I've been a "good girl" my whole life. The one and only time I ever strayed from that path, setting aside the usual college pranks and high times, was the day I announced to my dormmate that I was going to be a wild woman. And that night 30 years ago I met my husband. So much for walking on the wild side, but I still got the best end of that deal.
So as a charter member in the Don't-Hurt-Anyone's-Feelings Club, this particular post has been a long time, and even more self-led therapy, coming. I'll still obsess about whatever I commit to the eternal ether here, but it has to be said...by me. We have a little more than a week to go in this campaign and I've put up with more than enough of myself being nice. Either I come out of the BS closet--the way POTUS did in the Rolling Stone interview--or I'm gonna give myself diabetes from all the freakin' saccharine.
Republicans: You're wrong. Either you've been misled by the likes of Rupert Murdock, or you're truly evil and believe in the world as viewed by Richard Mourdock. Either way, you're hearing and/or creating LIES. The "L"-word: I said it. Wanna know why? Because I'm tired of President Barack Obama being treated like shit with a lack of respect not seen before with any other Commander-in-Chief. And we've had some doozies: Reagan started the whole screw the poor and wreck the economy in the 1980s which is exactly why wages have been stagnant while the folks in the tophats have gotten even toppier, and why the economy began its slow slide into hell. Ronnie the Clown, father of the deficit clock. Then of course we had Tricky Dick Nixon who didn't use voter suppression to win, just had his campaign, the apply abbreviated CREEP, commit criminal acts against the Democrats. And who can forget that oldie but goodie, W, who couldn't do one thing right except to get some Iraqis and our troops killed through a mis-managed, falsely-framed war. We've had some disrespectable dudes in that high office. And sure, we made fun of 'em, but we never asked to see their papers, never implied--except on the fringes of our party--that any of them wanted Americans to die. Reagan traded arms to terrorists for hostages, Nixon broke the law, lied to the people, and had to resign, Bush maintained that Saddam was an instant threat to our nation and that he was in possession of WMD. They lied. They did us wrong, but we never accused them of not being one of "us". We never put them in jail for their wrongdoing much less did we ever accused them of making us all "government slaves" as I see on a nearby sign in my town every time I pass by.
What in the world did this hated man do for business? The stock market has doubled since he took office and he's added new tax benefits for small businesses. What did he do for the economy? Foreclosures are down, housing starts are up, the unemployment rate is below 8%, we are adding 100,000 jobs a month instead of losing 750,000, and actually have a net job gain over the four years even though the right-wing Union-haters have insisted on POTUS downsizing public service employees. What has he done for veterans and active military? Jobs for veterans' programs are in place as are tax breaks for companies who hire vets, the world no longer thinks of us as buffoons not to be trusted, and FLOTUS and Dr. Biden have actively sought better care for our returning troops with PTSD and other injuries. What has he done for students? Kept their loan interest rates from increasing as the Republicans in Congress would have liked, and he removed the middle-man in the loan process in the first place by putting student loans squarely under the mantle of the federal government, where they should be. What has he done for women? Not treated them like so much shit from the 1950s like the absolute nutjobs on the right would have us do. What has he done for the LGBT community? Told them they had--shocking--the same rights as everyone else to marry whomever they happen to love. What has he done for Hispanics? Championed the Dream Act to help us keep bright young kids in our universities and our military, among other pursuits. What else has he done? Oh yeah, he's working to make sure we all have a little thing called Healthcare.
So what's the problem? He isn't a puppet for the likes of Karl Rove, Sheldon Adelson, and the wretched Koch brothers, though the poor and ignorant are. What a weird little bunch of army men: the ultra-rich and all the idiots they manage to drag along with them. Oh yeah, and he's BLACK! Recent polls show that a plurality of citizens in our country look down on people not of their race. That's code for people who aren't WHITE. But try telling someone calling POTUS a Kenyan Socialist that they might be being a "tad racial" about it! No don't, you'll get beat up AND you'll waste your time. "But his daddy was born in Kenya," you'll get next, and you'll retort, "and Romney's dad was born in Mexico". This will fall on deaf ears, because when you go on to say that McCain was born in the Panama Canal zone and he ran for President they'll just insist that doesn't matter because they didn't support McCain. Then tell them that John Sununu, who served under Reagan and is a top Romney spokesman, is a Cuban-born Palestinian. They'll go on to the next talking point. Why? Because none of that matters because the President was born in Hawai'i? No. Because all those other dudes look...wait for IT...WHITE. No man of color has ever had a worse job, done more for the country while being constantly blocked and criticized, and had to be better than white criminal presidents and still gotten more disrespect than most anyone else on the public stage.
You've heard all the stories of employers threatening their employees that if they vote Obama they may lose their jobs. Would you like to know what I was handed at my doctor's office last Monday? I'll give you the first line and the gist of the bullet points:
"Due to increasing regulatory requirements imposed by the Patient Protection and
Affordable Health Care Act, we have found it necessary to make the following
adjustments to our scheduling and office visit policies:
*We will only evaluate medical issues requested when visit scheduled
*Limit of two medical issues per visit
*Additional concerns will require another visit "
They entitled this piece of shit, "Office Visit Service Limitations" and I went OFF when I read it. I was naughty in public. I took it down to the campaign office where we were about to head out to early vote together and passed it around. Everyone was of the same mind as me: This is a corporate overlord intimidating their employees and their patients. Had they legitimately come to this decision, they could have expressed it in non-contentious ways. But I don't believe they did; I think they mean to show their slant. This same group, Colorado Springs Health Partners, just a year ago decided that we have to go through a call center 30 miles away and can no longer call our doctor's office directly. I started a petition/occupation, but I chickened out. (See the first sentence of this posting.) I thought I found a lump several months back and called up to see when I was due for a mammogram. They told me it was months away, in the Fall, then proceeded to send me mailings within a month or so saying I was overdue for the procedure. Really? I went to the office for yearly bloodwork only to have a vial drawn for cholesterol because I wasn't due for the full panel until October. I made that appointment IN the office. I could tell you more, but I wouldn't sleep tonight AND I have to go for my physical tomorrow. Still haven't decided how I want to play it, but I have contacted other local offices that LET YOU CALL THEM (horrors) and will likely be changing allegiances soon. I've gone to this doc for nearly 15 years. I like her and her sweet, caring nurse, but they're working for--and I hope not WITH--some bottom-line, profits-over-patients folks and I want no part of it.
A twitter friend tells me of nasty things said to people in Texas with Obama yard signs and I'm not surprised. Regular listeners to the Stephanie Miller Show have heard callers far and wide describe the crap they've been treated to in public. A word comes to mind, I worry that I'll hear it but haven't, and I won't say it...ever. You can just imagine what we'd be called by the sickest cowards among us.
We are the GOOD GUYS. Period. We're not perfect, but how many Romney offices have been shot up lately? None, and none should be. Violence is abhorrent. How many Hitler mustaches have been drawn onto Romney's likeness? None that I know of, and none should be. Fuck Hitler, he was pure evil and I'm tired of the haters who keep his vile name alive in the press. Including me just then, by way of example. Last week I yelled about the lies to an acquaintance who is a Romney supporter, but I apologized for being a bitch. She said I wasn't. I'd just had enough: A parent dropping off their kid for a sleepover told MY SON, "Tell your mother I'm voting for Romney". That was so inappropriate and by the way, who the hell asked her? I have signs in my yard, the back of my car is plastered with POSITIVE bumperstickers, no anti-anything, so I deserve to have my kid treated like shit? Hell motherf'ing NO, I don't. I had that kid over again yesterday and I give the Romney acquaintance rides because she has none. I might need to step out on my truth now and again, but I'm not like them. We aren't like them. Thank god and science for that!
I live in a 66% (sign of the beast, almost) Republican county where 34% of us are either Dems or Indies who voted for POTUS in 2008. We, the 34%, are expected to keep the fuck quiet while all sorts of asswipery is on display around us. "Free Screening of 2016 at County Republican Party HQ!" "All Democrats Want is Your Wallet" bumperstickers. And the "government slave" sign I alluded to earlier... And we're supposed to lay back and enjoy it. NOT ANY MORE!
I wasn't here in 2008, but I was in 2004 and I hate this feeling. I like to live in my isn't-my-world-perfect bubble. That way I don't run low on anti-depressants. But if I'm silent, they'll come for you next and no matter who YOU happens to be, I don't want that.
My party is the party of Wellstone and McGovern, of Carter and Richards, of Stevenson and Brown, of FDR and JFK. We have a brilliant, proud history--excepting the Dixiecrat/anti-Civil Rights period--and we don't try to stop our citizenry from exercising their right to vote by sending out false information, by only registering people who intend to vote for our party, by offering to have folks vote by phone, or any other exclusionary nonsense. This year's DNC was positive and reflective of our ever-changing nation. And you should go back and have a gander at the 1972 Convention! Think you'll ever see an RNC that looks like that one? Of course not.
So I've had a crabby week of being angry. I was able to laugh at the evil until now but when I hear such quips from RWland as "you can't be a Christian if you don't carry a gun" (Jesus was such a mercenary, you know), "Obama wanted those Americans to die in Benghazi", and "Colin Powell only supports him because he's black", I call bullshit. I, like my President--and the best damned one of my lifetime, by the way--call BULLSHIT!
I wish there wasn't a vast RW conspiracy of dis-information and I really wish people weren't gullible enough to buy into it. I worry that all my neighbors and friends who sport Romney-Ryan signs on their lawns are advertising a sort of reverse-ADT: Come on by, you can break in and sell us anything. We'll believe it.
I know a hell of a lot of genuinely good people who support the other side, who are Republicans. This election will not change my relationship with any of them. But folks of bad will on any side will draw my wrath and quickly--especially if they attempt to do harm to the good guys who just happen to be on the other side of history. They mean well, they're just LIVs. We live side-by-side in harmony and will continue to on November 7th.
I don't want to shut down the Republican Party, but I'd love to see what Abe and TR's party has become come to an end. Stop the lies, stop the disrespect, stop the hate. If you must lie to get people to agree with you, you are the definition of evil. And if you have to cheat to quiet voices of opposition, then you are guilty of all the things of which you accuse our President. You are the Man in the Mirror.
And seven years of bad luck or not, that's one f'ing piece of glass that needs to be broken into, let's say, a Thousand Points of Light?!
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