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Tag Archives: As I see It

Demagogues, Witch hunters and Charlatans


It has become clear to me that many current and past well known figures in politics and the public eye are not who they purport to be. We have over the years been enthralled or distracted by seemingly larger than life figures who have turned out to be less than most of us ordinary people. We have had Jim Jones (Jonestown) who induced hundreds to commit suicide or be murdered , Senator Mc Carthy who sent the nation on “red” witch hunt and ruined lives, We had Several Evangelicals who fell from grace after information on their personal and financial misdeeds came to light, we have had several Federal legislators ousted and imprisoned over  official and personal misdeeds. Years ago in the 1600’s we had the “Salem Witch Trials”. All of these things have to do with people who took upon them selves the mantle of  leadership under the guise of administering justice and religious right. Our current political climate appears to be running in the same vein. We have a congress lead by Right wingers who without our explicit consent doing what “they” want and ascribing it to the “American people”. We have a leading Presidential aspirant with unknown affiliation or motivation who has excited the angriest (gullible?) elements of the country into a mob who are covered with a blanket of hate for anyone not like them in mindset and skin color. This is the same type of mass sentiment that created the witch hunts ala Salem and the McCarthy eras. It is of great concern to me that the media coverage no matter how the middle of the road is flavored and often overshadowed by  the extremes of the right and left of center outlets. With all of the truth being available not enough people avail themselves of it and become entrapped by the Demagogues, witch hunters and charlatans whose sole purpose is to incite discord which in turn hides their own agendas which do  include the good of anyone but themselves and their cohorts. Remember the following Names: Joe McCarthy, Dennis Hastert, Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, Spiro Agnew, Jim Jones, Cotton Mather, Tom Delay and many others. They have all been (or are currently)  high in the public eye and (or will fall) fell after their true nature or purpose is exposed. If we become and remain vigilant we will be wary when the lies sound like the truth according to someone with a high public profile.

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Snake Oil


Listening to NPR news this morning there was segment of an interview with Mitch McConnell. This inter view was much like listening to a snake oil salesman. The questions while being straight forward were answered the way you would expect a not so honest person to respond. Mr. McConnell came through with flying colors. His responses while being extensive were not true answers as much as they were talking points. His use of the phrase the “American People” has been a mainstay of his party for years but only means the people we can fool. Mr. McConnell is a polished speaker but an inveterate liar whose sole objective is and has been for years to gain power in the Congress. Now that he has it he will do no good for the country as a whole. His remaining in the Senate is a tacit OK to poor government and a unilateral shift to the right which will impact us all for years to come and in no good ways. It is unfortunate that his disciples fail to see the true face if their hero.

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Disrepected by 535


The Presidential race is an issue in its self. The uproar over Hillary Clintons emails and servers has been blown way out of proportion. No one is investigating the previous Secretaries of state (Condoleezza Wright and Colin Powell) for their use of private servers, apparently its ok for one political party but not for the other or is this just another part of the dirty politics we are experiencing ? If we the people (voters) allow these political misdeeds to continue then shame on us! It is understandable that a lot of us (if not all) are angry and dissatisfied with our government and have been for a long time but that anger is misplaced. The energy in that anger needs to be placed on the doorstep of our Congress. These are the culprits in our broken politics. For too many years we have voted these people in without questioning what they are doing and have done, all the while they have mislead us and made us like it. How many coal miners lives have been lost due to the personal ambitions of their representatives? How many disasters and climatic problems could have been avoided or lessened by these representatives if they spent less time politicking and setting up their future lives with their “cronyism” ? The easy yet seeming hard question is are we willing to take a stand and vote against these political ne’er do wells and begin the shift to a more practical government much like the one offered (or perhaps required) by the Constitution? There will be no major shift towards better government until we demand it in the voting booth. Keep in mind that change in government does not begin or end with the President, it begins and ends with the Congress and if we do not take a stand against them then our fate is tied to 535 reckless and often feckless representatives.  The current vile and vicious language of the Presidential race is not a joke and we need to rise above the awful, hateful rhetoric to understand who we really need to elect even if that choice is not our primary one. Remember we have a broken Congress and we need to understand that whoever is in the Oval office will not prosper until we begin with election to replace the  535 seat fillers who have demeaned the office for years and at our behest.

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Validation


The ongoing tragedy of Veterans care explained in a recent interview with researchers into the issue. It appears that our noteworthy? Congress mandated a change in procedure  (outsourcing care to local civilian medical facilities) but only gave 90 days (3 months) to get it done. Several prospective providers declined due to the small window of time provided. The companies that accepted the challenge are still struggling to implement the system. The Congress has been on the attack against these companies for failing but the failure is on the heads of Congress for not understanding what was involved in a huge undertaking such as this. Their intent was good but flawed , this is indicative of the offhand manner of legislating for “the American people”  they are so fond of citing. Our veterans have been suffering for years with poor medical treatment but not from medical staff but from the oppressively convoluted system of administration. The medical staff suffers as much as the Veterans since they have to follow the often inept and seemingly insane rules. This was supposed to make getting medical care easy to get in areas where there was or is no VA full service  medical assistance, instead we have the same clusterflak that brought us to this stage. There is no reason a veteran should have to travel 500 miles for treatment when there are qualified facilities within a 2 to 10 mile range. In Illinois there is a full VA medical complex in the St. Louis Area and Chicago but people are sent to Danville and often to Indianapolis (if Danville cannot take care of them). There is a provision for travel expenses but that system is not working that well either. The current news covers the upcoming Presidential election but if we do not pay attention to the smaller races  for Congressional seats we are failing make the needed changes in Government. The validation is that I have talked about this before but apparently no one is listening. I am a vet and fortunately do not have the serious illnesses suffered by others but I have had conversations with many and the stories you have heard are true. My experience was a series of appointments cancelled, reset and cancelled (one with no notice) and provider  changes . For a moment look at the plight of the providers, they get the brunt of the abuse being the “front line”. This role causes turnover and poor service. Whether you are a vet or if you know one, you need to be aware that our Congress is more at fault for many of the countries issue being unresolved or under resolved than any President we elect.

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PARAPROSDOKIANS


PARAPROSDOKIANS are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous. (Winston Churchill loved them). In the current political races this is sometimes the case but more often we have entire sentences and speeches that seem to fit this definition. Looking at the uproar over walls being built, mass deportations and now which bathrooms can be used there is much fodder for this form of speech. It defies my logic as to the States that have enacted laws governing bathroom usage, why now when these folks have been using restrooms according to their preference for some time. The few incidents that I have been able to find relate to serial offenders not the everyday LGBT person. These folks have the same desires as we have and that is to live, work ,learn and enjoy life. We have (excuse me) more perversion in our Congress than we can bear and no need to mention in the entertainment business. These seemingly religious backed initiatives are no more than religious persecution , just modernized and tailored to suit. This country was founded by people who fled their home countries to worship as they pleased but in that pursuit they murdered native Americans whose religious bent (if examined) was purer than the first settler’s. These so called religious folks committed as many atrocities in the name of the deity as the Crusaders now they are attempting to manage bathroom privileges. What next underwear color?

The Game’s Afoot


The recent rulings regarding bathroom usage in certain states has become a focal point in the current national elections. These “bathroom” issues are purely political and just another tactic brought to the front  for political purposes. The points made were put out as potential threats to children and women. One  person interviewed  stated ” He did not want some male pervert in the bathroom with his daughter or wife”. This is the message put out by the legislators of those states and it is purely a political ploy. The issue was never an issue until the legislators decided it was one. It indicates the lengths that Dupublicans will go to have their way and manipulate the voters. It is never hard to persuade people who limit their access to information to local news , faux news and gossip disguised as religious law (sharia anyone?). The current political climate is one of intolerance and bigotry perpetrated by the same long serving lawmakers around the country. This is why our Congress is deadlocked and getting paid to do nothing. The issues are not who is or will be President but more who we have elected and continued to elect in the smaller and off-season elections, namely – Congressional, state and local . These collective elections are what generate the radical and misleading information that the media reports. Comparing the outcry over Radical Islamist practices to the (extreme) Evangelicals and other religious sects in America, there appears to be more in common than not. The Constitution calls for a separation of Church and state yet many States have crossed that line many times based on personal pejoratives. There are as many religious sects in America  as there in the Islamic world. My opinion is that there is (according to known history) one bible but hundreds of interpretations according to the ministry.

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Telling It Like You Want To Hear It.


The Trump excursion and the other runners have all put out their talking points but Mr. trump stands out as the one who tells it like it is and speaks the truth. Truth is subjective. Everyone’s truth is different and persuaded by each persons experience and background. Donald Trump has spoken plainly about many things and in some of the worst terms. The supporters of Trump have been allowed to believe that He can bring back the halcyon days of “White Right” and take America back. This false belief does not take into account the “theft” of American from the Indigenous natives by White Europeans. Americas history is a plethora of white oppression and theft by semi legal and non legal means. The masses who follow Trump appear to be largely uninformed and / or under informed. It is unfortunate that many of them have become afraid of the melting pot quality of America and have decided that other Races are the reason the country is in the State it is in. The real truth is that these folks have been implicit in the condition of the America’s present condition due to the lack of vetting the people they vote for in the local and State elections. The same people that these folks are calling their protectors are the perpetrators of a hoax that has begat the many ills plaguing us now. How many have really paid attention to the people they elected? The elected officials we have in place all have their own interests and those interests are no the interests of their constituency but they have used the innate biases of that constituency to further their own needs.

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Good Job


Can anyone do a good job? The politicians and the aspiring politicians all campaign on doing a good or better job than whoever is in the office now. Can anyone do a better job? The answer has yet to be known. Looking at the rhetoric, each campaigner advocates for reform but unfortunately reform is not as easily accomplished as stated. It takes a combined effort of all of the elected officials to do the necessary job of Governing. What we have is a selected group of people whose purpose is to further their own agendas not the required agendas of the Government. That is probably the least of our problems, the most is more dysfunction which ultimately affects the voters.  What we as voters do is to select the candidate who most mirrors our opinions (which are often based on what is aired in the media) and thoughts. In a perfect world this would be reasonable but since the candidates are imperfect (as  we all are) we need to pay attention to what the candidates say and what we (should) know as fact or reality. Our ability to vote is the main resource we have to insure better government and unfortunately we have not done a very good job so by extension the people we’ve elected haven’t fared well either. We have often kept the same people in office too long even when we know they have not done a good job but we were either swept up in the hype and rhetoric of campaigning or we were lazy. Generally we do what is required of us in our work and home lives but seldom more than that on a consistent basis. With this in mind we have allowed our elected representatives to do the same and less. We hold them to a higher standard because they hold an office that we put them in while forgetting that they are ordinary people in a necessary job. Can they do a good job?, yes they can but we have to keep reminding them to do it and expect it from them. Always remember Government moves at a slower pace due to checks and balances so what is legislated or debated now will not become reality for months to years in some cases. Unfortunately the ill effects will last as long if not longer so who we elect is the first big step to better government and practicality should be the deciding factor not personal beliefs.

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Reality


The Presidential candidates all have their ongoing talking points and those points are designed to get your attention and hopefully your  vote. This is normal for elections but in the last 10 years or so these campaigns have become particularly virulent and nasty. Possibly half of what is said on the stump is either false or half-true. Even with speech writers more stuff is said that is impractical or impossible in the real world but it fires people up and gains attention. Not many of  us know (or maybe don’t care to know) what actually happens in the White House on the issues of trade, war and immigration. The candidates can afford to attack the administration since they do not know what is really involved but state with surety that what they say is fact. Not one has proposed a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (no matter how radical or ridiculous), not one has come up with a way to defeat ISIS and not one has an answer to immigration (except a wall). All these things if done improperly will send the U.S. down a dark path worse than Vietnam. The middle east has been in turmoil for centuries in one form or another and what is going on now has more to do with the intervention of some major countries in the past than the current events. The discovery of oil fueled a boom in some countries but did not extend down the people who needed it the most. The various sects have divided the Islamic religion for years but new wealth increased that divide exponentially. Meanwhile we (the west) and Europe bought cheap oil and ignored the internal issues of the region. For some reason we took on the task of removing and installing dictators in hope of helping but our efforts only exacerbated the situation. Now we have a major humanitarian crisis that has engulfed most of Europe and extending to the west via South America and Canada. There is no reason to ban refugees whose home have been obliterated by bombing, family members and entire families killed. The possible solution is tell the truth about the situation so that everyone knows what the real situation is. We in the U.S. should understand better than anyone what the result of this type interference does to people as we did it to the Native Americans, the American born Japanese and the enslaved African Americans. With this knowledge we should really be a lot smarter as voters than we are.

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Benefactors -Beneslackers-Benefakers


The ongoing and seemingly never ending rhetoric accompanying election campaigns is an indication of how jaded we have become as voters. This phenomenon has worked in favor of the candidates since their objective is to win at any cost. This cost may affect the people they represent more than anyone else. If we expand that representation to the nation , it will become apparent that voters need to be better informed before voting. It is easy to become enraged by sound bites, hate speech and lies but the truth no matter how obvious is always the first to be ignored. Our misdirected anger in this season of elections has brought out the worst in us, where we should be concentrating our efforts is removing our Congressional representatives as their terms end, once this precedent is established we should begin to see an upward swing in the quality of our government at the local, State and Federal levels. The people we have elected regularly all  have the same spiel and that is, “I work for you”! We are stuck with 535 “benefakers” s  who have  offered themselves as benefactors have for as long as they have been in office. What benefactor would shutdown the Government leaving the people they are supposed to work for stranded. Now consider that these benefakers refuse to consider a replacement Supreme court justice, tried over 60 times to  overturn  the Affordable Care Act and failed. If these “benefakers” had spent the same amount of time reading the ACA and making necessary changes to create a better product, that would have  been beneficial. If these benefakers had not spent so much time naysaying climate change, air quality and economic  issues where would we be? We (voters) need to decide what we want and what we need, then balance the two for a workable solution. If we as voters urge our representatives to do what’s right, that will benefit all of us.

 

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