Leaning left!

I write this with some hesitation. I was born and raised in Alabama. Baptised at Cherry Street Baptist and raised by a Church of God of Phropecy Grandmother. The first election I was ever old enough to vote in I voted for Gerald Ford. So, I come to this not as someone with no idea what it is to be a good conservative. I am not mocking or being disrespectful to those who truly see the G.O.P. as the "good guys" it's just that I honestly disagee. Healthcare is one of those areas and let me respectfuly explain why.

It's true that government can't be a nanny to everybody no matter their lifestyle. Surely we can find common ground somewhere. I have very good insurance because of my job. I'm thankful and I understand what a slippery slope it is the the abysess should I or many like me lose my job. Ya see if you are very, very poor then you do indeed get healthcare. It's called Medicaid and although it is strained to the breaking point at times it does indeed cover you. If you are very, very rich then you get the best health care anywhere. None better! Ya pull out your wallet and ya call your specialist and your off! But, if you are lower or even upper middle class and you depend on your job for health care then you better pray and hope and make sure (as much as you can that you keep it.) If you are laid off or if you job doens't give you health care then you my friend are screwed big time! You are not poor enough for Medicaid and not rich enough for the doctor visits. (Medicaid folks are also not treated with the same respect by much of the medical establishment either but that's a whole nother subject.) If you get cancer or heart disease then you just better get on over to the side of the road cause the rest of God's chillun are gonna pass you by. They can't help it cause they can't afford to take you to the doctor.

Now that being said I am concerned that the new administration is moving to fast and to partisian with health care right now. However, the big insurance companies have got their propaganda and big guns blazing right now. If you are conservative and you think george bush was a true conservative I have some beach front property in Northeast Alabama in a little town called Altoona I'd like to see ya. (But that is also a whole nother post.) Fact is we the people need to take this nation back. The first thing a new congressman/woman should do is not to find their party "leader" when they get to D.C. but to find how to benifit the people back home. But it gets lost in the "agenda" of the party. Meanwhile people (sheeple)continue to cheer and wave the party colors while the rest of the people get (insert favorite colorful phrase here) So, I ask if you are anti abortion and yet you say "let em eat cake" once they get here then what have you really done? If you say life is sacred but cheer as homes and people are blown to rubble then what have you really done? (that is a whole nother argument also.) But back to my main question to my conservative friends (and lots of my friends are conservative.) Is there a middle ground somewhere so that health care can be obtained by those in honest need? Or do we continue to have this battle every four to eight years? I am not A Liberal because to be A "anything" means you endorse and are zealous for it. But I do lean left on healthcare and other social issues. My question is to my friends: Is there a way to meet without the hysteria and rhetoric or are we doomed to watch this play everytime congress and the presidency changes hands?

Truth lies bleeding!

It happened slowly. First it was simply letting a few special interest in the name of "helping" get projects and causes going. Then of course the sheep were told that instead of thinking about their state or their own turf to think "Party" Then the politicians started to pass out the (metophorically speaking)team jerseys. Ya know lib,conservative,repub and dem.Then the sheep started to cheer as long as their "team" was in power and boo when the "other" team got power. Meanwhile the politicans with their pockets full of special interest money began to only answer to their "party" and the sheeple be damned! Then when ole so and so got elected to congress the first thing he/she did was meet with their "party" leader for marching orders. That way the sheep kept sending sons and daughters off to die in wars and reap hate by the collateral damage to civillians (women and children)while the sheep at home waved the flag and the politicans got richer. Then finally the sheep forgot it was their nation and their state. The borders were thrown open and class warfare started. Then of course the sheep were led in cheering by the politicans and although the sheep knew that "their" guy was corrupt they stopped demanding accountability because the "Other" team does it to and the end justifys the means. Meanwhile the so called "teams" where actually paying into the same franchise and the sheep were being dumped on. So cheer,cheer dear old G.O.P. or sacred old Democrat! Meanwhile the sheep kept saying things like: Health care is a privaledge and when the sheep lost their jobs they lost their health care. Meanwhile only the very poor (easier to control)and the very rich (they control)could get health care. The middle class vanished and all the people said: Amen! Give us Barrabas! while the "truth" lay bleeding!

Posts: 3504 Location: Eternal Now! Registered: 06-16-2006

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Current mood: adventurous Category: Religion and Philosophy
I stood at the foot of my grandparents graves some years ago now. Standing in that little country cematary in Northeast Alabama these words of joy filled my mind. Happy Easter! Now it wasn't Easter as far as the holiday went but it meant the world to me. It told me that somehow they were home! The grave held nothing more than the elements waiting to go back to the earth. Happy Easter! Now years later as a self styled "liberal" Christian who has left the fire and brimstone of my youth behind I think of Easter. I think back over my life and the meaning of Easter! I have to be honest I no longer feel that I deserve the fires of hell for the life I've lived. I actually can't see a loving God calling for the sadistic torture of souls. But Easter has lost none of it's meaning to me. The story of Easter is not simply sinners in the hands of an angry god. No I am not writing here to challenge your faith or make fun of your core vaules and beliefes. I am writing here in celebration! In no other religion in the world. Not in buddishm and it's wonderful meditation that I honestly respect and enjoy. Not in Hinduism with it's multitude of gods and goddess and not even in the beauty of nature that Wicca enjoys do I find this one gem of the faith of my childhood. That the maker of the entire cosmos could Love so fully and so perfectly that he/she/spirit would become one of us. That he would put on mortality not in a fire and brimstone follow me way. But in the ultimate sacrafice of a parent to a sick child. You might take your childs suffering upon yourself if it would release him or her but would you do it for a brother or a sister or a stranger or one who doens't even have the capacity to love you back? Would you do it just to join in! Not to cure or release from pain but to literally join in the pain! That is love! To take part in the suffering of the poor helpless beings that don't even know how to thank you. That is Easter! Not that we don't taste death but that he enters it with us and finally brings us (each of us in time)out the other side! He is risen indeed! So am I! So will I!

Welcome President Obama!

I do support the new President and I hope for the sake of all of us that he suceeds. I had hoped the last one would do better just as I wanted Clinton to do better. I am an American and the prosperity of my nation is good for me. Still some folks on my hometown paper forum are a little antsy the past few days. I do want to say this to you who are a little angry and disullusioned today. I can at least understand where some of the black folks are coming from. No it does not justify people like Farakan or Wright or Lowery. But for folks who are "brown" and who have always wondered about their representation it is a moment unlike any other. Finally, they can say "we" have a stake in this nation. The person in high office knows a little (rich no matter the color can ever know the poor completely.) but he knows a little more than most how "I" meaning black folks feel. I have never before had to look at a president and honestly wonder "does he hate me because of the color of my skin?" Now I honestly know how that feels because even though I support Obama I am very leery of Michelle and of the pollyanna rock star status of the new president. Still, black folks for generations have had to wonder. They know that whites have prejudice thoughts just as they have prejudice thoughts. For all my life I have wondered why do so many black folks say "I stay" instead of I live in a place? Now, I am begining to understand. They didn't feel they owned it. They felt like squatters. Now, I hope they will begin to take ownership and start to build instead of raising a generation that thinks it's "white" to act like you want to succeed at anything. So, cut em a little slack. Certainly call them and any one else including liberal white's out that tries to demonise "white" folks. But try to understand just a little bit where they are coming from. It might make the next 4 or eight years more bearable to you who are uneasy or angry about the election. God Bless President Obama! God help us all at this time in our nation and our world.