Are Las Vegas Police racist??

My daughter's boyfriend recently graduated from UCLA with a Master's degree.
He worked in California as a high school teacher. He currently works in the education field in Las Vegas. He bought a shiny new car last month. He has been home for three months.
Since he moved back home he has been pulled over three times by the Las Vegas police. Each time he is asked if his car is stolen. They run his plates, check is ID, run a federal search on his social security number. I think he should have purchased a white or a silver car. Maybe the color of his car would not have made a difference, but the color of his skin does.
He has never had a record with the police-anywhere.

Each time he leaves the house to go out for a night with my daughter or his friends, his father, a well respected black man, living in an upscale neighborhood, calls him throughout the night to make sure he is okay. He is worried about him being harassed by the LVPD. Each time he is pulled over it is in his affluent neighborhood.
The police appear to believe since he is black he has no business on that side of town.
The most recent pull over was definitely frightening. The police pulled him over and asked him if his car was stolen. They ran the usual checks. They asked him for his social security number. They treated him rudely, baiting him, egging him to lose him temper. They made him sit in his car  for an hour by the side of the road.

He knows better. He is unfailingly polite and cooperative.
His plan to live in this town is gone. He is bright and talented. His father is an educated and successful man.
Black, educated, articulate and successful-I guess this means little in a town where the police department shoots first and doesn't have to ask questions later because the "suspect" is dead.
He needs to leave this town before it hurts him-fatally.

Revel Casino in New Jersey tells new hires reapply every four years for your job

This is frightening. Can you imagine your employer telling you  to reapply for your job every four years? The quality of your work doesn't matter. We want them young and pretty. You don't have a job after four years.
If you want to know what the breakdown of a civilized society looks like, try destabilizing the workforce.
Blatant ageism and sexism, backed by weakened labor laws allows such arrogant disdain for the respect of workers.
It could happen in any "right to work" establishment. Keep your heads in the sand, Americans. Worse is yet to come.
Those, "unemployed need not apply" signs are nothing  compared to what might come nest. Too bad so may people see unions as the bad guys. Those years of fighting for workers rights kept this kind of contemptuous behavior off the table.

The Soviets take a stand-while the US whines..

Countries across the world have risked everything to stand against tyranny and nepotism. No longer do citizens tolerate dictatorships and feudal repression.
The Soviets have  tener cojones. Spanish/English slang for courage. Tens of thousands know the election was rigged and they have had enough.
You have my greatest admiration, Soviets.

In the US we have become a culture of whiners. When our election was rigged we stomped our feet, whined and went home to watch our big screen TV's.
Our government corruption is so blatant our congress ignores citizens voices with contempt.
Each election is funded by corporations, on the path to helping destroy our planet through pollution, exploitation and greed.
US, once a proud nation, 40 million citizens are now unemployed. 15.5 million of our children live in poverty-1 out of 5.
23 per cent of our  36 million senior citizens live in poverty. Eight million seniors are living in poverty.

The top 1% of the population own over 50% of the wealth in the United States.
Not a peep.
Oh, a sorry looking, mainly discredited, by the corporate owned news sources Occupy Wall Street Protesters.
Wisconsinites protesting the abolishment of union protections.
Still small whimpers.
Americans are whiners at heart.
They all believe they have the answers to the Us economy and government.
They will tell you even if you don't ask them.
They will tell what your country should do as well.
They have all the answers but no courage.

No courage to stop the dismantling of our democracy.
I am not even sure most Americans know what is right anymore.
Somehow our citizenry has opted for ignorance with a dash of stupidity,

Go for it, Soviets. Take that ideal and make it happen.

Men-Women who claim to like football are liars!

Men, hear this, any woman who proclaims to like football is a liar.

Oh, they will tell you they do. They will watch and scream and yell. They will be able to tell you who their "favorite team" is this year.

But they do it for men.

Women are not aggressive by nature. Not only are they not aggressive, the idea of smashing onto others to gain ground is not a familiar ploy. Women are sneaky. They destroy others without a hint of violence.

Ask women about the players- call them on their lack of knowledge. Ask them to explain the game and use the correct "guy terminology". Ask them about fouls, off side, downs, etc. Ask them who the Heisman Winner was last year, MVP- all those stats. They don't know squat about it.

You see women aren't wired that way. Competition doesn't fire up the estrogen. Physical contact of a violent nature doesn't get the hormones flowing. It is scientifically proven. A female brain does not respond as strenuously or successfully  to those activities.  Women who claim to "love" football are doing it to impress you. Women have faked so many things for men. It is a historical and genetic nature for women to convince men they like and are interested in what men are.

And you know I am right! You know it. How many of you did the sports thing with your beloved while dating, all enthusiastic and gung ho-and after marriage, whine whine- or total disinterest!

If there is one thing I give men credit for it is this-I have rarely found one willing to feign interest in ballroom dancing, performing arts and ceramics. Most men are confident enough to say no. Women won't-they just know they can help you  see the error of your ways once responsibilities lie in wait. Or they just ignore your football activities.

I have a great male friend who once took me to a football game at the University of Michigan. He scored free tickets. We were to meet a group of his friends at the game.

I told him I wasn't a football fan. All that yelling and screaming over a bunch of guys running with a ball, only to tear apart the ball carrier if caught was too much like the gladiators for me.

He wasn't a football fan either. 

His winning argument?

They sell the best hot dogs and beer, and the entire stadium is surrounded by food kiosks. 

We could drink and eat our way through the game!

We did.. 

Political Hacks-Where is the vision??

Writing about the Republican Party's debates and candidates is enough to make me weep. Never have I observed such ignorance and stupidity in all my old lady years.
We don't even need to mention names, they all kind of blur together in a sea of geographical, historical, political and financial gaffes. White America, with a few outliers,  have shown themselves to be the decline of American intelligence.
I keep wandering around my community asking, "Is the the best we have?" or has this been the best we have and I somehow missed the stupidity in past years?
I find myself wincing when I hear yet another totally ignorant "truth".
If I hear one more "poor people get rich off the system" tale, I'll scream!
The great myth of the poor living rich off the system has taken on a life of its own in the United States. The famous theory of those who deserve and those who don't is just plain ridiculous.  Deserving of health care? Basic necessities? Shelter?
Food? Only the rich would make those kinds of observations. Money has triumphed humanity in the Republican Party of those who party like it is 1999.
They don't get it.
The ludicrousness of it all feels like a Twilight Zone episode with Jon Stewart as the mocker.
Please, somewhere out there has to be a person of color or a woman with a vision that can be heard?
How long do we have to live under the rule of rich old white men, or people who want to be them??

Celebrating Christmas at School for Children in Poverty

Ellen DeGeneres and Justin Bieber  recently spotlighted a school in Las Vegas by donating thousands of dollars and toys. It is a wonderful gift. The school has helped parents and children from that school with clothing, food, rental assistance and a myriad of other needs.
It got me to thinking about the use of donations at Christmas.
I was one of those poor kids . I remember the Salvation Army bringing Thanksgiving to our house and my father wanting them to take it back and my mother asking him not to do it. My father didn't like surprises and control freak that he was, his pride was more important than warm coats for his six kids.
Christmas is a great time to give.
I work in a school full of poor kids. They wear shoes which are too small or too big. Last year I bought a new winter jacket for one boy in my class and his parents made him give it to his little brother. So I bought him another one. Meeting the needs of one child doesn't always meet the needs of the others.
Another student showed up wearing a sweatshirt. She told me she didn't have a coat. It was 38 degrees that morning. Recently a little girl told me her mom sold her clothes to another girl in my class-they needed the money. The other girl showed up at school wearing her favorite dress. She pointed it out to me with a little sadness.
People do what they need to do to survive.
Our kids need warm clothing, new uniforms, new shoes, dental care, medical care and food. They need books to read, markers, colored pencils, crayons and notebooks. Some schools provide theses things-others don't. Most of my kids ask me if they can have glue, scissors, crayons and paper to take home. I let them when I have it. I consider them staples of childhood.

If you really want to donate during the holidays -don't.
Call up a school and tell them you would like to help out during the year. Get in touch with a teacher you know, or the social worker. Tell them you would like to help a child when the need arises. Don't give an amount.
Last year I paid for new glasses for a little boy who desperately needed them. I bought backpacks in the middle of the year for boys who did not have them. I bought a pair of shoes for a little girl who so dearly wanted a pair of flats like the other girls but only had tennis shoes.
I remember wearing hand me downs that were not even hand me downs from my sister. If it weren't for my first grade teacher, who used to put bags of clothing in my hands on the way out the door, I wonder what I would have worn?

I support four people. My salary is not great. The needs of kids don't start and stop at Christmas. Donations controlled by school districts or administration do not always get to kids when they need something. Every teacher I know buys necessities for kids in poor neighborhood schools. I just lost one of my best students because her mom lost her job and they were evicted. She cried. I did too. I tried to find a way to help her mom.  Bah, humbug-no rental assistance around here! If I could have turned to a benefactor to hold them over another month, maybe something good could have happened, Instead, they moved to an ever poorer part of town. I forgot that was possible!

If you really want to make a difference hang on to your money. Offer year round. I have a list of teachers who have children who will need the help in the months to come.
Christmas magic comes and goes but a pair of shoes that fit, pants that don't have to be pinned together, socks without holes(or socks at all), a sweater to keep warm in the classroom, kids remember. There is nothing worse than coming to school worrying about the necessities of life.
I just wish teachers had access to a fund like that, without a lot of red tape. Our kids learn better when they don't have to worry about the basic necessities .

Beware of Family Gifts...

In November a 70 woman died while skydiving near Las Vegas Nevada. Her family gave her the gift adventure for her 70th birthday. Two days ago another woman died in a helicopter crash over the Grand Canyon, after receiving the flight as an anniversary gift from her family.
Now I'm not saying this is a trend here but I am starting to wonder if, as an older person, I'd want to take a look at it?
These are some pretty unusual gifts. Maybe a scarf would have been more appropriate?

Pack Mentality and the Euro

Britain, Sweden and Czechoslovakia have decided the Euro agreement is not a good one for their countries. As in any group think there are times when it leads the lemmings off the cliff into their own self destruction. Perhaps we ought to be paying more attention to those countries who take the divided path? Those countries, civilizations or individuals who forge the untraveled road are often those with vision. What a quandary we live in! Group consensus leading to extinction or learning to ask the unspoken questions aloud and accept the consequences from the lemmings??

Human nature-More like the beast?

I never believed in such a thing as bad luck but I do wonder if there is some kind of energy we emit which attracts negativity?  Nature has a way of handling wounded animals. A predator eventually finds it-and it is toast. Is this what happens to humans as well?
I recently read a story about a man who is homeless in Las Vegas. He wrote of losing his job, then his wife and then his family. He found it difficult to recover.
He recently worked in construction. When the bust occurred  he lost a 60,000 plus a year job and his life fell apart. Another woman who was homeless had been a teacher. She has a Master's degree. She lost her job and is now living on the streets. She says she could never have imagined how it happened.
Our "safety net" for human lives has disintegrated. Those with jobs seem to think it is some personal flaw in an individual which precipitates the bad things that happen to other people.
I read these stories and I look outside at the 30 degree weather and I wonder how people survive?
It is really in our nature to turn away from those who suffer?
I used to think it wasn't. I used to think humanity was defined by the fact we as a culture, took care of others less fortunate.
Our capacity to care for other humans was the dividing line between humanity and  animal nature.
Is this no longer true? Are we no longer any different from animals trying to survive in this world?

Republican candidates- is the media kidding???

There isn't a one of them who ISN"T whacko. From Rick Perry's ignorance to Herman Cain's deceptive lying and adulterous behavior, to Michelle Bachman's delusional observations to Mitt Romney's "Bush style let them eat cake" stance. Newt has been around for ages. He left his wife when she was dying of cancer, remember?
Each week the news anoints a new king.
What-are they joking? Is this the best the Republicans can do?
The news agencies aren't "reporting" Each day we are treated with another, "Republic on top of the garbage heap story" as if this is all supposed to be normal.

News agencies act like this is all normal. Thus we are supposed to go along with this charade as if it is.
American citizens are either really, truly, stupid or the owners of these media outlets had such a sparse gene pool to pick from,who will rubber stamp their corporate greed, that this is what we have????
When politicians decide it is better to keep quiet than to tell us what they believe you know we are all in big trouble here.

I am not a voting Republican but if I were I would suggest the party wipe the current slate clean and look for a few articulate, thoughtful and intelligent candidates to sell the party.  The Republican candidates are an indictment showing the stupidity to which are country's intelligence and moral values have sunk.
Not to say the democrats aren't there as well. We just haven't seen THAT road show yet.

When the "other guy" isn't paying attention

Yesterday I was rear ended on the freeway. In Las Vegas, the speed limit is considered optional. People breeze by my granny speed limit of 65 easily driving 80 and 90 miles per hour. My maintaining the speed limit even in the right lane, is considered a nuisance by most drivers. I have seen the aftermath of a hit at ninety miles an hour by a mega truck, four wheels at the height of an airline passenger plane. I don't care to be on the receiving end of that. Las Vegas has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation. Rightly so. Rarely are the police out on the freeways enforcing the speed limit.
My "fender bender" occurred on the way to a class at 4pm in the afternoon. Traffic was moving at the breezy speed limit of 55 around a dangerous point on the freeway. It slowed to almost a stop. I had plenty of room and a friend of mine, going to the same class was in front of me. I could see the driver behind me coming up too fast but there was nothing   I could do about it. I remember thinking, " Let him slow down" before he smashed into the back of me. Where do you stop in bumper to bumper traffic?  Nowhere. You get off at the next exit.
I have driven a car for over 40 years. In all that time I have never had an accident that was my fault. I had a guy run a red light and hit me head on. I had a school bus run a red light and total my car. I had a woman back up at a drive in, driving one of those mega trucks and smash the crap out of my van.
Each time it is a nightmare. Waiting for cops, (who will not attend a fender bender)
reporting to the insurance company, waiting for repairs.
Having only one car, each morning I pray nothing happens to it.
I reported the accident. I wait now for the process to begin.
Life is full of irritants, reminding me of how little control we have over so much of it.
I suppose we can live life seeing that all the time and feeling frustrated, we can resign ourselves to that fact or we can play the fool and live life as if nothing else matters but the fact we have another day on this earth.
I still struggling with which one I want .

Self Employed?

I keep racking my brains. There is something out there I can do as a self employed individual. Each day I drive to work in the morning and I generate lists of ideas. I haven't discovered what it is yet but I know it is out there. After years of working for others there has got to be a way. Why put in 15 hour days with an anxiety level of 150% for employers who see employees as the enemy?
There has got to be a way.
I know I have one more job in me that will benefit from my give it all work ethic.
I just haven't discovered it yet.
Any ideas??

Black Thursday Madness-only in the US

Tonight, Wednesday night I had to make a run to the drugstore. I cut through the parking lot of Best Buy. A line formed outside the front door, people in tents (honest to god!) sleeping bags and lawn chairs.  These "Americans" planned to spend Thanksgiving Day camping outside the store?
For what??? For stuff??? For stuff, things, stuff that will mean nothing in a year?
Who are these people so desperate to get 100 dollars off a television? A 39 dollar blue ray dvd player?
Are we out of our freaking minds in this country?  Get a life people!
People, per se, are obsolete. Stuff rules in America!!
Only in America are we so freakin status conscious,  so materialistic, that we would ditch our families to sleep in tents in front of a store for two freakin days to buy more junk.
You get my drift.

Why learn to read and write??

Adults don't read they listen. Adults don't write they twitter using shortcut spelling.
Kids today get most of their information from media sources. The least used? Newspapers, books, magazines.
Some use the internet. Have you noticed most information is now on video?
Why teach forms of communication which are quickly becoming outdated?
My students at school are required to complete math and reading on computers.
They put headphones on and listen to the instructions and oftentimes the questions or the passages.
Teachers are outdated sources of information.
Children actually seem to learn quicker if on computers.
Perhaps we need to rethink education?
With all  the disgruntled parents complaining about the standard of education provided children it is ironic most of them don't use the skills teachers are required to teach their children.
Think about it.
If you are reading this without the aid of a video or picture you are a minority.

Kent State all over again only no one is screaming

Viewing the photos of students being pepper sprayed by the police brings back a lot of memories. I was a kid when the students were killed at Kent State but it remains a horrible vision in my head. At that time I think we realized police brutality had gone too far. The National Guard crossed the line.
With cell phone cameras providing us the photos and videos one would think we would immediately respond to the brutality upon 80 year old women, veterans and students. The photos are all over the internet.
The media doesn't seem to be showing much but Huffington Post does, as well as You Tube.
Not much of a peep comes from the citizens of this country.
Homeless camps are springing up all over the US. The "new middle class poor" are photographed each day. Those thrown out of their homes with nowhere to go is common place. Yet not a peep.
The masses like to believe it is the fault of those in the situations.
Of course, it will NEVER happen to them, will it?
So why bother speaking out?
It's not THEIR business, is it?
Pretty freakin scary

Megachurch Schuler's downfall

What is it about the Crystal Cathedral that brought thousands of people on a pilgrimage of sorts-the the Holy Land in Garden Grove, California, of all places?
The eighties was the time of megachurches with Capella groups, full bands with rock and roll scripture and the dollars were flowing.
Rev. Schuler was an all star!
I remember the era well. One of the ministers from our church received a "calling"
A silver haired, charismatic minister who like the idea of fame on TV as opposed to a church from a 500,000+ city.
Off he went to make his fortune. Glitter and all.
After all, God is not humble in megachurches. Greed is good. Associate minsters run off with wealthy married women, and the downfall makes the sin even more glorious to forgive.
The flash of the eighties gave way to the pathetic sinning of the mega ministers. After all, what would a mega church be without a spectacular fall?
Sadly, Rev Schuler's charisma did not have a biological component and the children could not carry the message in such a spectacular way.
The church is now in bankruptcy and the only dollars left to tell the story will be the profit on the sale of the cathedral.
Jesus was a humble man who taught us to care for our neighbors.
This is not a popular message in today's culture.
It was never a popular message for megachurches.
Like any for profit, the money was meant for bigger and better stuff.
Outreach buildings, big cars, private jets, special speaking gigs, prime Sunday TV.
Do you think the message Jesus carried to the masses will ever become "hip" again?
Or is the fall of the megachurch just a blip on the radar to total selfishness and disregard for our society as a whole?

The new morals of our young adults-Penn State

What have we taught them? Is this new generation a result of our own selfishness? Is the world population at such a tilting point we have forgone teaching ethics, morals and compassion? Have we become a earth populated with predators and victims?
The reaction of students at Penn State floored me. To protest the removal of a man who for years looked the other way while young boys were allowed to be brutalized by a staff member for the sake of a trophy? Students felt a "legendary coach" is being wrongly singled out? A University President who refused to deal with the problem for years? All up this chain of accountability, not just one, but many allowed young boys to be sodomized? Students are angry?
Are they stupid, selfish or just confused?
What does this say about our country's moral values?
Have we become so jaded, so inured to what is horrific, we don't care anymore?
Across the world we read stories which indicate the ripping of the fabric of societies built to care for those  most vulnerable citizens-the elderly man who dies in his home after the gas company shuts off his heat, children in China given up for adoption after being stolen from families, sexual slavery in third world countries, vast corporations exploiting women and children for labor.
Police shootings, beatings, caught on tape, a judge who beats his daughter with a belt, caught on tape, without punishment. Cain still in the running after four women step forward to talk about sexual harassment and he jokes about it??
Is it because so much is unearthed we try to minimize the horror in our minds and look the other way? Citizens phone messages cracked, and Murdoch is still in business?
I could go on and on but it appears to me the new world order is in favor of the predator and if you are perceived as a victim -you will soon become one.
People should be afraid, not outraged for the wrong reasons.
You might be next. You will have no support in this world order. The predator rules.

Cannibalism among the 1%

Greece and Italy have instituted austerity measures. This means pulling back government dollars, laying off workers and "belt tightening".
In the United States the media has been spouting "austerity" for the past three years.
This has resulted in high unemployment, high foreclosure rates and a decrease in spending from the average citizen.
It hasn't however, resulted in a decreasing income for Wall Street , bankers, and for profit corporations- megabucks CEO's, a 300% plus disparity in income from their workers.
Our politicians seem to be doing just fine with corporate donations , PAC support at all time highs.
The average citizen spends less, makes less, eats less meat, forgoes vacations and holidays, budgets without money, worries about rising costs of fuel and food.

I never agreed with George Bush but on this I do. People need to spend to get the economy going. Businesses can cut back employees, develop part time jobs without benefits and find hundreds of ways to get money to their stockholders, but eventually, not in the too far off future even those austerity measures, ( based on greed) will implode. You can only keep what you get.
If you don't get, you don't get to keep.
People will cut back on the extras first. Dining out. Gambling. Big screen TV's. Video games, washers and dryers, big expenses.
When we don't have it to spend, we can't spend it.
It seems pretty foolish for stockholders to de-invest in the communities which feed them for short term gains. Invest in jobs and the economy will begin to improve, people will have money to spend.
Continue to be greedy, take the short term money and run, and as we are already seeing, businesses go bankrupt, everyone loses, and the spiral continues.
Suck the livelihood out of people and no one is left to feed the 1% but the 1%.
Isn't that called cannibalism?

Is The Tide Turning? Jobless with no safety net

The world order is changing and it isn't for the benefit of the average planetary citizen.
What will become of us?

Las Vegas Decay-Family Style

A new book, Fade, Crumble and Sag introduced a number of authors writing about the decomposition of Las Vegas during Las Vegas Book Week.
I thought I would add my chapter, entitled, "Families, or what is left of them"

Two second grade girls are picked up by their mothers after school wearing six inch heels, breast exposing tops and shorts covering little. Not a blink on the playground of hundreds- parents picking up students after school. These girls are proud of their mommies, of course.
After Christmas vacation one year a little boy did not return to my class. His mother had murdered her boyfriend with a butcher knife in front of her five children. After a month he returned, quiet, withdrawn, spending time in Child Haven  which is not an experience anyone would wish on an eight year old child.

A lock down lasting until 6pm kept nine hundred students in my school one year. A man shooting a high powered rifle directly across the street had to be killed before we could release the kids.
 A student I tutored  at   home had six locks on her front door, along with all the
windows barred. A few months after working at her home her father was arrested as a gang leader and a drug lord. Her mother previously lost custody due to her drug habit.
Some staff are not much better. A principal and counselor were arrested for drug dealing, another accused of stealing from the school-was not fired but a senior staff member was for with holding information about the alleged thefts.

Families move here for the same reason singles do-it is a city in which one can disappear. The likelihood of protective services, the police or the government sticking noses into peoples business is minimal. Corruption is so rampant child abuse, neglect, gang activity or prostitution are all small potato issues for this hands off government.

Las Vegas sounds no siren call of seduction. Las Vegas makes no empty promises for those who come to the city to make a life. Las Vegas is not a deceitful mistress, mother or father figure.
It is exactly what is promises to be-sinful, evil, careless, cruel and heartless.
Be it the kindergartner who comes to school with rope burns around his wrists, the old man who dies alone in his trailer and is buried in a mass paupers grave, the homeless families who beg at Wal Mart, the mentally ill who's self talk is passed by without a blink, or the line of homeless vets, families and singles who line up on Owens  Avenue in cardboard boxes, settling in for the night.
Those who defend the city are the predators-"If you don't like it, leave!"
As if those who are game for these predators have a chance of leaving, unless by cheap death-another staple of the Vegas experience.

The Changing Face of America

A current CNN poll reports 68% of those responding believe corporal punishment is still a valid way to discipline America's children. Beating children, like using the death penalty, research shows, have never been effective deterrents . Not ne civilized nation in the world uses the death penalty anymore. Place the US with the uncivilized nations who amputate limbs for theft and stoning for adultery.

A current report states 1 in 15 children live below the poverty level in the United States. Oh! This is the belt tightening preaching we have been hearing since our economy collapsed, after our military spent over a trillion dollars on two wars with countries having no organized military.

In Las Vegas over the past three months an average of one murder a day occurs.
Read the paper. If you plan to visit do not leave the strip, do not become involved in an argument, and stay away from the crosswalks and curbs. Nevadans have a nasty habit of running over pedestrians. You see, alcohol and drugs are staples in the single Nevadan males lifestyle-but so is irresponsible behavior like drunk driving.

In the Republican primaries lunacy reigns supreme-from candidates who don't know geography, to those who proudly claim a lack of education fostered their ignorance, to sexual harassment charges. Perry? Cain? Bachman? Romney and his golden tablets from Missouri? How can anyone take these people seriously? Have we totally lost it?
Protesters is Oakland's Occupy Wall Street were tear gassed yesterday. We tear gas our own people for protesting? In a liberal bastion such as San Francisco/Oakland area?
The United States refuse to recognize Palestinians but the United Nations has. So the US will take its' wad of cash and go home. US reasons are the worst ever.

Huge campaign donations continue to pour into the coffers of the crazy Republican presidential nominees, not one peep on who would step up to embrace the principals of the Democratic party aside from our Centrist, mostly conservative President Obama.
Lindsay Lohan received a special dispensation from her 30 day jail sentence so she could pose for Playboy magazine.
Kim Kardashian continues to make headlines.
This is a snapshot of the US today.
Does the word "Superpower" ooze out of any of these stories?
We have become a nation of loonies.

Mean Girls Grow Up

Remember those mean girls from high school? The ones who spent most of their waking hours inventing lists of those who supposedly harmed them?
They are all grown up now, alive and well, practicing their vindictiveness in the workplace.
With all the responsibilities on our plates, as adults, you would think they had more to worry about. Well apparently their miserable lives continue to be miserable and they still believe the problem is outside of themselves.
56 women work in my place of employment.
The women fight. Literally. They yell and scream (so does the boss). They accuse one another of talking behind their backs. They stomp, huff and preen.
It is enough to make one crazy.
Yesterday we were chastised like little kids. Parents I know don't demean their children is the manner we were chastised.
I am way too old for this garbage. I'm a Grandma. Life is too short.
Knock it off, women. Get therapy or shut up and do your job.
Grow up. We don't really care if you feel snubbed. Get over it. It's a grown up world for big people so stop your tantrums. You may have been cute and got away with it in high school but it isn't working for you now. All it does is tell the rest of us you aren't doing your job.

Let Occupy Wall Street Ear Cake..

Mainstream media's efforts to ignore Occupy Wall Street, minimize  or deride it is interesting. One would have to do a little research to identify the actual owners or
members of the boards, but it is telling. One has to do some real digging to find the stories. How can that be? Rome burned. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets is many countries. One would think it would make headlines!
Why encourage the masses, why incite what already exists?

For those who choose to minimize this outpouring of anger-you might want to think it through. Unheard voices, thousands of them, don't disappear because those who own the 99% of the entire pie decide those voices are unworthy of their attention.

One poster likened it to their four year old having a temper tantrum.
Really? If you ignore it -it will go away?

Our nations politicians better start paying attention.
When you call citizens of a country, speaking out about injustice "mobs", you may become right.

Have we not learned from past movements in our country? Have we not matured at all? Do we really need to return to the violence and protest of the sixties to hear the nations voices?

An enlightened society would be beyond all that. We would have been ahead of the curve. The same failed policies that got us to this point continue to be the same failed policies our politicians want to continue to enforce. Make new cheese, fools!
Have we not learned that making the same mistakes with no new results is called abject failure?

Occupy Wall Street-Hear Our Voices

The world is finally waking up. Our lives, our quality of life, should not, will not be tied to global capitalism. We cannot continue to hear we should tighten our belts and suffer for the good of of the nations while our livelihood is terminated or diminished.
The financial sectors of countries continue to reap windfall profits, citizens bail out banks and large corporations, yet our children cannot find jobs, are unable to live independently, our young children and elderly parents cannot afford or access health and dental care, and prices continue to rise.
Those who have look contemptuously upon those who are suffering. History repeats itself. Governments, corporations, banks and financial institutions need to be paying attention.
When laws fail citizens, when laws make huge exceptions for the wealthy and greedy, when governments and politicians are owned by global financial institutions we risk anarchy, we risk losing all that began as good.
Unfair practices lead to resentment and hostility. Peaceful demonstrations are occurring in some countries, violence in others.
Take note of those with violence. They are thousands of years old and have provided for their citizens well enough to keep them from resenting the rich. These countries are beyond that now-citizens will not accept meager portions of the economic pie so a few can live an impossibly wealthy lifestyle.

Our country may not experience violent protests at present. Look at our history. I am old enough to remember Watts, the Detroit Civil riots which spread to small cities. I remember the burning and looting, the frustration of a pent up black citizenry which could no longer be contained.

Our country needs to make significant changes-now.
Politicians are considered with contempt. Governments, local, state and federal are considered corrupt.

How loud do the American people need to speak to be heard?
I am hoping voices will be enough for our country to listen. The alternative is frightening.

Babyboomer Tailgaters

I am one of the babyboomer tailgaters.
Most babyboomers have reached 65. They have their retirements. They have Social Security. Their work and lives have been during a lucrative era. They smugly sit at home with retirement packages and 401k's voting in line with the Tea Party.
This generation had advantages no other generation experienced. Their parents, most gone, gave them the sense they were the most important generation of our world.
They act like it. They believe if you can't make it in this life you deserve to suffer. This generation who fought for equal rights, civil rights and helping those less fortunate are truly the most selfish of generations.
Now they don't want to pay for anything not related to their retirement lives.
As a tailgater in my fifties no benefits come my way that come close to the Boomers.
Many people in their fifties have been laid off to save money. Congress wants to screw with Social Security. People have lost jobs, homes, retirement investments and the kids come home to live because no jobs are available.
Those in their fifties are deemed not desirable to hire. They are left to figure out how to survive in a world with no safety net and no promise of Social Security.
A few years ago I bought a bed from a man losing his house. He was a rocket scientist who had been laid off from his government job after 20 years. He was moving in with his daughter and son in law.

The tailgaters hang on to whatever jobs they can, take pay cuts, work extra hours and dread retirement. What will they have? No investment money from a home. No 401k. No chance to build a lifetime of savings such as the younger generations. Continued responsibility for elderly parents, adult children.
Increasing prices in the cost of living.

Tailgaters are discriminated by age in the job market. NO protections (or little) are left to protect them in a hostile work environment.

Congress is so corrupt we have no democratic recourse to change the situation.
Tailgaters are screwed.

Sarah Palin, five minutes of fame and millions later

When you are on the road in a red, white and blue bus, stomping the important election venues with only one purpose: to rake in the high speaking fees, why would you want to run for President of the United States?
Take a pay cut?
Hopefully, the relevance of this person will decrease, knowing her loyalty to the country was a sham to begin with.

Vaccinate? Delusion or Truth?

My daughter refuses to vaccinate her 17 month old son. She reports a teacher in her school told her they were more dangerous than the possibilities.
Having grown up during a time of limited vaccines, I remember contracting the measles, mumps and chicken pox. Hepatitis wasn't even a disease.
Whooping cough and polio were still in evidence.
I can't seem to get her to understand the seriousness of these diseases.
Many of her friends feel the same way. She adamantly believes autism may be a result of vaccinations. No proof is proof for her.
That seems to be the root of many of the problems in our country today.
Truth, or proof, seems to be automatically suspect.
How did we become such an ignorant and stubborn population?
One which will destroy ourselves because we do not have the capability to sort out truth from deception.
Have we been deceived by those in positions of authority so often we have become a nation of disbelievers, regardless of the consequences??

Seniors, don't count on that drink..

Research shows elderly people live longer if they see events in their lives with  the "glass half full" attitude.
I suppose that would be true if the Republicans weren't so intent on taking the glass away from seniors and telling them to be grateful they ever had a drink in the first place.

School Districts Fail Children Not Teachers

When will the public start asking questions? Teachers have no control over the curriculum, the schedule of the curriculum or the evaluation of students.  School district administrations call the shots.
School districts are failing because no one is looking in the right direction.
When Americans scrutinize, evaluate and hold school district administrators accountable for the poor management of the thousands of competent, qualified teachers, education will change.
This nation is shooting at the wrong targets.
In the business world management heads would roll if the product was inferior.
Only in education do school administrations continue to get paid the 100,00 plus salaries with little accountability.
The inferior product is not a result of the teachers. It is a result of  poor management, high turnover, and cronyism.
What is with this country?
Start asking the right questions.
Who sets the curriculum for the district?
Who tells teachers what to teach and how?
How much actual time is set for instruction as opposed to testing and other required district and school functions? Who sets policy for homework ?
How are instructional materials acquired in a school district?
What redress do teachers have when an unethical administrator runs the school?
How does the district handle poor administration of schools?
Who oversees poor administration on a district level?
Where does the money go beyond teachers salaries?
Districts will give all kinds of pat answers to those questions. The real truth is teachers are not a part of the decision making process for what and how your children learn. It is school administrators who call the shots.
Hold them accountable.

Americans are shooting the wrong horse.

The Republicans are being taken seriously and the Democrats aren't talking.
We have a small problem here, don't you think??

A List of Gripes

1. Get those botoxed, ignorant fake tanned, dyed haired white men off the ballot. Show me a man with some real character who doesn't give two hoots about screen time and talking points.

2. I am sick to death of Americans bashing teachers. Go ahead, break the unions, hire the lower paid teachers. You think education is bad now??
When we go after the administrations of school districts for screwing up curriculums, having way too much power , yapping at the heels of teachers to change this, and the next year, do it the old way.., we will make some progress. Teachers used to teach. Now they jump like monkeys to the school district administrative organ grinders. Americans are just plain stupid. Let teachers teach.

3. Outsourcing. The real definition of outsourcing? Take the steady job away from Americans and give it to someone so hurting they will forgo any semblance of a decent paying job with health care benefits.
Make Americans starve! The motto of business is "who gives a rats patootie" about the humans working for us! Make em bleed! That is the American way!

4. If I hear one more profit making huge corporation whine about the cost of doing business, I will scream!
Where are you Americans?? Who put your heads in the toilets??
You don't mind bleeding while those fake tanned politicians whine for more tax breaks?
When are you going to get some ca hones??

5. One more American "love it or leave it" and I will campaign to send all those stupid ignoramuses to a third world country. We didn't get great by keeping our mouths shut.
Remember folks? FYI-We are a free country?? Or are we anymore?

6. Our great country is a shadow of its former self. What a shame we had to use our repreoductive systems to create a generation of idiots. I have become a strong advocate of birth control.

Of all the movie scenario endings to our civilization it never occurred to me our downfall would be stupidity and ignornance.

Voters-No vote unless campaign is about issues

Are you as tired as I am of smear campaigns?
All trash talk and no substance?


Let;s hold those candidates accountable.


No votes for trash talkers.
Vote on the issues-what the candidate WILL do -
not what he claims his opponent will or will not do.

My Country? Where are you??

In 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower ,became the 34th President. A Republican, along with running mate, Vice President Richard Nixon,  came to office after World War Two, the Korean War, and in a relatively peaceful time.
McCarthy was outed as TV came to play a major role in the Us, He sent troops to uphold the Brown vs the Board of Education in 1954 and desegregation took place in the public schools.
I was born in 1953, desegregated schools were only four years old when I started kindergarten.


My country has reflected citizen's values over the years with significant actions.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964- who would have thought a white southern President by the name of Lyndon Johnson had the cojones to ensure the laws would be respected?
In 1962 President Kennedy granted federal workers the right to bargain.
In 1963 Equal Pay Act banned wage discrimination based on gender.
 1964 Civil Rights Act bans institutional forms of racial discrimination


These are just a few of the great decisions, we as a country made during my lifetime. I grew up in a country focused on the quality of life for its citizens.


Over the years The United States was seen as a beacon  of hope-although we fought the ugliness of our character-slavery, child labor, sexism, racism, elitism-
we  always moved forward to eradicate the injustices human nature constantly oozed-In fact, those injustices were recognized in many ways as our baser side of nature. We had the courage to fight about them in the political arenas. Discourse was mainstay of our political system. The American citizens openly disagreed and debated. It is a part of our United States democracy-until now.


I can hardly write about this country of mine anymore.
I do not recognize it. 
The selfishness, the cruelty, the elitism, the punitive nature of our laws and regulations.
I am afraid .
The hatefulness and polarization of our very own nation leads us to a brink of unknown destination.
Banana Republic is the phrase oft repeated.
Many levels of government are yelling poverty, demanding belt tightening, turning government dollars away from those unable to care for themselves-the disabled, the elderly, children who have been placed in a nightmare system of pared down services.
Governments have become punitive and judgmental. Deciding who "deserves" health care, immunizations, what rights a "less entitled" person has for health care.


Religion in the United States has become a fanatical exercise in judgmental terrorism. Nothing related to the ten commandments.
I am not sure where the religious fervor in the US finds its biblical translations which form the basis of hate filled, punitive rhetoric which allows people to make murder threats in the name of christian justice.


I am in the minority and I am very aware of this.
It is frightening. !
Ironically it appears to be the last desperate vestiges of the white minority to control a country fast becoming a melting pot reality.
Unfortunately those who have been discriminated against and now devalued take on the mantle of the powers-buying into the mantra of elitism, as if they identify with it -that reality will become theirs.
It is a scary time in our country's development. 


Do we have no leaders with a sense of unity for our United States? Do we have no leader not bought and paid for by a mega corporation, one who speaks for the heart of our nations peoples?


Or, is this really the voice of our people coming out of Washington DC?
Are the elitist politicians owned and manipulated by a few powerful elite also speaking for the mindset of the American public?


When we, American citizens no longer believe our vote has an impact, when we turn over and look the other way, filled with a sense of futility, we have lost our country.

Dear President Obama, I'd love to give but....

Dear President Obama,
During your election year I was thrilled to meet you when you came to Las Vegas. I campaigned for you and even donated money.
I am sorry I can't do that this time. I believed you when you said "Change"
I realize you have repeatedly said we must be pragmatic and compromise when it comes to politics.
I am a teacher looking at a state government who is intent on busting our union. I am asked to pay more for insurance and retirement although I accepted meager raises during the boom times. My pay is to be cut but I do not know how much yet.
I left a profession as a social worker with a Masters degree to borrow 40,000 to get a Masters degree in Education, at a time when the country was screaming for teachers.
After ten years of teaching elementary school, spending much of my own money for supplies, spending enormous amounts of personal time in my profession, volunteered countless hours for extracurricular activities, and always worked two jobs while teaching to support my family  my profession, and myself, personally are  now reviled by the entire country. How did this happen?
Tonight I sit here trying to figure out how I am going to pay my bills with the additional costs and a pay cut. Since I have been teaching ten years and am in my fifties, I am at risk for  layoff, but one would never, never say it was because of my age or the amount I make compared to a first year teacher. would they?
Where have you been,, President Obama as the country ramped up the hate rhetoric about teachers?

I am lost. Who do I vote for in the next Presidential election? A President who ignores the tremendous unemployment rate of our country especially related to those over the age of fifty? The loss of full time employment for thousands in our county as corporations break our unions and decimate our employment laws? The loss of hope my eighteen year old daughter feels in the wake of high unemployment and low wages? Who do I vote for now? The suicide team intent on now taking away my social security and medicare when I am only seven years from eligibility? Or do I vote for you, a man I believed when he said, "Change Everyone Can Believe In? While I never supported Bush, his lies and manipulation were blatant and outrageous. We knew he was stealing from the middle class.
I don't know how you can ignore what is happening in states where government is king, people have no say, and big money doesn't even have to hide its role in dismantling one of the greatest nations in the world-all for greed. So who do I vote for?

Honestly, President Obama,
I have no one to vote for in the next election.

Three Wars-No armies

The United States is fighting three wars with three countries having NO ORGANIZED ARMIES and we can't wrap it up???
We have no reason fighting any of these wars. None.
Why are we paying all this money to fight meaningless wars?
Bring our troops home and have a little respect for other country's business.

No insurance? What made you think you could come here????

My grandson became very sick last week. Because my daughter has no health insurance for either of them we tried everything we could to stop his vomiting and bring down his fever. We kept looking for signs of dehydration. He kept nothing down. By day five he was listless and we were feeding him pedialyte with a syringe. By day six we were arguing about what we should do.
Should we take him to the emergency room where he would not be denied care? I had 160.00 left for two weeks, should we go to a med center?
Las Vegas is a mean town when it comes to health care.
The "free" clinic is for adults. No pediatric care is offered for a reasonable price. We have no pediatricians willing to see children without insurance coverage. How could they order tests? Too much liability.
we asked around. No luck.
Finally we took him to the emergency room at Sunrise Hospital.
He spent the day in the emergency room. He was hydrated and given a medicine to stop the vomiting and nausea. After eleven hours in the emergency room she went to check out.
The hospital knew she had no insurance. She told them when she came in the door.
When my daughter got to check out the billing clerk yelled at my daughter, "What did you think you were going to do when it came time pay?" she yelled in front of the people in the waiting room. "The bill is $2,000.!!
Who is going to pay the doctors for their care? How do you think this hospital keeps serving patients?
She yelled louder, "This bill is $2,000. "What WERE YOU THINKING?"
After seven days with a sick baby, agonizing whether to bring him in, she was exhausted and crying.
"I just wanted my son well, she said." I will pay you back after I get out of school in July, in the meantime I will send what I can>"
The clerk handed her the bill and stated, "Yeah, well good luck with that." Who will the pay the doctors?"

My daughter has two months of school and then she will have a job with insurance coverage.
She doesn't have much choice at this point.
This may sound a little dramatic, but the message from health care is this-"unless you qualify for medicare or medicaid, or have private insurance, don't come here. Don't you dare come here."

Like any service offered on an optional basis such as pedicures, facials, manicures, hair design, etc.,  if you don't have the money do not use the service. Your health, your baby's health is not important enough to warrant service without payment, Go away. If you die, it is that much cheaper for us.

How dare you come here without the ability to pay.
Know any pediatricians who take cash and charge reasonable rates.?

Welcome to The United States of Conspiracy Theories and Lunacy

What factors account for a country's descent into sheer lunacy? When voices of reason and actual facts take a backseat to an increasingly paranoid population hell bent on destroying its' government and actual well being?
A country which celebrates cold blooded murder and firing squad assassinations of  third world county leaders?
What barbaric code of ethics does this country abide within?
When normally reasonable people believe in conspiracy theories and demand the release of graphically violent pictures to assuage their cynical sense of self,- how did we get here?
Did the media become stupid first? Or did the citizens simply find an equal partner to put a face on their national stupidity?
Did we elect people into office whose initial intentions were greed, avarice and blatant disdain for the citizens actually served or have they become corrupted along the way?
The United States is a dying democracy.-
it's citizenship participating in its' own demise.
As a nation we are so divided we are beyond partisan politics.
We do not politely agree to disagree - we violently repudiate another's opinion, believing  to our deepest core a differing opinion constitutes treason or at least a personal betrayal.

It is a sick, sick society, a runaway train with no brakes, this  craziness in which the truth can no longer be recognized.

Us Budget Woes? Three Wars ignored by the American People???

700 billion dollars were spent in the last year on three wars. Not a peep from the American people. The United States defense budget is more than all defense budgets of the entire world combined.
Did you know that?
We are fighting wars in three countries which have no organized armies. And we are losing!!
When will Americans quit thinking stupid?
Why are in three wars?
Why are we not out of these countries?
Enough!
Or do we like our persona? Kill anything that moves?

America's Degrees of Inhumanity

Outrage isn't what it used to be.

Numbed by a barrage of culturally accepted, media hyped violent images, games, movies and real life violence, America has accepted higher degrees of inhumanity as the "new normal".

As we dumb down our education system and blame it on the teachers, ignore those most in need of our compassion and assistance, accept millions of unemployed fellow citizens -in fact, blame them for their unemployment and refuse to hire them, we plow on toward our goal:

Higher degrees of inhumanity, always with another explanation -another curious sound bite.

Human life in America continues to cheapen. 

What other country on this planet is currently fighting three wars?

*yawn* says the dumbed down America. .

Momentary Perspective for those less than shallow

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Momentary Perspective

Japan's horrible disaster appeared to create about 60 seconds of reflection from our mostly self absorbed, narcissistic country-
After all, what do we REALLY have? Stuff can get washed away in seconds. Entire families can die within minutes, and in some cases, family members will never be located.
As I drive to work in the morning my renewed respect for this earth has me humbly acknowledging the power of  the mountains surrounding Las Vegas.
-Nature has a way of balancing itself- man can only destroy Earth for so long.
We seem to be feeling the effects of natures inability to balance all that we demand from it.
Millions of fish and birds dying, flooding, earthquakes, huge monster storms

If mankind can't get beyond the selfish destruction of its own planet, we will perish.
Earth will have another round of some form of life as it knows it, but we will not.

Bashing Unions: Losing a Profound History to Ignorance

The United States corporate world has a long history of exploiting labor. We started with owning slaves and worked our way to child labor, paying more for mens work than womans and keeping pay to starvation salaries for blacks and people of color.
Today it is those same old white men who want to take away those protections earned and fought through the loss of lives and many injured to establish fair and equal employment for those in this nation.
I am 58 years old and I can still remember growing up in Detroit, my father coming home with huge gashes in his arm one day from working in one of the auto factories.
Protections did not exist for safety and it took another ten years for the auto unions to win those safety procedures and protect those on the assembly lines.
The unions not only provided protection for employees, fair wages for a days work, they kept the factories honest.
Today we have huge problems. As deregulation occurs, we have recalls of a myriad of products right down to larvae in Similac formula. It was removed from the shelves when my grandson was two months old. He is now 11 months old.
Baby cribs have been recalled. Children's toys imported by prominent American toy stores recalled because of lead paint. This, the result of "shipping" our production overseas to third world countries to exploit poor countries running the same kind of sweatshops outlawed in the United States.
Americans are shortchanged by an education system which gives short shrift to history, social studies and science lessons, all for the perceived notion we don't need those as much as we do reading and writing.
The results of our narrowed view of education is a narrowed view of the world, a lack of understanding and a mature world view.
Ironically, America is moving  backward as less democratic countries move forward.
It is exciting to see Egypt and other countries dominated by monarchies and dictatorships willing to die for a free and fair country.
It is sad to see such a world power as the United States continue to erode freedoms and protections such as unions, regulations to ensure safety, labor laws, and our very right to privacy (i.e. terrorist act).
It is  the ignorance of our general population which the wealthy corporations, banks and peoples prey upon to advance and promote the increase of wealth for themselves.
I have a history of watching those strikes in Detroit and the strikes did not derive from greed or exploitation.
I remember a country once proud of the protections and considerations citizens received and expected.
I see a country now steeped in ignorance and anger.
History repeats itself. I am old enough to see it. This history we are creating now is the past to the 1800's of Robber Barons and general poverty.
When we are willing to remove formula from a poor babies mouth (WIC) allow solo seniors to struggle and die alone such as the elderly man in Michigan whose power was shut off in the dead of winter and froze to death, , punish children for their parents choices, we are no longer a democracy.
We are no better than the lawless and brutal regimes of third world countries who kill, allow to die and exploit citizens, who are considered property and not fully free , self directed humans.
Video games and reality shows do not replace the important, no, critical need of our citizenry to learn  about and understand our history as it  is related to employment, workers, standards of living and corporate greed.
If the only way to teach our population about these events is through cable tv, cartoons, and video games, internet, You Tube and Tweets, let those brave enough to teach our population, please, do it now.