Why Such a Fuss?

The Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. The court’s ruling means that 14 states will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage because Gay and lesbian couples can already marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

So what’s the big deal?

Corporations have been legally hooking up with each other all over America for as long as anyone can remember. Haven’t they? Merging and marrying and swallowing each other up whole? Unabashedly connecting and copulating for cash. And right out in public!

And lest we forget…Corporations are people!…And they’re all the same sex too…aren’t they?…as far as anyone can tell…although not many ever bother to look inside their lawyer’s briefs to find out for sure…

So Same sex marriage: Whether imagined or real, for love or money…Now finally, for people (including humans) everywhere…

It’s a Man’s World

So, here’s a thought:

If a man has purchased health insurance through a government exchange and receives a prescription for his erectile dysfunction and then is able to impregnate a woman whom he otherwise would not have been able to, shouldn’t that woman have the right to an abortion paid for by the health insurance plan she obtained through her government exchange should she become pregnant and so desire one…or at least be guaranteed the right to birth control so she could have prevented what never could have been possible had the man not had his insurance coverage in the first place?

The Smoking Gun

If today in the 21st century one man with a gun can commit mass murder… then why isn’t a gun considered a weapon of mass destruction?

To say that an archaic amendment to a living constitution, made during a time when the personal weapons of men could not help one commit mass murder, is an incontrovertible right that can never be modified, is equivalent to espousing the notion that the confederate flag, born in a refutation of human value, is now a symbol of honor and freedom among men.

When will America stop embracing dumb-assery… and start embracing humanity within our own borders?

Share

verb: share; 3rd person present: shares; past tense: shared; past participle: shared; present participle: sharing

     1. have a portion of (something) with another or others.

Anyone who has spent any time in a classroom knows that the most important skill for children (and teachers) to learn is how to share. A classroom has a finite set of resources which not only include books and pencils and papers but also space and patience and feelings etc. Humans have personal internal resources as well as external ones and learning the concept of sharing with others, as opposed to what we all inherently realize as the selfishly clever concept of “all for me”, is an important and indispensable tool in the quest for making ones way in the world.

Without the concept of sharing, selfishness, then argument, then chaos will soon overtake the classroom. All educators know this and all children eventually do too…

It seems to me, that we 7+ billion humans here on the Planet Earth today, are going to need to embrace this concept in greater numbers and with greater vigor if we are going to survive the depletion of our planets resources. We are running out of just about everything these days. If you listen to the scientists and the scientific community (those of you who believe in such things) then soon, within the next decade or two, we will run out of clean air, clean water, fish, bees, polar ice, non GMO seed, animals in the wild, rain forests, social safety nets like pensions and savings…at least as far as there being enough to satisfy and meet the needs of most of the people who we share this planet with.

Then what happens? When 3, 4 or 5 billion people out of the 9 billion people on Earth have none of those things mentioned above what will all of those human beings do? And what will all of the others who still have access to some or many resources do?

Is that when the sharing will begin? Better that we begin the process now…not that anyone is listening…at least not in earnest. For most politicians these days the word “share” is a dirty one. But when the going gets tough it will be tough to not want to close the door on those who have nothing and hoard what we have left. I am supposing that the citizens of the USA don’t have 300 million guns stockpiled in their homes…for nothing…at least nothing friendly.

The 20th century saw our planet and human population nearly consumed by wars of domination. In the centuries before, we nearly succumbed to periods of mysterious disease and/or great famine. The 21st century may see wars based not upon the domination and usurpation of other people’s lands and resources but rather wars based upon the defense of resources…wars of implosion, if you will….

We humans like to think of ourselves as creatures of the divine, rather than of the Earth, as we think animals and crops and fish and oceans are. But we have seen how animals who deplete their ecosystems and habitats behave, and we know what happens after that… And it ain’t pretty. When the time comes will we listen to the angels of our better nature and call upon our “divine” spark and that most divine concept of “share and share alike”?

I do hope so, because as far as anyone can tell, our resources and our time, are starting to run near empty.

Dirty Little Secret in the Garden State?

Is the New Jersey cat out of the bag? Do we finally know where all of those missing bodies have gone? Is this the final resting place of Jimmy Hoffa…may he rest in pavement?

This is a photo of a sign that can be seen on a construction site along the Garden State Parkway here in my beloved state of New Jersey. For years it has been rumored that Southern Jersey was the veritable dumping ground for bodies that Northern Jersey had grown tired of… Have you seen the Sopranos?

Could it be that have we grown so jaded here in the 21st century that secrecy is no longer needed? Do our New Jersey skeletons no longer require closets? And has anyone told Governor Christie about this?! Because I’m not sure he watches, nor cares to watch, the channel 12 news.

Anyway, this sign reminds me of an old New Jersey advertising slogan…with a slightly newer twist…

“New Jersey and You: Buried together!”

They don’t call us the “Garden State” for nothin’…I suppose gardens do need their fertilizer as do parkways their fill.

And please drive safely…

Helicopter Bus Stops?

I found myself behind a school bus today while out driving, which is always a slow drive and to be expected, but this bus stopped at every house in the neighborhood. At least that’s what it seemed like. Drive ten feet…stop. Two more houses…stop. A few more houses…and…stop.

Gee, I know these were grammar school kids but can’t they all walk through their own neighborhoods…at all…any more? One stop in the middle of the neighborhood, everyone get off and then walk down the street to your own home? No?

Even all of the parents were waiting outside of their own respective houses for their own respective children. Couldn’t they all gather at one central location? If they were afraid to let their children walk 100 yards through their own residential neighborhood? Wouldn’t the exercise, as little as it would be,  at least do everyone some good?

Is the world that dangerous now? In suburbia even?

I can hear my parents now exhorting us about how they would have to walk 5 miles to school each day when they were young…and uphill both ways! Even when I was a kid buses wouldn’t pick you up if you lived within 2 miles of school, so some parents would actually drive their children to school, rather than let them walk all that way. It was scandalous! But still most children did their own walking. Crossing guards would get you to the side of main street that your neighborhood was on…then it was up to you to wend your way, on foot, up hill and over dale to your own driveway and house.

Now? It’s hop off the bus and the Play Station is only one lawn away! Hooray for modern times!

I know I’m old now…but does this happen where you live too? And is it a positive trend…or just too much of a good thing?

We Are Family… Just Make Sure you can Take care of your own…

The United States is not alone when it comes to helping to take care of its children and families. Swaziland, Lesotho and Papua New Guinea are the only three countries in the world who help to take care of their country’s families as much as we do. And what is it that we four super powers do to help our children and mothers when they are just starting out on that important path to becoming a family?

Absolutely nothing!

Because we are the only four countries in the world that DO NOT legally require paid maternity benefits for new mothers.

But where the heck is Lesotho? Even this map doesn’t know! But when it comes to helping working mother’s and families make ends meet…That’s the kind of company the United States is in!

Here in the United States we love our Christian values so much that we constantly worry about the lives of fetuses and how we need to protect them from their mothers while they are in the womb. Once they are born however…not so much.

We love the unborn. It’s just kids we can’t stand!

The United States… now proud winners of the family trifecta: 1st in child poverty. 1st in creating poor citizens and 1st to say, “Mom? Put that baby down and get back to work or You’re fired!”

“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people.”

I saw a post on Facebook recently espousing this thought:

“We must put an end to economic freeloading…There must be no place for parasites who draw their sustenance from society without giving anything in return.”

We have over 50 million people in this country who live below the poverty line. And it’s a pretty low line…certainly not one that we or anyone else that I know would want to live under for one day… let alone a year or two or a lifetime. And of all the industrialized countries in the world we, the United States, the richest, mightiest, most boastful country in the world… is last in helping its poor people.

Wow! We’re last in the first world at charity…and as far as I can tell it makes most Americans sick…and not because we’re last but because we can’t get any lower… without leaving the first world and joining the second and third world countries in order to do it that is. Most folks and certainly all Republicans, would like to cut programs for the poor (like food stamps, rent assistance, healthcare and welfare) all together and completely.

After all there is no place for parasites is there? Unless we count prison, and we are first in prisons and prisoners aren’t we? Huzzah! At least we are proud to be number one in some category among the wealthy, advanced nations of the world. But if the poor are parasites and undeserving moochers who draw sustenance from their hosts while offering nothing in return, what are we to do with them? Kill them? Eat them? We already ignore them don’t we? If they aren’t already in prison then they certainly are pretty much invisible. Right?

I mean seriously, do you see a lot of poor folks during your daily routine? You pretty much have to go out of your way or take a wrong turn or exit on the freeway to bump into them don’t you? Or maybe you sometimes see them get shot by scared witless policemen in their efforts to “protect and serve” as you channel surf on your cable TV. So really, what more can we do besides cut those checks?…and I mean cut as in off… not as in… write.

But who are these undeserving poor that beguile and bewilder our great United States of America with their hands out for more and more of our hard earned money every day? Who are these 50 million or so ingrates who can’t stand on their own two feet? These huddled masses who are bankrupting the richest citizens of the richest country in the world? Which, by the way, they aren’t because in case you missed it at the beginning of this blog post, we don’t really give them anything, because we, in all actuality and factuality, already are the STINGIEST, wealthy country in the world!

But I digress…

Because, who are these money grubbers anyway?!

Well… 35% of the 50 million or so poverty stricken Americans are kids! They are all under the age of 18 so how much of a slacker can they all be? Are we going to call 17.5 million children parasites and undeserving moochers for whom there must be no place in our society because they don’t pull their own weight in this world? Yet? They haven’t even graduated high school.

Another 10% of the poorest Americans are elderly. They are all over 65 years of age and can’t work or shouldn’t have to work anymore. How much financial independence and personal accountability do we require from those who may not have had any pensions or 401K plans during their working years or who saw them swallowed up by banks or government cuts or by the financial sector’s mismanagement? Can we give these folks a break and help them out with food stamps, medical and housing assistance or is there simply no room in our society for this particular type of societal parasite? You know…the old and feeble kind.

So that accounts for almost half of all the poor citizens in our country: old folks and children. But did you know that another 31% of the poor in our country are poor because they have mental and/or physical disabilities that prevent them from working or that caused them to lose their jobs in the first place? They might be veterans, paraplegics, developmentally challenged, perhaps those who suffered on the job injuries where no workman’s comp. was in effect or those who were suffering from severe mental incapacitates when their hospitals were closed during the cutbacks of the Reagan years and beyond. Are these citizens to be considered freeloaders also? Lazy work shirkers on the public dole? Irresponsible no-gooders who need to have their food stamp purchases monitored lest they buy an occasional steak or seafood out of season so that we do-gooders can treat ourselves to another tax cut?

A full 76% of those who live below the poverty line here in the United States of America are either children, senior citizens or disabled…that’s 3 out of 4… and what of the other 24%? Mostly they are comprised of mothers: more than likely they are single, divorced or unwed women with children (and a man on the lam from his child support)

And all together they comprise the Approximately 50 million people who can’t make ends meet in this, our Land of Plenty. Sure it’s a big number…but we’re a big country…and a rich country…the richest country! One that can afford to spend 20+% of its budget on blowing the citizens of other countries up and then debate whether or not we should be spending more on such endeavors.

But when it comes to helping our own poorest of citizens, the great majority of whom are either too young, too old, too disabled… or mothers trying to make ends meet…we wag our fingers and say, “We’ve given you enough! What more do you want?”  And yet, We as a nation are last in the world at helping our fellow citizens get back up on their feet now, so really, How much crueler and indifferent can we be?!

Well…The United States also has the highest poverty rate among the major industrialized nations of the world! And Our poverty rate for children is just as bad. So that means that we are first in creating poor people and last in helping them! Do we now need to make sure that we constantly refer to the poor in America as Parasites? Fraudsters? Morally bankrupt? Undeserving? Lazy? Cheats? Thieves?…

Do we really need to add insult to penury?

Because after all. Haven’t we fortunate Americans…God Bless Us…done enough already?