Tag Archives: politics

Privacy

Posted on July 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

My bill was A.B. 1984, yes, in that year. We engineered an entire privacy package that included banking, insurance, medical, and my piece was cable tv.

I just “got it” in that banks and other entities have instituted severe privacy mechanisms, including not allowing joint account holders access to policy or billing information with out a husband’s consent.

What we do have is Congress saying to the NSA “Go free! Spy on US citizens for no reason!” The Patriot Act is much worse than Newt Gingrich’s Contract on America. Banks et al are being too strict and the people we elect to represent us are too lenient except for TSA which is ridiculous. I can’t even wear a bra and still get scanned for bomb residue and I’m grandma-age.

The patriot act will affect your children and grandchildren. Already there are police cameras tailing you every day by license plate, so they know where you are any time of day. They’re tailing your cell phone with GPS. They’re reading this right now, even before I send it.

Think of the dichotomy and how we can make things change for the better. I grew up in a place where we never locked our cars or doors. Now the last thing I do is to check everything so someone can’t break in.

Taking away our privacy is not the way to assure a safe neighborhood, city, county or state. Please write your representative and say this is not the way to go. You need to live your life without government intrusion. Thank you, Dee

 

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Blatantly Political

Posted on July 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Y’all know that “cooking” is more than that, right? At least with me.

I try to deal with issues rather than any party or candidate as I’m independent. These days I don’t know which way is up or down as the Supremes vote against the Voting Rights Act and for gay marriage.

Then all the states that got the Hail Mary pass for anti-Black voters instituted their “reforms.” Then Texas decided to rule against a woman’s control of her own body.

Seeing all this, I believe this to be true, the Republican party is bombing so badly they’re putting it all into the states they may win next year and in 2016 for president so denying rights to over a majority of the population. Great stand.

Why does this bother me? I just got three stop signs with flags on them that actually induce traffic to slow down and stop for me and my dog, because they couldn’t put in an actual stopwalk where the signs are because it’s city/county and they don’t align.

This is what a citizen trying to staying alive crossing the street does. All this stuff about race and abortion does nothing for anyone. We’re taxpayers. We don’t need you in our bedrooms or voting booths.

We need you to do what we elect you (yes, you are supposed to represent us and not just gun and other lobbyists) to follow the Constitution and make things right in the USA, including keeping to a budget and not running us trillions in debt.

The Motor City declared bankruptcy today. How many companies and perhaps cities (you did NYC years ago) will we have to pay for their mismanagement? Too big to fail? No.

I’m all for gay marriage but am a fiscal conservative (just don’t look at my grocery bills).

This is a representative democracy and if I have to run for office to do so, I may have to do so if asked. I care about people. Many politicians may have cared once but then the money train came along and they all got aboard and the people they promised to represent were lost.

A century ago this was a land of Congressmen (yes, all men) that were teachers and of other professions, not all lawyers trying to move up and make more gold in their practice.

What can we do to change this? I’m just a citizen and voter who believes my vote is a joke and no-one ever looks out for my interests. I’ve written laws and worked for government and I believe it has failed all of us. Democracy works, but we need to get involved.

Please register to vote, volunteer locally, even one day a month and know what your fellow citizens are going through. Read your voter pamphlets and VOTE. Thanks, Dee

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Bailouts

Posted on July 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

People don’t think taxpayers pay a burden when our government bails out banks, investment and insurance companies. We do.

Now the Motor City, Motown, Detroit has gone bust and is going to look for funds from us, the taxpayers of the USA.

No-one in the music industry has initiated a concert to raise funds for Motown. They’re $18-20 BILLION in debt. When the Grand Ole Opry is in trouble, country musicians kick into gear.

All the financiers have said “no.” Towns die, mainly for a reason. Why aren’t the auto manufacturers stepping up to the plate? You let your town go bankrupt and now we all have to pay the price. Because you didn’t help out, you’ll be next. Both my husband and I own older foreign cars.

We pay enough taxes as it is to bail out financial institutions but once cities go down, it’s a bit much to ask from all of us to pay even more. Congress, please take that pork off the table and also stop digging into our health care. Mr. President, please lead. Supreme Court Justices, know that while you allowed states to allow gay marriage you did a supreme injustice to Blacks in southern states regarding voting rights.

It seems as if we’re all over the place and the lobbyists are controlling the people we elect and they appoint. We must do better voters, otherwise we cannot avoid the responsibility of being wrong time after time.

We must get involved. Volunteer. Register  to vote. Vote above all else. Ask questions of your candidates. Most will promise you something and lie when elected. Think about if you were a candidate and what you would do for the cause you love most.

Don’t put your faith in politicians. Instant polls, tweets, negative ads, it’s a slippery slope and a mind-set that allows people to be disingenuous and glib.

These people we elect do bailouts for the people who give them the most campaign contributions. What would it take to buy us? To take us from our homes and kids to curry favor and take “junkets” around the world?

Not me. I’ve seen enough and quit when I was making $26, 400 per year. I was rich, but not nearly as rich as my co-worker who started years later and made more than me “because he has three kids.” That’s also why I got to man the desk 18 hours a day as a single gal because I didn’t “need” to sleep or be at home, just cover for them.

Covering is what our government is doing. Let’s stop it. Early morning, sun’s up at 4. Dee

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Zimmerman, G., Neighborhood Watch

Posted on July 15, 2013 | 1 comment

I would like to join your community’s Neighborhood Watch program. I carry my own weapon and do not listen to police directives. I profile Black people and follow them and kill if I think I’d lose an altercation I instigated. Please call for references (my defense lawyer and cop friend). I’m available immediately. It’s Florida, have gun will travel! Sincerely, George Z.

* * *

How far have we come since JFK/LBJ/RFK’s laws were passed. Sure, Blacks can go to the lunch counter and ride the bus, but are they allowed into a gated community to visit their family? To buy Skittles and juice?

I am told I now live in the most racist city in the US. There is hatred here and we’re up north of the Mason-Dixon Line. As opportunities arise in the South, I’d rather not go there. Texas is a different animal altogether as they think they’re a nation but are a state, think they’re free but there is a reason for June-teenth, June 19th when the final slaves in NE Texas were told the war was over and they were free.

This weekend we were told by a judge and jury that the man who profiled, followed, called the police on and disregarding police orders again followed and shot a boy, is innocent due to Florida law.

Unfortunately, I agree that the jury had to follow Florida law. These are terrible laws that were enacted in anger and frustration and not principled as they should be.

My husband grew up on a farm. His daddy has a gun cabinet well-hidden from everyone (I’ve never seen it) but will kill a coyote if it’s killing his cattle. He and his brother learned to shoot early. His brother hunts deer every fall, but we don’t have a single gun in the house. I like it that way. If he tried to make me have a pistol in my bedside table I’d be terrified of it and shooting him or myself in an attempted break-in.

What I need to ask is this: both my husband and watch dog slept 12 hours through a hurricane (I stayed up and blogged it until the power went out). If someone broke in, how would I awaken them? Think about it and please let me know. Dee

 

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Two Wieners in Office?

Posted on July 9, 2013 | 2 comments

NYC better look out because if the tweeter and the cheater get elected, you’ve got two liars running your city.

One sends photos of his private parts. The other is customer #9. If they lied to their significant others, they’ll easily lie to voters.

Male politicians often get away with cheating on the wife, getting a trophy wife and going onward and upward will work. They think they’re Kennedy’s. They’re not. These are extremely slimy new-age scandals that some of us old folks have trouble dealing with. When Xerox replaced mimeographs I never took a picture of my butt, but then I was raised right.

I’m so glad I’m not living in NYC right now. I’ve enough to do to get the bums out of office here. Enjoy your day and be glad you’re not in Toronto or Quebec. Dee

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Theories

Posted on July 5, 2013 | 2 comments

The sun gets me up really early in the morning. I just took the dog out and have been up four hours. Epiphany! It comes, courtesy of an idea from Slate.

It comes from two songs that differentiated our nation. It’s Irving Berlin’s God Bless America vs Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land.

God Bless America is a wonderful song, and I love Irving Berlin for his many contributions to the American scene, but the republican party has commandeered it to show that only God can rule America and we have to stick to the Old Testament in its most heinous ways. I believe the composer would be shocked and disturbed at this use of his song as he was a Jew and immigrant and as such did not live a charmed life.

Woody, on the other hand, when it came down to brass tacks composed This Land Is Your Land about our nation, its natural wonders and asks whether this land is really made for you and me. Written post-war, WWII, I believe he foresaw what was to come in the late 60’s. He already knew about alienation from society.

This past week we’re given a blow on Voting Rights and a win for allowing people who love each other to marry. This is not the old Hollywood studios making Rock Hudson marry because he was gay and had to be a hunk to be in the movies. This is real life.

On our national anniversary, July 4th I do like to hear a recording of Kate Smith singing Berlin’s song. My heart, however, goes out to Woody and Arlo and what their music has brought to this nation of ours.

I did take up the guitar a few years ago (beginner) and am going to teach myself This Land Is Your Land today. To you, Irving, Woody and Arlo. Dee

ps Pete Seeger, PPM, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and many others – thanks!

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Voting Rights Act

Posted on June 25, 2013 | 2 comments

An act means we do something. We act on a stage or on screen. We enact a law that does something. We act to prevent our child from getting hurt on the swings.

A voter is a citizen that is of age and is eligible to vote. Voting Rights Act is three simple words but the Supreme Court doesn’t understand that. Voters include women, now, Justices. Voters include African Americans, Latinos, and many other nationalities we made citizens through our history as a “melting pot” of civilized life.

A right is something we earn as a citizen. We earn the right to vote as a citizen when we are eighteen years of age and have registered in a timely manner. We earn the right to drive when we pass several tests and have a father who has elevated blood pressure levels from teaching us how to drive a stick.

Today, our Supreme Court tore the guts out of the Voting Rights Act. I believe it is a patently partisan political act by Republicans to keep Hispanics and Blacks from registering to vote.

I’ve worked in government/politics. It’s simple. The Dems are inclusive, the Rep’s are exclusive. In the end, who is going to win? Is it the person who gives me a voter registration form at the motor vehicle department? Or is it the one who says no forms should be publicly available?

The Republicans had a big win today but I thought my Country was better than this. I want everyone who is eligible to vote, to vote, then we can all hold our representatives accountable for our taxes and what they call “benefits.”

Coming together is the only thing we can do that will make a difference. I’m an Independent. We can shape our future only if we get involved and every citizen/voter has a voice. The time for racism in politics should be over. Voting. Rights.

Act. Congress can fix this. Thank you, Justice Ginsburg, Dee

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Nelson Mandela

Posted on June 10, 2013 | 1 comment

Some ask if it is time to ask this 94 year-old dignified man to die. I say it is time for him to live.

Live through his compatriots, his family, his country that finally after years in prison, embraced him as their leader.

Even if he lives to 100 or longer the country must he brought together and must stay together.

There is no time for tribal differences. Great strides were made in decades that cost some nations centuries for change to come to pass.

Please revere the leader that Mandela is, and honor him by pledging to keep his dream alive. With all my heart, Dee

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News

Posted on May 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2013/05/06/nra-we-will-never-surrender-our-guns/?subscriber=1

This did not go out from the NRA today, it came from the GOP directly.

It says that they don’t want background checks, and will hang on to their guns forever.

I don’t mind people having guns. I’d like the government to check who has one, even if that data is erased the minute the new gun owner is clean.

First and foremost if you collect firearms, have a gun safe or cabinet where you lock up your weapons. If you live on a farm or ranch, you are expected to have rifles. Same as if you hunt. Just keep them locked up.

Keep them from young kids, even though you’re teaching him to use that .22. When it comes right down to it, gunfire and accidents account for a lot of deaths and injuries so you are actually burdening the healthcare system while rallying against it.

I am against automatic weapons and magazines because those weapons are used to kill people, not a deer. I’d actually like to learn how to fly-fish one day.

Nothing can be done until the black market in guns is erased. But that means gangs and drug cartels and we haven’t had much success there.

How about the Republican Party hire the NRA to go vigilante and deal with the bad guys? No? Oh, yeah, there is a Constitution. So everyone has to have guns.

If this is the Republican Party’s attempt to take over Congress and the Presidency, keep it up. You’ll assure that Biden is the next President. He’s brilliant and would be great but you can’t see beyond the guns. Dee

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The Iron Lady

Posted on April 8, 2013 | 2 comments

This extraordinary woman will be remembered after death, by me, as a gritty, determined girl, candidate, leader and ultimate political leader of her nation when the country needed her.

I never agreed with her politics or policies but she was extraordinary. Also, she was the first of what I hope are many PM’s across the pond and perhaps a president in this former colony named USA.

Today, the day of her demise, I prefer to think of her not as Baroness Margaret Thatcher, but as Maggie, the Iron Lady who scrabbled up from a working class life to politics where no women were allowed.

Did she show us women could be leaders and girls could choose to do so? Yes, she did. Rest in peace, Denis awaits. Respects, Dee

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