It has been less than seventy days since Barack Obama was sworn in as the President of the United States of America.  His challenges are staggering and will become even more so as congress and the media continue to undermine and second-guess his agenda and proposals. It is up to the electorate (US = you and I) to help our president get this country back on its feet if we are to survive the challenges that affect us all. The week of March 30, 2009 our president heads to Europe for the G-20 Summit.  Opposition awaits him before he hits the tarmac. I am concerned for him and the people of this country and the world. One man is expected to change the world and the mess it has become. He is bombarded with swells of criticism and a chorus of voices calling for his failure at home and abroad. We have to circumvent the negativity and proponents of NO.  At this point, our congress and the media have been looking out for their own interests – the election of 2012, propping up their ratings, and jockeying for political favor seems to be first priority.  Their interests do not appear to be ours, but instead, the interests of lobbyists and the special interests they represent.  If we are going to thrive it is up to us to save our own hides. We the people voted for change and it is we the people who have to show up and ensure that the change is implemented.  President Obama can’t do this alone and we shouldn’t expect him to. We must continue to write, call or e-mail our elected officials and turn the heat up. Remind them to support our current president or be prepared for unemployment in 2012 or 2016.  We are all in this quagmire of a failing economy, planet in peril, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, infrastructure failings and deteriorating educational institutions together.  The solutions to these dilemmas and others will not wait until the next election cycle.  Now is the time to stand up, show up and speak up. Now is the time to do what you can, from where you live, to help turn the corner and help this country recover. There is lots of work to be done. Currently the administration is focusing on providing jobs for the millions who have lost them and the millions more threaten by impending job losses.  The agenda for a green economy proposed by this administration is one of the answers to promote jobs and save our planet. Please take time to view Emmanuel’s video that simply explains how you can become involved.

The video simplifies how your community can be a beneficiary of the 150 billion dollars allocated for the green economy in the congressional and presidential budgets. We have less than three and half years to get this country back on its feet. Jobs, healthcare and educational reforms must be instituted for this country to survive the tailspin we find ourselves in.

In conclusion think of it this way. If your automobile had four flat tires as you were traveling down the road which would you fix? How many would you fix to get back on the road?  All four, period!! That is where we find ourselves as Americans.  All of our tires are flat and a patch job, or one spare, will not get us back on the road.  So let’s suck it up, and get to work and help our president do what must be done. The time is now let’s get it done.

The 56^th Inauguration of our 44^th president, Barack Obama, is an experience that has strengthened my resolve to continue putting action beyond my opinions. January 20^th, 2009 I stood with, and among, the nearly two million people who radiated the warmth of good will and optimism. It can only be described as amazing. Collective masses of people representing anyplace you can live on this planet showed up to witness and celebrate the unthinkable – the swearing-in as president , the first African-American man in the United States of America. Implausible, impossible and incredible is our new reality. Imagine if you can, almost two million people jammed into the Washington mall from approximately 3:00 a.m. in bitter cold until President Obama put his hand on Lincoln’s bible at 12:30 p.m. NO individual was hurt or killed during the four days of Inaugural celebration and Martin Luther Day observances in the mall or immediate area of innumerable activities. That is remarkable if you consider the rude, incendiary and hostile behavior of some of the police who seemed determined to insight a disturbance. No one, not even the most volatile among us, took the bait. We intervened, protected, rescued, and reassured one another that our common purpose of unity was stronger than the old script of divide and conquer. The images of inspired and diverse people converging on Washington D.C. were repeatedly televised, e-mailed, and spread throughout the world. The reason for celebration was crystal clear. The people had taken the chance to believe that a politician who actually talked a good talk – would walk it. On a freezing January 20^th hope strengthened into faith then into belief then into a bond of common purpose that surpassed the disbelief, nastiness and ill will of those that said it couldn’t be done. 1.8 million people stood shoulder to shoulder to listen as once again Barack reminded us that the election and his swearing–in was only the beginning.

The next four years ahead demand our commitment and continual engagement to insure that the change we sought is instituted into reality and laws. Three weeks into his presidency the divisive, partisan mean-spirited ways of Washington seem determined to re-establish and keep things the way they have been for the pass eight years. Ineffective, incorrigible and indifferent to the people they were elected to serve. ENOUGH! I know that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Obviously our congress must think we are insane. Well I, for one, believe they need to be reminded throughout this administration’s term and those to come, that we have had ENOUGH. My vote that is my voice will remind them that while in Washington they were elected to help make change that benefits all Americans. I intend to remind them to support and assist Barack in doing the peoples business, or in 2010 and 2012 they will be voted out. The same is true for the media and pundits that kindle feelings of mistrust, print misleading information and fan the fears of hateful, spiteful ill-informed citizens. Their jobs are to inform the public, not incite. We are their employers also, and if they don’t tone down the hostile half-truths, they too will be out work. Today I am asking you to participate in pulling our country back from the verge of catastrophe economically and politically. Speak up, call up, e-mail, or write your local, state and national representative when you observe them serving anyone but their constituency. Call out editors and representatives of the media when they cross the lines of decency and truth. We as a nation can no longer afford anything less than a full-hearted commitment to all the people of this country. 2008 was the beginning of the change we so desperately sought. It is time today, this moment, and the days ahead to stay engaged, shoulder to shoulder, and help President Obama help US be the country we know we can be. The time is now. So get fired up and get ready to participate. Get off of your apathy and let’s kick some attitude.

I was amazed and proud as I took my place in line to vote early in Texas. Privilege is not a word I think of when I think of the state of Texas, but this year and this time it was, and is, a privilege to reside in a state where one can vote two weeks prior to November 4^th including weekends.

Prior to the 2000 election I believed my vote counted and would be counted. Who knew there were as many ways to marginalize and bastardize the voting process, as there are states? Standardized voting should be the rule and not the exception. A process that protects the right to vote,  and encourages all eligible individuals to vote, must be established. The most important election in the past forty years is already rife with early voting woes. What in the hell have the election boards and officials been doing for the pass four year besides purchasing voting machines? Since early voting has begun there have been reports of voting machine irregularities, voter suppression, people standing in line to vote for up to five hours especially in Ohio, Florida and Virginia. Is it a co-incidence that these same battleground states plagued by voting problems in the 2000 and 2004 elections now exhibit the same problems this 2008 election? There are still no regulations in place or provisions made to insure that handicap or disabled persons and/or veterans be accommodated so they don’t have to stand in long lines. Why not? Shouldn’t voting be voter friendly? The expectation that the voting process run smoothly shouldn’t be something that I as a voter (or any voter for that matter) should be concerned about. Observing the process in action up to this date in fact is cause for concern. On October 26^th the NAACP initiated a lawsuit against the state of Virginia for not adequately preparing for massive voter turnout. Thank goodness they are being proactive instead of reacting to the same old political tricks that would hamper the voting process.

The tricks to change election results have become a business all to itself. Have you heard of the Man in the Middle? Basically it involves diverting election returns data through a separate computer located in a different place. It is supposedly something computer criminals or hackers do regularly within the banking business. The Man in the Middle is reported to be effective (and hard if not impossible) to detect as a way to change election results. In the past week I watched an evening news show that had a man who manufacturers voting machines demonstrate how to hack into one in less then eight minutes. I voted early but will my vote count? The fight to insure no voter is disenfranchised is a fight that must be won this time around. I believe my concern cannot be emphasized enough. Listen to or read the transcript of the October 22, 2008 cable news show Democracy Now. Amy Goodman interviews Mark Crispin Miller author of Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008. The conversation is chilling and reminds us that being a participant in the democratic process is a responsibility, and in these times imperative. Reports of voting machines that are switching votes and shortages of working voting machines in Democratic precincts, and misleading information about voting is only the tip of the iceberg as I question the outcome of this election. I voted early but will my vote count? I am but one of many voters concerned about the process. For the first time in Texas, poll watchers have been trained and are voluntarily policing the voting process. Apparently the lessons of the 2000 and 2004 election irregularities, missing ballots and disenfranchised voters was enough for many of us to realize the process must be policed by us the voter. Technology and time has changed the way we vote but it must not change why we vote. We vote for change so that the country we live in gives an equal playing field for all that seek the American dream. I voted early, and even if I am suspicious that it might be hijacked, it is not enough to squelch my dream of change. Vote early if you can, but by all means vote! Because YOU are the change you seek.

And in closing, with all the intensity of this election I sometimes forget to laugh. I hope this clip makes you laugh as much as I did.

I thought the column was ready until the wise woman that assists me with getting my words to this blog asked me a question. Her question changed what I was going to present this week, but most importantly, her question changed me. The question was in reference to the current conflict between Georgia and Russia that now includes Poland and the United States. She asked me if I knew all of the facts and had I researched sources outside of what we were being told by the mainstream media in this country? Chagrined, and with egg on my face, I reluctantly sought out other sources. Pissed would be the strongest word I can use on this blog, but that is exactly what I was. I was disappointed that I had (again) let my good sense be deceived by the propaganda channeled into my living room. We, as patriotic and decent citizens, are looking through a prism of lies and distortions from networks that don’t give a darn about the truth – or us.

There was a time when I was growing up that the news was respected and trusted. It was not uncommon in the community I grew up in for most of the families to sit down together after dinner and watch the evening news. It was the prerequisite to our evening television viewing. I remember looking forward to it because it was a another time that the entire family was together on a daily basis.  The news was serious business and the anchors reflected that.  When did the news become nothing more then fodder for fools?

In the 1976 film NETWORK, Peter Finch, a has-been anchor with poor ratings was called the “mad prophet of the airwaves.” Well move over Peter.  I am a madwoman blogging.  Peter Finch’s role immortalized the line, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” It has become one of my daily refrains. The time has come for all of us to seek and demand the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Thirty years ago the idea of white men ranting on air was unimaginable.  Imagine no more since it is now a reality. All major network and cable news channels (other than alternatives such as Democracy Now, Link T.V., Public Television and NPR) are nothing more than talk shows.  The news leeched into our homes is empty of any information that would enable you to think for yourself. In fact, you are repeatedly told, with underlying bylines, what to think.  Friday’s news is recycled all weekend in case you missed your dose of trivial, trashy talk.  The number of commercials during broadcast news is a clear indicator of how much real and truthful information you will receive.  Do you actually believe that money grabbing advertisers, families and corporations that own the news networks and print want you to know the truth?  How appetizing would it be if you understood what was actually in the food you eat, if you knew how it was grown? How many gadgets would you purchase if you knew how many women and children are receiving slave wages or none at all? What congressman or presidential candidate would you support if you knew their true characters before, instead of after, elections? I surmise things would be a lot different if we knew the truth and if the news reported the truth. Misleading news and news spun out of control is showing up in our homes – that is if you still have one during this massive housing crisis. Self-serving, avaricious, venal, and mercenary corporations, companies, and a government working against instead of for us, are destroying this country. Beware and take notice that they are using the broadcast news and print media to do it.  It’s time to wake up and pay attention.  Day after day programs gorged with violence, prejudice and propaganda are shoved down our collective throats and up to our jellified brains. It has changed us. Cop shows, court shows, humiliating and dehumanizing jail shows, and reality shows have rendered us dispassionate, dumb, and dazed.

The caliber and the tenure of mainstream news and media in this country is broken. No number of women in stilettos, or people of color that speak correctly will cover the fact that they are lying.  Consciously, purposefully, intentionally or unintentionally, doesn’t really matter when the perspective of the new is representative of the people who own our news and media. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”…So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.” When you are done with that, the next time you tune in to your favorite news station or read your newspaper of choice and you suspect you are being bamboozled, hoodwinked, or lied to, let them know. Write, call, e-mail then turn them off or unsubscribe. Whatever you do, make them accountable. We are the people, and it is we the people that insure that change will occur. Remember that one person can make a difference.  Let that difference begin with you.

I had a clear vision when I initiated this site. I wanted a serious discourse about the difficult and hurtful issues of racism in America.  Let me be clear, prejudice is not racism.  Prejudice is an opinion or judgment that I believe every human being has about one thing or another. As we grow and learn, hopefully, we become less judgmental about people and life in general. Racism however, is an entirely different sort of prejudice and specifically applies to an individual’s race. Racism believes that race determines ones abilities, capacities, and rights as a human. Racism teaches that one race is inherently superior to another.  It is as much a part of American culture as it was in Hitler’s Germany. How painful it is to admit that I live in a country where hating another because of race can still be so polarizing, and is alive, and well.

I underestimated how uncomfortable the subject of racism would be to you the reader. I am hopeful as I continue to engage in this conversation that the discomfort will give way to a willingness to share your insights.

We are living in historic times. It is an opportunity to put the worst of who we have become as a country due to racism to rest, and give rise to the greatness of liberty, justice, and freedom owed to every citizen. For the first time in the history of this divided country a black man, Barack Obama, is running as the democratic nominee for president of the United States of America. What joy and confusion.  Since his nomination, the subtle and pointed racial over tones are permeating what we read, see, and hear.

The weekend of July 12^th Jesse Jackson was caught on a hot mike disparaging Barack and the black race. More recently it was revealed he used the “N” word also known as nigger to refer to African Americans at large. Let us not be hoodwinked into thinking racism is only one sided.  Jesse reminds us all that ignorance and prejudice are equal opportunity shortcomings. Monday, July 14, 2008, the cover of The New Yorker Magazine (7/21 issue) slapped me upside the head. The cover depicts Barack and Michelle Obama portrayed satirically by every lie and myth that dogs his presidential bid. It was racist, sexist, and harmful. The freedom of speech justification seems trivial versus the cover that validated what so many people believe.  I whipped off a letter to the New Yorker expressing my displeasure. I am requesting that you do likewise.  As soon as I mailed my letter, I caught a snippet of The View on July 17^th. There is a hot exchange between Whoopi and Elizabeth, co-hosts of the show, about the “N” word. I can’t believe that we still have so far to go. We are besieged by an economy gone amuck, failing banks and mortgage companies, a president and congress seemingly out of touch with the constituency it purports to serve and it is each other we are attacking.  Distract, disturb and divide the people. Confusion, blame and emotions will destroy any notion of order and rationality about the real issues and culprits. Add the race card, and behold you have the recipe for nothing. Nothing happens, nothing changes and everyone loses.  I am asking us to stop. It is time to hear with our hearts and see with clear eyes. If we are not willing to tackle this cancerous issue, the racism that affects us all, we all lose. The time is now what do you have to say?

Fourth of July was different for me this year.  Celebrating the independence of our country rang hollow. The liberty, justice and freedom celebrated since 1776 has lost its significant and magnificence. The pride and celebrations of prior Fourth of July celebrations compelled the patriot in me to stand at attention saluting my country. This year the fireworks and revelry fizzled in the darkness.  What I will remember this Fourth of July 2008 is the smear of oil that covers our flag and the blood dripping from it. What I will remember is the hurt and harm did to the thousands of troops and their families who have, and are still paying, the ultimate price.

I currently reside 16 miles from Fort Hood Texas.  The lives of troops and their families affected by this unjust war is collateral damage that is sucking the life out of them and out of this country.  My community is filled with children left parentless. There is no consideration given for them as they watch both parents sent into combat zones. The schools are wrought with emotional and psychological problems from once happy children now tormented by fear, anger and anxiety. Where is the independence in this? On any given day I meet someone who is now a widow or widower, a parent who has lost their son or daughter. Where is the independence in this? I pull into the gas station and see families of the troops who gave their limbs and life struggle to put fuel in their cars. Where is the justice?  I hear the stories of delayed benefits, substandard medical care and the stigma that haunts returning troops who dare to complain. Where is the freedom?  I walk down the aisles of the commissary and the PX and shake my head in shame at the continual increases in groceries and merchandise.  Once a star in the crown of the military these two places helped military families live a better quality of life.  The corporate practices of cutting hours and benefits of employees while rewarding management is now common practice. No regard for the customer or the troops that return with less then they left with. Where is the justice or independence?

This Fourth of July was different for me. Dependence on big oil, recession, cherry picking of my human and civil rights through the patriot act, desertion of the troops and their families who serve this country as they go without the basic necessities and the erosion of respect for America around the world has snuffed out the fireworks.

The memory of a holiday that stood for justice and liberty of all has been sullied by a rough administration and its policies. Will Fourth of July ever be the same?

What do you think and what do you think we can do to fill the skies once again with fireworks that set our hearts afire with freedom and justice for all?

Gas is expensive, and all indications are that this is just beginning. Anger, fear and frustration mount as citizens wonder how gas prices got so high.  Depending who you listen to, global demand and our escalating consumption of the black gold are to blame.  If you believe that then you probably believe the oil companies are not making a profit. We currently have a presidential candidate, governors and legislators taunting the solution to initiate off shore drilling, and while we are at it, let’s go back to Alaska and spill some more oil there. The glaring realization that oil companies are making obscene profits is dismissed and downplayed by the media and congress that purports to inform and represent us.

It is time we, meaning you and I, get off of our collective asses and say “enough”! It is time we put our money where our mouth is and say NO to the oil companies.  Alternate means of energy must be considered and implemented NOW.  NO, NO and NO.  NO to more ill gained profits added to over the $600,000,000,000 oil companies have pocketed in the past eight years.  NO to any more off shore drilling or exploration. NO because I can report to you what I have witnessed when we say yes to the interest of the oil companies and their constituents. I am a witness to what happens when citizens believe that big money interest care anything about the effects that their money making ventures leave in their wake. I am a witness to the Exxon Valdez Prince William Sound oil spill in Alaska. I am a witness to the purposeful, perpetual unwillingness of Exxon to compensate, repair and make whole the people of Alaska affected by their tanker.
It has been over twenty years and the massive amount of money spent to avoid payment of their nasty spill lingers in one court or another.

I am a witness to the ashes and remains of once prosperous fishing villages and thriving communities that are now silent, dead, gone. I am a witness to the broken lives that had livelihoods to support them and their families with no place to start again and no money to start again.

I am a witness to the millions of dollars spent in Alaska on mock juries to determine if the oil companies would win the lawsuits against them. I was on one of the mock juries.  I was paid $100.00, as were many Alaskans, to tell the oil companies what they already knew – clean up your oily mess and compensate the people whose lives are forever altered by the spill. Big oil didn’t listen and it is crystal clear they never had any intention of cleaning up Alaskan shores or compensating its residents. I witnessed an impotent legislature and compromised court system that allowed EXXON to leave Alaska spoiled but continue to make money from its residents.

I am a witness. I am asking you to stand up and be a witness too.  Witnessing is a participatory action. It requires action by talking, walking, listening and standing. You talk to others and tell them to say no to exploration and windfall profit taxes given to oil companies. You walk to the store or wherever you can instead of drive. You listen to what your government is really saying by looking at what they are actually doing. The two variables should match. Finally you stand with the millions of other citizens of this country who are calling for gas boycotts. You boycott by writing, calling, e-mailing your legislators that drilling is unacceptable, oil companies must be taxed accordingly and criminal charges must be brought against speculators and any guilty party that is involved in higher energy cost.   Witnessing is not easy but it is necessary. But if we don’t, will California, New Jersey, Texas and any other shore that might have oil be the next Alaska pillage that I witnessed?

I welcome any comments, solutions and ideas that can help us be better witness. The time is now! Will you be a witness?

There is an elephant sitting in the living rooms, churches, and front seats of the majority of the cars in America. An elephant that is so big that there is no distinguishable space left in the room.

I am guilty of passing up, stepping in, and suffocating on the smell of old elephant dung. I borrow a line from Peter Finch in the movie NETWORK, “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.” On that note, let us have a conversation and continue it specifically during this presidential election. Let us be brave enough and honest enough to take a stand. Because everything we say we believe is at stake if we don’t get this right.

As we get prepared to observe the frenzy leading up to the November election it is imperative that we do the following; Recognize that every fear that anyone has about a black man will be used as a lethal weapon. We must demand that a man’s race, a women’s gender or an individual’s age have nothing to do with the character or qualifications of our presidential nominee. We must demand the highest journalistic standards and ethics from our newspapers and news organizations. Not only must we demand it, we must do what we have not been willing to do which is stop participating in a process that isn’t empowering America. We must vote, march, picket, boycott, stand-up, protest, write letters, send e-mails and turn off televisions until the people whose checks we sign start to listen. We must have a dialogue that is inclusive. Racism makes people of all races uncomfortable. The only way for us to ever be comfortable is to take it apart and put it back together, and we must do that together.

I surmise that if the blogs, politicians, media, churches, families and educational institutions engage this country in dialogue about racism now, we will change the trajectory of our country and of the world by November. Our vote will not only put a change agent in office but also restore the principles and liberty our forefathers foresaw.

A discourse about racism is a lofty undertaking but it is vital in annihilating the poisonous talons of hate. Racism consumes us as Americans and leaches across the borders of this nation into other cultures and continents. We are all connected as humans, we are all one.

Let’s change the slow, insidious, harmful teachings and feelings of racism. I see no other choice. Not choosing to act would be similar to the flagrant neglect of our beautiful planet – the planet we’ve been relieving ourselves on for far too long. Future generations will suffer from our incompetence. We have dealt the same way with racism and its effects upon us. We have ducked, dodged, justified, tolerated and allowed racism to define good men and women as “less than”. Racism is the word that strangles what is best in us as Americans. Let us have a discourse and let our sun shine through.