The Tale of Two America's
I think I may have to take a second look at John Edwards...

In his "Two Americas" speech, Senator Edwards says there is:

"One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward. One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks. . . . One America ; middle-class America ; whose needs Washington has long forgotten. Another America ; narrow-interest America ; whose every wish is Washington's command."
(Thanks to Mustang Bobby over at Bark Bark Woof Woof for that outtake from Senator Edwards speech. )
For the life of me I can't understand why the average hard working American can't see what is happening in Washington. How can they not see that the massive tax cuts for the rich are digging us deeper and deeper into debt? That the average American taxpayer is NOT profiting from these tax cuts? The systematic destruction of Social Security and Medicare will leave millions of elderly and low income adults with nothing to live off of. Not that they will live long anyway since they will have no medical care. Of course that may be the ultimate goal, a thinning of the herd so to speak. In other words if you're not able to have a 401k , and sufficient savings to live off of when you reach retirement age, then we'll make sure you don't live long past retirement by denying you medical care. Of course the fact that our children and their children will be working in low paying jobs and continuing to pay 1/4 of their income in taxes (since there is NO tax cut for low paying jobs) in order to pay off the multi-trillion dollar debt caused by the tax cuts for the rich, doesn't seem to bother these people either.
Then there are those who say "it doesn't really matter whether or not Saddam Hussein had WMD's are not" or that "it doesn't matter that the President lied about the threat of WMD's", "because Saddam was a bad guy and he needed to be taken out". There are plenty of 'bad guys' in the world, should we take them all out? Why Iraq? Why not North Korea? Or China? Or Iran? Why Iraq? Why Saddam? Why? Because George W. Bush had one agenda when he went into office and Sept 11th provided him with the perfect excuse to pursue that agenda.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that he was at least somewhat aware of the threat of something similar to Sept 11th and did nothing to prevent it. Knowing that such an event would polarize the American people into letting him fulfull his own personal vendetta. I wouldn't be at all surprised.
posted by wanda at 4:03 AM

and so it begins
I wondered how long it would take the media to start slamming John Kerry the way they have been Howard Dean. I got my answer tonight. John Scrarborough (I think John's his first name, but what the heck their all 'john' of one kind or other), ask the reporter imbedded with Kerry's campaign "Isn't it a little hypocritical for Kerry to be preaching about the 'big business' running things in Washington, when he himself is one of the 'Washington crowd'? I'd bet you money he wished he hadn't ask that particular reporter that question. The guy had a very nice snappy comeback about the big oil companies sitting down with Tom Delay and outlining what they want. Then he pointed out that John Kerry had been elected and re-elected to Congress for four terms without taking one dime of money from the oil companies or big business. He pointed out that Kerry has always been very strong on campaign finance reform and would make the laws even tougher if he were elected. He also pointed out that Republicans are proudly going around letting everybody know that Dubya has raised over $175 Million for his campaign while Kerry is mortgaging his house and putting up HIS OWN money to finance his. Shut Mr Scarborough up right quick. Gawd I love it when a smart assed news commentator gets the smack down!
posted by wanda at 11:09 PM

Say it ain't so
Bill O'Reilly says he's an Independent. Independents everywhere are screaming "oh hell NO you're NOT". I can think of a LOT of things to call Bill, but Independent isn't one of them!
posted by wanda at 12:25 AM

They Like ME!! They Really Like ME!!
Well it's official, I now am an honored member of The Liberal Coalition. I am tickled pink (oops is pink communist, should I have said I'm tickled red,white and blue).
posted by wanda at 7:12 PM

Kerry Takes Iowa!!!
Well shiver me timbers! I was sure this was going to be a Dean/Gephart race, with all the others coming at a distant 3rd or lower. I am surprised by Kerry and Edwards come from behind victory. Surprised but not disappointed. I have said before, I am not totally committed to Dean. I am committed to whomever the Democratic nominee is. If that is Kerry, so be it. I will do whatever I can to support the Democratic candidate. I still consider myself to be an Independent. I owe no alligence to any party. My alligence is to my country and I will support the person I feel will best represent my interest and the intrest of the majority of Americans.
Those who know me best would probably tell you that most of my life I have been rather conservative. I stronly supported John McCain and belived he was (and still is) the best man to lead our country. I hold dear the working class values that I was raised with. I believe in things like truth, decency, integrity, love for your neighbor,and your country. I strongly believe in do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
It is only since the fiasco election of 2000 that I have moved so far to the left of center. I did not believe that Bush won the election fair and square. I still don't. I did not believe that George Bush had the back bone to stand up to the people who put him in the White House. I still don't. I believe he surrounds himself with men who have little regard for the poor, the unemployed, or even the working middle class. I believe that the men he has working behind the scenes have an agenda that is not in the best interest of a large portion of our population. I believe they are wealthy, white men who care only for themselves and how they can better line their own bank accounts. No matter what the cost to our country. I think the Constitution is a work in progress in their minds. A work they intend to finish with their own set of laws. I think they have little or no regard for the rights of women, or minorities. I believe with all my heart if we do not stop them now, our country is going to change in ways we have yet to even comprehend.
So here I stand. I will support the Democrats because I believe that they represent what is best for this country. Regardless of whether that is John Kerry, John Edwards or Howard Dean. I am in this for the long haul.
Congratulations to all the Kerry/Edwards supports that never gave up hope!
posted by wanda at 10:13 PM

I Have (NO) Issues
In reading an article over at " and then..." , titled Cold Calling for Democracy , I was reminded of how I used to feel about politics and politicians.

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I am passionate when it comes to politics. This passion however has come about only in the past few years. For the better part of my adult life I really could not have cared less about politics. Politicians are for the most part liars, cheats, and thieves. They are rich, mostly white, greedy, and have few if any morals. Most would stab their own Mother in the back if it would give them a vote. It's all about the 'vote'. They all want your vote. They will tell you they care, they will feed you a line of bullsheit, and basically do just about any thing to get that almighty vote. Of course once the vote's been cast, they would like for you to please get the hell outta their way. At least until time for the next election. Personally, I had better things to do with my time. I had NO issues that I was aware of that required involving myself in politics. It's people like the old me, that worry me.
There are an awful lot of people out there like the old me. Or worse. There are the ones who dislike a particular candidate, for reasons even they don't understand. They don't know the facts about him or his career and don't want to be bothered researching and finding out the truth. There are people who are just too busy with their day to day lives to be bothered with 'politics'. "They are all liars and cheats, what difference does it make who I vote (or don't vote) for? One's as bad as the other." Then there are the people like me (and the 26 year old woman the caller in "Cold Calling for Democracy" spoke to) who have 'no' issues. Yep, no issues that affect them. Not unemployment, not womens rights, not war, not the trampling of civil rights, not a lack of health care, not education, not a President waiting around for Congress to go on hiatus to appoint a judge that Congress had refused to approve. A judge who's history shows him to be strongly anti-women/civil/minorities rights. Nope, no issues.

The apathy of the average American voter scares the hell out of me. It's these people that will keep George W Bush in office. Their refusal to wake up, pay attention, get involved will allow this man and his administration to continue their onslaught on our Constitution, and trampling of our most basic civil rights. Because the 'non-voters' by far out number the 'voters' in both parties. These are the people that are really deciding who occupys the most powerful office in the free world. And they don't even care.
I, like Scout (the author of Cold Calling) wonder how we are going to reach these people? How are we going to make them understand that they can make the difference. What political add, or speech will it take to make these people wake up and pay attention? Any suggestions? I'm all ears.

posted by wanda at 6:46 PM