Only in America

A. NOT-SO-RANDOM RANTS

1. In Fall 2008, I started this blog out of sheer frustration from listening to the pundits, talking heads, and frenzied crowds who were touting Sarah Palin as the next best hope. While I respect her supporters' right to take whatever stand they choose, please respect my right to say this: What absolute and utter nonsense.

POINT: Only in America can a lame-brained fast-talking woman of the paler nation quit a job in midstream and declare it a success, and go on to pursue bigger and better things with the support of so many because of her paleness, quasi decent look, and/or snappy eyeglasses, while being totally unable to construct a sentence that: a) is concise; b) is confined to one idea or concept; and c) is understood by persons of average intelligence who understand English, more so than by infants and toddlers whose vocabularies consist of two words.

2. When Bush 43 was elected President, he inherited a budget surplus. While some may argue this point, it is safe to say that the country's financial situation was definitely not what it was when he left the office.

POINT: Only in America can a man who could not be an effective owner of an oil company or a baseball team be charged with the responsibility of upholding the Constitution of the United States and carrying out its executive responsibilities.

3. Bush was given his second term of the Presidency by the Supreme Court, during which term he continued to sink this country in more debt with creative accounting to finance a war the purpose of which still begs justfication.

POINT: This country's economic woes did not begin on January 20, 2009. And many of the folks who profited from the war are long gone while at least one left behind an adult daughter who has taken to the airwaves, whining in defense of her father whose machinations are in part responsible for God only knows how many thousands of lost lives and broken families.

4. At a town hall meeting this week, a woman asked President Obama when he would restore the Constitution as our founding fathers intended it.

POINT: If the Constitution was restored as our founding fathers intended, Obama would never have become President of the United States, and millions of people, including this writer, would never have had the opportunity to vote for or against him, or anyone else.

5. The general election is long over and I am still being inundated with emails trying to convince me that the 44th POTUS is unqualified for office because he was not born in the United States.

POINT: I have no doubt that all who opposed Obama have overturned every rock, and peered in every nook and cranny for a way to discredit him, long before the first Tuesday of November 2008.

B. WHY THE BURR IN MY BUTT TODAY?

1. I have had my fill of hate/fear-mongering and negativity.

2. Obama is much more intelligent, more knowledgeable of the Constitution, and basically just more fit to the executive position than the imposter who just moved out of the Whitehouse.

3. Having been in a similar situation on a much tinier (microscopic) scale, I can identify with on of Obama's problems, and here is the first:

There are folks who are blinded by their on dislike of what comes natural for people like me, while they have to buy tanning-bed time and risk skin cancer to get it. Many of them don't have a clue, or perhaps are just unwilling to see their prejudice for what it is: prejudice. These are the same folks who hired the blond-haired, blue-eyed, pretty young thing who made a mess of the place, then called me to clean up the mess when the PYT didn't "work out."

And the second is this:

There are folks who are really miffed because their team did not win. Since I've never been a "party" person, I can say that some of my candidates won, some of my candidates lost, and some of my candidates were the victims of theft. (Yes, there was some thievery going on in Harris County, Texas on the first Tuesday of November 2008, and I'm not talking about the foreclosure sales -- I'm talking about the polls.) But now that the contests are over, factionalism will get in the way of any meaningful progress if we let it. Unfortunately, there are folks who stupidly pray for Obama's failure because their team didn't win. That's really stupid, since in the grand scheme of things, there is only one USA.

4. Bush 43 sacrificed how many lives in pursuit of what in Iraq?

5. And, dare I ask, was the pivotal point in the Bush 43 era -- "911" -- a domestic production? Or could it have been prevented?

C. NOW WHAT?

Search your heart. Look in the mirror and ask yourself:

1. Was 43 one of the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, or was he a few watts (or more) short? Come on, now. Didn't you sometimes hang your head in shame when you saw him on television?

2. What does Sarah Palin really have to offer other than gibberish?

3. Are the folks on Capitol Hill, regardless of party affiliation, trying to work together to formulate meaningful and effective legislation? (Okay, I know, there is the Pelosi factor [barf]).

4. Do you really think this Country is going to hell because the 44th POTUS looks a tad different from the first 43? Really? The truth be told, this Country has been in a downward spiral for a long, long time -- when it was solely controlled by people who don't look like me and who are not of my gender (you know, the rough drafts).

5. Look at your own elected representatives. Some have been around longer than you've been alive. Are you really that pleased with their service? Oh -- you didn't know they are there to serve you?

D. AND FINALLY --

I DO NOT SUPPORT ALL OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S POLICIES. For instance, even though I have been without health insurance for all of this century (sounds more dramatic than saying for the past 10 years), I am concerned about any attempt to eventually eradicate private health insurance. Am I saying this because I am a licensed insurance agent? Absolutely not! What I do believe is that we should have a choice. Right now, my choice for health insurance is something far beyond my budget, so I try (most of the time) to take care of the old 'bod and I budget for regular checkups (which for me, are quarterly, not annually).

FAMILY FEUD: Like it or not, there is but one United States of America. And just as in any family, we have disagreements. But at some point, the family unit has to come together -- to unite -- to move forward. Otherwise, the family unit disintegrates.

STILL, ONLY IN AMERICA can I write this blog without fear of my door being broken down and my being handcuffed/shackled, pushed into a vehicle with no interior door handles, hauled away to some dark, dank cell that smells of old urine and has a partition of tin behind which there sits a really nasty toilet.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I might get some strange looks when I go out tomorrow. That's okay. I have lived with strange looks all my life.

Theology and Politics

Perhaps this piece is mistitled.  It should probably be Christianity and Politics, for I was raised by Christian parents, in a Christian home, baptized at the age of 6 - having accepted Jesus The Christ as my Savior, and came to really understand the need to rely on Holy Spirit for guidance and the need for a one-on-one relationship with God at the ripe old age of 28.    

Oh -- what's that?  You ask why am I posting this little note in my Coming Out of the Closet blog?  So glad you asked.  Actually, I will post it here and in my Oh My God blog.  I had a time deciding where it should go and since I couldn't choose I decided to do the next best thing.

I broke bread today with a wonderful young woman whom I rarely see.   It was an intentional meeting, requiring advanced scheduling, but well worth it, at least for me.   For the 11 years I have known her she has remained steadfastly herself in all ways that matter.  She has been a blessing to my family.

As usual, when folks haven't seen each other for awhile, a lot of time is spent catching up once they sit across from each other.   Aside from the usual family stuff, there was a new twist, which prompted this writing.  My young friend is an Obama-like creature.  She was raised by her paler-nation mom without the presence of her darker-nation father.  (Note to do piece on fathers of the darker nation who play active roles in their children's upbringing, lest some think it is an anomaly.  Further, note to start with my own darker-nation dad.)    

My friend (hereinafter "Samantha" -- [though fictitious, it alleviates the need to keep writing my friend]) now finds herself in a dilemma.   The current political climate has removed the masks from folks with whom she not only has daily contact, but with whom she and her fine family worship.   She has learned that her 50/50 hands are not allowed to tie the 100/0 shoes of children at her church.  Her 25/75 child has been warned by a schoolmate that her parents must vote for the white man or we will be in big trouble.   Yes, from the mouth of a babe is reflected the influences of his environment.  From school?  Church?  Home?  Who knows?  The source is known only to him and God.

Speaking of God:   I wonder if folks -- of whatever race, creed, color, etc., pause in sufficient time to soak in the reality that He is the Creator of all, including us?  Okay -- everyone doesn't believe in my God.  Fine (actually not fine, for my heart yearns for all to believe; still God does not force Himself on any of us, and while I seek to introduce Him, will not force Him on anyone either).  For those non-believers, the question is:  By what means did you derive the color of your skin and eyes, and the texture of your hair?   Before conception did your mom or dad choose one with whom to copulate in such a way as to create the person that is you?  Or while you were in your mother's womb, did she check off a list of available options and -- voila! -- after an appropriate gestative period you popped out just as ordered?  Perhaps you were visited by the Creator who asked you to choose:  skin (chocolate, caramel, vanilla), eyes (blue, brown, green, gray, other), hair (coarse or fine, wavy or straight, slow-growing and short, fast-growing and Lady-Godiva-long), lips (wispy thin or ultra thick -- or somewhere inbetween), nose (skinny, pointed, flat, wide).  And let's not forget the really important stuff to choose:  feels rhythm on beats 1 and 3, or beats 2 and 4?  Short, tall, chunky, skinny, legs long or short?  Plays basketball or bassoon?  Football or foosball?  Tennis or baseball?  Swimming or soccer?   Alright -- enough of that.

Back to Samantha.  The poor thing is being reminded in all kinds of subtle, and some not so subtle ways, that she is not 100%.  As a management type she's stuck in the middle, dealing with superiors and subordinates.  Hostility on both fronts.  Can you imagine such a sandwich?  A Samantha sandwich is not a wonderful snack.  It's kind of like a peanut butter sandwich.  You know how it is, when you put a glob of Peter Pan in the middle of a slice of multi-grain bread, top it with another slice and then mash it together?  It spreads out to the breads' edges, and the more pressure applied during the mashing process, the more the peanut butter tends to ooze out -- beyond the edges.    The resulting sandwich is just not as pleasing to look at -- or to eat.  That's what happens when folks are threatened; the pressure breaches their protective barriers, threatening the loss of their energy and substance, and they ooze, they leak.

The tragedy of this unmerited negative attention is that Samantha, like many regardless of origin, is a valuable commodity who contributes to the positive vitality of the organization for which she works, and more importantly, her immediate family, including her 100/0 mom.  When any of us is put upon in this fashion, we all lose.  Why should Samantha be punished for an outcome of which she has no control???  Why should anyone -- regardless of race, creed or national origin be irresponsibly held in contempt for not having control over those characteristics, just as you -- or you -- or you -- or I have no such control???

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  He spoke everything into being.  And God saw all that He had made.  And it was very Good.   (Genesis 2:31, The Holy Bible, NIV.)  And in case one cannot relate to the Creation, please state any and all processes performed by you to make you the human being you are, including without limitation, the time of your conception, the man and woman who came together in such a way as to cause that conception, the color of your skin, shape of your nose, and texture of your hair, etc.  And finally, if still not convinced, consider this:

One day a group of scientists decided that they could do anything God could do, and confronted God with their foolishness, challenging Him.  So God reached down, scooped up dust from the ground, formed it into a man, and blew into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul.  The scientists were unimpressed.  They knew creating a man was a cakewalk.  One of the scientists bent down, and just as he was about to gather some dust, God stopped him and said:  Wait a minute; get your own dust.

So what does this have to do with politics?  As usual, I'm glad you asked.   When we free ourselves of narrow, short-sighted mindsets and realize that the people who are sufficiently intelligent, educated, qualified and positively motivated to fill a position -- public or private, political or otherwise -- for the betterment of the organization or government -- local, state or national -- come in all colors, shapes and sizes, and are not limited to people who look like you -- or you -- or you -- or me, we will all be better for it.   And a question to those who claim to be believers:  How can you say you love God, whom you have never seen, but hate any of His creation -- including Samantha -- and me?  

The theology of politics:  God allows stuff to happen.  He even allows people of mixed heritage to aspire to unite a nation of people whose origins (except for the disenfranchised natives) are rooted in other parts of the world.  He allows people who don't look like you to try, just as He allows people who look like you to try.  When He created you He did not breath into you a breath of privilege -- or of prohibition.  Those are traditions conceived by our foreparents.  It is the choice of each of us to continue those traditions of privilege and prohibition -- or let them die.