounds like I am doing a chicken little sky is falling essay? Well, one must understand that throughout our history, we have ignored the warnings of folks whose beliefs were showing a societal problem or some catastrophic happening. I once many years ago, warned that the arrival of the personal computer systems, if not very carefully controlled would more than likely result in a violation and a loss of our personal and business privacy information, including fraud, theft and political propaganda. No one listened, the very secure large mainframe computers were replaced by microcomputer networks evolving into huge microcomputer data centers, and a personal computer in almost every home. So, NOW we see frequent instances of loss of privacy, identity theft, computer fraud, lying political and social propaganda proliferating through out our world. Even worse for our society, the advent of Artificial Intelligence computer systems will bring us nothing but further incursion into our privacy, immoral intrusion of our persons by police departments, unscrupulous business entities, and simply illegal actions by this infestation of technological entities given freedom to do as they are established to do, and the devil take the hindmost.

No one is immune, from large corporations, major banks, government agencies, and with Dick and Jane in their daily lives.

So for our political futures, and the defense against a Republican Party gone rogue, please folks, pay attention to the political situations, from your city/municipal, county, state and federal government offices and officials. Make sure that you vote for a person and a viable result rather than strictly political party or the propaganda writings/speechifying of those who would do us all harm.

Select people who have been shown by their ACTIONS to be honorable men and women, who have been shown to care about the country and its people rather than for a political party. Don’t keep putting the same old rabid lying, corrupt and fascist leaning political hacks back in office. If they lie to you, take them at their word and kick them out of office and to the curb. Do not allow the white supremacist fascist and theocratic ideologues gain control of our nation and our society.

Just remember for over 413 years we have attempted to provide a government of freedom from tyranny, ensuring the individual rights of the citizen, and protection of our country from enemies both foreign and domestic. Stand up for our democratic republic governed nation, for our right to be free in our lives and spaces. Stand against the incursion of theocracy, fascism and white supremacy.

May our United States of America return to and continue to be a bastion of freedom for all mankind.

Just a small observation from this old curmudgeon, have we totally lost all semblance of courtesy? It sure seems that way in a lot of cases. Having reached the octogenarian status in my aging, I have become much more aware of things like this. Mainly, since I became partially disabled and need a cane when walking. But this growing lack of courtesy seems to be proliferating everywhere and more frequently. Seems that we as a people have become more discourteous and the trend appears to be growing across several generations of people. There was a time when if a person witnessed an elderly person having some sort of difficulty, they offered assistance, holding a door, carrying a package, reaching things on a higher shelf. Alas, things have truly been a’ changing.

Traffic Courtesy

For instance, ever have a driver fail to yield at a four way stop? Boy I sure have. Here in Alexandria, Virginia, especially in the historic old town, we have a lot of four way stop intersections. In fact, on my way from home to the primary care medical office, I encounter at least 6 four way intersections. Woah betide should I presume that simply because I entered the intersection first, that I might have the right of way. Far too often, I start only to have some inconsiderate boob in his six figure ego machine, run the stop sign with no hesitation at all. Of course then there are those who start/stop/start and it is their great desire to confuse the issue by giving you the go to hell look as they finally drive into and through that intersection.

Oh yeah, on the highway, what is it with some folks who think that is is perfectly fine to drive with their front end INCHES away from your rear bumper? Are they that confident that their mind reading ability will inform them that my stopping suddenly will give them plenty of time (nano seconds) to bring their 4000 pound steel deathtrap to a halt before they totally crush into my car? Don’t laugh, that has happened to me TWICE. Lucky for me, the situation happened on a city street and the speeds were considerably slower than on a highway. Hell, in one case I was coming from the barbershop to home, and was stopped at a traffic light (another car ahead of me), when I looked up in my rear view mirror to see one of those Mercedes G class SUVs not stopping. Hit me full on, push my bumper area into the trunk area, bowed my rear deck lid up so much that the open trunk sensor was not able to shut off. By the way? This was a new car, I had only purchased and took possession of that car less than a week earlier! Way to go Mercedes driver.

When the cop arrived, I assumed that the first thing to happen was the Mercedes driver would be given a ticket. Well that’s what used to happen back in the olden days. Rear end another car and you were automatically at fault and would receive a ticket for failure to maintain control. But no, the cop only asked if either of us were hurt and then if our vehicles were still mobile enough. Those answers were yes and he left! Of course we had already exchanged information so his insurance paid to have my NEW car repaired and a loaner car provided during the repair time. But she wasn’t a new car anymore, she had been damaged and REPAIRED! Took my new car experience and tossed it in the trash very fast.

Now how about when you are driving on the interstate highway and some asshole rides less than a foot off your rear end? Ever get concerned? What about when there is a lot of traffic in that section of highway? Still not concerned? Okaay, then there was two idiots behind the wheel at that time. If you can’t see the following car’s front end, they are too damn close and danger is ever present. Traffic often comes to a sudden stop on today’s interstate highways. OFTEN, well at least on the coastal state interstates. Although I have had traffic come to a dead stop in the middle of Nebraska!

So, I once observed a forum discussion about tapping your brake to make these knucklehead idiots back the hell off. Interestingly enough there were quite a few folks who were against that idea, saying it could cause an accident when the other driver swerves thinking you were actually stopping, OR especially in today’s America, the following driver gets pissed, and a road rage incident happens, quite often with a gun nut driving and shooting his/her nine mm semi-auto pistol at you, your car or your passengers if any! Okay, I saw their point and agree mightily with the second point, about the pistol and road rage. It happens far too often in today’s USA. My wife and I have a different point, when some idiot decides to ride our car’s rear, I guess attempting to intimidate us into driving faster, never mind the nine million cars ahead of us, we usually start slowing down, ever slower, until the fool behind us either gets the damn hint, or passes us and the danger is removed. OF course, I’m not stupid, that can also often cause a rabid idiot to enter the road rage state and God only knows where he would take that. But, one simply has to do something, because having experienced rear end collisions, they are NOT fun and can harm you by whiplash or other injurious incidents.

What about personal courtesy?

Okay this one is really getting in my craw now that I am one of the ELDERLY folks. Several years ago, I had a bad reaction to some medication and my vestibular dysfunction (ability to balance and remain upright) became more pronounced. I had a balance problem that became more pronounced, therefore the cane came into play to keep this old man upright and not falling down and injuring these old bones.

After it became obvious to me and my doctor that I was now truly impaired, we changed our vehicle license plate for one with the Handicapped symbol and I joined the elderly folks who parked in those special reserved spots. Now comes the first instance, in several trips, when I arrived at a merchant location I found that people who were NOT possessing a handicap tag or a license plate parking in those reserved handicapped spots and forcing those of us who were eligible for them to have to park elsewhere! Even noticed that with some of the grocery stores where they have special reserved spaces for Veterans and you see some young teen climbing out of their car after parking in those reserved spaces. Common courtesy folks, sure I am still sufficiently ambulatory that I can slowly, ever so slowly make my way from where I had to park to that store, but some teenager parking there simply because of a rude sense of self importance or elitism? However, I just shake my head sadly, and decide not to report the violation. Shouldn’t have to do that, though. Just the way it is in today’s America.

How about holding the door open (storefront, elevator, etc) when someone is trying to get there? Simple courtesy right? Not anymore. I do admit though that I have had several people hold the elevator door in our condo apartment building for me, especially when they see the cane, but even still some see this old man and that ingrained sense of courtesy arises when they hold that elevator door for us.

Worst so far has been holding a door for someone at a retail shop. Many times when I approach a Starbucks store for instance, there is someone much younger (of course most people are much younger than I) will also be headed for that door. In many cases those folks will simply open the door, walk through and allow it to close on our approach. I will say, however, that during our time in southeastern Virginia, I discovered many times that people will stop, open the door and hold it for you to enter. Some places and some people still remember the common courtesy of one individual to another. Simply a matter of respect! But, sadly this is not so much the rule, but the exception. What happened? Guess it is that our rules of etiquette have, like our education of the rules for drivers, has simply been cast aside in our new ME Focused society.

What happened to our sense of Country/Community?

Or Perhaps, it is more pervasive today as we become more insulated from our former American sense of community. Sadly, having lived in this nation and internationally for more years than I like to count, I unfortunately have observed the degradation of that earlier sense of community into our current schism of mistrust, blame, and hate. Can we return to those days of earlier comity? Sure would like to before my time on this earth is done. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly to not want the return of the women and minorities as second class citizens, or having those stupid “separate but equal” school systems, or the whites only water fountains, seats on the bus, separate sections of the movie theater and other idiotic attitudes that we as Americans held during those Jim Crow and earlier days. Come on, you know, all those subjects that the governors of places like Florida are banning from being discussed in our school classrooms. Hint, those governors who are pushing that racist crap are rabid right wing Christo-Fascist oriented! Pushing a strong EXCLUSION attitude into our grade schools, colleges and universities.

I don’t know what the answer is certainly. I know what I wish it would be, that our nations citizens would stop with the “culture war” bull crap and get back to being American citizens. Getting really tired of hearing folks yammer on about how the liberals are destroying the country, or the conservatives are trying to end our democratic republic, or if you don’t support this guy as President or this idiot at your Congress critter, you should pack up and leave. Crap on a cracker, haven’t heard that idiotic “America love it or leave it” rabid bull shit for several years, but I do know that it is still around and there are some folks who still keep that idiocy in their brain pan.

Perhaps it is because we have played idiotic games with our education system, cutting the funding for our elementary, middle and high school curriculum. No more civics, no more driver education, if it ain’t reading writing and arithmetic straight up, then the political dirtbags, idiot school board members, and some citizens have ranted, raved, and slashed budgets, so our kids no longer have those additional courses that I, and many of my peers were exposed to each school day/year.

I don’t know for sure, but from all indicators, I would expect that we no longer have courses like HomeEc, where kids could learn about household budgeting, upkeep, and management of a home. OR, I bet there is no more shop classes for students in high school, like carpentry, auto mechanics, metal work. All those things were there and available for the students back when I attended school. That is how I learned how to work on my car doing a tune up, changing the oil, knowing how to use diagnostic tools to identify mechanical problems. All in High School shop. Learned how to use wood, to refine it, shape it, sand it smooth and paint it into useable items like cabinets, bookshelves and other items. In HomeEc we were taught about using a check book, establishing and managing a home budget. In driver’s ed, we were taught about responsible driving, the dangers of inattention at the wheel, and the injury and death from speeding. All these things were accompanied/taught using film. Some frankly scared the hell out of us when they showed a teenage car wreck. BUT it also scared us straight and gave us a sense of the need for responsible operation of that 4,000 pounds of steel. Not anymore. Drivers are taught by private for profit operators who may or may not be certified and properly educated for responsible driving.

Corporate/College Direction

For the past several years, our societal focus has been strictly focused on college preparation. Nobody gives a damn about crafts training, plumbers, electricians, diesel mechanics, truck drivers. Nope they push students to become college oriented whether they are actually qualified for a college education or not. If one doesn’t go to college or university in today’s society, they are, in many instances, doomed to minimum wage jobs, lousy managers, wage theft, and working without access to health care! Buying a home, forget it for years until they scramble upward enough to earn a better salary, if possible.

Seems that is part and parcel of our current crappy societal environment. A certain segment of our society in this country today are the elite who have tons of ready money at their fingertips, are given the impressions their entire lives that they deserve this largess and the country is there to serve their every whim. Professor Reich recently published an essay in his blog that addressed a topic near and dear to my heart, that of, you get what you are worth. Nope, the Prof and I agree totally on this aspect. Take the the Walton family for instance. Old Sam Walton was a pretty smart feller, started a store in Arkansas, offered good products for a fair price and folks know he was a man of his word. THEN. Soon old Sam opened another store, same thing, though, then a third, fourth on and on, seemed everything old Sam touched turned to a successful venture. Then it got big. Sam didn’t have a tight hand on the reins anymore, and the CORPORATE world came into the Walton enterprise. Then it became WalMart and we know what happened from that point. But what about those kids of Sam’s? They became filthy rich, more money than they could ever spend in ten lifetimes, but were they worth that? Nope, they were BORN into that wealth.

No courtesy in the Walton family, I betcha!, simply this is mine and you stay out of my area! And don’t even try to tell me they got what they were worth. They inherited the hard work and business acumen of old Sam their dad and grand dad. They had big buck access their entire lives. So they did not get what they were worth, they got what old Sam and his peers worked their asses off to attain. Same with a majority of rich jerks in our society. Elon Musk! Think he got what he deserved? Not a damn whit. He came to this country with a bank account stuffed with millions from the hardscrabble work that the South African miner employees dug in his Daddy’s emerald mines. Musk inherited millions, his companies in this nation were purchased by Elon with those millions, think he hammered hard to create PayPal? Nope he bought his way into that company, just as he did with the Tesla. Tesla was the brainchild of Martin Eberhard, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, Ian Wright. Elon became a founder when he INVESTED in the company using his daddy’s money. He became the head simply through funding. The company foundered with Musk and the US Government had to help bail them out with several millions to keep them afloat. All of his companies were founded based on the ideas, the technology or the established structure of existing companies or entrepreneurs. Howard Schultz is touted as the maven of the Starbucks coffee behemoth. But it was four young men, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker who founded the coffee chain in 1971 at Seattle’s Pike Place. Shultz bought the guys out and after a trip overseas, decided to turn the coffee beans store into coffee cafe’s. So again, a wealthy person, bought an idea from its founders and using large funds resources expanded the organizations.

Typical of the majority of super wealthy folks, and those people who are elevated into the upper echelon of the corporate world. CEOs now earn over 360 times the income of their workers. Are they worth it? Not by a long shot, but try to get that thought across, nope, courtesy, concern, interest are all gone. Their focus is on their portfolios, their compensation package and their golden parachute exit plan. They give too shits about the people who work every week throughout they year making the products or performing the services that give those CEO/COO/CFO and board members the multiple million dollar wages. And they get squat for their efforts from the perspective of those numb-nuts in the corner offices.

Courtesy, common decency, concern for one’s fellow humans, simple honor and integrity of self simply is dying in our nation and sadly no body but us old farts seem to give a damn!

This blog entry is one that is near and dear to my heart. I, personally, have been concerned about the direction of our country’s societies for several years, actually dating back more than a decade. While I am a staunch, died in the wool Democrat with slight liberal leanings, I am also a realist and my politics completely reflect that personal position.

For a pretty long time, I have been concerned with the direction and the political changes that are occurring in our country, primarily on the right side of our national aisle, but also the central and left side as well. Frankly, I can recall vividly when our nation’s political parties were not that far apart and comity was the watchword for our Congress and our major political entities. I can recall having dinner in a few of the Washington, DC restaurants and seeing political figures of both parties having a meal and good conversations. During those times, we had a lot of legislation that came through with a true bipartisan vote. Granted there were still angst and harsh delineation among some of the members especially concerning certain legislative bills. But all in all, one could count on the political leadership herding the cats into a semblance of comity and actions for the betterment of our country and benefits to our people.

Sadly, those days appear to be completely lost and most likely it will take many Congresses to bring some sense of bipartisanship back into our governing body, our Congress. But even more worrisome is the schisms and defaults that are happening in our state, local, and municipal governments. We as a voting body, pay far more attention to the national elections than we do on the state and local. This is definitely to our detriment as a free society.

Another area where we fail as a national body is in the attention of our people to the very basic of the election process. Sure, when the national electoral process kicks off, lots of publicity ensues each night on our televisions and radios, in our newspapers and now a days, in our online media. But, we have a tendency to deny the appropriate level of attention to our local elections. Our city councils, our county board of supervisors, our mayor, our state legislators, our attorneys general, and of course our governors and lt. governors. We pay minimal attention to the election campaign of our state chief executives, and as a result, we wind up with people like Abbot in Texas, DeSantis in Florida, and for me, Youngkin of Virginia. Oh there are others, like North Dakota, Tennessee, Mississippi, and so on.

Why do we make time to assess and vote for the President and Vice President of the United States, yet allow vicious, dishonest, and integrity challenged men and women to occupy our State Governor’s house?

Consider Glenn Youngkin, who, during his campaign presented a false image of a true centrist moderate Republican. However, if one actually delved into just who Glenn Youngkin was, they would find a totally different person. As a co-CEO for one of the larger Vulture Capitalist companies, Youngkin was responsible for the acquisition of a group of senior citizen assisted living and nursing homes in one of his capitalist take overs. Usually this company would take over a company, strip out its value and the shut the remaining husk to the side, putting hundreds of people out of work. One thing that struck me about his tenure at that company was that instead of the Board promoting him as the actual CEO, they made a co position putting another executive in the same role and it was pretty clear that they really didn’t trust Youngkin with the total control. Yet the voting public in Virginia look the other way, cast their votes and Virginia was handed a Christo-fascist lying business person to serve as Governor.

I literally wept for our state. YET, the Democrats were not without blame, we had a candidate who had previously served as a governor and their campaign was very lackluster without being able to overcome the rumor mill from the Republican propagandists.

I recall when Obama was elected President, I was so hopeful that we as a nation had finally come to our senses and elected an educated, erudite, and compassionate human being to the highest office in our land. Unfortunately, after his election, I discovered that nothing had really changed! Even the majority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell made the statement that he would see that Obama was a one term president and then set out to put up road blocks to every single thing that the Obama administration attempted to implement. Screwed us over with judicial appointments, put unending destructive insertion into legislation designed to bring health care to all our people. And so on.

Then came the election for Obama’s replacement.

Wow, the Republicans had over 8 challengers for their primary pick, and among them was a failed TV host and corrupt businessman, Donald Trump. Of course many, many people laughed at the Republicans saying that Hillary Clinton had this election in the bag and from all accounts they were right. But then came the voting time. At that time, my wife and I lived on a 54 foot motor yacht in the Washington, DC waterfront/harbor. On election night we went to sleep with the confidence that we would wake up in the morning to find the first woman president following our first black president. Sadly when we awoke, our news cast gave the fact that Clinton did not win, she had the popular vote by millions, but the outdated Electoral College handed the Presidency to Donald Trump and American took a giant step back, falling into a swamp of corruption, criminal acts, dictatorial actions, and the theft of millions of taxpayer dollars by Trump, his family, and his entire administration.

As we used to say during my Air Force days, we totally screwed the pooch with this presidential election. For four years the worst of our American citizenry rose with the encouragement of the man who squatted in our White House. Every racist, white nationalist, “militia dude” and other dregs of our American society came out of the pits of darkness, bring violent actions, murderous assaults and our Republican Congress both House and Senate went right along with that crowd. We saw voting rights damaged, political insertion into the rights of women to make their own health decisions, books banned, American History courses gutted and a denial of science and education the likes we have never seen in this nation before. Florida and Texas had governors who were second only to Adolph Hitler in their assault on the individual rights of their citizens and in companies/institutions that they disagreed with on political terms.

Hells bells that dipstick fascist governor of Florida has even picked a fight with Disney, one of the two largest employers in his freaking state. Just recently, Disney decided to halt the planned 6 BILLION dollar building program for Florida, it would have brought over 2000 new really good paying jobs into the state. BUT the fascist DeSantis decided to keep up his autocratic, dictatorial and stupid fight with Disney so Florida lost.

I also would hate to see us fall back on the attitudes of the KKK and the like. Unfortunately, what I do see is that we as a society are facing a very verbal and sometimes violent minority of people who are promoting a Christian Nationalist/Fascist Authoritarian style of governance and societal environment. One simply has to take notice of the incremental movements and take a step back to see the evolving picture.

I know that many of you will diminish these observations, especially those in this section of paragraphs. Many years ago, I came to the observations that our nation was in danger of a movement to the right, the far right of religious organizations coupled with politicians whose lust for power and wealth would outweigh their concern for the betterment of our country, our society, and our future. Back then, I was just a young military NCO and my observations were not accepted by many of my peers and acquaintances. But I still felt strongly that our democracy was possibly in danger of being usurped by not foreign attacks, but by internal stresses, ideological changes and people who were gaining power and were only interested in accumulating more and more wealth at the adverse impact on society and on people who had different beliefs.

As things changed over the years, those concerns grew in my opinions and thoughts processes. Factual evidences were cropping up all over the place, in newsprint, in opinion pieces, educational/technical seminars, all coupled with over 8 decades of life and observations of fellow citizens/news media. But, obviously I am far from the sharpest knife in the drawer and my observations and opinion may not be the end point of educated positions.

BUT, I am logically oriented, and have, in my long working career, learned to collate information received into what seems to be a viable postulation. So, take my comments and opinions with a grain of salt if you will, but also make sure you closely observe the statements, policy positions, and actions of these people who seem to be taking actions to reduce and even eliminate individual rights, collective restrictions against the honor and viability of our communities and our very access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Words we’ve come to understand as the bedrock of our country.

Let’s all hope that those people in this nation who are working to undermine our very democracy, can be stopped and we return to a level of community that focuses on progress, not revenge. However, and this is key! We must all take an active part in the political life of our country. I don’t mean run for office, but that would be a great idea for many of your. I refer instead to being active, working for candidates, for your local party offices, encouraging and enabling your friends and neighbors to see and hear the actual positions of the campaigners, not just their tv and photo shots, but who they are, what they really stand for, where their intentions align with yours and your peers. Then, go to the polling stations and VOTE!

Encourage and assist your peers to get out and vote. Give them a lift to the voting area if necessary. My wife and I have taken advantage of the early voting in the places we lived, that had that capability. Like in DC when we voted on the very first day of early voting, and here in Northern Virginia, we take advantage of early voting for every single election. We both lend strong credence to the importance of voting for our local political offices as we do for the presidential elections. Frankly the local politicians can hurt you just as badly as the national political class. As examples, just look at the actions of Abbot in Texas with his assaults on the rights of his people and the threats to physicians of jail time and high fines for caring for their female patients. Then there is the uber fascist DeSantis in Florida who is doing the same things and is actually bringing punitive actions against teachers, librarians, threatening doctors and nurses. And the epitome of stupid, attacking and picking fights with a major state employers who provides millions of dollars in state revenue, provides thousands of decent paying jobs for Floridians and just recently as a response to DeSantis’ continued attacks, Disney has cancelled a multi-billion dollar project and halted the implementation of well over 2000 new job positions in the state.

So yes ladies and gentlemen, pay attention, get involved, and do your responsible duty by participating in the political electoral process and for God’s sake, VOTE damnit.

Recently I have been subjected to the whims of our health care system in the United States of America, trust me, I was not impressed at all. While I have had some health problems for many of my 81 years, once I passed the 70 mark, it seems all when to hell in a handbasket. And I got a deeper insight into the maelstrom of our for profit health care insurance industry. Prior to my retirement in 2012, I had been covered by my employer’s health insurance policies. Also, considering that I was usually in a senior capacity (manager, director, etc), my coverage from the employer was usually pretty comprehensive. Since our HR folks were managing the coverages, and all the incidental aspects, health care insurance was never very high on my list of concerns. Frankly, I suspect that this is the way with most people who are employed with firms that provide comprehensive benefit coverages.

Then came time for my retirement from the workplace. It was partly voluntary, but also not so voluntary. However, the facts are that in the summer of 2012, I resigned/retired from my technology consulting company and became a newly retired user of our Medicare and Medicare Advantage systems. It was a rather rude awakening!

Bear in mind, that during my almost 75 years of working life, I have lived in other countries than our USA, as a result of my employment. I was fortunate to have made many good friends in those areas, Europe, Great Britain, and the Far East. I was able to continue to communicate with many of those folks following my stay in their country. On level we talked about kids, grandkids, marriage, divorce, remarriage, homes, etc. But lately (past decade) we got off on the subject of health care coverage and health care aspects for patients. See in most of those areas, the people who visit doctors, clinicians, clinics, and hospitals are considered PATIENTS, rather than clients or customers as we are viewed here in the good old USA. Physicians actually have been known to visit their patients in their homes or other areas in addition to their medical facilities. Strange I know, right? The only medical practitioner I have witnessed in this country has been with the veterinarians who visited our home to care for our fur babies. We were concerned at the trauma that pets experience when shoved into a pet carrier, driven to a strange place and have their bodies poked and prodded and then shoved back in to that carrier and driven back to their home. So, we discovered the mobile VET. Great doctors and clinicians who care for our four legged kiddos in a comfortable and safe place, their home not a clinic.

But I digress, simply comparing the aspect that doctors and clinicians in countries other than the USA quite often make “house calls” is simply mindboggling even now. So now, back to the primary topic of this diatribe/post/observation.

In all of the developed countries of the world, the health care for citizens/residents are covered by a medical practice known as Single Payer Universal Health Care, that is all except one, ours, the United States of America. We are the wealthiest of these nations, yet they provide health care for their citizens far better and less costly than we do here. Oh sure, I hear that old bull shit trope from the medical insurance and their supplicants in Congress, that the USA is larger and has more incidental impacts, that our health care is superior, that our research and development is greater. Well, remember at the start of that sentence I called bull shit, and frankly that is exactly what it is, pure rabid propaganda bull shit.

At its lowest differential, US health care costs a third MORE per person than any of the other countries. In some countries, their health care costs half what ours does. AND the outcomes in those countries are far better than here. Oh HORRORS, the old curmudgeon is blaspheming our country. Nope, simply stating facts and studies discussed in publications by highly respected organizations worldwide. Hell folks the Washington Post posted an article a couple of days ago that showed our maternal deaths has actually RISEN, not lowered, and we are far behind the majority of countries in that regard. NOT equal, not above, but behind those countries in our health care outcomes.

Research and development? Let’s discuss that for a moment. The majority of nations have just as qualified and just as dedicated to medical research and development as we do here. Difference is that their end products are more highly regulated to ensure that their pharmaceutical companies are not price gouging their citizens for life saving medications, unlike in the USA. A single example was the recent increase in price for the injector for folks who are allergic and get stung by bees. Those medical injectors, vital to living by allergic people, had seen an increase of 600% or better when a certain Senator’s daughter was elevated to CEO of the drug company that produces those injectors. By the way, the medication has been discovered, tested and produced for market for over 20 years and the cost were very reasonable for a two injector pen package. Until the pharmaceutical marketing decided to increase their profit margin on something they had nothing to do with developing. Typical of USA’s health care industry, charge outlandishly for doing nothing!

Now let’s consider a couple of examples of health care here and THERE!

One of my pen pal mates in Great Britain, told me about his mother who developed a serious stage of cancer. Lucky for her, the SPUHC system in her country provided early warning testing and she was brought into the cancer treatment program, hospitalized as needed, treatments given and her cancer mitigated. The total cost? less than 10 pounds (12 dollars US), and that was for the parking lot charges. Counter point, in December of last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in my bladder. The urologist/oncologist recommended and then performed a surgical procedure to remove the tumor. That surgery was successful and the cancer was removed. Au Contraire, there is still the potential of three, 1, that the cancer will return in my bladder, 2. that it could have cancer cells floating around in my body and show up elsewhere, and 3. the surgery was successful and the cancer is totally gone. Obviously my family and I are praying for number 3. But here’s the kicker, remember my British friend’s mom and her cancer? That 12 dollars? My COPAY for this tumor resection was almost 400 dollars! Follow on visit added another 95 dollars.

Another instance? I was diagnosed a couple of years ago with something called AFiB or Arterial Fibrillation a condition where my heart doesn’t work quite properly and could cause stroke or death, but very treatable. The blood thinner that I am required to take twice a day costs us over 400 dollars for each refill of my prescription (covers almost three months usually), I also have to take a daily medication to force my heart to pump properly. My daughter bought me a device, brand name Kardia, that allows me to test my heart condition several times a day. It recently went through an upgrade that expands the types of heart reading reported. I found that my heart was encountering a situation called Wide QRS. After reading up on this (didn’t want to bother the doctors if it was nothing serious), I found that this reading could be either nothing serious or deadly serious. After discussing that condition with my Primary Care doc, I was scheduled to have an echocardiogram. My copay? another almost 400 dollars charge. A good thing we had the financial capacity to pay that cost, but at least our parking was free!

So what is the solution to the USA’s pitiful health care situation?

Beginning a bit of history for our health care system as we see it today and how we compare with the rest of the developed countries in the world. During the Clinton administration, Hillary Clinton, then First Lady, was asked to head up a committee to study and develop an approach to a single payer universal health care system. It wasn’t called that then, simply a public insurance. But it was demeaned and blocked by the GOP House and never really got a chance for bipartisan debate. Typical though.

Then in 2003, a Congressman from Michigan, John Conyers, developed and presented a bill for consideration on the House for a “National Health Service” program. At least that was his initial working title. This bill was labeled HR-676 and was written in a style that a regular type person (not a lawyer) could read and understand the program presented. It also was, at that point contained all of the program content within a 28 page document, not the thousands that usually come from Congress. It of course went no where, being tabled in committee and not allowed to be debated on the floor. Again, the GOP and their owners the Health Care Insurance corporations stymied the efforts to bring universal health coverage to all Americans.

So did John and his Democratic Party cosponsors stop?

With the start of every new congress session, John Conyers and several others who joined with John as lead co-sponsors, would update the documentation as appropriate for changing circumstances, and re-submit the legislative bill as still HR-676 to the new Congress for consideration and movement to the floor for regular debate, approval and passage. It went nowhere again, with the GOP putting up barriers to keep the bill from consideration by the house and worse, to be exposed to the public! Of course the Republicans knew that if Conyers bill was moved to the floor for debate, the publicity and clamoring by the public would damage their money tree, the health care industry corporations, and the big dollars would dry up.

Until the most recent and final issue of the legislative bill HR-676 in 2017 and the death of Congressman Conyers, the opportunity for Single Payer Universal Health Care, entitled Expanded Medicare for All was stymied and today it sits in the Congressional Committees “dead letter box” and without Conyers pushing, it will probably NEVER see the light of day again, from that standpoint.

HOWEVER:

Through those years, from 2003 until 2017, this old codger was a staunch supporter and made sure to download each new version of HR-676 to my computer systems for safe keeping. I started this collection when I was a member of a senior citizens group that communicated through an online forum software site. The site was then called Senior Citizens Consortium and had a good collection of members from Maine to Washington, From Florida to California. And we had a lot of good ideas regarding political aspects, health care for seniors and the rest of American citizenry, gerrymandering of our voting rights by the GOP, and a growing sense of the right becoming more Christo-Fascist every year. Eventually that online web site moved the membership over to the Facebook media and it resides there now.

I have also created a couple of online web sites that will focus on issues that concern not only seniors, but every legal resident of this United States. These sites are not quite complete and ready for prime time yet, but in the next few weeks I will be completing the security and information sharing components and will then bring these web sites online and publicly promoted.

I recently (yesterday 5/21/23) received an email from Professor Robert Reich’s organization informing me of a movement by his organization and him, along with Bernie Sanders and a couple of House Representatives to restart actions in the Congress for a Single Payer system, and they are calling it Medicare for All. I have been a member of Professor Reich’s SubStack “blog” medium receiving his comments, opinions, and informational postings. I also joined his organization as a fully subscribed member hoping to gain more inside information regarding the positions being established by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Debbie Dingell and if it is a version of Congressman Conyers’ original Expanded Medicare for All (original title was National Health Service), or whether they were reviving Bernie’s bill written when he was a candidate for the presidency. I read that bill also, it was four times longer than Conyers’ bill and didn’t provide the true SPUHC benefits. Still have that legislative bill text in my files.

My response to Professor Reich’s substack post about this group, was that IF they were incorporating the content and intent of the Conyers SPUHC bill, I would be happy to fully support and promote that activity. However, if they were simply going to resurrect Bernie’s Medicare for all bill, then not only would I not support that effort, but would use everything in my ability to protest the activity. Bernie’s original bill was simply a cushion between the current insurance activity and the government program. Essentially the for profit health care industry would still have their greedy fingers in the Universal Health Care pie. No thank you! I would truly love it if Congresswomen Dingell and Jayapal, along with Senator Sanders would promote the far better health care benefits for Americans though the Conyers bill. And I would encourage my senior peers to get on the wagon to support this through their Congressional reps.

I would love to have people like that Reich group, who can bring attention of the public to this Conyers legislative program that would;

1. Eliminate the for profit health insurance companies, because there would be no further need to their interference with medical care delivery.
2. Require that all hospitals and clinics be either nonprofit or not for profit. All of the for profit hospitals currently would have to convert to either the nonprofit or not for profit status, but the program would provide expense funding for the conversion. IT would not cover profit taking by stockholders, executives or senior management.
3. No copay or deductible. All health care decisions and treatment would be covered by the single payer system and compensation from billing would come from the HHS department
4. No limit on health care if determined by a medical professional, hospital, or clinic. Denial of care would no longer impact the health of American residents.
5. In addition to the regular health care, the Expanded Medicare for All would cover dental, vision and hearing, including dentures, glasses, and hearing aids.

I have noted that the senior citizen medical plans for Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage seem to have recognized the dangers in the potential for a Expanded Medicare for All type program and have interestingly enough, started promoting their coverage for hearing testing and hearing aid appliances. Granted, they require that you use THEIR NETWORK of Ophthalmology Service, but they are at least putting some minimal effort into this aspect.

So perhaps it is time to resurrect the push that we had going several years ago and press the House and Senate to pass the Expanded Medicare for All legislation and have President Biden sign it straight away.

I will have more on this topic as I gain more information and opinions regarding this program. I truly would love to have the physicians group that is pushing another healthcare program, but theirs still includes the for profit insurance and service companies. They stopped with the HR-676 type Medicare program evidently when John Conyers died.

Well this old curmudgeon ain’t gonna quit. Going to get my web site up to organize another Grey Panther march on Washington. Already got the Grey Panther Foundation set up, and the web site is nearing ready status.

So keep on looking for that better health care, you know, like the rest of the developed world already has! Hope we can catch up to them through the HR-676 program!!

While reading articles in multiple news mediums, and watching activity on television ( the public broadcasting venues of the House and Senate), it has become apparent that our political class is simply bonkers, and far, far, too many of these supposed “Honorable Representatives or Senators” are most assuredly not honorable at all. In fact a significant number of House and Senate members were involved in public television and print interviews/statements, where they simply lied through their teeth. For instance, one from Minnesota had the unmitigated gall to make the statement that women (through abortion and pornography) were responsible for domestic violence. Sure, let’s blame the victims of the vast majority of domestic violence incidents. Those poor old guys were getting blamed and harassed in public venues when all the while it was the WOMAN who was the perpetrator. Sure, let’s go with that load of bull shit.

Frankly folks, this old curmudgeon is getting damn sick of these people who spent untold amounts of dollars getting the voting public conned into voting them into public office, and then went back on every damn thing they said to get elected. Or those supposed honorable Justices of our United States Supreme Court, who lied their asses off to the Congressional Senate to get their lifetime appointments and then turned around and did exactly what they told those Senators that they wouldn’t do. See where this is going? Time we, the people, stopped letting this crap go by and start making noise to the press, the news media, and the political organizations that we are going to stop letting these scum bag liars continue to screw our nation and the working women and men with their bribery generated legislation and their public actions. Time for us, the USA Citizenry to stop being the chump as these political asshats truly believe, and start taking the reins of government back into the hands of the people.

A few weeks ago, this old curmudgeon started making noise with all those PAC and other electoral money generators, basically telling them that my donations are ending until I see them and their candidate beneficiaries actually listening and heeding the words of the voting public, not just during the election cycle but in actual political official practice.

One group that I used to donate to with each of their plea communications, no longer gets my money, because they say one thing and then do something almost 180 degrees away from that. I have also informed the other fund raisers and political candidates of my intent to take a far more active part in their political stances and through my multiple online and social media presences intend to make known their lack of integrity when and where it appears. I am tired of watching these people, who pull down six figure salaries, with extraordinarily generous benefit plans, playing the political bullshit games.

I am further incensed at the actions of the former Republican Party, which in my humble (or not so humble) opinion, has morphed into the new Trumpism Republican Fascist Party and is more of a cult than a political organization. I see them aligning themselves with the pretend religious folks into a true ChristoFascist gathering intent on destroying the very democracy that I and millions of other men and women pledged to defend when we put on that military uniform and took that oath. I see examples ever single day of the perfidy by the right wing Republican US House and Senate, the several states legislative persons, and the governor/administrative offices moving inexorably toward replacing our individual rights democracy with an autocratic/fascist/theocratic dictatorship.

During my earlier career path, I spent several years working and living in the Middle Eastern countries where theocratic rules govern the lives of the people. Some of these nations pretend to be supportive of their peoples, but in truth, with daily exposure to the reality, those nations care nothing for the rights of their people, nor to they care for the welfare of those citizens. In fact, the difference in class of the people who live in these countries is startling for those of us living in western nations. The poor in these countries are abjectly poor, many living truly from hand to mouth and all of those people (not the powerful, the royalty or the religious leaders) but the regular day to day people are subject to the most horrendous laws and societal regimes. This is what I observed during several years of living abroad working for various international corporations. Sadly, I can see glimmerings of this type of autocratic/theological focus coming from a growing number of our political folks and the Trump-Republican Supreme Court Justices, hewing to the new Republican ideologies.

And believe this, those new ideologies are not beneficial to the working people of this nation!

Just today, I read articles of interview comments by several Republican politicians that sent a chill down my spine. Their comment focus was a prelude to outright theocratic rule. The constant damning of those who did not ascribe to their brand of religion and the lies propounded by these people SWEARING that they are quoting scriptures, is simply frightening for someone like this old man whose early life growing up from childhood, through teen years and into my early adulthood in the US Air Force. My entire life has been one of focus on the ideals of diversity, inclusion, equal opportunity and individual rights, and ensuring that our United States was viewed as a beacon of hope and trust. Sadly that reputation has been sullied far too much over the past few years.

So, here’s my commitment to this old country of mine and the people who are the working folks that caused our greatness, as long as there is breath in my lungs, and this old heart keeps beating, as long as my brain continues to function and my entire being continues to believe in humankind, I will keep beating the drum and shouting out to my fellow humans, take back the reins of politics, make the political representatives you elect, listen and act upon the demands of the people, not corporations and not the uber wealthy.

Time for the Congress to grow a pair, stand up to the corporations and the wealthy who generate influence through their pocketbooks that does harm to the people of the USA, and rather than pass legislation that benefits the country and its people, focuses on the bribery laden class of anti American men and women who damage our nation, our people and our country’s image in the World.

I will be generating a couple of advocacy web sites over the coming weeks that will focus on specific actions that our government should be considering and our people should be taking a stand on. And as long as this old man continues to breathe and stand upright, he will speak out and hope that somewhere, somehow, someone actually hears my words/my pleas and helps move this country away from ChristoFascist Authoritarian dictates and returns to a democracy focused, individual rights supportive land of opportunity, hope, and progress.

It would appear to this old curmudgeon that our new Congressional House of Representatives majority party is being run by the most politically biased, ideological dishonorable, and corrupt politicians is many a year. I have personally been on this earth for over 80 years, and have seen the Republican Party devolve from a one reasonably responsible political organization into a near fascist authoritarian anti-democracy group that is hell bent on the destruction of the very platforms that this nation was conceived upon and has grown through.

I personally am, and have been for a majority of my life, been a political observer or junkie as some would call it. I have seen great, near great, average and horrible charlatans rise to the pinnacle of legislative power. Many of my early political hero types of Republicans were men and women of concern for our country and our people. They were political types who believed in political comity, in collaboration for the greater good and working toward a nation and government that benefited the working men and women of this country. They saw the inequity in wealth from the uber wealthy to the working poor and strove to identify reasonable solutions.

In the Early Days:

In the early days of my personal political awakening, the wealthy folks were taxed at a rate of more than 80% and the nation prospered, we did great things, we built things, we created decent legislative actions, we protected the people from government overreach (especially focused following the McCarthy debacle of Red Baiting). In one example of the level of taxation on the wealthy, the master comedian Bob Hope humorously lamented, ” I work for the government Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday for myself”, indicating that his taxation level was almost 90 percent. Today, he would be working for a half day for the government and the rest for himself. Things have changed.

We also did not so good things like implementing the Jim Crow legislation, the “separate, but equal” school systems for our minority populace, the whites only drinking fountains and theater sections. It was not equal in any stretch of the imagination, yet a large part of our society believed it to be the proper way. We allowed financial institutions to “redline” housing and property loans to the detriment of our minority classes. Yes Classes, we don’t like to think about that today, but oh my God, as one who lived those years, there were strict delineation of white, black, brown, yellow classes of our United States of America people.

But frankly, overall, our political system was composed of a majority of people who truly wanted to do the job of representative democracy and conduct themselves as their constituents would expect. We had good things come out of Congress and the Presidency back then. Even the Supreme Court was in a better place. We still had a strong level of discrimination and that was a sad thing to witness, but it was in the open and we were able to address those things and hopefully we were able to mitigate the worst examples of this discrimination situation.

We passed laws that protected people when possible, such as the Voting Laws to protect the rights of every American of voting age. We passed the Roe v Wade decision out of the Supreme Court to protect a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her own body and health and keep those decisions between the woman and her physician, not some jake leg political hack or pretend Christian. Or even worse, a religious fundamentalist politician, oh my God! We passed laws that ended segregation as a practice.

But Then:

Unfortunately, after the presidency of President Dwight David Eisenhower, our nation witnessed the change evolving within one of our major political parties. President Eisenhower frankly, was the last true honorable Republican President. The Republican congressional politicians began to change and the party started a slide away from legislative actions to benefit the working people, and more focus on the demands of the wealthy and the corporations. Taxes were slashed for the wealthy especially under Reagan, and corporations were given the idiotic status of the ability to be active participants in the election process. Reagan’s action in gutting the Fairness Doctrine led us to the establishment of broadcasts from people like Rush Limbaugh and others of that ilk, who provided the milk of rage and violent outburst for those Americans who were so inclined. The advent of misinformation, and frankly absolute false commentary was growing stronger, because of the loss of the Fairness Doctrine. It eventually gave rise to the “citizenship awards” to panderers of this type of false reporting, outright lies, and vicious rabble rousing through the advent of Rupert Murdoch and his publications, his broadcast venues and of course his acquisition of other publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. Both of those news mediums became more of a right leaning publication than a true purveyor of actual news reporting.

And Now Here We Are:

I am not totally sure of when it all came to our current political and cultural schisms. Seems there were several points of change that seems to be a WTF moment, but not scary harsh. Newt Gingrich with his sneaky “Contract With America” propaganda was one point of departure and was the final straw for a lot of Republicans. I had already given up my GOP membership a couple of years before Gingrich began his rise in the political elevator of the Republican Party. That particular drop for me occurred during the Reagan years and I decided that it would be better for my sense of moral citizenship to take myself away from a group of political actors who were moving in a direction I did not want to be a part of.

The Advent of the Gingrich years as he became more powerful in the House of Representatives, simply confirmed my original decision that the Republican Party was not where I wanted to cast my political support. That Contract with America nonsense from the Gingrich clan was the most arrogant example of a group of political characters who felt that their constituency were dumb enough to believe their pack of lies and political horse shit. Problem was, some of the Republican Party Members actually believed and supported this crock of political crap. Frankly, I do truly believe that the Gingrich period of the Republicans actually was the genesis of the GOP’s leaning toward a form of fascism. Simply in a very nascent state, but a small germination of a philosophy that would continue to grow through support of the rich and powerful, and the corporation’s influence namely millions of bribes (oops “donations”). I mean, if one were to study the initiation of the Hitlerian movement, the cooperation of the very wealthy Germans, coupled with the major German corporations were very instrumental in the start and growth through the early years of the NAZI fascism.

In our country, let’s face facts, the Corporations and the very wealthy citizens influence in our political environment are the major determination of where and how our nation is governed and the impact of the laws or Supreme Court decisions are facilitated. But we, the people, are pretty much responsible for this state of affairs. Over the years we became more and more complacent in our political activity. We simply voted for the person who showed up, rather than the person who actually wanted to work legislatively or overall politically for the American people. We passed on a great number of very qualified and energetic men and women who aspired to our political authority yet were overlooked and passed over for people with a more welcome slogan, or who cast aspersions upon those whom we didn’t like. As a result, we wound up with a plethora of revenge political hacks whose sole purpose in the electoral system was to stir up a load of rage, generate an entire level of white supremacy, and simply there to serve as road blocks for any and all legislative actions that benefited the working people and the underserved poor and senior citizens.

This unfortunately is where we are today. In the seventies, the Republicans addressed the Nixon criminal activity by informing the then president that he should resign or he would be removed through impeachment and trial. Today, the GOP is pressing forward with antagonistic activity, harsh invective and outright lies to protect a former president who is simply a criminally inclined and unredeemable individual who has acted in his own best interest and fattened bank account (taxpayer money and those who are dumb enough to hand their money over), cause damage to the reputation of our nation and people, and frankly, it is believed resorted to a traitorous act in providing aid and comfort to our country’s enemies. Some believe, and I don’t have a doubt about this, that the confidential/top secret papers were in many instances handed over to individuals in countries that are most definitely not our friends. The empty classified info folders would indicate that the documents that had been inside were certainly not in evidence during the searches and most likely in the hands of Putin or similar actors. And as we all know, those people are the heads of countries that are NOT allies of the United States of America.

So what to do? God Almighty, I wish this old curmudgeon had the answer. I have some opinions, but they first of all would never be allowed to be implemented and secondly probably wouldn’t clear out all the cockroaches in our political arena anyway.

But listen up, boys and girls! The old curmudgeon is speaking in firm voice, IF we do not step up to the plate, reverse the anti-American citizen actions by a certain political class, bring comity and compassion back into our political arenas, design and implement a taxation system that is fair, equitable and enforceable across all levels of income/wealth, additionally ensure that our dishonorable politicians, judges and SCOTUS Justices are addressed properly, this nation and our democracy will continue to slide into the oblivion of a fascist state.

We quite frankly need to pull our heads out of our collective asses, stop with the class delineation bullshit, end that pissy attitude about “I got mine and screw you” and start acting like we care about our country, our fellow citizens, our society, our political environment and most importantly the security and hope of and for our families.

Lordy, I hope that we as a society wake the hell up before it is too late. This opinion focus ain’t done yet kiddos, not by a long damn shot. More to come in later editions.

Just as I was thinking that the new Republicans couldn’t get any more weird or idiotic, comes a new player to the field. While reading my morning edition of the Washington Post I came across the article about another new Republican politician who lied their butts off to get the votes!!

The freshman congresswoman from Saint Petersburg, FL, Anna Paulina Luna gets the “honor” of joining the clown car bunch that includes Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Pau Gosar, and the idiot from New York who made his resume up from nothing and nothing it is. Now Ms. Luna plays the same game.

Anna Paulina Luna comes to the Congress as a “Hispanic Woman” who grew up in a hard times childhood life. Supposedly had only her mom and no other relatives to interact with. Consider that a major surprise to her father’s family, the Mayerhofer’s whom all describe her childhood as one being included in all thing’s family, especially her cousin and her grandfather (her dad’s dad), who would pick her up from school when her mother Monica had to work or study late. The cousin shows photos of her and Anna at birthday parties, family gatherings, and as playmates. But Luna disputes all of that, and evidently these Mayerhofer folks are just a pack of liars.

Her roommate from her days in the US Air Force, stationed at Whiteman AFB in Missouri, disputes her tale of being subject to a home invasion at 3 or 4 in the morning. The roommate and Air Force buddy, says that they did have a break in, but it was in the daylight hours and while they were at work.

Luna was a Democrat and voted for Obama before she became a Republican. Of course, there are some interesting tales that brought about that political epiphany. She claimed that she was frightened because the state didn’t allow her to carry a gun, so she and her roommate were unprotected during that home invasion. AGAIN, the roommate disputes that tale, saying that they had several guns in the apartment, because the roommate’s father brought them over to give the women a sense of security. So, ooops another lie.

She also said that when she was later stationed at Hurlburt AFB in Florida she was finally able to get a carry permit. Sure, Florida supports that stupid gun regulation that allows one to kill another with a gun IF that gun person is concerned that his/her life or bodily injury might be in danger. And where Concealed Carry permits are handed out like candy.

So, then she decides that her fortunes lie with the conservatives, and she then becomes one, accepted a post-Air Force career with a position at TurningPointUSA. Oh, My, God! She certainly aligned herself with a rabid right-wing rabble-rousing organization supporting the Christo-Fascist White Supremacist movement and a great place for this woman to burnish her pre-election credentials. I noted in the Post article photograph that she jumped right in with that dumb assed 2nd Amendment bunch of idiots and has one of those stupid AR-15 pins on her lapel, right below the pin identifying her as a member of Congress.

There was a lot more to the Washington Post story on this lying newbie to the Republican right-wing caucus. Of course, she joined with Jordan and the rest of that anti-democracy demagoguery mob. Anyway, never mind, she lies and now her mother supports the bull and claims her story is absolutely true. Never mind that every other individual source disputes these horse crap loads of propaganda! Even the Department of Corrections for California reports that there never was a person with the name of her father EVER incarcerated in a state confinement facility. Sadly, her father is not around to defend himself from his daughter’s political bull shit. He was killed in an automobile accident several years prior.

Here we go folks, another lying sack joining our United States House of Representatives and having an influence on the democracy, individual rights, and taxpayer funding of the entire citizenry of this nation. Just think about all the money these knuckleheads are taking out of our treasury each year and for doing nothing but playing revenge games, showing their knuckle dragger constituents how stupid their elected official can actually be, all the while doing not a single damn thing FOR the citizens of this country. Well, except for their rich white benefactors.

It will be a long, bumpy two years with this load of vicious, lying, con artists serving in the Republican side of the House of Representatives. Even with the minimal level of majority they currently hold, they can still do a load of damage to our nation, to our rights, to our senior citizens and to our national reputation.

Lord Help US, things are going to be crazy for the next two years.